Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly

Today we went to our friend's property at Boonah to collect a trailer load of bush rocks that I want for the bank behind the mine site. They asked us about a few garden problems :

Problem 1 :   Plum tree - lots of fruit - but all stung by Queensland Fruit Fly

Advice :  too late to do anything as the whole crop is infested.  Next year try netting  as soon as pollination has occurred

Problem 2 : Citrus leaves being eaten  by :

Advice :  This is the caterpillar of  the Orchard Swallowtail butterfly :
(Papilio aegeus)

Male

Female

At the time, I was not sure of the associated moth or butterfly but have since emailed them and suggested they leave them be, as there was not too  much leaf damage evident.

They also asked us about some passionfuit not forming fruit - we thought maybe it was a non fruiting variety and another plant that looked like a mineral or nutrient deficiency problem.

After some delicious poppy seed cake and coffee we headed up the back to collect some rocks :

This green tree frog was hiding in a pile of rocks and was carefully tucked away again :

We also checked out a bushy ridge and found some delightful native herbs in flower, that I have still to identify, and also this blue fringed lily:
(Thysanotus tuberosus)

This is the first time  I have noticed this lily - hat tip to a blog reader who sent me a photo of one a couple of weeks ago and made me aware of it. It is a really beautiful flower.  When you look carefully around the Australian bush there are lots of little visual delights to be found, especially after such good rains.