If it's nature, don't touch it!

Hi again,
I keep trying to write a blog, but we have been so busy it's really difficult to find the time, not to mention there are so many new things to report that I just don't know where to start half the time.
As for the title of the this blog entry, team Davidson has a new rule. We don't know what anything is here, and we are surrounded by jungle. We keep having things pointed out to us all around the house that we can't touch, or that are dangerous, so we have decided that if it's nature, we just won't touch it. Here's an example... There is a plant that looks like a harmless berry bush right in the driveway. This particular bush looks like a thorn less blackberry bush. It lures tourists in with it's nice berries & before you know it you've been stung like you've never been stung before. The sting lasts on average 3 MONTHS!!!!! There is nothing you can do about it. OUCH!!!The "wait a while" vine hangs down from the top of the trees & it's spikes will rip your skin like razors if you hit it. It's hard to see, because it's above you, so you have to look everywhere, even up when you take a walk.
Coming home the other day we found a 10 foot amethystine python in the driveway less than 100 feet from the house. Hamish picked it up and handed it to me. It constricted my arm so hard I thought it was going to break it. It wrapped around so tight I lost all feeling in my hand for a few minutes after we got it off.
In the driveway you can find wallabies and Bandicoots. We have fruit trees all over, but you have to be careful when approaching them, because some have nasty wasps in them that are unlike any we've seen at home. Apparently they are relentless when they decide to attack you. They will attack if you get to close to their nest...you don't even have to touch it.
I found a goanna (large monitor lizard) in our open air bathroom....that was quite a shock. It was 4 feet long and not scared of me at all. This morning I found a 5 foot tree snake skin in the same bathroom. It had shed it's skin in there somewhere between the time Ben visited it, and when I went in about an hour later...We think it may be living in the rafters. Ben got a shock last night when a bandicoot popped out in front of him durring his middle of the night potty run.
We have bush turkeys all over the place, and down the road you can see kangaroos every morning & evening congregating at a particular park next to the road to eat. Ben got a shock when at work he picked some tin up to find about 8 bird eating spiders.... HUGE, deadly, nasty spiders as big as dinner plates!!! I have found two huntsman spiders in the kitchen & about had a heart attack. Spider spray & frying pans have been strategically placed around the house to solve that problem.
There are cane toads all over the place! They are fairly harmless if you leave them alone. If you scare them, or pick them up they secrete a poison from the glands on the side of their heads. Yuck. There have been stories of people getting really ill from these toads getting into water tanks & stuff. The other night I freaked out when in the middle of a nice deep sleep, out of nowhere a huge tree frog jumped on me and started hopping up & down my legs. I was alright once I figured out what it was, in fact, we let it sleep in the house & Henry ran around after it in the morning watching it jump around. It was a beautiful frog. We have geckos living in the rafters of the house. They are great, because they eat the bugs. They chirp and squeak and it's pretty cute. The frogs are so loud outside at night you have to practically yell over them at each other.
We have amazing beautiful Ulysses butterflies here that glow blue in the sun. They are a rare species & really amazing. We have them all over at the house.

Ok, so that's the wildlife update here. I know there's more, but I just can't think of it at the moment. We will write back soon.

G'day from down under!

Hello everyone!
We've made it safe & sound to Australia and had a few days to settle in....sort of. We have been flat out busy since we arrived! We will take some pictures for you soon! We just haven't really had time. We arrived here on Thursday night and stayed up a bit with our friends Sarah, Hamish & Jack, then woke up the next morning and off Ben went to work & I stayed with Henry & tried to put the house together & sort our luggage out, then on Friday night we went to Mic & Kim's house for dinner & had a great time with them. On Saturday The boys moved the boat up river to a new mooring & Sarah, Henry, & I did some shopping...thats an adventure all on it's own here! Then, Saturday night we had the jenkin's friend Naomi over with her two little girls Chloe & Georgie (4 & 2). Today is Sunday & the guys have gone out to the building site (the block) to dig footing holes & The ladies & Henry are here at home having tea & Violet crumbles watching huge amounts of rain come down...they assure me this is nothing though, that this torrential downpour is only a sprinkle & just wait until the wet season comes. I can't imagine!
This week I've already got a playgroup scheduled for Wednesday, also this week, we are going to the nursery to get seeds for the veggie garden, and picking up chickens, possible baby swim lessons & aquarobics as well...plus more dinner dates with friends!!! We are so busy it's amazing! We love it!!! 9 months will fly by in no time at all!!!
We basically live in the garden of Eden as well. We have avocado, pineapple, pomegranate, litchi, lime, lemon, grapefruit, and some other fruit trees all over the yard which is huge & gorgeous!There are wild turkeys & wallabies everywhere, wild pigs, dingoes, Cassowary, kangaroos...and so much more here too. We've only seen the birds & wallabies so far, but heard dingoes last night & the python took a chicken right before we got here, so it will be back.
Well, Henry needs me & I've got Lemington cake ( a very Australian item)to make for dinner, so I should go. Love you all & can't wait to hear from you! We do miss you despite being so busy.

-Kristen