Recently, Julie Hutton from Bonking Frog Wines contacted me to ask if I had any idea why frogs at her winery seemed to like sitting on top of her verandah posts under a hot tin roof in the middle of the day. Why wouldn’t they seek a cooler place to rest?

I did some research and found that this occurence has been documented before by Mickael J. Tyler in his book Australian Frogs : A Natural History. He noted that far from roasting in the scorching conditions, the frog’s internal temperatures were 10 degrees below the ambient temperature! Julie and I therefore agreed that if several frogs were vying for this position, then that must be the place to be!

Julie also had this to say about frogs and her fabulous property:

I love frogs, which influenced our label – I knew the name was a bit out there, and I hesitated to use it for awhile, but the frogs kept popping up everywhere, in my boots, in the bathroom, congregating behind the cushions on the verandah – in the end I thought they’re trying to tell me to go for it! And as we are trying to create a sustainable vineyard, having a healthy frog population is a great indicator of how we are going. Plus the name makes me smile and most people like it – although some get a bit grumpy. We’ve copped a serve in our local paper recently, because someone thought the name was obscene – thankfully he’s the exception.

I’m also trying to follow the ‘Bonking Frog’s example – when he starts up his call can be heard over all the other frogs – and as a small wine label in a very over crowded market, we need to stand out from the crowd, just like him.

I’ve started packaging frogs with our wines in gift packs at Christmas time
- mainly for friends, but they proved so popular I’ve added a couple to our website and hopefully other people will like them – I’m having the best time going to distributors looking for frogs, I’ve got them in all shapes and sizes.

We are very small and the cellar door is also our home, visitors are welcome 7 days a week and we have tastings on our verandah. Because we are so small we always say if someone would like to make sure we are home, just give me a ring on 0408 930 332 beforehand and I can make sure I’m around.

I’ve started a ‘frog watch’ photo diary of our frogs, which I’m showing to visitors, because so many are like us ‘frog lovers’. Although I had a visitor recently who was terrified of them, she had heart palpitations when the pot plants rustled – I didn’t dare tell her there was three sitting above her head in the rafters She was a lovely lady, poor thing just found frogs really scary.

I wonder if this lady’s name was Helen?

Thanks Julie, and thank you to all my visitors who take time to contact me with frog stories or questions or who post comments to my stories.

The photos in this story were supplied by Julie Hutton of Bonking Frog Wines.