Things that burrow, grow or move

The dog has just attempted to disappear down another hole, he's only a Silky Terrier,  but even if he was an over weight labrador he'd still fit with plenty of wriggle room.

These are wombat holes, fantastic construction sites that could have doubled as sets on the movie 'Lord of the Rings.' Some resemble old mine shafts, others seem to have whimsical facades - either way, JR Tolkien would surely recognise them as part of middle earth.

At sunset the residents emerge, bleary eyed after a heavy day snoozing. They squat on their front patios and survey the world as they sort out their agenda for the evening.  First, a ramble through the paddock on the lookout for dinner or is that breakfast. Mosses and grasses will do for starters. These over stuffed duffle bags on four short legs can be the farmers friend because they don't mind munching on tussock grass or spear grass.

There is just one problem, they breed-   then the new generation out grows the parental home - so another outbreak of burrowing begins. Judging by the number of false starts and abandoned holes burrowing appears to be an art learned on the job, or maybe the wombats are just upwardly mobile, always on the look out for a better piece of real estate.

Then there are those smaller holes and hollow logs down by the dams, the dog can't fit into them, but he knows they have a resident, usually our friend the red bellied black snake. Luckily the dog is startled by a snapping twig and sometimes even his own shadow, so the snakes are safe as long as we are not on the same path at the same time.

 The fauna down in Apple Gully is benign compared to the evil green, spiky menace of 'Rubus fructicosus' and it's sidekicks waiting to mug the naive city slicker.  The mega fauna of Australia may be extinct but the mega flora is thriving. 'Onopordum acanthium' grows to 2 metres, it lurks in packs and it must have been crossed with a stegosaurus at some stage in it's evolution.

Yes, we are talking about the Blackberry and the Scotch thistle, these two thugs have claimed Apple Gully as their patch and when they need some enforcing done they call on their weedy mates, Blady grass and serrated tussock and there are probably more gang members lurking down the rural equivalent of dark alley ways.

Watch this space - gang warfare is about to break out as the city slickers get down and dirty and take on the noxious gang.