Weekend in Mudgee

Drysdalia rhodogaster

The eye is still improving very slowly but I'm still very much relying on others to get out and about and so I've just spent a top weekend with the Reid clan in Mudgee. The excitement started even before Emily and I left Sydney, however, with the news that Rescorla (the cat - who has been staying up in the Mountains since Easter) managed to catch herself a snake! Down here in the city she's always getting wee lizards and spiders but moving up to snakes demonstrates a significant escalation in bravery (and stupidity).

The poor thing was a bit worse for wear after Scorls had finished with it

Although venomous, the snake (Drysdalia rhodogaster - known variously as the Mustard-bellied Snake or Blue Mountains Crowned Snake) is not regarded as dangerous to humans or, it seems, cats. Lucky girl!

The Drip - Goulburn River NP

Over in Mudgee we got out into the bush a little but any birdwatching was very difficult with the bright sunlight. I had to wait for things to come to me and show themselves very obviously. Even then I was too slow with the camera so missed out on a beautiful Mistletoebird which perched next to me and also a terrific Water Rat (Hydromys chrysogaster) which was swimming about in a river looking an awful lot like a beaver.

Crazy caterpillars

The only things moving slow enough to catch were a group of crazy caterpillars which travel about the place in a head-to-tail formation so as to appear like a much larger animal. Nice ruse!

You're really not fooling anyone though...

One-eyed twitch

Black Noddy - Long Reef

Just because you may only have one eye working and a bit of sensitivity to bright sunlight does not mean that you sit inside when a rare vagrant blows into town. No way, a potential twitch requires action!

In my current situation it just meant that I had to ask an unnamed mate to knock off work and drive me over there to spot it! And so yesterday we went over to Long Reef on Sydney's Northern Beaches to try to find a tropical tern which has been hanging around there for the past week. Surely more comfortable at home on the Barrier Reef, this particular individual seems to be happy enough for now hanging around a rock platform in Sydney.

As soon as we arrived, the Black Noddy #408 was spotted flying over the sea at the end of the rocks. Not by me, obviously, as I staggered through the sunshine over the rough rocky outcrop. As we got to the end of the rocks, however, we both had fantastic prolonged views of the Noddy fishing in the surf. I also managed to point my camera in it's general direction and got a couple of pictures for you.

Top twitching!

Easter getaway

The eye continues to improve slowly and the big news from Tuesday's visit to the hospital is that the bugs are dead! Yes indeed, the little blighters hung on for three weeks but the eye is now sterile. As a result, the antibiotic dosage has been reduced and I don't need to get up in the night anymore so last night was my first sleep through since all this began. It's now just a question of the eye physically healing.

Three weeks

The Easter weekend was spent up in the Blue Mountains at the 'in-laws' and apart from a bedroom Huntsman spider incident, the change of scenery was as refreshing as ever. Those spiders are unnerving at the best of times but when you can't quite see where they're running, it's a truly terrifying experience! There are a few possums up there at the minute as well and we managed to spotlight this one in the garden...

Common Ringtail Possum