Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Boat Harbour (6th April '07)

On Good Friday, Jarrod and I went down to Boat Harbour which is an exposed ocean rock platform south of Botany Bay. Very exposed when we were down there!

My birding website had tipped us off to a Wandering Tattler which has been hanging out down there for a couple of weeks. In the event, there was no sign of the Tattler but there were some great rock-pools.

Sea anemones

Starfish

Despite the absence of the Tattler, the birds were quite good and we spotted two kelp gulls #345 which are certainly not very common and also a few double-banded plovers #346 which come over here from New Zealand each winter and which I have failed to catch in previous years.

Kelp gulls (and Sooty oystercatcher)

Sheltering Nankeen kestrel

Snorkeling story

After the tour we all had another few days in Sydney and on one of these we went down to La Perouse on Botany Bay for a swim with a few of the lads.

Everything was going fine until.....

Snorkeling with Allan, we spotted a bait-ball just below the surface so went over to investigate...

There were hundreds of small fish being very friendly and following us about. Terns and cormorants above the water had also found the shoal and were preparing to attack.

It seems that they were hanging out with Allan and myself for protection.

Suddenly another shoal of fish arrived and started to circle us. Bigger ones these between a half a metre and a metre in length.

And following them, an even bigger fish! Circling just out of sight in the murky water, this thing was huge! It was at about this time that we made the decision to get back to the beach. Quickly.

In hindsight it was probably not too dodgy. Allan saw some yellow on a large sickle-shaped tail-fin so it was maybe some sort of tuna type thing or a big kingfish rather than a hungry shark out for our blood.

Animals on tour

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Southern Scaly Foot (actually a legless lizard)

Obviously my main objective on the tour was to see the wildlife and here are some of the many creatures we encountered. Highlights included a night spotlighting trip where we found a koala and there were hundreds of kangaroos and wallabies everywhere including brush-tailed rock wallabies. We also came across a pair of displaying lyrebirds, a big lace monitor at Noosa and, of course, my new birds. We also found a load of wompoo fruit-doves in a patch of rainforest in Ravensbourne NP which is not a new bird for me but you have to love your ridiculously-named pigeons!

Eastern Rosella

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

The trip got off to a great start with a flame robin #341 on our very first walk. This was followed up the very next day by the grey currawong #342 and the little raven #343. However, I then had to wait until Queensland to pick up the yellow-tufted honeyeater #344 which completed my scoring.

Some sort of well-camouflaged gecko

Eastern Water Dragon

Some creatures are not so welcome like this leech!

Great Dividing Range (March '07)

What a fun bunch! - Blue Mountains

Most of our holiday was spent on a 13 day tour of the Great Dividing Range starting in the Blue Mountains just outside Sydney and then heading north as far as Noosa and Fraser Island up in Queensland. In the event, we were the only people on the tour and so the three of us and John and Ros Thompson, our hosts, made up a very small but very pleasant group. It was the lap of luxury all the way this time staying in nice motels and forest lodges, drinking wine with dinner and travelling in a brand new, custom-built truck which, despite being likened to a bin lorry at one point, was comfortable, fully air-conditioned and had a fridge for those cold drinks which are essential after trekking for hours through the bush.

Nice truck!

Being a walking holiday, we spent most of the time walking. We were ridiculously lucky with the weather too with the only really rainy day occurring on what was primarily a travelling day. It wasn't too hot either so the walking, although raising a healthy glow, wasn't too painful!
And you too can enjoy a friendly and fun trip through the Australian bush with John and Ros! Check out the many opportunities at their website here.

Heading further north....

Deep gorges and waterfalls in Oxley Wild Rivers NP near Armidale

Above the clouds early morning in New England NP

Granite country around Girraween NP on the NSW-QLD border

Rainforest in Ravensbourne NP - Home to the Wompoo fruit-dove!

Noosa and the Pacific Ocean

Volcanic plugs of the Glass House Mountains just north of Brisbane

Around Sydney

Footie update: First lets get the sorry story of the football out of the way. When the semi-final rolled around, we managed to put in by far our worst performance of the short season and were completely smashed. I lost count of the score after it passed 6-0. We scored a couple of late consolations but out we went with less than a whimper. Oh well, new season starts in about a month's time.

Sulphur-crested cockatoos

OK, so as I'm sure you're all aware, my parents were down to visit recently so here's a quick summary of our time together......

It was actually grey and rainy at times......

......but not for long!

I was at work for the first few days so Mum and Dad spent the days roaming the streets of Sydney and in particular the botanical gardens and the parkland around the harbour. Dad was also getting the hang of his new camera, with some pretty decent results, before the serious business of our tour got underway.

Grey-headed flying fox

Masked lapwing

Rainbow lorikeets

Monday, April 02, 2007

For Linda

Hello everyone. I'm back! My folks have just been out to visit for a few weeks so I've not been able to keep things up to date since we spent most of our time on a most excellent tour of the Great Dividing Range. I'll have all the pictures and action for you shortly when I sort all of Dad's pictures out. I didn't bother taking my camera so the photos in the next few posts are all from him.

Meanwhile, here are a few spiders........!

Look out!

Footie update: Just before I went away on tour I played in a tense 4-4 draw against Scunthorpe United and even managed to score twice. This left the lads needing a couple of good results while I was away and they duly delivered. Two wins (something to do with my absence?) moved us up to third place in the league and sent us marching into the play-offs. The semi-final is tomorrow night and we meet Scunthorpe again to battle for a place in the Grand Final. Exciting stuff!