gecko and friends

Children see the world so differently. Try as i might, i don't see as much as them. Jed found this gecko over the edge of our deck a few days ago. It's been greatly exciting to see him/her come and go, bask in the sun, do whatever it is gecko's do best.

Last year we spotted a bigger, darker gecko sunning itself on the deck. Click HERE to see that wee beauty. You can read more about native NZ geckos HERE. Any ideas on what kind of gecko we have please let me know. It looks like a Duchavel's gecko but they are very rare and aren't meant to exist here, so, hmmm, maybe not.

When it disappeared, i was looking for it in the nearby trees, on the wood, you know...natural geckoey sort of places. It was Jed who figured out it's hiding place. Inside the hollow pipe of the TV satellite dish (we're not TV watchers but if you are to get any channels out here, a satellite is needed). So, if you look very closely at the photo above, you'll see a little foot and nose...I guess no birds can snap you up in there!

Along the creature theme...the stick insects are back. All summer long they hang out on the deck walls. We have Titoki trees along the back of the deck and the stick insects seem to like them, alot. Last year i counted 17 stick insects on one tree.

And this bizarre little beauty that Jed came running in to tell me about. Call me a geek but i had to get the insect identification book out for this one. I have never seen any like it. It's a male giraffe weevil. They live for about 2 years in rotten wood feasting, to finally emerge as an adult.

Thing is, they live only 2 weeks in their adult form. Crazy.