Below is the island from the heli, only 42 acres and a major nesting site for several species of birds as well as green sea turtles and loggerheads.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef
Friday, September 3, 2010
We drove on the rest of the way to Gladstone, where we parked the car at the marina, then took a taxi to the small airport. Then a fabulous helicopter ride out to Heron Island, located 72 kilometers from the mainland and right on the Great Barrier Reef. This is a picture of the reef, and the water was clear enough to spot stingrays, turtles and whales.
Below is the island from the heli, only 42 acres and a major nesting site for several species of birds as well as green sea turtles and loggerheads.
Below is the island from the heli, only 42 acres and a major nesting site for several species of birds as well as green sea turtles and loggerheads.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The second day of Bill's conference, and I drove to Burrim Forest Park to hike. Some beautiful waterfalls and colorful goannas and birds. Seems strange to see koala crossing signs on all the roads, instead of kangaroo signs.
After the conference ended we drove north as far as Gin Gin, a small town on the main road.
 |
| Below: Australian Brush Turkey |
After the conference ended we drove north as far as Gin Gin, a small town on the main road.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Noosa N.P., Queensland, AU
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
The start of a business trip/vacation in Queensland. We flew to Brisbane (Brissy) rented a car and drove north about an hour and a half to Coolum Beach. Stayed at the Hyatt Regency resort which was very nice, and while Bill attended his meetings, I drove to Noosa National Park, only 20 minutes away. Almost immediately I spotted this little koala in a tree, and although he was initially asleep, when I returned from my walk he was awake and I could have reached out and touched him, he was so low in the tree. Since they sleep about 22 hours a day, it's unusual to find them awake.
In the rainforest, lots of the trees are wrapped up in vines, and look like a tree inside of a tree, like this one.
Saw this big goanna climbing a tree. Some are dark gray like this one but others are covered with yellow polka-dots, that start out small on the head and then get larger towards the rear, ending up in stripes on the tail. This is a pic of the coastline in Noosa N.P.
In the rainforest, lots of the trees are wrapped up in vines, and look like a tree inside of a tree, like this one.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Many of the things that we find to be different here seem to revolve around grocery shopping, for instance: Instead of listing the most commonly purchased items on the signs at the ends of the aisles, some of the stores here list things like plastic spoons or coffee filters, even though they're located on the same aisle as the paper towels and toilet paper, yet those things are not listed. Just seems like people would buy paper towels and toilet paper a lot more often than plastic spoons or coffee filters.
Then there's the weird sizing, like the fact that tissues are larger than paper towels, since the tissues measure 8"x12" and the paper towels are only 9"x9". And even though I always hand the check-out clerks my cloth bags, they invariably ask me if I want plastic. ??? Why would I give them a cloth bag if I wanted plastic? And once when I gave the clerk 2 bags, since I bought a lot of heavy items and I was walking, she actually asked me what she should do with the second bag.
And apparently restaurants are highly regulated, because they have some strange laws to follow. I went to lunch with a friend, who ordered fish and chips, but she asked that they only bring her one piece of fish instead of two, because she could not eat both. The waitress explained that by law, they could not do that, since 2 pieces of fish comes with the meal. When I suggested the waitress give her a doggy bag for the extra piece, she explained that by law, that was not allowed. She suggested that she could bring my friend a whole bunch of napkins and then she would turn her back and not watch if she chose to wrap the fish up and put it in her purse. Strange. On another occasion 5 of us had lunch at a local winery, and we ordered a tasting tray. However, one of the foods on the tray had only 4 instead of 5 little sausage things, and when we asked if they could bring one more, so that everyone could have a taste, they said they would have to bring 4 more, and could not bring just 1, since 4 came with the tray.
One thing that is very different here from the States, and that I think works very well, is that pedestrians do not have the right of way, and so the responsibility is on the walker, not the driver. There is no such thing as jaywalking, so if you're walking and think you can make it across the street, you just go for it, and you would have no one to blame but yourself if you misjudged the traffic and got hit. People cross the streets this way all the time and I've never seen it to be a problem. You just have to watch the traffic and walk fast.
Then there is the cell phone system, which leaves a bit to be desired, at least the customer service part. I decided to check my bill on line one day, and I saw that the calls are charged at .30 per minute plus a .35 connection fee. Then I noticed that the first call on the list was for 2 minutes, which should have amounted to a total of .95. However, the charge was for $2.50, so I called and asked the customer service rep to explain the math to me, because it did not add up. After a long pause he came back on the line and replied, "How about I give you 30 free minutes?" I said that would be fine but I still wanted an answer to my question, and after another long pause he responded, "How about I give you 60 free minutes?" At that point I just said O.K. and hung up, because I gave up.
Many of the things that we find to be different here seem to revolve around grocery shopping, for instance: Instead of listing the most commonly purchased items on the signs at the ends of the aisles, some of the stores here list things like plastic spoons or coffee filters, even though they're located on the same aisle as the paper towels and toilet paper, yet those things are not listed. Just seems like people would buy paper towels and toilet paper a lot more often than plastic spoons or coffee filters.
Then there's the weird sizing, like the fact that tissues are larger than paper towels, since the tissues measure 8"x12" and the paper towels are only 9"x9". And even though I always hand the check-out clerks my cloth bags, they invariably ask me if I want plastic. ??? Why would I give them a cloth bag if I wanted plastic? And once when I gave the clerk 2 bags, since I bought a lot of heavy items and I was walking, she actually asked me what she should do with the second bag.
And apparently restaurants are highly regulated, because they have some strange laws to follow. I went to lunch with a friend, who ordered fish and chips, but she asked that they only bring her one piece of fish instead of two, because she could not eat both. The waitress explained that by law, they could not do that, since 2 pieces of fish comes with the meal. When I suggested the waitress give her a doggy bag for the extra piece, she explained that by law, that was not allowed. She suggested that she could bring my friend a whole bunch of napkins and then she would turn her back and not watch if she chose to wrap the fish up and put it in her purse. Strange. On another occasion 5 of us had lunch at a local winery, and we ordered a tasting tray. However, one of the foods on the tray had only 4 instead of 5 little sausage things, and when we asked if they could bring one more, so that everyone could have a taste, they said they would have to bring 4 more, and could not bring just 1, since 4 came with the tray.
One thing that is very different here from the States, and that I think works very well, is that pedestrians do not have the right of way, and so the responsibility is on the walker, not the driver. There is no such thing as jaywalking, so if you're walking and think you can make it across the street, you just go for it, and you would have no one to blame but yourself if you misjudged the traffic and got hit. People cross the streets this way all the time and I've never seen it to be a problem. You just have to watch the traffic and walk fast.
Then there is the cell phone system, which leaves a bit to be desired, at least the customer service part. I decided to check my bill on line one day, and I saw that the calls are charged at .30 per minute plus a .35 connection fee. Then I noticed that the first call on the list was for 2 minutes, which should have amounted to a total of .95. However, the charge was for $2.50, so I called and asked the customer service rep to explain the math to me, because it did not add up. After a long pause he came back on the line and replied, "How about I give you 30 free minutes?" I said that would be fine but I still wanted an answer to my question, and after another long pause he responded, "How about I give you 60 free minutes?" At that point I just said O.K. and hung up, because I gave up.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Drove down to Dwellingup yesterday, and took a train ride out into the forest. Then we hiked for a while and saw this mass of caterpillars, all clustered together on a tree. Gross.
We were surprised to see so many grasstrees, this was by far the thickest area for them that we've ever seen.
The docent said they are very slow growing, and only grow about one foot every 10 years.
We were surprised to see so many grasstrees, this was by far the thickest area for them that we've ever seen.
The docent said they are very slow growing, and only grow about one foot every 10 years.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
While walking in Kings Park last week, I stopped to take some pics of this ring-necked parrot and his buddy. I guess I was there so long, they thought I was a rock or something, since this one walked right up to me and took a nibble on my ring first, then tried my finger a couple of times. I was kneeling down with one hand on the ground, and since their beaks are very powerful, I decided I'd better move my hand and show him I was alive, before he bit down a lot harder.
So far, I've managed not to get bitten at work, but people do often enough.
So far, I've managed not to get bitten at work, but people do often enough.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Last weekend was the Avon Descent, a white water race which is considered to be one of the best, and people from all over the world come to compete. However, this year the water levels were extremely low, the worst ever, since Perth has had very little rainfall this winter, so the race was a real challenge, to put it mildly. Many of the competitors dropped out by Sunday, since their boats got damaged by all the exposed rocks on Saturday, and only two of the power boats actually finished the race. Here are some pics showing boats getting stuck on the rocks, which happened continually, and most of the kayakers had to get out, pick up the kayak, walk around the rocks, and then try paddling again, until hitting the next rock. It was kind of pathetic actually, but they are a tough and determined bunch, even though it took roughly 4 to 6 hours longer than normal to finish the race. One boat split into two going through the rapids, and they actually taped it together with duct tape and finished the course.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
