Once in a blue moon...

I actually came to Australia once in a blue moon...how cool! Haven't seen it yet though, it's behind a cloud :-(

Addition: it came out from behind the clouds and was lovely...but not at all blue!

Trouble in ant-world

I'm starting to feel a bit guilty about my ant-licking habits... Today after I had licked my ant and let him run off, I watched what happened next. He ran off seemingly quite happily, but when he meet another ant they touched feelers together, and it was almost like the other ant said, "what happened to you? What's that slime on your bottom?" Then he turned to the next ant and said, "oy, look what happened to Bertram...he's looking a bit peaky..." Who turned to the next one and said, "you won't believe that I've just seen, coffee and have a look!"

And all of a sudden, loads of ants had dived on top of poor Bertram inspecting his bottom and stroking his body. I watched for about five minutes and then I lost sight of which one was Bertram, so I'm not entirely sure whether they were reassuring him, or whether he had fainted and they were tearing him limb from limb from limb from limb from limb from limb!

Sadly while I was transfixed on my balcony, the sun was setting and the mosis (possibly in league with the ants and wreaking revenge!) started biting! Grr...I've done so well up to now but in the last couple of days I've neglected my anti mosi spray and possibly as a result of sleeping with my burnt buttocks outside the sheets I now have quite a lot of bites on my arms and legs!

Ooh, BB update-Aloe Vera gel works wonders, I can sit down again :-)

Foxface rabbitfish!

What a fantastic day! (I should say now that those of you reading this to find out what Becky is up to should know that it wasn't such a fantastic day for her because she felt very seasick :-( I should probably add that since we have got back on dry land she is perking up a bit, is currently eating crisps and doesn't look the colour of a hotel sheet any more!)

Anyway, back to me! ;-) Apart from Becky's seasickness I have had an almost perfect day! We went on a catamaran with 78ish other people (although it didn't feel like that many) to the Agincourt reef on the outer edges of the great barrier reef. We went to three different sites on this reef and snorkelled for about an hour in each place-it was fantastic to see so many different coral structures. I particularly enjoyed the second one as it was a little reef island that you could swim all the way round and there was layer upon layer of fish going down into the depths. Truly incredible sights, amazing colours, every size of fish (apart from shark!) and plenty of time to explore it all. I took a lot of underwater footage...my camera survived the experience...although looking back on it I've decided that it's very difficult to keep a video camera still underwater and there should be a warning to viewers not to watch my footage if they suffer from seasickness!!

We had a lovely lunch and because Becky couldn't stomach any of it I managed to wangle a huge bag of tiger prawns to bring home (I'm not yet sure if I'll eat them, my usual policy is not to eat any food that is looking at me!!)

The only downside to the day (apart from B's seasickness) is that despite being so careful with suncream etc I appear to have forgotten a little strip just below my swimming costume, there's no other way to say this...I can't believe I've burnt my buttocks! Not badly but enough to feel it when I sit down! Grr...

Oh and my favourite fish is the foxface rabbitfish...and I had decided that before I find out what it was called, but now...well there's no contest!

Turtle!

The ospreys in the previous post were within the Thala Beach Lodge down the road from where we were staying. Jeanette and Alan took us down there and then while they had an expensive 5* eco friendly lunch, we took our 5* home-made (by me!) sandwiches down to the beach. We then wandered to the bird hide to see the ospreys (see previous post) and on to Turtle Lookout. We weren't sure if it was named this because you could actually see turtles, because the rock was turtle-shaped, or for some other obscure reason, but we had a good look...sans binoculars again! (the sign that said, "please grab some binoculars from reception" failed to mention the $300 deposit necessary! $300!)

Just when I was thinking that it must just be a name, a rock I was watching moved. Not only did it move but it raised its head out of the water! Becky thought she saw a flipper and after much umming and ahhing I was convinced that we were watching turtles. Becky took a bit more persuading, but we did agree in the end that they must be turtles!

We walked down to the beach and I decided to go for a very hot, very rocky, very quick (it was nearly time to get back to J&A) clambour round to where I thought the turtles would be. I went a little too far I think, and was only rewarded with a little head popping up once, but nevermind, at least I have now seen turtles in the wild. They were browner than I was expecting!

I don't have any pictures for you as they were too far away. But I do have a rather groovy pic of a t-shirt belonging to Chris (in Brisbane). I'm hoping to see a cuttle fish tomorrow though I think it's unlikely. Even if they are there, they are the masters of disguise-they can change colour at will, they can even blow out ink and make themselves look like the ink blob so that a predator attacks the blob discovering it is not edible and then assumes the cuttle fish (now looking like the blob) is the same thing! Sorry, I got a bit over excited there...if I lived in Australia I could probably join a cuttlefish appreciation society...I jest not -tell them Chris!

Peep!

Right in the centre of this picture (slightly worse quality as I've zoomed in) is an osprey nest on top of a pylon. It currently has both adults and one osprey chick sitting in it who peeps every so often especially if a Brahminy kite flies overhead, which I think they have been! The only thing we're missing is a pair of binoculars so I can't be sure!

Addition to post: just seen two more nests on the way home, also on telegraph poles! Couldn't see the young just the adults, but apparently they do have chicks.

This is the life!

Becky has walked into town to buy some more suncream and I have come to the pool connected with the villas...I don't think it's open to the hoy palloy-they have sixteen lagoons to choose from! There's no-one here, just me, the sun and my book! Bliss!

News flash!!

The East Coast has had a record breaking number of dry days-now 39 and counting. As it is so dry and now starting to get hotter as we head into spring the eastern brown snakes are on the move! They are looking for places to live, and leaving the door open may well be an invitation to one to move in. They have enough venom in their fangs to kill a mere thirteen human beings.

Unfortunately when I went up to my bedroom there was a snake-sized gap between my sliding door and the wall. My only hope is that these snakes can't climb up to balconies. If they can I leave all my worldly wealth to Lottie.