Inspiration and poop??

I've been busying away with some sketching but I'll post my efforts over the weekend.

Today, it's all about inspiration and poop....well probably not the latter for real, 

but more something that makes me think of the latter.

The other day, Aaron wanted to test ride his new bicycle so we went for a walk 

to the local shops.  Well, I walked.....he rode.

On the way, I snapped some pics for inspiration.

Australian Wattle!

There was this one with it's little fluffy yellow balls.

And then there was this one which was more in the shape of yellow spikes.

And then there was this......

......which, to be frank, kinda made me think of some sort of animal poop dangling precariously in a tree

waiting to drop at any moment on passers-by.

There were all varying shapes and sizes and they appeared to be attached to the wattle tree
with the long yellow spikes.

Common sense tells me that they are some type of seed pod??

But in varying shapes and sizes??
Some look mud-like yet they don't appear to be insect nests.

Which begs the question....

what the heck ARE these??

You'd think I would know the answer being that I've lived in Australia practically all my life.
Perhaps some of my fellow Aussie bloggers may know the answer to
my burning question???

Added Update - PUZZLE IS SOLVED

After researching the puzzle for a couple of days with no success,
I gave it one more try this afternoon after publishing this post and
FOUND THE ANSWER!!

Okay,
these lumps that look like poop ARE

Rust Fungus Galls!!

You can read all about them HERE.

Essentially, they are fungus galls that kill part of the wattle trees.
Numerous insect varieties have been known to lay their larvae inside the fungus.

So much for my 'common sense' theory...hehehe

SO, there you have it!
I can sleep peacefully tonight. :)

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More inspiring photos to come......


~ Love, light and peace ~