Good Fortune

Artist - PJ Harvey

Well last week I was over in Perth, primarily on business, but I delayed coming back immediately and had a bit of a break. I decided to pop over to Rottnest Island (just off the coast from Perth), have a bit naturalist nose around and generally forget about work for a few days.

I left on the Sunday after a very showery night. The house was freezing and when I looked out there was snow on Mt Wellington. In contrast when I got to Perth the temperature was about 35°c. So a slight change in temperature there. The two day meeting was good and I met up with lots of seedy people and generally had a good old natter.

Rottnest Island was pretty cool and very hot as the temperatures climbed during the week. By Thursday it peaked at over 40°c. At this point I decided to take to the water and hired out a snorkel and had a look at the fish and anything else I could find. I’ve loaded a few images up on Flickr which you can view here. I did see some Quokkas on Rottnest but the images are pretty shoddy so I’ve not loaded them up. But do check out the very cool Blue Tongue (that wandered into our lecture room) and the brittle star I found on Rottnest. Oh and this very guilty looking crab is fun too!

Fruition

Artist - Stereolab

Well Look what I received yesterday!

1.1kg of sloes. Yay!

Mr M was out on the weekend and came across a blackthorn hedge and collected enough fruit for himself and me.

It’s been over two years since I last made sloe gin, so this is a real treat. Back in July last year I received a little bottle from the Jamster (bless you Jam!) to take back to Tasmania and I’ve been struggling to make this last as long as possible.

But not for much longer!

Truth Hides

Artist - Asian Dub Foundation

Well about a fortnight ago I asked you all to guess what this is?

Well you all failed to answer the puzzle but the answer lies behind the fold.

In other news the photos from the January field trip are now up on Flickr and this link will take you to see all the images (not just the public ones).

Wakey Towers folk will recognise a few familiar faces.

This Year’s Thing

Artist - Chumbawumba

Well now some of you might have heard about the new creationist whinge film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

If you haven’t…. well you know, science is this big Atheist Conspiracy brainwashing people into believing evolution. But if you fight the system… well the evil Atheist Conspiracy will make sure you lose your job, your house, your children, the remote control to the DVD player, one of each of your socks, etc, etc.

Well a regular poster at AtBC has noticed that the makers of the film might be slightly worried that the film might not be a box office smash.

I Wish I Had Duck Feet

Artist - Orbital

Well I’ve just got back from the field and feel totally knackered.

Things went better than expected and we made 44 collections, 11 of which were made at a single site, which was pretty cool.

As things turned out I ended up wading in a series of pools, rivers and lagoons. I managed to dodge some pretty large (and rather colourful) leeches but did get bitten by a water boatman. By far the most irritating thing were the masses of sweat flies that were all over you whenever you were outside.

The beginning of the week saw some pretty hot weather but sadly we never once made it to the beach for a swim which was pretty crap.

Still as I say the collecting went well and we saw some really interesting plants and animals. I’ll hopefully post a few piccies from the trip up here and on Flickr.

For now I’ll just say night night.

Can’t wait to get into my old bed.
Hmmmmmm
Nuytsia

From Before… What?

Artist - Leila

It’s been another insanely hot day and Hobart has been like an oven. It’s about 21:00 at the moment and it still bloomin hot and sticky. Yuck.

I got myself down to South Arm which was blessedly a little cooler and proved to be a very interesting morning. As you can see.

I had intended to go for a swim, but I got distracted and went rock pooling and then ran out of time.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Artist - The Cure

Well thank goodness they got the air conditioning sorted out in the office it’s been 33°c today.

The last few days have been very warm and the dry room has had a continued series of hiccups. Yesterday lunchtime I watched this Magpie trying to get a drink out of this tap.

It’s nuts and apparently it’ll be hot again tomorrow. Definately a beach day I think.

Well hope you all have a good weekend with more sensible weather. I’ll bravely struggle on and try to make the most of it.

Heh, heh, heh.

Nuytsia

At the River

Artist - Groove Armada

Well straight off a quick warning.

Any arachnophobes reading this should stop at the fold and read no further. I reckon that’s fair warning.

So where do i begin…. oh yes.

Well I hope you all had a good festive season. Mine has been a pretty quite affair. Spent most of Christmas day in bed with a book (the new Pratchett) and generally did very little.

Boxing day I popped down to the Peter Murrel Reserve again to see what was happening down there. The orchids have all but finished really although I did come across a Small Duck Orchid. I saw the end of what must have been a fairly large snake and I also got this rather splendid photograph of a Spotted Pardalote. I’ve got a couple of shots of the Striated Pardalote which is a pretty nice little bird, but the Spotted I think are exquisite. So I was pretty chuffed with this shot. It’s gone down pretty well on Flickr as well with 93 hits so far.

Prior to Christmas I had planned to go exploring future afield in the little car and see a bit more of Tassie. I’m really itching to photograph Platypus (which will be difficult) and also the Blue-Tongues. Me man Mr M had inspired me with a recent tale of sharing lunch with a Blue-Tongue on a field trip (apparently they are absolutely suckers for soft fruit - particularly strawberries or grapes). But apart from popping down to the Taruna Airwalk with D and family (which was great and is somewhere I’ll pop down to again) I didn’t get that far so on the morning of 31st I decided to get my arse into gear and get out there for the last day of the year.

I decided to head down to the Snowy Ranges and finally work out where exactly I went in November 2006 when I tried to climb Wet Pants Peak with Dave & Richard. I tried to make this run about two months back but got hopelessly lost. The week after, using the GPS refs I took on that day, I worked where I actually got too. Subsequently I made detailed lats & longs notes, using google earth, to work out where exactly I should turn in the labyrinth that is the forestry tracks.

So I was pretty well set up to tackle the trip. As it was to turn out though, this excursion was probably not the best decision I could have made.

Down By The Water

Artist - P.J. Harvey

Well I’ve heard that the weather in the UK is a bit cold and miserable so I thought I’d cheer you up with a photo taken in Hobart today.

Interesting bit of news up on Pharyngula and The Loom.

The new issue of Nature will publish a paper by Hans Thewissen on a new fossil which puts another piece in the story of whale evolution. It looks pretty cool and you really should pop over to Flickr to check out the gorgeous illustration of it by Carl Buell. Beautiful.

As Hank Fox comments on Pharyngula “Carl Buell Rules!”

Yes indeed.

Gorgeous Blue Flower

Artist - Th’ Faith Healers

Well apologies once again for disappearing of the radar.

After a total pig of a week where I seriously considered quiting, the weekend has washed most of my blues away and I’ve been feeling a decidedly fluffier bunny today. I think the weekend walk to Lake Ina completely knackered me to be honest and so I was not in the most robust shape for all the crap that ensued on Tuesday morning and carried on through to the end of the week.