walking the local lanes

Many suburbs in our area have lanes along the rear of the houses, between the main streets. In the past they were for men to come in through the back gates in the dark and take away the containers of 'night soil'.

Some homes still have a back gate to these lanes, even though they aren't used for the same purpose. Many homes don't have access to the lanes these days.

However, the quiet lanes with their lack of cars make great places to walk a dog off-lead, and we often use them in this way, though we have to be careful to keep an eye out for snakes in the warmer months, if the grass has not been mown or if the lane is not paved.

Beautiful plants lean out into the lanes over back fences.

In one lane, someone has drilled holes in their fence so their plants can grow through. The plants, by growing through the hole, face north and so get good sunlight. That particular house doesn't have a gate into the lane, so I suppose the people must come up from the next cross street to get their fruit. They have a passionfruit and a grape.

However, there's a beautiful passionfruit plant in another lane, facing south.

wandering the laneways with a dog

Penny and I often walk along the local laneways, enjoying the quiet pace of life off the main roads.



A few days ago we decided to explore some of the laneways that have not been "developed" as walking tracks, the ones that are mostly unused.





I suspect it's the existence of these often overgrown, hidden tracks that explain why our area is Snake Central! I'll be on the alert once more from October to May, and we won't be wandering so carelessly up these lanes. Also, I think there must be a population of foxes roaming them, too, to judge by the number of animal bodies we came across as we walked.

I think the first one was a ring-tailed possum.



Then we saw two dead birds - magpies, I think.




It's sad to see these dead bodies, but I guess they are part of the cycle of nature. Certainly, their bodies were decaying into the soil, and it seemed as if something had eaten them away.

But it was good to see a live magpie. And even though it's still the middle of winter, this bird was building its nest, so we'll be looking out for swooping magpies in the future.