To celebrate 50 years of photographing Australia, Steve Parrish will be recalling his travels around the continent and showing examples of his work at a presentation to be held from 7-8.30pm on 20 July in the Mal Nairn Auditorium at CDU. This is a free event, but booking is essential at www.nature-connect.com.au/events/. The site also gives details of the one-day photography seminar Steve will be holding, and of the five-day field trip to Kakadu he will be leading.

COTA NT is hosting a lunch at 11.30am on 17 July at Spillett House, 65 Smith Street, Darwin, when Steve Sunk, The Walkabout Chef, and his team will be giving a cooking presentation and preparing the meal. The cost is $5 per person; bookings are essential and should be made by 5 July by calling Julie on 8941 1004 or emailing her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The fifth lecture in the joint National Trust/Historical Society 2013 series will be held at 5.30pm on 28 June at Burnett House, Larrakeyah when the Administrator, Her Honour The Honourable Sally Thomas, will be presenting a talk celebrating 150 years since the South Australia Letters Patent transferred the Northern Territory to South Australia. Admission is $2 for members, $5 for non-members.

A questionnaire when you receive this year's Seniors' Month calendar. COTA NT and CDU's Northern Institute are conducting a survey to update information on the profiles and needs of the Territory's seniors. The data collected will be used to inform government and service providers of our interests and needs to be taken into account in future policy decisions.

Part Eighteen: Disappearances and Returns

It is now mid-June as I write this and at last we are experiencing cooler weather. Usually with the onset of Banggerreng in March, the rain clouds slowly begin to disappear during April and the oppressive conditions of the wet season begin to diminish to cooler night temperatures and bearable daytime living.

Not so this year as it was not until 25 May that we woke to a wonderful energising temperature of 25?C. With almost no humidity and a stiff south-easterly wind, it completed the transformation from the Wet to the Dry. It was just cool enough to bring a slight shiver to our heat-dulled senses. The time of Yegge (May/June) has arrived. The fluffy cumulus clouds have mostly gone and the progression to dry, searing heat and vast blue skies has commenced. Late, admittedly, but we look forward to cold (winter) nights.

This late transition of seasons did bring some interesting changes to my HappHazzid garden and surrounding area.

In a previous episode, I wrote of the early disappearance of frogs from my garden even though I had supplied water containers and other inducements to encourage them to stay around. Our flock of resident ibis had also taken wing to parts unknown.

In 'The Case of the Missing Frogs', it was all to do with their need to find a quiet, cool, damp, safe possie (away from lawnmowers, blowers, whipper snippers etc) enabling them to survive the coming six or so waterless months ahead. Normally frogs will have completed their contribution towards procreation (and thus the continuation of the frog species) during our wetter months. This universal activity usually spans the period of December to April here in the tropics – the main monsoon months. Come Banggerreng frogs begin their search for cool, damp 'hibernating' spots.

Because of a lack of adequate monsoon rains this Wet (global warming ?), most frog colonies seemed to depart earlier than normal to burrow into the soft, moist places on their annual get-away holiday calendar.

As for the disappearance of the ibis, a similar reason prevailed. Because the automatic watering system in this complex is always turned off at the mere hint of rain, and because we received so little rain, no self-respecting worm, insect or beetle remained as surface fodder for the big birds. I also think that the ground was too hard for their long, slender beaks to penetrate, so greener pastures such as Fogg Dam or the Arnhem floodplains beckoned. I must admit it was actually quite strange to see the grass turn brown during a wet season.

Anyhow, it was also nesting time, and the rookeries fringing the mangroves of the flooded (??) river systems would attract many varieties of birds – cormorants, egrets, pelicans, herons, ibis etc – all enjoying the abundance of small aquatic life and vegetation.

Now the ibis have returned, but in much depleted numbers. And the automatic watering is on the blink ! I often see just a single ibis seeking caterpillars or just something to eat as he patrols the grounds of the complex, instead of the dozen or more that were here previously.

Next time: Feeding the birds

2013 marks the 25th anniversary of the Glenti, and this year's celebration of Greek heritage and presence in Darwin with dancing, music and food promises to be better and bigger than ever, with fireworks added as a new feature. The organisers expect that last year's visitor numbers of 35,000 - and sales of two and a half tonnes octopus - will be exceeded at this year's event which takes place in Bicentennial Park on 8 and 9 June.

The analog television signals will be switched off in the Darwin area at the end of next month, and from 31 July television programs will only be transmitted digitally. If you are able to watch such channels as ABC2, SBS2, GO! And 7TWO, your set is digital-ready and you won't need to do anything. If this is not the case, you will need to think about getting a set-top box to convert the signal or a new TV set. For help or more information call 1800 201 013 or go to www.australia.gov.au/digitalready.

Continuing a tradition that developed during the First World War, the Australian War Memorial has, in the last decade, commissioned many official artists to explore and record the Australian experience of war and peacekeeping around the world. Its current travelling exhibition, Perspectives presents the unique insights of two contemporary artists, Jon Cattapan and eX de Medici, responding to the subject of peacekeeping in Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands. The exhibition runs until 14 July.

The overseas postage rates for letters were increased in April; it now costs $2.60 to send a standard letter to most destinations, a rise of 25 cents. The post and greetings card rate remains unchanged at $1.70.

• The Spanish for Beginners Group which meets on Tuesdays; call 8948 0411
• The Cryptic Crossword Group; call 8985 5804

If you're interested in starting up a group to share your skills with other members, please contact any member of the Board.

Part Seventeen: And now the DRY ?

I write this at the start of May, and although officialdom has declared that the DRY season is here, it seems to me that the (dry) WET season hasn't finished playing games with us just yet. Early morning pale blue skies and slightly diminished humidity are encouraging signs of dry season commencement. The next day, however, brings gathering dark-tinted clouds, a predicted 34? temperature and persistent overpowering humidity, and then a sudden rush of a ten-minute heavy monsoonal squall.

The following day I look up to see, against a brilliant azure backdrop, dazzling white low-flying, ever-changing, fluffy cumulus clouds shuffling westward underneath the higher-up rippled cirrus. They are blown by a deceptive, whispering, south-easterly breeze indicating a query from nature – will it rain or will it not ?

This vacillating weather is really beginning to threaten our endurance, health and sanity: "Troppo" season at the wrong time of the year !

Nevertheless, as the sun's orbit moves ever northward, the lack of sufficient wet season rain has produced an early leaf-drop in my large deciduous "no-green-ants" tree (henceforth to be known as The Tree). As the chlorophyll leaches from the leaves, turning them from green to red to russet to brown, they fall to earth filling my pot plants and lawn with an untidy choking mess of dry, leathery leaves. It is now a weekly (soon to be daily) chore raking and scooping out/up leaves prior to running the sprinklers.

However, most of the leafy growth still remains and my bird/animal watching time has changed from early evening Chardonnay-time to 8am cappuccino-time. With the high-arc sprinkler spraying silver droplets into the lower branches, across the lawn and into the bananas, the smaller birds dart furiously in and out of the spray while the larger friarbirds perform aerial gymnastics under the showering water, sometimes using the lower branches and hanging baskets trapeze-style, to turn and somersault onto another resting spot. They are a real joy to watch – their pleasure is almost contagious.

At this time – 8am to 9am – when the sun's early rays creep like tentacles across the land and expose the previously opaque foliage, The Tree now resounds with a myriad of birdsong. Large and small, the birds revel in the spray and their melodious trilling of appreciation attracts many more relatives to join the fun.

While the bar-shouldered dove watches these antics from his prone position (one wing raised of course) on the lawn, his mate coos softly from the nest she has chosen to build under the eaves in my patio area. It was interesting to watch the process of Dad helping Mum to nestbuild in this somewhat precarious position, and I didn't have the heart to discourage them. Should I have given them an eviction notice ? Before or after they had gone to so much trouble ? Will they make too much mess or maybe too much family noise just above the bedroom louvres ? Only time will tell as I eagerly wait for the hatchlings.

Next month: The return of the ibis and an unexpected visitor.

From 2pm on 18 May in the area around Parliament House and in the Chan Building, the local Italian Community will be showcasing Italian food and beverages, fashion, cars, culture and entertainment. Entry is free and there will be free parking in West Lane car park.