Day8 Sydney

(oops, I'm back. Belated blog post? sorry!)

It's nice that here trains are a more active form of transportation. Back home it's mostly just the bus or a car to choose from. But here taking the train a short distance is possible...I like it! Oct 26th, Pete and I took the train into Sydney. It was around an hour long train ride, cosy with a great view. I wish I could ride a train to work back home! We had intended to go to the Australian Museum and to the art Gallery that day but ended up only getting to the Australian Museum. It was for the best, we saw an amazing art show. Dozens of  illustrations of bugs and plant matter by the Scott sisters back in the 1800's. The detail was amazing, we even got to see their paints and brushes. They painted with ink and watercolours (my favourite combination!). The colours were so vibrant and rich. I wish I could stand over their shoulders while they painted even one of their creations. Talk about inspiring.

The rest of the museum was amazing too. We went and visited some friends of Pete's, and saw some pretty fancy critters of the stuffed variety. If I don't get to see some Gang-Gang cockatoo's in the wild at least I spotted these ones. The bones, bugs and reptiles were all really cool - the spider display...a little frightening, even if they weren't alive. We even got to see one of Pete's pictures being used in part of a museum display. I was traveling with a celebrity :b :b

We took a detour for lunch, sashimi and tempura. Mouth watering deliciousness. I tried what I think was an uncooked oyster for the first time....EW. I am definitely never having one of those ever again. Salty, slimy, ew. Everything else was heavenly. The streets in Sydney are pretty, with lots of cute homes squished tightly together. Actually, all the architecture around here is great. The old brick buildings are almost whimsical...perfect for an artist studio!  - After we ate, we headed back to the museum, saw a few more things then we hit the road.

We were going to an AHS meeting, Australian Herpetological Society meeting, so we killed some time in the Botanic Gardens on the Sydney waterfront. Beautiful birds everywhere. A sulfur-crested cockatoo overhead, ducks, lots of Ibis and some other exciting sitings.  I saw the Opera house from afar, and saw once again these strange flowers that look like they've crawled out of John Wyndham's, The Day of the Triffids. I expect them to start walking soon, I think they're called Gymea Lilies.

Our last stop was the AHS meeting which was in Sydney, in a small auditorium where I listened to a talk about venom. I wish I could time travel back to grade 12 biology to refresh my brain on amino acids and peptides and...well, it was a little much for my brain. Still really cool though. It was interesting to see the speaker, Bryan Fry show images of his travels all over the world and to just hear the stories behind them. I also got to meet a lot of Pete's mates who all obviously love reptiles. We had drinks with some of them afterwards, and Tommy and Ollie gave us a ride to the train station with some true blue aussie tour guiding provided by Tommy  as well as a quick stop to Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Here I ate the most delicious, scrumpdiddlyumptious meat pie ever. If I could fill my suitcase full of them I would! Mushy peas, potatoes and delicious beef and curryness. Droolworthy!   I had a really fun night, so much fun!

A lazy train ride home was the finale to a good day!

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I know the blog still needs a little more TLC because it's a few days behind. But you should be all caught up soon!

- Maureen

Day10 - Backyard Birding c:

Some finds this morning while drinking tea.

Female Satin Bowerbird (Ptilinorhynchus violaceus) on backyard fence

Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax) circling our picnic rug

Red Wattlebird (Anthocaera carunculata) in Bottle Brush Tree

-P

Day 6 - Somersby Birding by Day, Macro by Night c:

Moe checking out Somersby Falls

Macro of body of Scarab Beetle grub

Face of scarab grub

Face of another scarab grub

Days 6-8 PART 1

Holy smokes, this blog is already falling behind! Whoooops! In the last few days the sunshine has decided to abandon Australia for a bit. Bummer! Oh well, I guess it can't be sunny here the whole time I'm here, right?

A brief recap of the boating adventure? ...It was so fun! I loved it. It was b-e-a-u-tiful out, so sunny and perfect. Seeing all the birds busy out in the water and along its edges was really neat. Beautiful islands that looked like Peter Pan and Tinkerbell should live there. I think we found Neverland! We stopped for fish and chips, the most delicious I've ever had. We stopped a second time where we tied up and relaxed and had a cup of tea. The ride back was fun - it was fast, sunny and bumpy << I approve, it was like an amusement park only with a better view!

We also went on a really interesting bushwalk that night and saw a huge hive of bees. We didnt get too close, they were nestled into a trunk but you could hear the low hum of hundreds of bee's from a few feet away. After scaling down a steep hill with only the light from our headlamps (yes, I wore one! :b) we finalllly got to these huge, HUGE beautiful rocks that were so smooth on top, but as we climbed underneath to look for critters you could see the rock was dimpled and cavernous. The night bushwalk was concluded with a good snack of oreos! Mmmmmm.

Monday was hot and beautiful, we went to Somersby Falls in hopes of seeing some cool birds, it would have been a good opportunity to experiment with Pete's new birding lens. One downside...NO BIRDS! The waterfall was beautiful though. It felt really nice to stand in it, surrounded by cool water and beautiful shades of green. When we left, the house across the street from where the car was parked had some blue wrens in the yard. They seem like very busy birds, with very expressive tail feathers...lots of twitching! OH! I also saw my first wild reptile, a water dragon. (very cool!)




---- You still need to hear about our day in Sydney, and I promise I'm going to tell you. SUSPENSE! I'll finish the post tonight... :]

-Maureen

Mash-up!

Superb Blue Wren (Malurus cyaneus)

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)

Lion Island, Broken Bay

Moeritime Adventeaure

White-faced Heron (Ardea Novaehollandiae)

Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrococarax melanoleucos)

Great Egret (Ardea alba)

Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) flying in formatean

Little Curlew (Numenius minutus)?

A few pics from sundays boating, we saw some cool aquatic birdlife, nommed some fish and chips from the best ever fish and chip shop and got lots of sun and fresh air.

-Pete

Day4

Posting this a day late, but for my pet store friends who are reading? (Hellooo? Are you out there?) We went to a local Pet Barn, a pet store chain in Australia.

After fulfilling my wish of seeing an Australian pet store, Pete & Richard took me on a bird finding voyage. Words out, all the birds are hiding from me - they know I'm here. We headed to a spot where Richard has seen crimson rosella's before. No luck whatsoever. BUT we did see loads of blue wren's. So cute and precious, with bright bright blue on their bodies. Who knew mother nature was so talented. Other birds we spotted? Crested pigeons, Willy Wagtails - and we heard a Barking Owl, Bell Birds and Whip birds.

There was some delicious om-nom-nomming of bacon and eggs for breakfast, out on the Street's verandah surrounded by sunshine. Later, some chickeny goodness. Pete and I headed up to Strickland State Forest and we saw some cool critters. I felt like I was in Jurassic park, surrounded by trees so tall I could barely see their tops. And plants that were taller than me. And even more exicitng, I got to hold my first yabby, which I can only describe for you as a mini lobster. It was sitting in a large puddle. Pete suggested I let it bite me. It was so cool to see it go rigid as it nipped my finger. Somewhere in the midst of travelling through Pandora oops I mean, AUSTRALIA, I met a few leaches. One who decided the bottom of my butt was a good place to hang out. No worries. I stealthily ripped it off... OH! And we heard, but did not see a swamp wallaby! The forest was seriously beautiful.

PS.
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-Moe