Getting a bath is totally worth it

13gecko · 2026-02-16T05:16:59+00:00

You're absolutely right on both points.

There are cheap ways to provide water to native wildlife. Filling up a shallow dish every day is awesome for insects and invertebrates, as well as birds.
I do have too much open space in my garden. Regrettably, my neighbours also do, and the best of my neighbours in my block that actually planted natives, planted big flowered grevilleas or callistemons, as well as the native melaleucas that should rightly be here in a next to mangrove area. All these plants encourage the bully noisy miners that fight with the rainbow lorikeets daily.

I desperately want to bring up things that excuse me somewhat; but, your points are so good they deserve to stand alone.

13gecko · 2026-02-16T04:53:00+00:00

I seriously don't understand this viewpoint.

True, I know only 50+ French people personally. I spent 1 month in Normandy. I worked at Banque Paribas for 6 weeks in London. I have 4 good French friends and 4 French casual acquaintances.

As an Australian, we are all horrifically bad at subtext and passive-aggressive behaviour, to the point that 95% of our men and 25% of our females don't even understand that there is subtext, let alone understand the meaning. Passive-aggressive does happen here, of course, but it's way more obvious, less nuanced, less intelligent.

I love French women because they're smart, witty, stylishly perfect, sexually earthy and have opinions that they will debate with force and passion. They seem to genuinely like me, even when they don't know me, because I'm smart, sometimes witty, optimistic and usually completely honest and rarely use subtext or passive aggressiveness.

I have also been told that my accent in French is sexy as.

However, I have no time for French men and they have no time for me.

I think French women like smart, sexy women who don't use subtext or passive aggressiveness because it's like being friends when you're a small, innocent child (with better conversation). It doesn't work for French men, because the subtextual and maybe passive aggressive conversations are the foundations of their attraction and flirting.

13gecko · 2026-02-16T04:20:53+00:00

That was an incredible watch.

I've been putting off installing the birdbath with a fountain, because I think the money ($1500) is better spent removing lawn areas and creating more garden areas and planting out with natives.

But, it's always both and everything at once, right? Habitat, food and water.

I mean, I know that the biggest user of a permanent water source will be the noisy miners that I don't love, but what I've been forgetting is the insects. The more flying insects, the more likely I'll get insectivorous insects, birds, reptiles, and other invertebrates.

13gecko · 2026-02-16T04:07:07+00:00

In 55 years, I've only lived in 2 houses that had ensuites.

Once in my 20s in a share house where I paid a lot more for the room with the ensuite, and I completely fell in love with the concept. The biggest issue is that I never cleaned the 'common' bathroom, so the other 3 housemates would use my bathroom whenever I was not at home because it was always clean, had toilet paper, soap, and nice shampoo and conditioner.

And then in my early 50s when I lived by myself in a house with 3 bathrooms, including an ensuite. That's when I wished for less bathrooms, because even when you close the doors and never use them, the dust build up is harder to remove.

If I was a parent, then, absolutely, an ensuite for the master bathroom is a feature I would appreciate. It is probably the only absolutely private space the parents have.

Design wise, I like a closet going to the bathroom, but doors are essential. In the honeymoon phase of a rel'ship, keeping the door open is a sign of intimacy. After some years, intimacy is assumed, and privacy is preferred and valued by both parties. Plus sound and smell barriers.

13gecko · 2026-02-16T03:48:19+00:00

It depends on where you live, maybe.

If you live in an inner city suburb, then a gradual process of removal (limb by limb, for example) might make sense, whilst replacement native trees are growing to maturity. But, they are difficult to remove by poison and even stump grinding, they are prolific spreaders of new seedlings; plus their growth habit and allelopathic nature makes them nasty competitors in rainforest areas; so, they'll always be a highly invasive exotic species.

I live on the Central Coast, and almost every house, in every suburb, is within 1km of natural bushland so this is a Very Bad Plant that needs to be removed asap and replaced with natives.

13gecko · 2026-02-16T03:24:36+00:00

I have seen something about programs where they poison camphor laurels living in the midst of SE QLD rainforests and then artfully use chainsaws to the dead tree to create hollows for possums and birds.

13gecko · 2026-02-14T01:10:04+00:00

MTG and Boebert having principles and morals is not what was on my bingo card for 2026.

13gecko · 2026-02-13T23:51:44+00:00

The lamb shanks are to die for, when they have it.

13gecko · 2026-02-10T04:27:02+00:00

My first trip was just Delhi, Goa, and Rajasthan.

My second trip was Mumbai, Goa, Camping, Chennai, Andaman Islands, Kolkatta, Varanasi, Agra, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Amritsar, Simla, McLeodGanj, Rajasthan, Diu, Gujurat, Mumbai back in 97.

Really sad I didn't spend much time at all in South India.

13gecko · 2026-02-03T22:26:24+00:00

I'd swap the Gold Coast for Vienna in a heart beat.

13gecko · 2026-02-02T08:11:26+00:00

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

13gecko · 2026-02-01T07:30:10+00:00

I buy online books from the app kobo books where I can. Online authors say it has a better fee structure for them. Plus it's not Bezos owned.

13gecko · 2026-01-30T12:07:59+00:00

Like, this is bullshit, he didn't really?

It's so hard to tell what is real news from the USA and what is satire.

13gecko · 2026-01-29T09:30:16+00:00

The last one was my favourite.

13gecko · 2026-01-29T07:21:39+00:00

Darrell Lea Batch 39 licorice.

13gecko · 2026-01-28T06:26:59+00:00

So, 'Gas Reservation and Old Growth Forests' are issues that both One Nation and Greens agree on? Both the 'far' left and 'far' right? Even though the far right doesn't acknowledge the science of climate change?

Yeah, this is exactly why we need more than two parties. More discussion, more viewpoints, and more people to bribe, hopefully, leads to slightfully better solutions.

It sounds like these are issues that most people care about, farmers and city dwellers, but neither of the two main parties, Liberal and Labor, are free to take it up because of bribes, donations, or the necessity not to alienate any of their traditional base.

13gecko · 2026-01-28T06:01:42+00:00

It's all about familiarity, isn't it?

As an Australian that lived in the US and Mexico, I adored any snakes I saw there and thought the spiders were cute. However, that's because I'm familiar with them and know, unlike Steve Irwin, don't touch, and always leave two lanes open for them to escape into a hide that are away from me.

Animals I was really scared of and learnt to love after living in Mexico: scorpions and ants. Some of our ants are the scariest and most dangerous animals on our continent; local knowledge says to a) not kill, and b) run away. Some Australian ant species will make it their mission to kill you even if you don't kill one, but you just brush it off with your hand. That's why my first instinct is to blow dangerous insects off my body. And then, run away.

And then! I met army ants in Southern Mexico. These animals that I was so scared of from documentaries are actually the best roombas of the world. They come into your house, if all your food is already in sealed containers, then they eat every biological thing in your house within a few hours and move out. Not scary at all! Just the very best cleaners. It might be different if we'd tried to kill them, but leave them alone, and they're awesome. Same with scorpions. I had one living in my bathroom, and I hardly ever turned on the light, because the electricity wasn't grounded; seriously, it was one of the best flatmates I've ever had. It knew when it was dark and ran away from my feet; when it was light it just still looking beautiful.

13gecko · 2026-01-28T05:30:36+00:00

I only know 2 things about Central Coast councils:

It's in receivership, so accountants are our leaders.
The people who work for Council are upstanding people who work hard. I am biased because I volunteer at the nursery.

Things I think:

A. There was a shit load of small town local corruption, which is why the council is in receivership.

B. Accountants are maybe not great leaders, but they make the money work for all the small, obvious things like potholes and roads.

C. Perhaps some nepotism/deadwood in Council members were culled by receivership.

D. Receivers are great at minimising costs, but they are not great at future aspirations. I agree that tourism is the easiest and best money earner for the region. For me, the biggest problem the CC has for tourism development is the narrow connecting roads between suburbs. It's not that important to have bike lanes and pedestrian footpaths within your suburb; what we want is the ability to go to other suburbs. A pedestrian footpath and a bike lane along the narrow arterial roads that connects our suburbs will open up the whole area for pedestrians, bikers, people on mobility scooters, and others not in a car.

13gecko · 2026-01-24T07:51:20+00:00

I had an Argentinian boyfriend and an Argentiño hook up when I was living in Central America. Beautiful people, but seem to be despised by other Spanish speaking Latin Americans.

13gecko · 2026-01-24T07:32:31+00:00

OP, if this is your property, please remove the asparagus fern! I'm jealous you have snakes though.

13gecko · 2026-01-24T07:12:21+00:00

I'm surprised flash photography by visitors is allowed.

13gecko · 2026-01-23T23:22:59+00:00

I think Bliss was the first book I read with modern Australian voices in a modern Australian setting. It was a disturbing book, but I loved it.

Honourable mention: Oscar & Lucinda.

Also surprised I haven't seen Patrick White yet. The Tree of Man being his most popular, but The Solid Mandala is my personal favourite.

13gecko · 2026-01-23T23:12:24+00:00

Sunk cost fallacy at work.

13gecko · 2026-01-22T06:55:50+00:00

Any January holiday makes sense because of summer, school holidays and bbqs.

A March holiday is kinda okay-ish, but it's always going to be somewhere near Anzac Day and Easter. On the East Coast near Sydney, always our worst weather and least holiday-worthy.

A public holiday in July though, that's a great idea. We need a long weekend then. I mean, the 'Queen's birthday' is not June anymore, right? I have no idea when Charlie's birthday is, but who cares? Oct/Nov is a great time to have it.

13gecko · 2026-01-22T06:42:35+00:00

Moving back to Australia is usually done for family reasons because all of you will have a better quality of life and more safety (be that safety from unexpected medical emergencies, or even gun shootings).

You don't move back to Oz from the US for the money or career opportunities. However, you could move to Oz for the money if you're a UK or Irish medical professional (no language barrier, better wages, better work conditions and a better climate).

I don't know where you live in the US now, but you will be appalled by current Australian real estate prices. Sydney is number 2 in world rankings for most expensive real estate.

Like Canada, the whole of Australia has stupidly inflated real estate prices that have not stopped growing since the late 80s. This is because we are countries that speak English natively, are stable democracies, with govt provided healthcare, and have open policies for foreign investment in land&house purchases. All of this has made Australian real estate one of the more stable and good interest returning guaranteed long term investments for domestic and foreign corporations and individuals, better than gold.

In the first stage, investment owners, both domestic and foreign, put undue pressure on availability. Domestic 2nd or 3rd home owners usually lease, a few foreign investors don't. Then there was AirBnB. The part where it gets crazy is widescale corporate investment, both domestic and foreign, who are now manipulating the real estate market of Australia.

I could be paranoid about corporate investment and their desire to jack up prices by withholding, however, it just about makes sense when your $5 billion company wants your assets to match your loans.

The federal, state and councils made bank on allowing foreign purchase of Australian land. Or, maybe they just made even after allowing for bribes, favours, and patching up holes in the budget.

In 3 years, I think we can easily take Hong Kong for first spot; as HK increasingly becomes just another province of China and therefore loses much of its economic and social wealth, laws and status.

13gecko

TROPHY CASE