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the last word…
This is Gaz. He’s a Galah. Most Australians use the non-Avian term Galah meaning a human is a fool or idiot. But Gaz is a real Galah and naturally entertaining by nature…mostly. Gaz has established himself as ‘spokes bird’ for the Crested Pigeons in the area. He’s very vocal if I’m late feeding them, or…
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critters…
This morning I was sitting here at the computer having my coffee and heard a familiar scratching noise in the roof space above me. For 25 years we’ve been visited by the local Black Headed Water Monitor lizards. We are pretty sure they live in the rocks that have been carefully excavated in the driveway,…
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the gift of the little frog…
After the good rain we had in February…rain that washed out the roads and the railway line and disrupted our lives even more than Covid…the rain that caused the river to flow and replenish the basin, the trees to be washed clean of red dust, and the grasses to grow lush and green and then…
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watching and the watcher…
This time last year we were watching large swathes of Australia burn. I rescued a little kangaroo joey, that sadly died a few weeks later, too. As we watched the very disturbing video of our country on fire and the animals and humans in deep distress, so began a year of not wanting to turn…
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the collins street falcons…
This isn’t a piece about a sports team named the Falcons…these Falcons are athletes of a different species, diving and racing up to speeds of 300kph! As you would have noticed from the last post, I’m a bit of a bird nerd. Some of my earliest memories are of my grandmother nursing an injured or…
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the valley…
This is the valley about five minutes’ walk from our house. I’m there most mornings ahead of the golfers, so, very early. The sun is not fully up and it is tingeing the mountains various shades of pink and orange that if you painted it people would say ‘that doesn’t look real’. But in person…
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safari, so good…
We had set our alarms for 5.20am the next morning. Somehow 5.30 didn’t seem quite enough for two people to be ready and present for a 6am safari departure. It was tough. The activity, anxiety and travel was beginning to wear on us. The early start, before sunrise, was the reverse of the evening before.…
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Gondwana…
We had it on good advice that Gondwana* Game Reserve would not disappoint us in our desire to see African animals. But honestly, how many wonderful animal experiences could a person rightly expect from one trip? It was hard to believe that anything could live up to the experiences we had just witnessed on our…
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sharing their world…
It was a short night for recovery from three excursions the day before. But strolling through the decommissioned whaling station was just what we needed. The sun was glorious, which added a bright touch to the otherwise gloomy history of Grytviken. There were about 14 whaling stations on South Georgia at its peak. Some would…
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South Georgia on my mind…
After the flurry of activity in the Falklands, we were happy to have a few days at sea to rest and let everything sink in. However, don’t think we were without plenty to do! Every day either the National Geographic photographer or Nat Geo expert, as well as one of eight Naturalists, would give talks.…
ardysez 