"Alien" visitors

The weather has been so damp and humid in Sydney since late November that it was inevitable that some stinkhorn fungii would start to pop up in the garden. They really do look like an alien life form, so bizarre. Apparently there are over 77 varieties worldwide and the first one I've shown is indigenous to Australia. We've had about a dozen of the thin orange/pink variety called phallus rubicanus

popping up in the mulch in the garden next to the letter box (mailbox). The next one is the anenome or star stinkhorn and this is the largest I've ever seen in our garden, about 8 cm across the centre and can I say they REALLY live up to their names, peeeeuuuuuwwwww. There is a crop of about 10 next to our BBQ under a grevillea shrub.

So you can see why I'm very glad my little granddaughter Amelie (who loves digging in the garden) will not be visiting every Monday for a while. Her mum is on maternity leave waiting for the birth of our 4th grandchild and 3rd grandson in a week or so. Amelie would be so attracted to the bright red "flowers" and the smell is hard to get off your fingers if you are unfortunate enough to touch one.