Gardening on Shore - Cid Harbour

Wednesday 27^th June 2012

Gardening on Shore - Cid Harbour
Very overcast with some sunshine and a few showers

Sunset in Cid Harbour

Today was the first time that we have been able to get off the boat in four days, four days of wind and rain. In the afternoon the sun actually came out and the air was warm, warm enough to be in shorts and t-shirt once more.
I thought that this would be a good day to do some gardening in this nice warm sunshine. Into the dinghy went the Thai Coriander plant that I had bought at the markets in Airlie last Saturday along with the small bag of dirt that I had carried all the way home from Bunning’s, my bag of garden tools and the small planter box. MrJ and I dinghied over to the southern beach in Sawmill Bay; this is where I unloaded all my goodies and began to garden, being careful not to spill or leave any of my mess on the beach.

MrJ talking to a fellow boatie (Peter)

After the gardening I went exploring with my camera. While on my exploration I came across some bright orange bugs on the berry and leaves of a mangrove tree. I am under the belief that the bug is a species of Crusader bug (or holy cross bug) and the tree is a Mangrove Apple (sonneratia alba)

The Crusader bug is an insect located mainly in Australia but is also found in Indonesia and the Indo-Pacific. They can be seen nearly anywhere from urban areas through to the coast but are not found in the desert. The Crusader Bug is a brown bug with a striking yellow cross on its back. It has long legs with hind legs much thicker than other legs (my photo does not show this). The antennae have orange tips (my photo does not show this). The thorax has prominent conical spines projecting on either side at the shoulders. Later instar nymphs have two orange spots in the middle of the upper surface of abdomen (my photos show orange body with black spots).

Crusader Bugs

The Mangrove Apple grows up to 15m tall. Its leaves are rounded and leathery. The flower is white, pom-pom-like and open only for one night. The fruit are large (4 cm) green with a star-shaped base containing 100-150 tiny seeds that are white, flattened and buoyant and they are leathery. Mangrove Apple grow mostly along banks of tidal rivers, creeks and within sheltered bays of offshore islands and reef cays They have thick cone-shaped aerial roots and use ultra filtration at the root level to exclude salt. Mangrove Apple can tolerate wide fluctuations in salinity and often grow on exposed, soft but stable mud banks low on the tidal mudflats. It is believed that they store excess salt in old leaves which they later shed. Alba is the most widespread of the Sonneratia - they are found from East Africa through the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, northern Australia, Borneo and Pacific Islands.


Young Crusader Bugs