Don't like Victorian weather?
The ancient response to that question is to "wait 5 minutes and it'll be different"!
We are back to Mallacoota for a long weekend and expected it to be raining on the way down. In fact the weather was great both during the drive and when we arrived. So we unpacked and sat on the deck for a health-giving glass of red. Then it appeared the red was in danger of getting diluted so we retreated. Before doing so a photogenic rainbow appeared.
I am not going to say the weather changed every 5 minutes (sometimes it was consistent for up to 10 minutes) but there were showers on and off from then on. About 8pm there was a scratching noise from the flue. Was this a possum revisiting? A quick check showed the flue was still well covered (with a proper device not the milk crate).
A few minutes later there were a couple of thuds on the deck and Frances reported seeing Mrs Possum and child. I rushed out, but all I got was a brush tail, one foot and some belly. It does look as though there is also a bit of desiccated umbilical cord, but I don't think possums use that technology.
The next morning was more of the same, weatherwise. Here is dawn.
About 2 hours later the cloud, having rolled in, rolled out.
As always there are some spiffy Grevilleas around the gardens
There are a lot of Rainbow Lorikeets interacting with the garden flowers. Through a Callistemon blurrily ..
.. and leaving a Grevillea, also blurrily
Out in the grassland by the airport Burchardia umbelata (aka milkmaids) is happening in profusion.
As is this: I am pretty sure it is a member of the family Lamiaceae.
This I will take to genus: Pultenaea sp.
Comesperma ericinum
Ok lets do orchids. Lets begin with an easy one- Glossodia major.
Also easy, Thelymitra sp. We stopped at a roadside and found it to be inundated with sun orchids. Of course, in the late afternoon they were all closed but we shall return tomorrow at mid-day to sort them out (OK, take photographs so that we can get others to identify them)!. At least 2 species.
Help. A small white one with very obvious yellow bits!
A Petalochilus
This is a double so I take a punt on P carneus.
Another double but with a very odd seeming labellum/column.
OK, so we now move on to birds. Here are some gulls cleaning up a (very) dead fish,
A nicer looking gull.
I am tempted to say shags on a rock, but they are not Shags, but Great Cormorants.
Here is a closer shot showing the facial pattern.
At Bastion Point things were a tad quiet until we found this group of Bar-tailed Godwits.
Hang on, that one is too small. What is it?
The red on the belly is a give-away: a Red Knot with a vestige of breeding plumage.
Rocks with weed.
Kelp washed up in a storm.
A small dog celebrates freedom by exploring a cave.
Rocks have nice patterns ..
.. and the shape of grotesques (gargoyles are waterspouts and ornamental sticking-out bits are grotesques)
A nice graffiti addition at the entrance to the waste of money at Bastion Point.
We are back to Mallacoota for a long weekend and expected it to be raining on the way down. In fact the weather was great both during the drive and when we arrived. So we unpacked and sat on the deck for a health-giving glass of red. Then it appeared the red was in danger of getting diluted so we retreated. Before doing so a photogenic rainbow appeared.
A few minutes later there were a couple of thuds on the deck and Frances reported seeing Mrs Possum and child. I rushed out, but all I got was a brush tail, one foot and some belly. It does look as though there is also a bit of desiccated umbilical cord, but I don't think possums use that technology.
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