Dust storm

A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks with Kath and Dave coming to visit me down under and a ridiculous dust storm blowing into town as well. I'll briefly sum it up in a couple of posts...

Spooky

Apparently it was a once-in-70-years storm whipped up by strong westerly winds and it swept into town last week. Sydneysiders awoke to a strange orange light and on opening the blinds, all you could see was a thick orange fog blocking out the whole city. Really weird. It cleared by late afternoon and the car washes started raking in the cash. NASA took a great picture of the dust strorm which you can see here.

Martian

Victoria road-trip

Port Fairy

With Kath and Dave out here to visit the other week it was time for a road-trip. After hanging out in Sydney for a week or so we all headed west with Emily coming along too. We firstly travelled to Cowra and then south and west to Bendigo and on to Port Fairy on the Victorian south coast. We then headed east along the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne via Lorne. Two nights in Melbourne were followed by a stop-over on Phillip Island before we returned to Sydney via Albury.

Great Ocean Road

We only had a couple of days of rain which is pretty good for Victoria I think. Unfortunately Emily and I were caught out on a beach in Port Fairy by a crazy hail storm and torrential rain while Kath and Dave had sensibly gone for the sitting-by-the-fire-in-the-pub option. The second day of dampness got us while we sat in the dark watching penguins emerge from the sea on Phillip Island. Apart from those minor set-backs, the trip was smooth and a lot of fun. The wildlife was awesome and its just very nice to be at the sea-side for a while. The feeling in Victoria is very much a sea-side feel rather than a coastal feel like it is in Sydney. Subtly different!

Roof top bar - Melbourne

One for the folks at home

Cowes, Phillip Island

I swear there are no fish in Australia!

Holbrook - HMAS Otway seems to have lost its way

Big Merino, Goulburn - much more impressive than Narrandera's "big" guitar

Wildlife of the Victorian coast

Koalas - Kennett River, Great Ocean Road

Swamp Wallaby - Port Fairy

The animals on the trip were fantastic and pretty much anything that could be seen came out to give us a good look. We saw dolphins and even an enormous fish threw itself from the water to give us all a better view. Whales lay just metres from the beach while koalas were dripping from the trees like fruit. Emus, kangaroos and wallabies frollicked around us while an echidna got very friendly indeed.

Sting-ray (about 2 m across!) - Port Fairy

Kath befriends an echidna - Port Fairy

On the bird front things proved none too shabby either. The penguins on Phillip Island are a tourist attraction but a few other nice individuals put in an appearance. I was hoping for just two new ones but came away with six. In torrential rain and hail on the beach at Port Fairy I picked up a single Sanderling #401 among the Red-necked Stints. A return to the beach with Kath the next morning turned up a Shy Albatross #402 and a pair of Hooded Plovers #403. That meant I didn't have to look for them on Phillip Island which is just as well because the visitor centre there said there were only 10 pairs left on the whole island. A great tick!

Hooded Plovers - Port Fairy

At Warnambool there is a beach where Southern Right Whales and their calves hang out in a "whale nursery" and sure enough there were plenty lolling in the water just off the beach. Coming back down the hill Emily had me turn the car round to look at some strange green parrots. Juvenile Rosellas as it turned out but right behind them on the grass were three European Greenfinch #404. Sweet!

Southern Right Whale - Warnambool

A Black-faced Cormorant #405 on a sea stack on the Great Ocean Road and several Cape Barren Geese #406 on Phillip Island completed the list expansion. Great guns! Still no thrushes in Melbourne's botanic gardens and the certain Tree Sparrows in Euroa didn't come through but then that just gives me a reason to go back again.

Cape Barren Goose - Phillip Island

En Zed

Where was I at the weekend?

Well it was only going to be a matter of time but the Huntsmen found a way in! Fortunately they're just like the spiders at home and can't climb out of the bath although the one in there last night was almost big enough to be able to just step out. There was no option but to give him both barrels with a can of Raid in one hand and a can of Mortein in the other. Word must have got out though and tonight one of his mates was waiting for me on the back gate when I got home from work. Luckily Emily came out to save me and shooed it off with a broom. Tense stuff!

Botanical gardens, Christchurch

Avon River

Last weekend was much more pleasant and was spent in Christchurch in New Zealand. Emily's Uncle John was having a 6oth birthday party and so I decided I might as well pop over there for a weekend away. We only had a couple of days so we didn't leave Christchurch and just hung out with various aunts, uncles and cousins in the botanical gardens and the sea-side suburb of Sumner. It was all very nice.

Sumner with the Alps in the distance

Black-backed Gull

Christchurch is just like home in a way and it was nice to see Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Song Thrush, Chaffinch and Goldfinch hopping about among the daffodils. I did manage to add a couple of new birds to my New Zealand list too. The New Zealand Pigeon #41 and the Grey Warbler #42. Great stuff.

Song Thrush

Paradise Shelduck