59) Fleay's Wildlife Park - more critters!

Some things in OZ just wait for you.....

Some things continue to look at you long after you think they are gone (a python snake skin)

David Fleay was a remarkable naturalist conservationist and an early proponent of helping out Australia's threatened species. He has the 'fame' of being the last one to photograph the (now extinct) thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) (and was bitten in the but in the process!). He established a conservation park in the Tallebudgera Estuary (just down the street) in 1958. He wrote numerous books and articles and was famous for major success in breeding programs including the first breeding in captivity of the Emu, and the only success with the platypus, several bird species including the Tawny Frogmouth, and marsupials including the Koala, the first taipan (Fierce Snake). Possibly his best known successes at Fleays Wildlife Park were with owls and other birds of prey. His was the first known captive breeding of the powerful owl (1968), sooty owl (1969), grey goshawk (1971), mainland masked owl (1971), grass owl (1972), Pacific baza (1975) and the wedge-tailed eagle (1977). In 1988 Fleay successfully bred the yellow-bellied glider Petaurus australis after 60 years of attempting to do so — the first bred in captivity. He also bred snakes and provided venom from death adders, brown snakes, king brown snakes and tiger snakes. (http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/nature_conservation/wildlife/david_fleay_wildlife_park/50_years_wild/david_fleays_achievements/)



A Diamond Python














A cassowary - truly a prehistoric looking critter!












*MORE* stuff you don't want to meet in the wild - or in your house!




















This video is from the platypus tank – they are nocturnal so the light is quite low (it may help to turn the lites in your room low). But they end up squabbling over a crayfish one of them caught – very entertaining (and surprisingly small) critters – one more of AU’s oddities that caused a stir in both the world of biology and in philosophy.

58) Sailing the Ocean Blue....

Rather odd I think, for a lad from Colorado to harbor dreams of the the wide expanses, the brilliant horizontality of the ocean, but having the entire Coral Sea and the vast reaches of the Pacific in your back yard begs involvement. I actually spent a great deal of my youth sailing 'dinghy's' (a 16' C-class Thistle) in Georgian Bay off Lake Superior (after I got over adolescent petrol/engine/go-fast desires). When we decided to move to a coast I realized that I could follow in the footsteps of fellow raft guide Captain Alicia, and pursue my Skipper certification.

Now some of you, or actually many of you, will think "I would never do that - too sedentary, not enough exercise, old people activity. Doesn't count for aerobic points!" Well wait a few. For me it's like knowing how to row a Grand Canyon raft - someday a friend of mine may think how nice it would be to charter a bareboat in the West Indies, the Leeward Isles, the Whitsundays, the Mediterranean. You may want to do some snorkeling, take in a few dives, visit some uninhibited tropical islands, swim in clear, turquoise waters, have a few of those drinks with the little umbrellas in them. But said friend will need a certified skipper who won't cramp your beach lounging, kite surfing, hammock-swinging life style. And will let you wakeboard behind the boat!

Who ya gonna call? Eh mate!?

I thought I was going to learn to sail - they found out I was a (former) raft guide and they gave me this! (ah, it was good to smell hypalon baking in the sun and get that leg burn from using a leaky foot pump!) Who needs stair-masters!
























Moreton Bay is a fantastically scenic place. Bounded on the east by Stradbroke and Moreton Islands (the latter a National Park). Many harbors, marinas, and moorings. Lots of small mangrove islands down south and some very tricky waters to sail in. The entire bay is quite shallow and parts are *really* shallow. You really have to attend to navigation, navigation markers, and the tides. Rob, our instructor, has been sailing for almost all of his young life and he has gone aground here! As a racing boat, ours had a deeper than normal keel making chart and tide reading critical - there are places where the channel is really narrow and there are moorings you can only get into/out of at high tide.

(the red line indicates our approximate path over the course - 153 nautical miles.


Rob, our sailing instructor from the UK adjusts the jib leech line - good balance here as we were bouncing along at about 8.5 knots! (note the harness - we had not yet done our man-over-board drills which involes crash-tacking (that just *sounds* like fun right!) and some easy maneuvers back to the swimmer. This boat is a 41' racing sloop - sails closer to the wind, turns faster, has a deeper keel than most yachts. Pretty amazing boat - but boy is it tender - it heels right over at the drop of a hat!











The WAGS race - "Wednesday Afternoon Go Sailing" - any type of sailboat - just for fun!






Some intentionally scuttled wrecks off the anchorage on Moreton Island. Great snorkeling, beautiful water. They make for an interesting bit of scenery but don't do much to protect the anchorage!












The tidal currents here make this a real drift-snorkel - there is no way you are going to swim against this current for long. Of course I didn't even have fins so it was all rather interesting . Signs on the wrecks warning against climbing up on them (what were they thinking - that people wouldn't go climb up on them? Mostly the metal bits were too hot to walk on!) I ended up swimming 'downstream' to shore, walking back up the beach and swimming with a good ferry angle across the current to get back to my boat.

Sharks? No sharks here......








Halos form when light from the sun or moon is by ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds. A 22 degree halo is a ring of light 22 degrees from the sun (or moon) and is the most common type of halo observed and is formed by hexagonal ice crystals with diameters less than 20.5 micrometers.
(http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/wwhlpr/halo.rxml?hret=/guides/mtr/opt/ice/sd.rxml)

I rowed my little dinghy past this abandoned (?) boat at a mooring in S Moreton. Kind of sad to see it just left there to rot....









A shark free swimming pen - it really works - guaranteed no sharks in there! (it is low tide and a king tide at that!)


























Fantastic sunsets out on the water. The 'Oceans" is a 41 foot yacht. Sleeps 6 comfortably - a splendid way to find accommodations as you move from anchorage to marina to mooring. Small kitchen but all the amenities (freezer, oven, full kitchen get up)













A turtle-eye view of "Oceans" (our boat) - we have a boom-tent rig for lunch to stay out of the sun.










Moon rise over someone's dinghy.















Videos of us under sail. This was a broad reach - almost directly before the wind so we were not heeling over. We are still flying here - about 8 knots. Next time I will try and get some video of this boat when it's trying to lie over - quite exciting that! (the noise is the wind over the pic up microphone)

57) A sea change - 3 am Ozzie-time

"Full fathom five thy father lies:

Of his bones are coral made:

Those are pearls that were his eyes:

Nothing of him that doth fade

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange."

(The Tempest; Shakespeare)

We set the alarm, set up a borrowed LCD projector, leapt up at 2:30 am to make popcorn and watch history on streaming video via the NYT website. He can not fix such a thoroughly thrashed system on his own, but he may cause us to open our eyes and begin to make it work.

"Be the change you seek in your world" (Gandhi)

As an added bonus, he speaks in complete sentences, is capable of speaking his mind rather than just saying things, and he knows how to pronounce "nuclear".

"Change your thoughts and you change the world" (Norman Peale)

"In Europe and elsewhere around the world, celebrations began hours before the inauguration. In Paris, a party at the ornate Hôtel de Ville on the banks of the River Seine was followed by less formal merriment around the city. At Queen, one of the city’s best-known gay clubs, live television footage of the new president’s triumphant parade was shown to a thumping back-drop of music by Grover Washington Jr. British cities, including Belfast, Liverpool, Leeds and London, also offered big-screen viewings of the inauguration. In Tottenham, a multi-ethnic neighborhood in north London, Juliet Alexander, the organizer of an inauguration celebration in an arts center, said the significance of the American election lay in the belief that “he is not just a black president, he is a politically educated man who has touched the imaginations of people all around the world.”“He represents a movement to people — and we are happy to celebrate that,” she said. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/world/europe/21reax.html?hp)

It was a good hour to be alive.....

56) Summer is Here!

It is finally summer and we are dancing on the beach. It is hard to read news about the in-bounds avalanches in the US - its just a different world here!



Ah - the livin' is easy.....















More great flowering trees on the Bond Campus



















Driving to Tambourine Mountain - the Avo wars with self-service stands on both sides of the road 3 for $2, no 4 for $2, - "we beat all advertised prices"!

Just folks selling what comes off their backyard trees. This one had an attractive, friendly stand, plus they're spray-free!










Byron Bay beach play

















Anyone have cruiser envy? Eh?
I can ship you one - too easy! You'll be right!











Only in Byron Bay (Boulder on the beach...)















One would think I would learn. When a plant has small black fruits, that then turn fire engine red, and it's from OZ, one should probably not eat large chunks. There is a reason the fruits are bright red...

There is also a reason it is called the "Black Pearl Pepper"..... Ghost Pirate ships and all..








Byron Bay sidewalk deco







We were leaving Byron Bay - we were drawn to the wild drumming on the beach. This fire-juggling guy (video below) was really impressive. This routine went on for another 3-4 minutes with more and more intricate twirls. Unfortunately my battery ran out! (listen for the fine California 'my gawd" in the background - the young and restless are everywhere...!)