Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Night Night, don't let the big, hairy bad-smelling fish-stealing yowies bite!

There's a story been doing the rounds for several decades down my way ... about 20km away, in Kangaroo Valley of several black pumas.

Been more than one or two people and sightings reported over the years.

Interesting story SNAG......

I haven't had any "experiences" like that. But....When i was younger (12ish), my friend and I were promised funding by his older brother to go and investigate the "mysterious" eg yetti, bermuda triangle, loch ness monster, etc

Found out later he was on drugs, so his promise was null and void.....

I remember Bernard telling us about the banshee when we were kids

We spent a lot of time with him and his family (just saw his daughter last month)

OK here's mine.


Used to live and work in an old pub in the flinders ranges, story went a cantankerous old bitch died a loney and miserable death there and still resides there today...

I was standing in the bar one night, there were a couple of other people there. There was a thick wall dividing the sction of bench top off between the till and the cd player and the cd's. So the bench top went... till, small gap, thick wall the depth of the bench, cd player, cd rack from right to left, with the cd player and rack set back against the back wall, ie a good foot of bench space in front of it....

I saw all the cd's fly out of the rack around the wall and scatter all over the floor. And I was not on halluciagenic drugs I can promise you. Needless to say it freaked us all out. I slept in the room closest to the kitchen during the off season when there were no house guests, and the noises from the roof space and the kitchen were enough for me to request an outside cabin for my accomodation. One night an old metal basin that was full of railway pins and country paraphenalia flew off the top of a coke fridge in the bar and landed about 6 feet away. We all looked at each other and removed all heavy items from high places. One of us could have been knocked out.

To this day, these incidents still freak me out.

I most definately beleive in ghosts. The pub at craddock in the southern fliders is also haunted. I get shivers thinking about it. One room in the pub is always left vacant otherwise the house ghost plays havock with the guests. He has turned their water glasses upside down on the floor, banged on the walls in the middle of the night, causing all sorts of havoc.

That's interesting that you knew Bernard O'Rielley, Jaymie. I was going to be introduced to him by a work collegue, but sadly, he passed away before the meeting. He was one of my teenage heros.

RupertofOz, Yup, I believe in the big putty tats, and pretty likely when you think of it. I was in Arkansas, USA in 2004 and the week I arrived a woman in the town I was staying in (Searcy) went into her backyard (she lives on the edge of town) and was confronted by 4 African Lions. They had escaped from a private collection. The local Sherriff shot 'em. Local tradition, I suppose. Lucky for the woman that she saw them in time and was able to beat a quick retreat.

Yeah, close family friends with the O'Reillys (my uncle is one ) Bernard's wife, Viola, was like a grandmother to me, and his daughter Rhelma was Mum's best friend (visited her in Beaudesert while I was in Brisbane).
We grew up on the Stinson story, and spent many holiday's in Bernard and Viola's home :sigh:

Jaymie, hope I got the details right? After walking the rainforest and trekking to the Stinson wreck (very little left now) I really appreciate what Bernard accomplished in rescuing the two survivors, Westray and Binstead. On the same trips (I did eventually make it to the wreck and further) I was intrigued by a soft fern/nettle that grows anywhere up there where there is moisture...Rainforest Spinach...Elatostema Stipitatum and a relative E. Reticulatum. Quite edible, and very easy to strike from cuttings...grows from the nodes. I had some thoughts of using it in a grow bed as a filter system for my aquaria. Mainly because it grown prolifically and likes lots of water around it's roots. Has anyone heard of it?

I stayed up at O'Reillys a couple of years ago... Some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen. Bushwalking is amazing there, it goes off in many directions. The only time I ever feared for my life while I was there was when dad drove up to the plateau, kinda fast, with buses coming the opposite direction... on a mostly one lane road.... ahhhh!

Tim, you should have tried that road when it was mostly one lane

And gravel, ... we nearly slid off the side of Mt Cainbabel in heavy rain with a car load of toddlers!! Had to get out and change my nappy as well as the kids that time!

Or those little wooden bridges around sharp corners... that you cant see around...

Used to have a block of land up on Mt Cainbable :sigh:

I used to dream about having a block of land up there! Then reality kicked in...need to start dreaming again, it was a much pleasenter way to live!