One in the Bush

Warm and sticky

2012-01-29T16:19:00.010+11:00

It seems to be that time of year now when it's warm but raining all the time so a bit unpleasant to be out. I'm still banned from swimming with my new eye and so I can't even get into the water to cool off. I'm seeing the surgeon again on Tuesday though so maybe I can get the green light to return to the sea.

Damp millipede

The spiders love the warm and damp weather so they're swarming about outside with the odd incursion indoors. We had the fastest individual ever in the house a couple of days back. I timed him on a lap of the living room at about 5 seconds! Tricky to keep up with and tricky to catch.

This one's a little bigger!

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo

We've been out here and there but with minimal walking involved! An unsuccessful twitch for Little Button-quail at Centennial Park and a trip to North Head have been about the limit of my efforts.

The city from North Head

Eastern Water Dragon

On Friday, however, I experienced one of my proudest ever moments. Published on the BBC live cricket commentary! Admittedly it was about 5am in the UK and so only a few expats writing in at that point in time, but my mediocre effort at humour regarding hypothetical cricketer's pubs was deemed worthy of a mention!

You beauty!

Wallaby at Woodford?!

2012-01-21T14:58:00.003+11:00

It has long been claimed that kangaroos and wallabies frequent the garden up in Woodford but in all my time spent up in the Mountains, I've never seen so much as a hint of macropod action. In an attempt to prove their existence, Roger just sent me the following picture. Now I'm not inferring anything, but it may be worth bearing in mind at this point that Maria is a bit of an expert when it comes to Photoshop!

Roger in a wallaby suit?

Christmas critters

2012-01-11T23:55:00.013+11:00

Happy New Year everyone and all the best for 2012! I hope you all had a good break over the festive period. I spent most of the time sleeping up in the Blue Mountains but I did manage to get out into the garden and surrounding bush for some of the time in search of interesting stuff. I also managed to get out on one fruitless twitch attempting to find Pilotbirds in Winmalee but to no avail. Summer has arrived in Sydney over the past couple of weeks too but despite the odd day with soaring temperatures, I didn't manage to find any snakes. There were a few good critters around though...

Lizards:

Jacky Lizard (Amphibolurus muricatus)

Cunningham's Skink (Egernia cunninghami)

Lots of Eastern Water Skinks (Eulamprus quoyii)

Insects:

Mantis

Stick Insect

Frogs:

Peron's Tree Frog (Litoria peroni)

And the ubiquitous Huntsmen of course:

This one is only size ML (also available in L and XL!)

Wedding in Taupo

2011-12-07T20:28:00.005+11:00

At the weekend we popped over to New Zealand for Emily's cousin's wedding which was held in Taupo in the middle of the North Island. Despite the grey and rainy weather it was a nice weekend away and I even managed to add three more ticks to my New Zealand bird list. It should have been four but I missed the pair of turkeys that Emily spotted in a field just outside of Auckland. The low cloud blocked out any views of the volcanoes in the region but the steaming ground and sulfurous smell was something new.

Lake Taupo

On the way back I had my first taste of the Airbus A380 and being an Emirates A380 it was pretty good. The camera looking forward from the top of the tail was especially fun!

A380

Critters

2011-11-28T21:22:00.004+11:00

A couple of interesting critters up in the mountains this weekend. First up, a nice Eastern Blue-tongue lizard. These large skinks try to scare off predators by opening their mouths wide which are bright pink on the inside with a crazy blue tongue. Interesting strategy. Not sure how effective that would actually be though!

Eastern Blue-tongue

Secondly, a White-tailed Spider was roaming around the house one evening. These are nocturnal and interestingly hunt other spiders and, although smaller, they pack a pretty unpleasant and potentially dangerous bite.

White-tailed Spider

When we returned home there was a bit of a larger spider in our own living room. I don't have a picture though as we were too busy 'dealing with it', but we later measured it at just over 10 cm across. Not pleasant.

Sculpture by the Sea

2011-11-28T20:46:00.015+11:00

The 15th annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition was just on the other weekend and I actually popped over to see it this year for the first time. Over 100 sculptures are installed on the coastal path between Bondi and Tamarama. As is the way with sculpture, some was good, some was very bad, and some was just very weird. These are just a few of them...

Good

Bad

Ugly

Weird

Tyre tortoise

Snipe twitch 2

2011-11-13T18:25:00.007+11:00

On the trail of the Painted Snipe

In November 2009, Emily and I headed 400km west to Dubbo to find a Painted Snipe that was hanging out in a small temporary pond in a random paddock. When we arrived, however, the pond had dried up the day before and the snipe was gone. But over the last couple of weeks there have suddenly been reports of Painted Snipe all over the place and two of these were from the west of Sydney by Windsor and Richmond. Apparently these birds will appear further east in greater numbers after good inland rains and then promptly disappear again. So no time to lose, especially with a couple of them allegedly right on our doorstep. We certainly weren't going to miss out again so we hooked up with Jarrod and headed out last Sunday. With my eye slowly improving but still very much in the 'dodgy' category, Jarrod's keen sight was required and he didn't let us down getting onto the Painted Snipe #416 as soon as we pulled up at the first of our two possible sites. Too easy!

Too far away for my little camera

In fact the only problem was dodging the hailstones from the angry thunderstorm passing overhead. With the snipe in the bag so quickly we popped up the road to Scheyville NP and that proved to be inspired as we shortly bagged a White-throated Gerygone #417 in the trees by the car-park. A summer visitor to Sydney, they're common enough in the dry woodland in the west of the Sydney basin but have somehow managed to evade me up until now.

Those folks with ridiculously keen attention may notice that these new bird numbers are not in sequence with previous entries. I was just going through my lists and was horrified to find a mistake way back at bird #45 and so almost the whole list has been out by one. All is fixed up now though and still a net gain for the week. Excellent!

The stuff of nightmares

Transplant!

2011-10-28T12:09:00.005+11:00

On Tuesday I had my eye operation and everything went very well. I had a further check-up at the hospital this morning and that showed that everything is healing up nicely. In the event, the scarring to the cornea from the original infection was too deep to do the preferred partial thickness graft and so they switched to a full thickness transplant as they were going along. The operation took about 2 hours with 16 tiny stitches put in to hold the new cornea in place. After a night in the hospital, I came home on Wednesday afternoon and apart from a bit of soreness and discomfort, I'm feeling good and hopefully the sight will slowly return over the coming weeks and months. I don't have to wear a patch or anything and just have to put in antibiotic and steroid drops every couple of hours to prevent infection and rejection of the donor tissue.

Before - Lots of scarring...

... After - New cornea!

Emily returned to work this morning after looking after me so well for the first couple of days. In between doses of eye-drops she did a bit of baking which was torture for me as I'm still on this diet and so the cakes are off limits for now. But check out her burger cake... Amazing!

Cake

New tyres

2011-10-23T15:49:00.003+11:00

What?! New tyres?! Sorry folks, but seriously nothing has happened over the last few weeks to warrant a mention on the blog. This may have something to do with the 8 week long liver detox diet that I've taken on. No alcohol, no red meat, no cheese (among other things) for 8 weeks! It's a nightmare and severely curtails one's social calendar. Oh well, 3 weeks down now so only 5 to go.

New tyre

My eye operation is also scheduled for Tuesday and so at last, 19 months after losing the sight in that left eye, it may soon be restored! Can't wait and hopefully some good pictures after!

Red Centre

2011-09-25T15:51:00.012+10:00

Red Centre

Kath and Dave were just down visiting on their bi-annual trip and once again we decided to spend a week of their holiday over in the Red Centre. We had a couple of days in Alice Springs and then two nights at Kings Canyon and two more at the Ayers Rock resort.

Ormiston Gorge - West McDonnell Ranges

Salt Lake - Lasseter Highway

After recent heavy rains in the centre, the desert was looking much greener than in previous trips. On a couple of days the temperature didn't even get above 20C and so it didn't really feel like you were in the desert at all. Walking was therefore easy and I had a couple of very pleasant strolls round the Kings Canyon rim walk and the Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta but once again I was denied the chance of climbing Uluru. This time the excuse was that it was too windy. Yes, I'll admit there was a bit of a breeze blowing but seriously, it's all a bit silly.

Kings Canyon

Valley of the Winds - Kata Tjuta

Too windy

Driving around was also easier than usual as we got a free upgrade at the car hire place and we found ourselves with plenty of room in a Nissan X-trail. The cruise control was a very useful feature for outback driving.

Upgrade

Green desert

As usual, I managed to get out for a few early morning bird-watching trips and I have to say that being out on your own in the cool silence of the desert morning is one of the real joys in life!

Dawn - Uluru

Outback critters

2011-09-25T15:00:00.010+10:00

Little Woodswallow - Kings Canyon

There wasn't much in the way of wildlife happening this time which surprised me a bit considering the recent good rains. You can always rely on the Black-flanked Rock Wallabies at the Heavitree Gap motel in Alice Springs though. With your bag of food from reception in hand, they emerge from the hillside at dusk to feed.

Black-flanked Rock Wallaby - Alice Springs

There were also loads of Dingoes about for a change. The first turned up in the main street in Alice Springs when we came out of the pub on the first evening. There were more out near Ormiston Gorge and several hanging out in the resort at Kings Canyon.

Galah - Kings Canyon resort

Lizard hiding in a hole - Kings Canyon resort

Reptile watch was restricted to a few dragons sunning themselves on the road and a tremendous Perentie which we chased into the scrub for pictures until I was taken out by a particularly spiky bush.

Perentie - Kings Canyon road

The birds were especially disappointing despite a number of dawn starts while everyone else was in bed. There were hardly any raptors and except for the millions of Zebra Finches, not much else. I don't mind though as it's always nice just to see a few of the desert specialties. We found a small flock of Budgies in the West McDonnell Ranges and I saw a single Mulga Parrot and a lovely flock of Crimson Chats at Uluru. And I did manage one new tick - my new favourite bird - the Spinifex Pigeon #416. These comical chaps were all over Kings Canyon and tend to waddle about at high speed instead of just flying. Very silly indeed.

Spinifex Pigeon - Kings Canyon

Common Bronzewing - Kata Tjuta

The cooler temperatures also seemed to result in a lack of flies which was good news all round and the reported mouse plague from earlier in the year seemed to have moved on as well. Except, that is, for one little chap who had made his home in the model desert in the cocktail bar of the Sails in the Desert hotel at Ayers Rock resort.

Fat spider - Uluru

Spring?

2011-08-25T18:36:00.006+10:00

Firstly, many thanks to everyone for your cards and well-wishes. It's very touching and much appreciated.

Is Spring finally here?

The last few days in Sydney have been warm and sunny and we can maybe dare to think that Spring is on the way. Three big huntsman spiders in the side passage over the last couple of weeks suggest that it may indeed be warming up at last.

Crimson Rosellas and a Common Bronzewing taking advantage of the chooks

The rain is forecast to return at the weekend which is rubbish because Kath and Dave fly in tomorrow night for three weeks of holiday. We're all heading to Alice Springs for one of those weeks though and so surely that's guaranteed nice weather. I reckon only the mice can spoil things out in The Centre. There's been a bit of a plague of them in Central Australia recently so a few potential dramas there maybe. We'll see...

Widow-maker

A couple of weeks back, the neighbour's gum tree decided to drop a bough into the back yard. Without any warning and on a perfectly still morning, a perfectly healthy branch decided to detatch itself from the tree and crash into our garden. It doesn't look that impressive in the photo but it was actually a tremendous weight of wood and took a good morning to chop up. By some ridiculous stroke of luck, we got away with only a dented shed roof and just a few scratches on the car. Gum trees just do that from time to time and the resulting holes are what all the wonderful Australian parrots nest in. Just don't camp or park your car under them!

Too close for comfort

Lord Howe Island

2011-08-07T21:47:00.014+10:00

Well, lets just cut right to the important bit here. Emily and I are engaged! A couple of weekends back I took her to Lord Howe Island and popped the question on a secluded palm-fringed beach and happily she said "yes".

Lord Howe Island

Secluded palm-fringed beach!

Lord Howe Island is out in the South Pacific about 700 km northeast of Sydney and is one of those old volcanoes which rose up from the sea-bed and is now a rather dramatic and rugged island in the middle of the ocean. It's a roughly crescent shape, only 12 km long by less than 2 km wide, and an outer reef stretching between the points of the crescent protects a large shallow lagoon which stretches right down the western side of the island. The shallow waters feature fantastic coral gardens which can be accessed from the beach and the fact that the number of visitors at any time is restricted means that it's quiet and almost untouched by the tourist thing. Making the most of that was Senator Bob Brown (leader of the Australian Green Party) who was in the hotel room next to us with his special man-friend!

Lagoon

The birds are one of the main attractions of the island but mainly in summer when it becomes a very important breeding location for a load of pretty uncommon pelagic species. In terms of land birds, there aren't that many. A handful of endemics do exist, however, but these are generally classed as sub-species of their mainland equivalents so no ticks. The exception is the Lord Howe Woodhen which is a forest rail that was almost wiped out by the rats that arrived with the whaling ships. A captive breeding programme saved them from extinction and the population is now booming. In fact we found a pair of them that were both un-banded and also mating so I think they're doing just fine now.

Too slow!

Woodhen

Despite the wrong season, I did pick up 5 ticks - the Lord Howe White-eye, Lord Howe Woodhen, Masked Booby, Grey Ternlet, and Red-tailed Tropicbird taking my total to 415. I also thought I'd really scored a rarity when I spotted a Black-winged Stilt (very common on the mainland) in a puddle at the end of the air-strip. For Lord Howe Island my book said 'Vagrant' and the lists in the visitor centre didn't mention them at all but when I tracked down the island's leading expert on birds to tell him, he said it had been there for a fortnight. It turns out that this was indeed only the fourth record ever on the island but my long wait for birding fame continues.

Walking in the palm forest

Hand-feeding the fish

Because it's so small, everyone travels around by bicycle and so we cycled between bush-walks and by the end of the long weekend, my legs were feeling it a bit. The bush-walking is pretty rugged with steep hills covered in palm forest and so despite the better birding, summer might be a bit tough. When you're not walking, you're snorkelling. The coral is home to some great creatures and we saw fantastic coloured fish, a huge sting-ray, and many sea cucumbers. I missed the resident Green Turtles but did get some cracking reef sharks. They're Galapagos Whalers on Lord Howe Island and my first proper grey shark-shaped sharks. Magic!

Wrasse

Not many people visit at any one time

It truly is one of the most idyllic spots that I've had the fortune to visit and, if I do say so myself, a top destination for a surprise holiday and proposal! Quite pleased with everything actually!

Sacred Kingfisher - got him in the end!

Ring

2011-08-07T21:26:00.004+10:00

For all the ladies out there, here's the ring. It's designed by Nadia Neuman of Mondial and is white gold set with a single diamond from the Argyle mine in Western Australia.

... And, yes, I did get down on one knee!

Another robin

2011-07-14T20:11:00.003+10:00

Still very cold down here in Sydney. I think I've just about had enough of the winter. Nothing really to put on the blog but Emily and I are off for a wee holiday tomorrow so hopefully some nice pictures on the way. In the meantime here's another robin...

Eastern Yellow Robin

Camping in the Capertee

2011-06-08T21:34:00.008+10:00

Capertee Valley

It's with heavy hearts that we bid farewell to Allan who is returning to Denmark next month. Before he leaves though, he's off on a tour of Australia in the trusty Magna to give his bird-list (that doesn't really exist because he's not counting!) a final boost.

The Brown Treecreeper likes to hop around on the ground

He set off on Tuesday to cross the Nullarbor to Perth. He'll then turn right and travel north up the coast to Darwin before heading south to Alice Springs and then finally back to Sydney before the flight back to Europe. We'll all hopefully be able to follow the trip on his blog (link on the right) and keep up to date with the adventures and the critters he finds along the way.

Before Allan left we went for a last camping trip to the Capertee Valley. Tucked away on the west side of the Blue Mountains it's a wonderful spot that always delivers. Apart from a bit of drizzle on Saturday evening, the sun was out for the rest of the weekend and burning a few trees on the campfire kept the cold at bay.

Early morning at the campsite

Kangaroos

I've a feeling that we might be seeing Allan and Gemma back here in Australia at some point in the future. Surely you can't leave the camping and snorkeling behind for too long!

Scarlet Robin

Meat tray

2011-06-08T21:24:00.004+10:00

All the meats

I've finally hit the jackpot and won the members' meat raffle at our local pub! What a fine establishment the Glengarry is.

Geckos

2011-05-22T18:25:00.007+10:00

Broad-tailed Gecko - Great camouflage

The other weekend we found something up in the Blue Mountains that you don't see every day around Sydney. We were alerted to their presence by a loud squawking coming from behind a wall-hanging fountain. Upon further inspection, the noise was remarkably coming from three geckos who were sheltering there. Although I've seen loads of snakes, monitors, skinks and dragons this far south, I don't remember finding any geckos previously.

Greater camouflage but with a stumpy regenerated tail

These are the Broad-tailed Gecko (Phyllurus platurus) which is a species very much localised to sandstone areas around Sydney apparently. My reptile book also informs me that geckos do indeed have a voice, although they may be rarely heard, and they also have large unblinking eyes which require licking to keep clean.

Large unblinking eyes

Most geckos will also drop their tails when threatened and the lighter coloured one here has obviously done that as it's showing off the classic smooth and stumpy second tail. These guys hang about in crevices throughout the day and emerge at night to eat things. Unless of course they're disturbed by someone spraying termite poison about the place.

Actually this is the right way up

Earthquake

2011-05-11T22:24:00.008+10:00

Over in Christchurch they're still getting about half a dozen after-shocks each day after the place was destroyed in February by the third of the three recent earthquakes.

The evening before we flew back to Sydney we finally experienced one. It was a magnitude 4.3 which certainly gave the house a tremendous shake for a few seconds. When you consider that the original big one last September was over a 1000 times stronger and 10 times longer, you maybe just start to comprehend what they went through that day and during the two big ones since.

Liquefaction is a bizarre problem

The city is still deserted and the army patrol a perimeter around the city centre which is still strewn with debris and collapsed buildings. It's all rather eerie and rather sad.

The army still enforce a perimeter around the city centre

Central Otago

2011-05-11T21:24:00.014+10:00

Reids reunited

Central Otago hills

Over the Easter weekend the extended Reid family travelled to Central Otago for a gathering. Why Central Otago? Well, back in the mid-to-late 19th century, a certain William Reid arrived in New Zealand and moved to Macetown to cash in on the gold rush. He wasn't a prospector himself but set up a general store to supply the rapidly expanding population. When the madness died down 20-odd years later, he left the dwindling settlement and bought himself the local flour mill.

Macetown

Macetown is now a ghost town which can be reached by a good 4WD trek out into the hills and across a few rivers. It's a good spot for a picnic and also for the New Zealand Falcon - NZ#59. I also managed to add the New Zealand Pipit - NZ#60 to my list!

Autumn colours

Easter is a great time to visit Central Otago as the trees are all showing off their Autumn colours (although like most flora and fauna in New Zealand, the colourful trees are all non-native!). The whole area is really quite spectacular just now.

The only downside to the place is the Sandfly. The minute you stand still in a nice bit of woodland, they appear. The New Zealand Sandfly is to the Scottish Midgie what the All Blacks are to the Scottish rugby side. They're bigger, badder, and have a remarkable proficiency in dishing out a good beating. They chew rather than bite and I'm still covered in the scars two weeks later!

Home of the Sandfly

Happy Easter

2011-04-20T19:57:00.006+10:00

Woodford's resident possum

The friendly possum up in the Blue Mountains is doing well and still sitting in his tree every night we're up there. There's not much else going on at present though. Lots of rain and almost cold some evenings. Very un-Australian. Just as well we're off to New Zealand tomorrow then. Happy Easter!

Pied Currawong

Not many birds about recently either so here are a couple of nice native flowers instead...

Banksia sp.

Grevillea sp.

Rain

2011-03-23T22:33:00.004+11:00

Lots and lots of rain recently meaning we can't get out and do much. It's ridiculously humid and quite unpleasant!

Red Wattlebird

We're not the only ones sheltering inside though. The cat found a baby Brush-tailed Possum hiding under the armchair on the balcony! Being an astonishingly pathetic cat she just sat there looking at it. Lucky possum.

Anxious possum

Autumn

2011-03-09T18:24:00.004+11:00

The young cuckoos have now left the back yard and are headed north for PNG or Indonesia so I suppose that means that Summer is now over. The cooler and drier weather has also seen the spiders disappear. We've not had one at home for a couple of weeks now so I'm feeling much more relaxed.

We've not had a Possum picture for a while

It's a different story up in the Blue Mountains at Emily's folks' place though. Happily the mountain spiders seem to be a lot calmer than their city cousins and tend to sit still for most of the time. If they do decide to move, they just amble away rather than the crazy running and jumping we have to deal with here in town.

Relaxed Huntsman

Bits and pieces

2011-02-17T19:54:00.009+11:00

A new bird last week! The Wandering Tattler #410 could turn up any time but they're not common and vastly outnumbered by the almost identical Grey-tailed Tattlers. The slightly darker Wandering, however, prefers rocks out by the breaking surf and is a more solitary chap as compared to his Grey-tailed cousins. Paul and I popped down to Long Reef on Sydney's Northern Beaches after work to track him down. With the tide still covering the rock platform and darkness approaching there was nothing for it but to wade about in knee-deep water for a couple of hours until we finally located the bird.

A very inaccessible Wandering Tattler

The Bluebottles were floating about in the water but luckily were easy to spot. And what a wierd creature we found washed up on the sand. A Blue Dragon Sea Slug which is a pelagic sea slug that floats about on the surface of the world's oceans feeding on Bluebottles!

Crazy looking Blue Dragon Sea Slug (Internet pic.)

At the weekend the lads decided to go and do the Warrior Dash - a cross-country run involving obstacles like pits of quicksand and the like. I went along for the after-race camping but the rain started coming down hard and so we decided it would be better to just get back to Sydney and have a curry and watch the football!

Warriors!

At home, the constant battle between good and evil continues. Like all spiders, though, the Huntsman has an Achilles heel - the bathtub. This one was going nowhere. Of course the really big ones can just step out of the bath like you and me!

Trapped!

Backyard birds

2011-01-31T21:26:00.006+11:00

It's a bit warm here just now so I've not been out much recently. That doesn't really matter though as there's enough wildlife in the back yard to keep me happy.

Channel-billed Cuckoo with it's Pied Currawong foster parent

We have two young Channel-billed Cuckoos in the trees out the back at the moment. The Channel-bills are the largest parasitic cuckoos and unlike other cuckoo species they can lay more than one egg in the host's nest. This means that, in our case, the pair of unfortunate foster parents are running around after not one but two huge noisy youngsters.

Greedy fat cuckoo

The big spiders are still out in force but I've realised that only the Huntsman spiders are scary and, in fact, the others are all very nice. A Net-casting Spider has been living in the side passage for a while now. By day it pretends to be a stick but in the evening it spins it's web net and waits for prey to pass beneath. It then throws the web down onto the bug and catches it. Magic!

Net-casting Spider

New Zealand (Part II)

2011-01-09T14:25:00.013+11:00

Dunedin - New Year's Morning

Dunedin claims to have the steepest street in the world and I can confirm that Baldwin Street is indeed very steep with an incline of 1 in 2.89 but is it really the steepest? I'm not sure but I hear that it was certainly steep enough to kill a couple of drunk students who apparently attempted the descent in a supermarket trolley! The Otago uni students are particularly infamous for their foolish antics!

Baldwin Street

Taiaroa Head

New Zealand Fur Seal

We started our new year with a drive out along the Otago Peninsula which is a very nice place to be. We scored the Royal Albatross at Taiaroa Head without having to shell out the 50-odd bucks to get inside the fence as three of them popped up over the headland and soared overhead. There were also plenty of friendly New Zealand Fur Seals on the rocks and in the water and little Blue Penguins hiding in their burrows. We also saw a pod of several hundred dolphins pass by out to sea. Quite remarkable.

Blue Penguins in their burrow

A Yellow-eyed Penguin comes ashore

After spending too much of the day enjoying the Otago Peninsula we realised it was time to hit the road once more and get to our motel in Omarama before everyone had gone home for the night. We still managed to drop in on a Yellow-eyed Penguin colony at Oamaru though and luckily for us, the first two birds returned from the sea in the 10 minutes that we were there!

Dipping on the Black Stilts at Twizel

From Omarama we were planning to go up to Mount Cook after bagging the rare Black Stilts at Twizel. After a fruitless search through some likely habitat and around the electrified fence of their little reserve we had to admit defeat. Being New Year the reserve was closed and so we dipped on the stilt but that was the only birding failure of our holiday and the whole trip served up 16 new birds for my New Zealand list.

Ted enjoys the stunning views of Mount Cook

As we headed up the valley to Mount Cook the rain began and just got worse. By the time we got to Mount Cook Village for lunch, visibility was only a few metres and if I hadn't been there with Simon a few years back, I wouldn't have believed that New Zealand's biggest mountain was apparently right in front of us in the gloom. That was the only bad weather for our entire trip though and by the time we were back on the road towards Christchurch things were bright again. We stayed in Christchurch for our final night. Sadly much of the city centre remains shut down after the massive quake they had there a few months back and a large aftershock on Boxing Day which did even more damage. They still have several small shocks a day but although there were 3 or 4 while we were there, they were too small to feel.

Earthquake damage in Christchurch

Back at work now but England's stunning Ashes triumph has taken the edge off the despair and things are generally very good.

New Zealand (Part I)

2011-01-09T13:30:00.011+11:00

After Christmas, Emily and I popped over to New Zealand briefly for a helter-skelter 6 day road-trip of the South Island. So atlases at the ready and lets go...

Crossing the Canterbury Plains towards the hills

Arthur's Pass NP

Kea

The first day saw us head west out of Christchurch and up and over Arthur's Pass to the West Coast where we turned south spending the night at Franz Josef after walking to the base of the glacier there. Being summer there wasn't a great deal of snow about but recent heavy rains meant the rivers were full and spectacular. Arthur's Pass had actually been closed the day before due to flooding but no such problems for us with the sun well and truly out. Much of the West Coast is covered by thick native rain-forest which is wonderful to walk about in and is home to some of those elusive Kiwis.

Franz Josef Glacier

Temperate rain-forest by the Fox Glacier

On day 2 we continued south and up the Haast Pass into Otago where we stayed the night in Queenstown after crossing the Crown Ranges. Queenstown is the adventure sports centre of the world and so is full of bums and other nutters who enjoy putting their lives in danger for a thrill. It is also home to the Black-billed Gull which is endemic to New Zealand and, although fairly common there, it's apparently about the rarest gull in the world going by global numbers.

Queenstown

Black-billed Gull

New Zealand Scaup

After failing utterly to make my fortune in the Arrow River and ensuring a necessary return to work after our break, we travelled east to Dunedin where we saw in the New Year at GMT + 13 hours which means we were among the very first into 2011.

Panning for gold in Arrowtown

Happy days!

2011-01-08T00:01:00.001+11:00

It's a very good time to be in Australia!

They're not all bad

2010-12-23T19:31:00.004+11:00

St. Andrews Cross Spider (Argiope keyserlingi)

The big Huntsman spiders are absolutely loving the warm and wet conditions just now and you're taking your life in your hands if you head outside into the yard after dark! Not all of the spiders here are scary though. We have a lovely St. Andrews Cross Spider in the garden at the moment. They're so called because of the big white cross that they build into their web. It's not clear why they do that but I've read a few theories which suggest it may be for camouflage, it may be to attract pollinating insects as it's brightly coloured in the UV, or it may be for defence as the spider shakes the web vigorously when threatened which makes the cross suddenly appear like a solid block. Whatever the reason it's good for me as I've not walked into the web yet.

Merry Christmas!

Only one day left at work now before the break so Merry Christmas to you all and all the very best for the New Year.

Here and there

2010-12-07T14:57:00.010+11:00

My sister's going nowhere

Noone at home is going anywhere!

It seems there's a bit of a contrast right now between Scotland and Australia looking at the photos that have been sent to me. As opposed to the endless cold snap gripping the UK right now, we're well and truly heading into summer and although there are as many wet days as others, we're experiencing the odd sunny one too!

Wattamolla - Royal NP

'The Forest Path' - Royal NP

A few of us headed down to the Royal NP last weekend for a spot of snorkeling at Wattamolla before a bit of a walk in the forest. In general, the Australian wildlife has a similar attitude to me in that going out in the middle of the day is silly when it's hot. As a result, there wasn't much about but as I always say, it's just great to get out of the city.

Frog (Limnodynastes sp.)

Australian Ladybird (Coccinella transversalis)

Obligatory skink picture

This weekend we went up to see Emily's folks in the Blue Mountains which always means it's time to get the camera out for a wander round the garden. It's also good to hang out with Kiwis when Australia are being hammered in the cricket. Australia is not a bad place to be right now!

Maria's one-eyed cat - Pirate

Cheeky

2010-11-24T18:25:00.004+11:00

A sign on the street outside my work...

...and the other side of the same sign!

Bundeena crabs

2010-11-10T22:00:00.012+11:00

Gloomy Sydney from South Head

It's been a mixed bag over the past couple of weeks in terms of the weather with a lot of rain interspersed with hot sunny days. Apparently the El Nino/La Nina cycle is very much the latter at the minute which means we're in for a wet summer but I guess there's some consolation in the fact that the bushfire season shouldn't be too bad this year.

A damp Pied Currawong

The situation was summed up at the weekend when we went to South Head on Saturday to see if we could see any whales. We could hardly even see the sea, let alone the whales, because of the rain which we trudged about in for a bit.

Sunny Bundeena

On Sunday, however, it was blazing hot as we headed down to Bundeena which is at the very northern edge of the Royal NP. On Saturday, a Beach Stone-curlew had been seen on a sand spit down there and, being very unusual for these parts, I had to go and try to find it. I didn't.

Soldier Crabs

We did see a Mangrove Heron and had fantastic views of a Grey Goshawk so the bird-watching wasn't altogether useless. The highlight for me though was an army of Soldier Crabs feeding on the sand. They didn't let you get too close and burrowed into the ground as they sensed you getting too close. I did manage to chase them around for a bit to get a couple of pictures though...

Red-necked Wallaby

Cape Solander

2010-10-24T20:42:00.010+11:00

Cape Solander

Last weekend I went down to Cape Solander with Emily to spot whales. Cape Solander is the headland on the south side of Botany Bay and sticking out to sea with easy access by car it's a premium location for watching the migrating Humpback Whales. They're heading back down south at the minute and before we had even got out of the car, a pod swam by. Unfortunately they weren't in playful mood and didn't do anything except swim.

Nankeen Kestrel

Looking for whales

As it happened, those first whales were the only ones to be seen all day but the weather was pleasant and we enjoyed a nice stroll along the cliff-tops.

Flowers on the heath

We also walked along to Boat Harbour to see if any unusual waders were loafing around on the rock platform. They weren't, but there were two Little Terns hanging out with their Crested cousins which warranted a report to the bird sightings website.

Little Pied Cormorant

Snakes and spiders

2010-10-10T23:32:00.012+11:00

More little caterpillars acting bigger than they actually are

We're definitely moving into Spring here now and the odd warm day is bringing out the critters. A couple of nights back an enormous Huntsman (measuring about 12 cm across) managed to penetrate the house's perimeter and invade the upstairs hallway. Unfortunately for you there isn't a picture as I was cowering in the far corner of my room as Emily took the beast head on. It took a long time to finally overcome it as it first scoffed at the fly-spray and then simply shrugged off the large and extremely heavy objects that were being lobbed on top of it. Emily finally wore it down but I'm thinking this may not be the only such incident this season.

Eastern Brown Snake

A few days back we headed out to a bit of rough bushland in the west of Sydney to try and track down some of the dry woodland specialties. The birding was good although there were no new ones for me. A couple of those dry woodland individuals are really beginning to take on the roles of my new bogey birds. The highlight of the walk though, and another indicator of the rising temperature, was the appearance of a large 2 m Eastern Brown Snake. Coming in at number 2 on the list of the World's most venomous land snakes, this one could have killed the lot of us and so it was maybe not that surprising that it showed no fear at all and crossed the little creek towards us. Needless to say, we crossed the creek too. Pronto.

An altogether more harmless critter

Footie has been a mixed bag recently but my Thursday team has been promoted back up to the second division after dipping into the transfer market and signing up a Dutch lad who has clearly played the game before!

Bouncing back to Division 2

I'll also put up the official finishing picture from the Trailwalker the other week only because look who's supporting the boys in the background. Yep, the support crew. There to the end!

Official picture

Tipping champions!

2010-09-23T15:05:00.004+10:00

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

2010-09-15T21:03:00.010+10:00

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

2010-09-01T20:10:00.016+10:00

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

2010-09-01T20:07:00.012+10:00

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

2010-09-01T20:04:00.012+10:00

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

2010-09-01T19:55:00.015+10:00

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.

Grey

Catching tea

Views from the croft

Caterpillar

Driving again

2010-06-30T22:47:00.011+10:00

It's now been three months since I lost the sight in my left eye and according to Australian law, that means I can legally drive again. Having sat in the back yard for all that time my poor car battery was absolutely flat and so Jarrod had to pop round and kindly jump-start me. A solid run up to the Blue Mountains was just what was needed and hopefully things are fine now.

It's freezing here at the minute. Literally freezing. The city copped a proper frost last night and as Australian homes don't have heating, double glazing or any adaptations for the cold, things are a bit chilly at night. Up in the mountains it's even colder and is dropping well below zero after dark.

Emily and I went for a bit of a bush-bash behind her folks' place and found an aboriginal hand painting on a cave wall. Actually, Emily knew it was there but it's well out of the way of any tracks so I doubt many other people have been there. There was also a partial lunar eclipse in the evening which is always nice. Looking forward to a good night's sleep at last tonight. A couple of days off from the world cup is very welcome. Although I'm not getting up at 4.30am for those games, the midnight kick-offs are doing enough damage!

Partial lunar eclipse

Damp camp

2010-06-06T23:01:00.004+10:00

A wet Yengo NP

It's pretty miserable here at the moment with rain and relatively cold weather most days so not much has been happening. As the World Cup starts next weekend and I'll be out of circulation for the month, we all decided to go for a spot of camping last weekend in Yengo NP which is just north of Sydney. This was fairly foolish in hindsight as a cyclone was forecast to make landfall round Sydney on the Saturday night. Luckily it came ashore further south and looking at the pictures on TV it would have been crazy to be out in a tent in it's path! As it was, we copped a bit of drizzle but apart from that, things were fine and Jarrod managed to coax a decent fire out of some pretty wet wood. The birds were laying low in the poor weather but we did have good views of Gang-gang Cockatoos and Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters as well as a couple of Swamp Wallabies.

As good as it gets

As far as my eye is going, I'm now off all medication and it's healed as well as it ever will. I don't have any sight really but it's comfortable and the surgeon has put me on the transplant list so now I'm just waiting for the call which should come in six months or so.

Mothers' day

2010-05-12T23:12:00.007+10:00

Happy Mothers' day

Sunday was Australian Mothers' day so a very happy Mothers' day to all the mums out there both Australian and otherwise!

Common Bronzewing

I was up the hill again looking for stationary objects to photograph for you. I was helped by the fact that the chooks' seed is attracting a bit of attention in local avian circles and at one point I counted 22 Crimson Rosellas in and around the chook house. They were still a bit wary but the resident male Bronzewing is quickly overcoming his fear of people. His mate is still swift to retreat but, unusually for the species, he'll allow a pretty close approach. He's a very handsome chap indeed with his apricot and chestnut cap and when the sun catches his wings you can see where he gets his name from. Maybe I'm just biased because he's a pigeon and I do like my pigeons.

Mantis

Weekend in Mudgee

2010-04-19T15:14:00.009+10:00

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

2010-04-15T14:58:00.008+10:00

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

2010-04-07T15:16:00.004+10:00

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

On the mend

2010-03-29T19:19:00.003+11:00

Firstly, thanks to everyone for your prayers and well wishes over the past couple of weeks. It's moving to realise what a fantastic group of family and friends I am fortunate enough to have.

Things are looking a lot better after 2 weeks

The eye continues to slowly heal and I am now down to only one antibiotic drop along with the steroids and analgesic. I also now need only one dose in the night and so I can sleep properly again. A big relief for us both. I was just reading in FourFourTwo that the Watford captain was struck down with exactly the same thing and he was back playing in two months. So just give it a bit of time and I'll be good! And, as Webby says, to err is human; to aarrrr is Pirate!

Eyesore

2010-03-25T15:41:00.010+11:00

Well, well, things have taken a turn for the worse in the last week or so as I've been struck down with a bit of a nasty eye infection. Squeamish readers may not wish to look too much at the next picture (sorry Mum!) but I know a few of you will appreciate a bit of gore! It started off last Tuesday as a bit of suspected conjunctivitis but by Wednesday night my sight had gone and Emily thankfully persuaded me to take a trip to A&E. It turned out that my contact lens had caused a tiny scratch on my cornea which was then infected by a bacteria. I think they call it microbial keratitis causing a corneal ulcer.

Now there's your problem!

It wasn't just any bacteria though. No, it was a notorious Pseudomonas bacteria which "melts tissue" and doesn't like to be killed off too much. Anyway, things were a bit dicey there for a while and I was in hospital for the best part of a week in which time they saved the eye, thankfully, and now I'm back at home. Constant dosing day and night with antibiotic drops, pain-killing drops and steroid drops (Emily is doing a wonderful job) is working slowly and each day things are improving. Once the infection is gone I will almost certainly need some sort of corneal transplant but that's a wee way off now and in the meantime we'll just concentrate on fighting off this bacteria. I'll keep you posted.

More trophies

It's the short queue from now on

Before all that drama I managed to secure another couple of footie trophies, obtain my Australian passport and break even down the horses for Howard's birthday.

Happy birthday Howard

Brisbane

2010-02-21T20:38:00.012+11:00

Asian House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus)

Well, what news of the weekend in Brisbane? How many new birds for the list? In short, none! What a disastrous trip it turned out to be! I've calmed down a bit now though and am starting to see the funny side to it all.

Rainy rainforest

It all started to go wrong on the flight north when I forgot to take my Swiss army card out of my wallet. Its true that I could have taken down an airliner with a 3 cm blade so I had to make the decision to lose the knife or check in my cabin baggage. I'm sadly attached to the wee knife so I checked in my bag only for the Virgin Blue baggage handlers to get into it and steal my sat nav and car adapter from deep inside. Virgin Blue staff at the airport in Brisbane were useless and helpfully suggested that both items could have just fallen out of the bag. Presumably by unzipping two compartments and climbing their way up from the bottom!

No joy in the rainforest canopy

Unfortunately all of my birding locations were programmed into it and so on arrival in Queensland, I promptly headed off north missing the appropriate national park by about 80 kms. Although we had a couple of nice walks in the rainforest of the D'Aguilar ranges, no new birds turned up.

Land Mullet (Egernia major)

A potentially deadly Eastern Small-eyed Snake (Cryptophis nigrescens)

On the second day we headed south of the city to Mount Tamborine and got into the jungle in time to experience Brisbane's wettest day for 100 years. Very wet, no birds. At least the motel had Fox Sports so I could settle down for a bit of Premier League footie in the evening. Not quite as the motel was promptly hit by lightning and as I recovered from the explosion, the telly sat there destroyed!

What could have been a Bush-hen was just a baby Turkey

Desperate times call for desperate measures and so there was nothing for it the next day but to go to a mangrove boardwalk in search of honeyeaters. I promised myself never to go to one again as they have no wildlife, they stink, and are usually infested with mozzies. Nothing's changed. A final search for Bush-hens in a city park and the Grass Owls by the airport also proved wet and fruitless. Time to get back to Sydney.

No joy in the mangrove swamp

No joy in the wetlands by the airport

In the middle of it all, Ricky got married though, and there were a few good critters about. Mount Tamborine is home to the huge Land Mullet and Emily also found a good snake which required prodding with a stick to make it look at the camera.

Major Skink (Egernia frerei)

Ticks for everyone

2010-01-31T19:02:00.008+11:00

Things are pretty hot and sticky down here at the moment so I don't like to be out for too long! This weekend I've managed to do nothing at all which is great. Last weekend was the Australia Day weekend and so that meant it was time to lay very low while the flag-waving idiots swarm all over the place drinking beer and going on about how Australians are better than anyone else. It really is a very unpleasant thing. I escaped up into the mountains which is very nice because Emily's folks are Kiwis.

Pitt Town Lagoon

The weekend before, I headed out around Windsor for a bit of bird-watching as a few unusual species had been reported in the area. Unfortunately I dipped on the Black-chinned Honeyeaters, the Ruff, the Grey Plover and the Bitterns but everyone else added loads to their lists (although, as we all know, Allan isn't keeping one!) with some top Cuckoo, Finch and Brown-headed Honeyeater action.

Pelicans and two species of Spoonbill

I didn't notice the Yellow-billed variety until I got home - there he is on the left

Hopefully I'll be able to add some new birds of my own next weekend as I'm heading north to Brisbane for a couple of days...

Parrots in Orange

2010-01-13T20:02:00.009+11:00

Orange from Mount Canobolas

After a few wet weekends, the rain relented this week and so we were able to get out on a bit of a road trip. And what better thing to do but go twitching parrots in Orange? Orange is 250 km west of Sydney and in the limited range of the Superb Parrot which was reported to be nesting in a park on the south side of the town.

All the parrots - Eastern Rosella, Crimson Rosella, Galahs

On arriving at the park we were able to spot loads of parrots - Eastern and Crimson Rosellas, Galahs and Red-rumped Parrots but no sign of what I was after. After a decent search we arrived at the furthest corner of the park and a flash of the brightest green caught the eye and a pair of Superb Parrots #407 landed up in a tree. They were joined by 6 more and although they were unfortunately too distant to get a picture, they weren't too distant to get the tick. Certainly a situation for Allan and his Bigma!

A young Dollarbird emerging from its nest hole

With the twitch out of the way, the rest of the weekend could be spent relaxing and catching too much sun.

Musk Duck at Lake Canobolas

Chooks

2010-01-06T23:01:00.008+11:00

Happy New Year everyone. It was a nice relaxing holiday period for me and I didn't really get out and do anything. This may have had something to do with all the rain we've been having down here recently. Its all a bit miserable on the weather front. Just as well we got out in the New Year sales and bought a new telly!

I spent a very pleasant Christmas up in the Blue Mountains again and that means one of my favourite things - hanging out with the chooks! It was also nice to see my favourite pigeon turn up in the garden too. None other than the fabulous Wonga.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T16:19:00.003+11:00

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas
and all the best for 2010!

Car news

2009-12-16T21:51:00.004+11:00

Its been an eventful time for the car over the past couple of weeks. On the way back from Dubbo it brought up its 100,000 km which made it well worth pulling over for a photo opportunity!

100,000 km

Last week saw the car get on the news for the first time for its involvement in a four car pile-up on the Iron Cove bridge! It was bound to happen sooner or later in the madness of Sydney's rush hour traffic and so it was that after a bit of sharp braking, some bloke in an enormous SUV ploughed into the back of the line of stationary cars. I was third in line to be hit but was ridiculously lucky as the car behind me was written off and I got away with a cracked bumper! So the car gets a shiny new one in the new year. Lucky car.

A pleasant spot to bring up the landmark

Dubbo twitch

2009-12-16T21:16:00.009+11:00

Red-rumped Parrots - Male (top) and female

Firstly, my apologies for not keeping things appropriately updated. There has not been a great deal going on here recently but with the warmer weather upon us the snorkeling is beginning again. There seem to be a lot of octopuses about at the moment.

Too late! Dried up pond

A few weekends back I heard about a Painted Snipe living in a small pond in Dubbo. Although widespread, they are rare and so to hear about one in a little pond with nowhere else to go presented a fine twitching opportunity. Dubbo is 400 km west of Sydney and so a good spot for a weekend away.

Eastern Rosellas showering under a leaky pump

When Emily and I arrived at the little pond, however, it had dried up and the bird had obviously moved on. We must have only missed it by a day or two at the most. We checked out the local wetland reserve which would have been a much more sensible place for the bird to be living in the first place and as the sun went down, I flushed a snipe from the edge of a pond. No tick this trip though as I'm pretty sure it was just the common Latham's Snipe.

Mount Panorama, Bathurst

On the way back to Sydney we took a spin round the Mount Panorama racing circuit in Bathurst which is the Mecca for Australian petrol-heads. They've put speed cameras all around the place though so one has to behave!

A different way to get down the mountain

Heatwave

2009-11-22T22:24:00.006+11:00

Lane Cove NP

Its very warm here at the moment with the temperature up in the low forties today! Not much you can do when its like that so we've all been back to the sea for a bit of snorkeling over the last two weekends. Last Sunday we were in Gordons Bay and saw a nice Wobbegong shark and a lovely big octopus. Yesterday we ventured out to Little Bay and it turned up the usual swarms of Stripeys and also another octopus which had found a golf ball (the bay is right next to a golf course) which it had put across the opening to his hiding place.

A swimming Red-bellied Black Snake

I've been keeping an eye on the Powerful Owl which is still about up at Lane Cove NP and we popped in there last Saturday. The owl was sleeping but there were loads of reptiles about in the heat. A big Red-bellied Black Snake slinked off into the creek and effortlessly swam away. Just as well because they can kill you! There were also loads of dragons and skinks.

Eastern Water Skink

A cold change is due this evening and so the temperature tomorrow will be 20 degrees less. Much more comfortable. Thats until it gets hot again next weekend...

Eastern Water Dragon

Wildlife at work

2009-11-11T21:33:00.008+11:00

Rainbow Lorikeet

Why wait until the weekends and head out into the bush to spot the wildlife when its all in the carpark at work? Lorikeets in the bushes, dragons basking in the sun and Powerful Owls up in the trees.

Eastern Water Dragon

Well, the owl is living over the road in the national park actually but its only a couple of minutes from the office. Its been roosting in the same tree for a couple of weeks now so I pop over every so often to check up on it. Today it had a ring-tailed possum in its talons but I didn't have my camera with me. Its a bit tricky to get a good picture with the dim light in the foliage but here are a couple of efforts...

Powerful Owl

Nothing to see here

2009-10-28T21:25:00.004+11:00

Two more for the cabinet

Well, after all the excitement of the road trip and Kath's visit things have been very quiet indeed. I would have included pictures from the weekend when we spent the day on an historic farm of all things, but it rained the whole time and everything was cancelled. I've been a bit too exhausted to get out and do much but the indoor footie has been going well with two more little trophies for the cabinet. The dust storm also blew in an Australian Pratincole from the dry interior but two evenings after work failed to deliver before it headed off again. I'm clearly losing my touch.

Gratuitous picture of Rescorla

Dust storm

2009-09-28T23:48:00.005+10:00

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

2009-09-28T23:02:00.014+10:00

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

2009-09-28T20:24:00.012+10:00

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

2009-09-02T19:50:00.011+10:00

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

New house

2009-08-23T19:49:00.011+10:00

The new house...

... is an old house

The new place is slowly taking shape now and another trip to the dreaded Ikea and a morning's wardrobe building has left the house looking much more homely. That's the way to spend your limited free time, that's for sure!

The back passage - leading to...

... the back yard

Anyway, that should hopefully be the last of it and except for a couple of wee interior design issues, we can start to enjoy the place. As promised, I took a couple of pictures this morning although you can't see too much as things are still somewhat "under construction".

The kitchen

The living room

The balcony

Happily, the cat seems to be settling in now too and we can let her out knowing that she'll come back again. This has relieved a great deal of stress for me! The armies of enormous Huntsman spiders out in the garden haven't breached the house's defences yet either so it's all good. For now!

The air con - cool

The cat

Capertee camping

2009-08-17T23:29:00.007+10:00

The vast Capertee Valley

I'm back! I do have a pretty good excuse for the silence this time though as I've been moving house. After a couple of weeks of lifting and cleaning I can thoroughly recommend that noone should contemplate moving house unless its absolutely necessary. Its possibly the most rubbish thing that ever has to be undertaken. Miracles do happen though and I got my full bond back and I'm now pretty much set up in the new place which is a small two bedroom terrace with a very nice back yard and air conditioning for the summer! - pictures to follow soon I hope. Now I just have to get used to living with another person (Emily is here too) and a cat.

Driving in

After all that hassle I finally managed to get away at the weekend for the first time in ages for a spot of camping in the Capertee Valley on the far side of the Blue Mountains. Its always very nice over there with the guys and once again it didn't disappoint. No new birds for the list but the Turquoise Parrots showed up again which are pretty rare and pretty pretty. There was also a Wombat blundering about in one of the paddocks.

Can you see the wombat by the tree? No....?

.... there he goes

Although it was down to freezing point at night, the days are beginning to warm up a bit and hopefully spring is on the way.

Cold morning

Taffy's Rock

2009-07-08T22:16:00.005+10:00

Ku-ring-gai NP

Super efficient blogging from Allan these days so our bush-walk in Ku-ring-gai NP at the weekend is pretty much old news! If you haven't checked out the Dane's site yet, do so by following the link on the right. The massive lens on his camera is paying dividends and although its like carrying a small child through the bush, its serving up some top pelagic action!

View east from Taffy's Rock

At the weekend I went to Ku-ring-gai NP, on the northern edge of Sydney, for a bit of a walk with Allan, Jarrod and Adelle to a spot called Taffy's Rock. Taffy was a woman from back in the day who liked to walk a bit and so the local rambling club named a rock after her. Its quite a nice rock.

North-east to Lion Island (which actually does look a bit like a lion)

There was absolutely no wildlife about and the walk entailed crashing through scratchy scrub for 14 kms but the views were lovely and, being winter, you can walk about in the sunshine without feeling utterly miserable in ridiculous heat. Very pleasant.

Four hundred!

2009-06-27T23:31:00.009+10:00

Megalong Valley

Last weekend I went for a walk with Allan, Jarrod and Adelle at the end of the Megalong Valley in the south west corner of the Blue Mountains. The clouds were down and so the views were not extensive, although the animals were certainly out and about.

Sugar Glider

As it was a bit gloomy, we came across a pair of Sugar Gliders. These are little possum-like creatures which glide between trees on flaps of skin which extend between their front and back legs. They are normally nocturnal but these two were out feeding on the resin from a gum tree which they chew holes in to make the tree 'bleed'. They didn't seem too bothered by our presence and we were able to get right up to them within touching distance. Very cute.

Later on, a single black cockatoo flew past which seemed a bit smaller than the common Yellow-tailed variety. It also sounded funny and so there was nothing for it but to chase it up a steep bank side. Eventually we caught up with it and in a glorious moment it fanned out its tail revealing the bright red panels defining it as a Glossy Black-Cockatoo #400! My nemesis and a super tick to go to the four hundred with.

Four hundred!

There were also hundreds of kangaroos and wallabies. A great day out.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Warmer in the water

2009-06-27T23:21:00.006+10:00

Giant Cuttlefish

The pretty poor and (relatively) cold weather continues but that didn't stop us getting back into the water at Gordons Bay the other day. The water is still 20C so not too bad and, in fact, warmer than the air temperature outside. As we're moving into winter the sharks should be returning to the bay any time now. They weren't back just yet and, in the event, there wasn't really very much about but there was a top Giant Cuttlefish and a pod of dolphins passed by the bay just before we got in. That was only the second time I've seen them off Sydney's beaches.

Common Stingaree

The Queen's birthday

2009-06-08T21:13:00.006+10:00

North - across to North Head

Happy birthday to the Queen! A public holiday for us down in Australia and with the nice weather continuing, Emily and I headed to South Head at the mouth of Sydney Harbour for a bit of whale spotting.

South

The whales are heading north on their annual migration and before the car had even stopped, Emily spotted a pod of Humpback Whales frollicking offshore. They were in particularly playful mood and put on a bit of a show for those watching from the cliff-tops and those harrassing them in the fleet of whale-watching boats.

East - Whale action!

West

The sun's back

2009-06-08T20:50:00.008+10:00

The sun is back

After almost a month of rain and rubbish the sun returned this weekend and so the opportunity to get back to the bush had to be seized. Fresh from his honeymoon, Jarrod joined me for a trip to the western edge of Sydney.

First stop was a patch of dry woodland in a bogan suburb where Speckled Warblers are apparently an absolute certainty. Not that much of a certainty it seems but there were several wallabies and kangaroos among the trees.

We then moved on to Bushells Lagoon where "hundreds" of Little Grassbirds have been sighted recently. I wonder if those responsible for those reports know what a Little Grassbird looks like. At least there were plenty of nice finches and great views of Peregrine Falcon and Azure Kingfisher.

Bushells Lagoon

We then went for a little drive after dark around the turf farms where many owls have been spotted in recent days. We found a fox.

Sunset

So three failures on the twitching front but good to get out again and great that the weather is finally on the improve.

Not an owl - the Airbus A380

Bits and 1000 pieces

2009-05-20T22:12:00.005+10:00

Saturday before last, Jarrod and Adelle got married. They're now enjoying a luxury honeymoon in the Red Centre in a tent. The wedding was excellent but unfortunately I didn't take my camera along. But before you all get too upset, I've stolen one of Allan's pictures which clearly shows the best part of the whole show. That would be Jarrod and Adelle parading round the church with their crowns on.

Nice crowns

The footie continues with mixed fortunes. Tuesday nights are going well and last week both my men's and mixed teams played in our respective grand finals. The mixed team won 4-2 to take out the trophy and at the same time inflict our opposition with their first ever defeat. The men's final was a tighter affair as we scored a last second equaliser before going on to win by a golden goal. Good times.

More plasticware for the cabinet

Last Saturday I decided to have a quiet day in and rest up a bit although things took a sinister turn when I turned my attention to the jigsaw puzzle which had just been started on my coffee table. A marathon puzzling session began and 15 hours later at about 4am the last piece of river fell into place. Ridiculous.

I say again, ridiculous!

Mount Tomah

2009-05-11T18:20:00.007+10:00

Mount Tomah botanic gardens

Took the car up to the Blue Mountains last weekend and stayed at Emily's parents' place which is always a relaxing thing to do. On Sunday we visited Mount Tomah botanic gardens on the Bell's Line of Road. Located at 1000 m above sea level they reckon its the cold climate part of Sydney's Royal botanic gardens. There is no doubt that its a bit cooler than down in the city but you wouldn't really describe the overall impression as "cold".

Bower

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly seeing a displaying Satin Bowerbird at his bower with all the blue things that he had collected strewn around the display area. He put in some nice moves and managed to entice a female into the bower but a shocking display of dilly dallying and general faffing about cost him dear and after a while the female got fed up waiting and left. Foolishly I had left my camera in the car so didn't get any pictures. By the time I got back the male was reflecting on what might have been and I managed one blurry shot before he, too, disappeared.

If you snooze, you lose!

New car

2009-04-26T19:44:00.005+10:00

The official handover

I picked up a new car on Saturday. The poor old one had become a little too annoying and so the time was right to upgrade. Palli has also decided its time to change and so I've taken his old Focus off his hands. No more stress now worrying if the car will get me to where I want to go and unlike the old one, Emily is also happy to risk travelling in the new one. Things are good.

Outback tour - Part III

2009-04-22T23:39:00.009+10:00

Heading up through sheep and cattle country

There were plagues of grasshoppers throughout the tour

We returned to Brisbane following the Darling River up through Menindee and Bourke and then on to Goondiwindi staying on a couple of farming properties along the way.

Frog in a swimming pool

Birding was good and around Menindee I picked up the Chirruping Wedgebill #397 and on the back roads there were a couple of flocks of Banded Lapwing #398. Outside of Bourke, a temporary wetland had formed after the rains which was packed with waterbirds and we were lucky enough to see a Black Falcon stooping at a flock of sandpipers. One of the properties we stayed on had flocks of hundreds of budgerigars which was spectacular and here I also found a single Masked Woodswallow #399.

An acrobatic Blue-faced Honeyeater

At that point I actually thought I'd got bird number 400 as I'd just read that the (newly named) Paperbark Flycatcher in the Northern Territory has just been split from the Restless Flycatcher giving me an extra tick. But what the splitters giveth, the lumpers taketh away. The Spotted Catbird of north Queensland has been lumped with the Green Catbird from these parts and so I also lost one leaving the list on 399.

The refreshing Dividing Range

We stopped off briefly on the Dividing Range on the way back into Brisbane which provided us with a cool walk in a forest gully which provided a refreshing conclusion to the trip - 5000 km covered.

A friendly Kookaburra

A pair of Tawny Frogmouths

Outback tour - Part II

2009-04-22T23:07:00.011+10:00

On the road again

From the corner country we headed south to Broken Hill and Mungo NP. Broken Hill is a mining town which bizarrely runs on Adelaide time (although its still in NSW) which is a silly 30 minutes behind NSW time. Add to this the confusion of Queensland being an hour behind NSW at the start of the trip and then NSW moving back an hour in the middle of the tour (daylight saving or something). With all that going on I didn't really know what time it was for most of the time. Lucky someone else did.

Lace Monitor

In Broken Hill we had a good day down an old silver mine and also sat in on a lesson at the School of the Air which teaches the kids out on all the sheep stations and country properties via satellite. This was surprisingly entertaining. "There's a shARk in the pARk!" pup bARked. I think you had to be there.

"Clumping" White-breasted Woodswallows

One new bird on this leg of the trip with two pairs of Chestnut Quail-thrush #396 showing up in the Mungo NP.

The Walls of China - Mungo NP

Chestnut Quail-thrush

Outback tour - Part I

2009-04-22T18:46:00.010+10:00

Touring again

Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures up for you all. I've been sleeping lots over the past few days as I recover from a very enjoyable holiday with my parents. (I'd better say at this point that my Dad took all the pictures on these posts. Credit where credit's due!) This time we all set out on a two week tour of the outback with John and Ros from Naturebound Australia with whom we travelled up the Dividing Range a couple of years back.

Big Red

We started by flying up to Brisbane and then set out west by road to Thargomindah, Tibooburra and the corner country around the Sturt NP. On the bird front things got off to a cracking start on the first evening with a group of Plum-headed Finches #389 spotted by the river in St George. An early morning walk on the edge of Thargomindah turned up Chestnut-crowned Babbler #390 and we weren't even in the national park yet.

Cameron Corner - I'm in NSW, Dad's in QLD and Mum's in SA

Gibber country around Mt Poole

The gibber plains of the Sturt NP are a desolate place with the red earth strewn with a carpet of small gibber stones. The temperature was pushing towards 40C and the flies were out causing mischief but this is a great place and we found Cinnamon Quail-thrush, Orange Chat and White-backed Swallow #'s 391-393 as well as loads of Kangaroos, Emus and Wedge-tailed Eagles. Sunset on a hill outside Tibooburra turned up the beautifully understated Bourke's Parrot #394 and a small group of Mulga Parrots #395 flew overhead as we were heading out of town to travel south the next morning.

Emus

Its hot out there but well worth the trip!

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Holiday twitch

2009-03-22T21:56:00.007+11:00

Silver Gull

New Holland Honeyeater

Well, my parents arrived in Australia on Friday evening and what better thing to do on your first day on holiday than to twitch a super rare American vagrant. A strange looking Golden Plover has been hanging around on a rock platform near Kurnell for a couple of months now. They say its strange looking but in fact its pretty much exactly the same as all the local Golden Plovers. The experts will tell you that its primaries are slightly longer, its legs are slightly shorter and as the local ones moult into their beautiful golden breeding plumage, it appears slightly greyer. Anyway, with a mounting pile of photographic evidence, the call was made last week that this is indeed the second ever record for Australia of an American Golden Plover #388.

The twitch is on!

This didn't excite me much until I realised that since my bird books were published, the American Golden Plover has recently been split from the Pacific Golden Plover and is now considered a full species.

What the fuss was all about - impressive!

As a result, Jarrod joined me and my folks and we headed down to the sea and ticked it off without any trouble at all. No better cure for jet-lag than a solid bit of twitching.

Bull Ant

Funnily enough we met Allan down at the rock platform. He doesn't do any birdwatching so what a coincidence that he turned up at that particular place at that particualr time. I'd almost say bizarre!

Wee dragon

Big Potato

2009-03-09T18:28:00.005+11:00

Whisper

Well the weekend got off to a shocking start on Friday night when I was molested by a huge huntsman spider. Walking home in the dark, I suddenly felt something flapping round my face. I assumed it was flapping because it was managing to get at both my eyes, nose, mouth and ear all at the same time. Thinking it was just a big moth or locust or something, I grabbed it and threw it away whereupon the creature fell to the ground. I looked down to see a monster huntsman (see the "Christmas in the mountains" post below) staring back at me. At that point I apparently went very pale and certainly got the leg wobbles going. Nasty.

On Saturday I went down to Mittagong in the Southern Highlands with Emily to visit Palli and Fleur in their new place. Its very nice but even nicer is their new kitten, Whisper. The weather wasn't super and for the first time my sure-fire Platypus spot failed to deliver. At least we got over to Robertson to see the Big Potato. This has to be one of the worst "Big Things" in the whole of Australia. Little country towns all over the country contruct "Big Things" with a local theme to set them apart from the other little country towns in an effort to attract people. These range from "Big Things" like the iconic Big Pineapple in Nambour or the Big Prawn in Ballina to what surely must be the bottom of the scale in Robertson. Its not even that big and doesn't even look like a potato but rather something altogether less appealing. Classic.

The Big Potato

Staying out of the sea

2009-03-02T20:27:00.007+11:00

Minnamurra Rainforest

Well there's certainly been no snorkelling recently as loads of sharks have turned up off the Sydney beaches over the last few weeks. Something to do with a cold current and loads of bait fish they say. Anyway, its resulted in 3 people being eaten in the last couple of weeks so I'm staying well clear until the feeding frenzy dies down!

Last weekend Emily, Jarrod and Allan joined me for a wee trip down south to the rainforest at Minnamurra and then up the hill to the Barren Grounds reserve where I've spotted Ground Parrot and Eastern Bristlebirds in the past. There was no twitching target for me this time, just the pleasure of getting out of the city for a day. The rainforest was pretty dead but there were loads of Bristlebirds up on the heath in the Barren Grounds which were new for Allan and Jarrod's lists. Not that Allan's keeping a list or anything!

Birds Nest Ferns

Crakes and Rails

2009-02-04T22:14:00.006+11:00

Last weekend I braved the heatwave and headed out to Bicentennial Park in search of the crakes and rails. They'd been showing well for the last couple of weeks at a particularly smelly swamp in the park so Jarrod, Adelle and I got on our bikes again for a bit of a cycle.

It took a wee while staking out the appropriate patch of mud but pretty soon we got fantastic views of these normally very elusive birds. The skulking Spotless Crake #386 and the secretive Lewin's Rail #387. Too good.

Lewin's Rail

Australia Day

2009-01-29T20:38:00.004+11:00

Monday was my first Australia Day as an Australian citizen but I wasn't really celebrating. It commemorates the day in 1788 when the First Fleet showed up in Australia but these days its just an excuse for overly nationalistic nonsense and everyone goes about wrapped in the flag and shouting lots. We're also in the middle of something of a heat-wave right now so spending any time outside is pretty uncomfortable.

Australia Day kangaroos

As a result, I ran away for a couple of days to Emily's folks' place in the Blue Mountains where its a few degrees cooler and there aren't quite so many Australians. A very pleasant weekend was had up there and the South Africans managed to beat the Aussies at cricket as well. Lovely.

Pacific Baza

2009-01-13T18:41:00.007+11:00

Audley, Royal NP

Remarkably I got a new bird for the list at the weekend and even more remarkably it was just down the road in the Royal NP. It was all down to another internet tip-off reporting the location of a nest containing three fledglings with regular feeding visits by the two parents. After arriving at the right spot, it took Jarrod, Paul and me about a minute to locate the nest with the babies flapping about and another minute before one of the adult birds came by. One of the more easy ticks with a pleasingly low b.p.b. (bucks per bird) - Pacific Baza (formerly the Crested Hawk) #385.

Pacific Baza

We had a bit of a wander and the bird-watching was pretty good with good views of three species of kingfisher, Rufous Whistler and Crested Shrike-tit. You don't see these around Sydney every day.

Camping with the leeches

2009-01-08T17:29:00.008+11:00

Last weekend I attended a random 60th birthday party with Emily and her brother Will. It entailed a bit of camping up in the bush near Dungog on the south side of the Barrington Tops. It should have been a pretty straightforward excursion but things took a strange turn early doors. That's to say we took a strange turn off the main road following what the TomTom sat nav said. The road soon turned into a track which turned into a walking trail which turned into a river which then just stopped. Although we were in Will's 4x4 Hilux, there was no way back due to crazy hills we'd come down and a crazy river we'd crossed and the crazy jungle was tight on both sides anyway meaning we couldn't turn round even if we'd wanted. We ended up driving across a couple of fields before finding the road we should have been on. TomTom meant well but the shortest route is not always the best one.

Wonga Pigeon

We set up camp on the property where the party was held only to discover that the place was crawling with leeches and funnel-web spiders. Emily was attacked by both but I managed to avoid them luckily. It was then that the deadly snake arrived but unfortunately for it, it had decided to stay in a hole under the camp fire and so when it emerged the poor thing was cooked. Nice party though and a load of Wonga Pigeons about which was super good.

Brush Turkey

Christmas in the mountains

2009-01-02T17:01:00.009+11:00

Scorls

I've just returned to Sydney after spending a very pleasant week up in the Blue Mountains at Emily's parents' place. And very nice it was too if a little warm during the day. Their property is right out in the bush and backs onto a forested gully and so I spent most of my time just relaxing on the veranda with a cold beer and watching the birds go by. The Glossy Black-Cockatoos still manage to evade me but I'll have them before too long.

Monster!

The only downside involved my poor old car which is beginning to feel its age I think. We had to call out the roadside assistance twice but luckily we had mobile reception on both occasions. If you're going to break down then I guess its best to do it at a picturesque lookout. The car now has a new alternator and struggles on. She was almost put out of her misery by a falling tree though. Luckily we were outside the house and heard a crack come from a large gum overhanging the driveway. We moved the cars and that very night the whole thing came down right where all the cars had been parked! If we hadn't heard that cracking noise earlier we would have had at least two very flat vehicles on our hands. A close one!

Around the garden

Yabby hunting

2009-01-02T16:37:00.007+11:00

Yabby!

Much of my time up in the mountains was spent doing absolutely nothing except relaxing but we did get out into the bush on a few occasions to hunt down the mighty yabby. Yabbies are a freshwater crustacean which frequent all of the streams and waterholes up in the Blue Mountains.

To catch a yabby, one must fill a stocking with the most rotten foul-smelling offal that you can find, tie on a rock to sink the evil mixture and attach a piece of string. The whole lot is then lobbed into a pool near a likely looking crevice or overhang. Before long the yabby will emerge and grab onto the gift and if you're really slow in pulling on the string, he won't let go and you'll be able to slip a net under him and you'll have yourself an angry little creature waving his claws at you.

The art of yabbying

Emily strikes yabby gold

A small one with the stocking full of stinking goo

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-22T23:15:00.012+11:00

Variegated Fairy-wren

Well the new job is still going fine and with a couple of tweaks to my route (thanks Paul), the commute time has been cut down to only 35 minutes which gives me a whole 5 extra minutes in bed in the morning. Nice.

Monitor hiding up a tree

The weather down here has been a bit bad recently so I've not managed to get out and about that much. A trip with Jarrod down to the Royal NP a couple of weeks back being the only exception. The bird-watching was pretty good and there were loads of big monitor lizards wandering about. At one point a couple of Lyrebirds were running round our feet for about 10 minutes. They were too busy chasing/escaping to even notice we were there!

Crazy Lyrebirds

The football is all finished for the year now and I ended the seaon with a couple of trophies. We won the Tuesday night competition in North Sydney and tonight we were just beaten in the final of my Monday comp at Sydney Uni.

Grasshoppers - North Sydney Div. 3 Champions

Big Ears - Sydney Uni Div. 2 Runners-Up

Only a couple of days to go before the Christmas break now and so all the very best for the holiday season and a very happy Christmas to you all!

Cycling round Bicentennial Park

2008-11-27T18:23:00.010+11:00

Cycling in Bicentennial Park

The Olympic stadium

Well I'm just about coping with working life. The 45 minute commute isn't too bad, things are still relatively interesting and I'm not bored with the free lunch yet although its the same (yet tasty) thing on any given day of the week. I'm pretty tired by the time the weekend comes around and so I've not been up to too much.

Pelicans

Royal Spoonbill

Last weekend, however, I hired a bike and went cycling round Bicentennial Park with Jarrod, Simon and Aleisha. Apart from a painful posterior at the end of the day it was fun, despite the showery weather. As we had hired bikes, we could flog them round the BMX track too!

The BMX track

Sadly the tandem didn't get far!

Work and play

2008-11-10T19:34:00.010+11:00

Sorry the blog hasn't been updated for a while but, unusually, there's a good reason for that this time. I've started a new job!!!! Unbelievable. After a remarkable 16 years in the university system I've broken free and have just started my second week at Silverbrook Rese arch which is a small company here in Sydney researching new technologies. Can't really say much more as its very secretive there and we're all sworn to silence. Lets just say I've had a great first week - nice people, interesting work and free food and drink all day!

Rooftop bar in Melbourne with astroturf, bean bags and deckchairs

Before the new job started I attended a couple of sporting events down here. A couple of weeks back I went to the opening ceremony and first match of the rugby league world cup. I didn't even know it was on until Jonny phoned up with the tickets the day before. Its a bit of a pointless thing all round I fancy as Australia are head and shoulders above anyone else. So much so that nobody cares down here even and the opening ceremony didn't even fill the modest 45,000 seater stadium. Australia smashed New Zealand and it was very dull.

International Rules at the MCG

Tremendous final score

The weekend after, a couple of us flew down to Melbourne to check out the hybrid "International Rules" match between the Aussie Rules boys from here and the Irish gaelic footballers. Ireland won. It was great!

The beautiful people at Flemington...

.... and Howard

We also got suited up and went along to Flemington for the Australian Derby. The beautiful people were all out and the bookies made a fortune as the winner came in at 80:1. Ridiculous. I didn't pick it.

The Derby winner - almost as happy as the bookies

Had a brief wander round the botanical gardens to try and find some thrushes or greenfinch but it started raining and I got soaked. We were in Melbourne after all.