One in the Bush: September 2010

Tipping champions!

The final results are in

After 26 weeks of the sports tipping competition at Emily's office, we've managed to come out on top to scoop the big money! Defending a seven point lead going into the last round, a shocking 50% wrong seemed to have opened the door for those chasing us. The weekend was full of shock results though and the upsets were enough to give everyone a bad score and in the end we hung on for the title. It made tracking down the one and only computer on North Uist well worth it!

And for those who didn't spot the warbler in the last post, it's the blurry smudge in the bottom corner...

Wedding and walking

Well done lads!

Over the past week or so the cuckoos have started to turn up in Sydney and so Spring is finally here. It's still a bit chilly at night but we're getting the odd warmer day here and there and the spiders are emerging with two on my car in the past two weeks. Not good.

Keeping the boys moving

A couple of weeks back the lads took part in the Oxfam Trailwalker. The event involved walking 100 km in under 48 hours from Brooklyn up on the Hawkesbury all the way down to Sydney Harbour. Of course I'm not going to be hiking 100 km so I did it in the car as support crew. That just meant carrying their gear, preparing meals, and so on. There were check-points every 10 km or so where the support crews could meet the teams and keep them on the road. The lads put in a top effort and walked non-stop day and night to raise 3 grand for a great cause. Howard even got blisters on his blisters which was a new one for the St Johns Ambulance people. Only about 55% of the teams finished so the celebrations at the finish were well justified.

Wedding day in Forbes

Last weekend Emily and I attended the wedding of Joe Sly all the way out in Forbes. Joe worked with me at Sydney Uni when I first moved to Australia and has been living in Holland and California since then so good to catch up again. Unfortunately the weather was awful with wind and rain but the country always needs rain and so people weren't too upset by it. And on the way out there the conditions seem to have given me a tick as well! We stumbled across a Barn Owl #409 flying beside the road in the middle of the day. What it was doing I don't know but maybe a few nights of atrocious weather and poor hunting forced it out in the day. Anyway, getting out of Sydney and into the country is a very good thing to do no matter what the situation.

A very full Gum Swamp, Forbes

Australasian Grebe

Spot the Reed Warbler

London

Doing the tourist thing

As you are no doubt aware, Emily and I headed back to the UK in July for a bit of a holiday and I'm sorry it's taken so long to put some pictures up. First up we spent a few days in London getting over the jet-lag and doing the tourist thing. We stayed in one of the LSE's halls of residence right in the middle of town on Tottenham Court Road which was tremendous value in a super location. We then proceeded to visit every museum, gallery and tourist attraction in the city.

Seeing the sights

Palace

Square

Bridge

Cathedral

Tower

Meridian

Eye

With a new, very large memory card installed in the camera I was able to pass it over to Emily who went photographically mental and proceeded to fill said card as fast as she could. A few of the hundreds of pictures taken are shown over the next few posts.

The Victoria and Albert

The British Museum

It was warm and sunny in London, as opposed to the winter conditions down here, and I had a surprisingly good time wandering around town for a couple of days.

Tate Modern

Oxford

After a few days in London it was time to head up to Oxford to graduate. Although I finished the degree there ten years ago I just never got round to actually graduating. There was a bit of time for punting and visiting a few old haunts before meeting up with Mum and Dad and doing the graduation thing. It was a bit disappointing to see that Starbucks has taken over Oxford like everywhere else and my favourite kebab van has also gone, but Thomas and the Linacre bar are both still there. Smashing.

Punting

Graduation

Scotland

Edinburgh from the castle

After a week down in England it was time to head north and home. Kath looked after us for the first few days and remarkably the weather remained pretty good as we toured round Fife and the Lothians.

St. Andrews

Linlithgow Palace

The Falkirk Wheel

Fishing on the Union Canal

Blackness Castle

Uist

Glen Coe

Eilean Donan Castle

Across the sea

After a week in the Central Belt we set off north with Mum and Dad for a week on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. As we drove up through Glen Coe the sun was shining and all was looking great. By the time we reached Eilean Donan Castle the first drizzle began to fall and by the time we crossed onto Skye it was raining. Unfortunately that's the way it stayed (with the odd sunny interval it must be said). Not to worry though, the fishing and bird-watching was good with Merlin, Harrier, Golden Eagle, and Short-eared Owl around the croft. At last we were able to relax for a whole week before returning down under.