UltraViolet Observations

next home

2010-05-27T20:45:00.003+08:00

I am on the move again, this time to Queensland! After spending most of last winter in Perth (after spending the one before in Broome) I decided I would not sit through another miserable, boring winter here. So off to the Tropics I go!

My home for the next 3 months will be Willis Island, Coral Sea. Don't bother sending mail, because I won't get it! 300km east of Cairns, there isn't much else out here! The island's population is 3 weather observers, 1 tech and thousands of birds!

Sadly I will be leaving behind my sewing machine, but I will keep myself amused with painting and some hand sewing. Oh and some drinking, snorkelling, internet, pool, dvds and studying moray eels (not by choice!)

Find out more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Island_(Coral_Sea)

or wait to hear the inside story when I get there next week!

Finished projects

2010-05-27T20:18:00.005+08:00

This was a 'quick' project that was in Quilter's Companion - a magazine which comes with a DVD (very helpful when you are like me and HATE reading instructions). The design is by Lisa Walton who's amazing hand dyed fabrics I bought at the recent Craft show in Perth. (They don't feature in this quilt though - I'm not that quick!).I was almost creating a new record for myself and was headed to finish this quilt in a week, until I sewed myself to it!

Yes, I put the machine needle (on my brand new machine) all the way through my finger while quilting this! I calmly turned the hand wheel on my machine to remove the needle (ok, after yelling some words I will not repeat here), and went and knocked on my housemate's bedroom door. She was trying on outfits for a wedding, and not sensing any urgency in my un-urgent knock (she didn't hear the yelling), she got changed and then found me slumped on the bathroom floor!

I was lucky the needle didn't break in my finger or go into the bone (it went around the bone) and that my wizz-bang new machine was is 'needle down' mode so the needle only went through my finger once!

So it took me a few extra weeks to finish this quilt as I then had to get over my fear of quilting again! (I have learned my lesson - don't shiraz and sew!)

The quilt was made for my goddaughter Talia because I am a crap godmother and never send her things for her birthday or Christmas! It's inspired my best friend to start quilting again despite the fact that her boyfriend threw out her sewing machine (an old Pfaff of her mothers - absolute tragedy) and her stash of favourite fabrics!

This quilt took a fair bit longer to finish. I think I started it early last year and finished it at the start of this year after having wanted to make it for a few years. Sorry the pic is dodgy - the quilt is on the floor of the unfurnished flat I had in Geraldton (one good thing about having floor space!) and my dog's favourite toy, Pooh Bear has snuck into the picture. At least I managed to get the dog off it!

Quiltwest

2010-05-27T20:05:00.004+08:00

I recently entered my first quilt competition (I previously entered a quilt showing which you can see here) with my Japanese quilt 'Sakura'.

It is 180cm square and took about 8 months to make.

The most of the designs are traditional Japanese crests and sashiko (a type of embroidery/quilting), many of which feature in Susan Briscoe's book "Japanese Quilt blocks to mix and match".

She has kindly written a post on her blog about it.

Japan

2010-05-27T19:51:00.003+08:00

OK, haven't been blogging for ages.

I went to Japan last month to see the cherry blossom, explore the art, history and crafts of Japan and, most importantly, to shop for fabric!

I did this and more. I drank lots of sake, explored bazaar department stores and toy shops and spent lots of time on the wam, comfy bullet trains.

I came home with about 9kg of fabric and other mementos!

Unfortunately, I didn't come back with nearly as many photos as I had taken. My brother (usually a computer wizz) busted my memory card and I lost all but 300 photos out of 1800 taken in the first week and a bit of the trip.

Anyone know how to retrieve photos from a dodgy memory card???

Here are some of the pics I took (ok, still ended up with 1000 pics)

Clippers

2010-01-05T11:44:00.004+08:00

The yachts from the Clipper around the world yacht race arrived in Geraldton in mid December. They had sailed from South Africa and they are now on their way to Singapore in the fifth leg of the 56,000km race which began in Hull, UK in September.

The presence of 200 crew members and their families was a real boost to the local economy over Christmas while surrounding towns recorded a dip in visitors.

The race was supposed to stop in Fremantle, but the council there didn't think it would do anything for their economy so refused to host them. Our win!

They departed on Sunday afternoon. The race goes for 10 months, but each crew only does one leg of the race on the 68 foot yachts.

<--Spitit of Australia yacht

More info can be found here on the official website

and in our local paper

Yachts race passed the Sun Princess cruise ship

After having been on this ship the morning I went to see the yachts, the 68foot-ers didn't look so big!

Denmark's main attraction

2010-01-01T09:59:00.006+08:00

The little town of Denmark in SW WA is but a little spot on the map. It is surrounded by beautiful forest, has an award winning bakery (best known for its pies), is mainly populated by hippies and has the World's Largest Barometer.

This is the 12m high Bert Bolle Barometer in the barometer museum in the Denmark visitors centre.

According to the tourism website Bert and his wife moved from the Netherlands to this town (perhaps they got a bit lost?) in 1999 and couldn't part with his beloved barometer, so brought it with him.

The Giants

2009-12-31T09:25:00.000+08:00

The SW of Western Australia, especially around Walpole and Manjimup is known for its tall trees. I've seen lots of trees before, some of them quite tall, but I wasn't prepared for the size of these!
This tree is the Diamond Tree Lookout near Manjimup. Towers were built at the top of these trees for fire lookouts. You can kind of see the lookout in the second picture.
There is a ladder of spikes running all the way up.

Here are some crazy people climbing it! I wasn't game. Nor did I have the energy.

Amos looking thrilled at the prospect of another bumpy road

The pictures really don't do justice to the size of these trees!

New Blog

2009-12-27T11:16:00.003+08:00

I have started a new blog called 'Strangeness'. This will be filled with strange pictures of strange things I have come across in my travel and include some attempt at humour.
If you have any strangeness pics, feel free to send them to me!

uvobs.blogspot.com

Mandalay Beach

2009-12-25T10:31:00.003+08:00

This is Mandalay Beach, also near Walpole. Named after the ship that was wrecked there (last photo). No, I didn't bother climbing down the stairs...

What's in a name?

2009-12-25T08:03:00.006+08:00

This is 'Peaceful Bay' near Walpole. With winds gusting to 30kts, it was definitely not peaceful. There weren't any people there though, so in that way it was peaceful. I was the only one stupid enough to go to the beach on such a windy day. Wasn't raining though.

Lookout at Conspicuous Cliffs.

I think this is the 'Conspicuous cliff' but I could be wrong

I've just been reading about how cyclones are named. The practice was introduced by a 'colourful' Qld forecaster in the late 19th Century but lapsed in 1902 when he retired. It was reintroduced in 1963. Originally they were only given female names, but according to "Drought, Dust and Deluge", this changed in 1975 with the emerging "spirit of "equal opportunities"".

Walpole

2009-12-25T07:37:00.003+08:00

Sandy Beach

Coalmine Beach

Path at Conspicuous Cliffs. Winds were a steady 30kt at the lookout. Almost stepped on a snake here.

Che Sara Sara

2009-12-23T16:49:00.003+08:00

Che Sara Sara is a pet-friendly retreat outside of Walpole. Above is my riverfront cabin which had a pot belly stove already stoked for my arival.

Amos loved running around the place and meeting the families staying there. There was actually a dog that was scared of him (a blue heelerX) which is rare, and a number of kids he decided to adopt.

View from balcony:
rough road in

Franklin River

greeness

2009-12-23T16:39:00.003+08:00

The one thing I really noticed and appreciated on my SW trip was how green it was. Unbelievable green. Almost fluro.The clouds and the fact it rained every day of my trip might explain why

Bridgetown: not known for it's bridges

2009-12-23T16:30:00.000+08:00

Saying that, they do have a pretty impressive bridge. Longest wooden one or some other claim to fame.

I ended up spending the final night of my Southwest trip in Bridgetown. Actually, I was meant to be back in Perth that night but I'd only started to relax on my short holiday that I felt I needed to extend it and also do some more exploring.

I asked at the Walpole visitors centre if they knew of any pet-friendly accommodation between Walpole and Perth. The lady said she recalled seeing an advert or sign for somewhere in Bridgetown that accepted pets. She gave me the town brochure (freshly published that week) and I was fortunate to find the place in there.

I searched for other bridges, but alas found none. The ladies in the visitors centre ignored me (huge contrast to those lovely ladies at Kojonup who sold me scones and had free hot drinks. No wonder they win awards!), so I headed to this park to let the dog have a run. I found a mural on the wall of the public amenities which explained that Bridgetown is in fact the town that bridges the towns of Manjimup, and somewhere else.

As you can see from the floating bin, the river here was very high. There were some interesting folks in the carpark taking their ducks for a walk.

But Bridgetown got better. I located my cabin at the Farmstay a good 25km from town. Picturesque countryside. The owners weren't home, but I was greeted by their dog and my name on the cabin door. When they drove into the property, the dog promptly took off back home, knowing it wasn't supposed to pester the visitors.

The homestead was beautiful, surrounded by stunning gardens for me to explore and lots of flowers I couldn't identify

To the farm

2009-12-23T15:55:00.000+08:00

<--Hamish the hairy coow

This last stop on my trip was pretty memorable as it was a farm stay. I was looking forward to showing Amos some things he had never seen before (particularly the cows, geese and ducks. He had met a pony in Denmark (he enjoyed rolling in its poo), chooks at our first house in Gero and Alpacas in Perth).

Fortunately a family with young kids arrived, so the farmer took us all on a tour and I listened in on the things he explained to the kids. Upon seeing the bulls and horses, Amos began his embarrassing crying/whining excited/scared sound. He makes the same noise with cats - he's too scared to go close and he doesn't know what to do with them, but he wants to have a sniff.

After a few minutes of this, he began barking, challenging the bulls and horses to a fight.

"you want a piece of me??"

Next came the ducks and geese.

No photos exist of Amos meeting the geese because he took off after them so quickly that they all became a blur. Amos, who has never run so fast, chased the flapping, squarking geese in circles around the farm and I chased him, flapping and yelling. It took a while to catch him and he spent the rest of the stay tied up.

pendants

2009-12-23T15:00:00.000+08:00

Here are some pendants and earings I'm trying to sell (at an outdoor/camping shop, so wish me luck!)The pendants are washi (origami) paper on shell, card or papier mache. The small ones are wire and worn glass found at the beach in Broome.My hastily made display.

pinkness

2009-11-20T14:34:00.002+08:00

This is my latest completed quilt. My friend asked me to make it for her new neice. Design to completion took 3 weeks. Absolute record for me (and I started another quilt at the same time and had almost finished that quilt top!)
It probably measures about 120x80cm.
The butterflies were from some left over backing fabric I had from a quilt I made for my goddaughter. I used a trupunto method to raise them up a bit and make them puffy.

Wild November weather

2009-11-20T14:12:00.002+08:00

After a dry start to the year, the rains came. And they came. And came some more. June, August and September had above average falls, as has November. So the farmers have a bumper crop. Unfortunately they needed it to stop raining last month in order to harvest.

They seem to get a day or two of harvest between rains and harvest bans (because of fire danger). Then they have to wait for the crops to dry before they can resume.

Storms this week have damaged crops severely in the south of the state, with heavy rainfalls and hail.

We had a taste of summer with a few days of 38 degrees at the start of the month, but things have cooled down since.

Northampton Airing of the Quilts

2009-10-28T11:20:00.004+08:00

This year I was lucky enough to be working in Geraldton AND have the weekend off to attend the Northampton Airing of the Quilts 60km north of Geraldton. I was even luckier to get two quilts put in it (the top 2 pics)!

This is an annual event which attracts many people to the town. The main street is lined with quilts, the monastery is covered in them, they fill every hall and are even on display in the windows of the service station and hardware store.

I was in heaven!

Kojonup - not so wild flowers

2009-10-28T10:58:00.003+08:00

These wildflowers were being grown at the Kojonup visitors centre. Unfortunately they were not labled. Kojonup has won a number of tourism awards for their visitors centre. The large building includes a museum of local indigenous culture.

I didn't have time to enjoy what it offered, although I did indulge in some lovely fruit scones they were selling! Yum!

<--Lechenaultia

SW wildflowers 2 - orchids

2009-10-28T10:37:00.005+08:00

Above is a pink enamel orchid. This was a special find at a reserve north of Mt Barker. They are not supposed to come out til late Oct or Nov and I was there in early September! They are so vivid that I spotted them from my car!

<--possibly a Silky Blue Orchid

^ jug orchid

SW wildflowers 1

2009-10-28T10:16:00.004+08:00

These are some of the flowers I saw on my way down to Albany. Most were at Myalup pool which is a rest stop and camping area just off the highway.
I saw at least 5 different types of orchids here!

I did try to I.D them all, but can't remember what they all were now. If anyone knows, please share!

<--flannel flower I think

<-- type of spider orchid

<--these were everywhere. 2-3cm across, 5cm off ground irridescent purple.

<-- pink china orchid perhaps

Albany 2

2009-10-09T17:11:00.002+08:00

I was told by someone at a winery near Mt Barker that whales had been seen off Middleton Beach the previous week. I headed there also for the Ellen Cove Boardwalk which is known for its wildflowers. I didn't see any!

No whales, so I opted for the scenic drive to a few lookouts. Soon I was halted by masses of cars parked along the narrow winding road - popular lookout??? This is where the whales were!

I found a place to park and got out to find 2 whales below, 50-100m off the steap coast. Another two were further out.

I had been thinking on my way to Albany that seeing whales was one thing I really wanted to do during my life. Another had been seeing the dolphins at Monkey Mia which I got to do earlier in the year. I decided I would come back during the main whale migration season. Little did I know they can still be found down here at this time of year sheltering in the bay. What a fantastic treat!

Albany 1

2009-10-09T16:31:00.007+08:00

I arrived in Albany late afternoon. The grey sky darkened the scenery and also my photos. The sea at Middleton beach (below) gave a hint of its brightness and magnificence, none of which came out in the pictures. This is definitely a place to visit in Summer when there is a better chance of fine weather. A bit of sun, and it would be stunning.

Amos dragged me up to the top of this lookout and memorial. He also dragged me back down, almost taking a couple of people with us!

orchids

2009-09-16T17:11:00.005+08:00

I have now found 4 types of orchids at work (twice as many as last year!)

Donkey orchid

Carousel Spider orchid

<> Cowslip orchids

more flowers

2009-09-16T17:07:00.002+08:00

Star of Bethlehem - a new find for me!

"Pink Rainbows"

"Salt and Pepper"

Welcome to spring

2009-09-16T16:56:00.004+08:00

It's the best time of year in Perth and many areas of WA - wildflower season!

I have been getting excited the last few weeks seeing more yellow (hibertia and wattle)appearing in the bushland around work (right).

Each day more flowers are appearing and I love creeping around it seeing what I can find (when it stops raining that is).

I am finding flowers I didn't see here last year like one of my favourites - the fringe lily. I had seen it once in Kings Park in Perth (the largest city park in the world!), but now I've found at least 4 plants right here.

above: Guinea flower (hibertia, approx 3cm wide) and fringe lillies (1cm wide).

Cottonheads

development

2009-08-29T00:36:00.001+08:00

You may remember my post (here) about the lack of street lighting on the main road into town near the airpot (namely at the end of the runway). One year later, the lights are in and the works are (almost) complete. They have landscaped the medians and the roundabout with rocks and installed strangely low street lights. There is a gap in the lights in front of the runway followed by normal height lights. The higher ones are closer to the runway approach than the lower ones.

The short lights look quite funny. Bit of a difference between one floodlight in the middle of the roundabout with its generator chugging through the night and this multitude of streetlights. Overkill perhaps?

High tide

2009-08-28T01:23:00.001+08:00

Forget Cable Beach and it's camels and fancy resort. My favourite thing about Broome is Roebuck Bay (at high tide, not the muddy low tide!). The azure of the water against the bright blue sky, the green mangroves and the red sand and cliffs takes my breath away.

Low tide at Town Beach vs High tide

When the tide is higher than about 9m, it breaches the airport perimeter fence. Quite a strange sight! Below are the new hangars that they started to build when I was here last year. They had to cart huge amounts of dirt to the site to build it up higher than the tide line. the end of the runway: Water beyond the perimeter fence:

low tide Cable Beach

2009-08-28T00:21:00.002+08:00

A piece of Broome history

2009-08-26T23:37:00.005+08:00

It would have to be something pretty significant to get me out of bed at 5am on a Sunday during a holiday. Despite the desire (strong) to sleep in, I couldn't pass up the chance to see this. On the mudflats under Roebuck Bay lie a number of plane wrecks. I wrote briefly about this in one of my early Broome posts.

During WWII Broome's airport was strafed (shot at) by Japanese fighter planes. They also shot and destroyed a number of Catalina planes (aka flying boats) which were carrying Dutch refugees from Java. A number of these have been preserved in the mudflats.

So we trudged through 1km of mud and a tidal river to get to the wrecks. The tide was so low that there were some wrecks exposed that Chris and Wendy (longtime Broome residents) had never seen.

Wing?

tide coming back in

Chris with his new-found wreck. I decided not to venture out there because there were stingrays in the knee deep water!

Crab in disguise:

Looking back towards shore:

Some go in style: No sloshing through mud for these hovercraft passengers

The long walk back: 2.5 hours later, the sun has fully risen

The reef

2009-08-26T23:20:00.005+08:00

I joined about 20 people (half of them kids) on a 4WD journey up Cable Beach to a reef which is exposed at very low tides (the tides ranged from 0.4m to almost 10m twice a day!). This produces rock pools full of much more exciting things than usual. Amazing corals, lots of sea cucumbers and even a reef shark.

reef critters

2009-08-26T23:07:00.005+08:00

Blue-ring octopus

reef shark

When you poke one of these clams, they spit out water

<--it looks like a floating rose petal but it is a 'Spanish dancer' or nudibrank. Amazing to watch as it swims through the water

<-- Blue spotted lagoon ray

Back to Broome

2009-08-26T23:02:00.002+08:00

I have just returned from a quick 4 day break to Broome. I needed to warm up and dry out after 15 days straight of rain in Perth (a record for August) and just have a break.

I got to do some things that I didn't get to do in the 3 months I spent in Broome last year. One of which was get a pic of the camel trains that take tourists up and down the beach. I don't get the attraction really. The camels stink for one. Someone was telling me they saw a topless guy on one once and the camel behind licked the sweat off his back the whole way. yum!

Broome's old jetties

2009-08-26T15:40:00.001+08:00

The second jetty in Broome which was adjacent to Town Beach (first bit of land sticking out in the aerial picture) The current Jetty can be seen beyond that. Parts of the old jetty still remain under the water and are exposed at very low tides. People walk along its path with long sticks and dig up plates, bottles and other rubbish (I mean treasures) which had been dumped off the jetty.

Streeter's Jetty

"Broome style"

2009-08-26T14:17:00.000+08:00

This is an old post I never finished. I did some research about Broome's building styles. The gist is that timber wasn't available because there are no forrests around, so tin was used. Shutters like those below were used for cyclone protection in the wet, and ventilation in the dry. Verandas were often the coolest places to sleep so they were fenced in with lattices for ventilation and privacy. These days they are often glassed in as well.

Another aspect is the venting shown in the last row of photos. The middle picture is the ANZ bank! The others are an art gallery. It is an old, well preserved building but a bit disorientating as an art gallery as the floor in uneven and slants, as does the low roof.

Gero

2009-08-23T09:41:00.001+08:00

Buccaneer Peninsular

2009-06-20T15:12:00.006+08:00

I have realised I haven't put up my pics from my flight in the Kimberley last year. These are of the Buccaneer Peninsular which consists of hundreds of islands. This area also includes the Horizontal waterfalls.

Horizontal waterfalls. The adventurous can fly out here, land on the water and then take a boat down the falls (as long as they are falling - they are caused by the huge tides, so depend on the times of these).

Monkey Mia

2009-06-20T14:50:00.001+08:00

The dome

2009-06-20T14:38:00.002+08:00

This is the HMAS Sydney Memorial which sits on the hill over looking Geraldton. It commemorates the loss of the ship and its crew during WWII when it was torpedoed by a German raider disguised as a Dutch trading ship. The wreck was only found last year, after decades of searching.

Each seagull represents a person lost

Last days in Gero

2009-06-20T14:32:00.002+08:00

Well I am sadly now back in Perth. I am really feeling the cold (Perth's min temps were 4 degrees last week. Maxes have been 17-21 which is not cold by many people's standards). Geraldton was 12-25 degrees, though it is cooling down now. Sunrise on my last day of work

The strange cathedral in Geraldton (I didn't bother taking pics of this til I was on my way out of town - slack I know).
On the road again

2009-06-04T13:31:00.003+08:00

<-- Gero met office Lining up to land:

Taking off and landing are my most hated parts of flying. On this occasion, both were painless. After a short run-up, the plane lifted off the ground quickly and effortlessly. My initial panic (there was a lot of it) melted away as I got my camera out and admired the view, now green from the recent rains. Landing also seemed very fast, and didn't end with a bone-jarring thump as it sometimes does on airliners.
Then we took the plane back to the hangar:

All in all, a pretty good experience!

over town

2009-06-04T13:08:00.002+08:00

new estate at Drummonds Cove

Town and foreshore

Pt Moore lighthouse

Taken to the skies again

2009-06-04T12:39:00.007+08:00

Yesterday I decided to face my fears again and climb aboard a small aircraft. This time it was a 4-seater Cessna 172. It made the 7-seater Airvan (pictured below) I flew in last time seem huge! Above is SMY, the 172 with her trusty pilot Kieren. We took off around 5pm, so the light was fading.

Airvan at the Abrolhos

Miraculously, I snapped this shot of Kieren coming in to land SMY two days before!

Mount Tarcoola

Southgates dunes

Greenough River mouth where I like kayaking

Smiley face?

Secret lovers?

2009-06-01T08:29:00.001+08:00

Mel got out of the shower today to find these two snuggling on her bed. They are holding paws!

They're going to miss each other.

Beautiful let down

2009-05-31T15:41:00.001+08:00

Lots of cloud, some lightning. No rain.

Before and after

2009-05-31T10:59:00.005+08:00

Field between us and the airport (the towers are the airport's non-directional beacon or NDB, windfarm in the background) a few day ago when the rain was starting, and then yesterday:

Dust devil near the road to the met office last week. The field after being seeded and 2 days of rain:

It's amazing how quickly things bounce back

This morning

2009-05-31T10:48:00.004+08:00

Orographic fog over the Moresby Ranges this morning.

Developing cumulus clouds-->

^Altocumulus

Can you spot the balloon?

more rainbows

2009-05-31T10:37:00.002+08:00

Rain and a surprise visit

2009-05-30T10:06:00.005+08:00

The rain arrived Thursday morning which made for a crazy day at work. Everyone was phoning to find out when it would start, then when it was going to stop, and when it did, if there was more on the way.

Between issuing aviation weather reports every few minutes for change in visibility, low cloud and wind gusts, and phone calls, I didn't have time to breathe for the first few hours.

Then I got a phone call from "Jeremy at the Prime Minister's Office" asking for an update on the forecast and whether it was as bad as it seemed. Indeed it was - winds sitting on 30kts gusting to 40kts, 2000m visibility and rain. He said he might have to cancel the PM's visit to Geraldton because it involved being outside.
WHAT?? The PM was coming to town?? And I had possibly cancelled the visit?! Whoops!

Fortunately he decided to come anyway. Here is his plane parked at the terminal about 700m from my office. I was too busy issuing visibility SPECIs to see him land.
He was here to attend a meeting about the new port that the Fed Gov has pledged money towards. He was meant to go out to the site which is north of Gero, but it was too wild. He visited the HMAS Sydney Memorial which was declared a nationally significant monument or something. Speaking to someone who works for a car rental company, apparantly a few days before the unannounced visit, someone phoned all the car hire places to try to hire some Holden Statesmen cars. It's unlikely that one exists north of Perth. So they got SUVs instead.

Of course Geraldton can't not be sunny, even when it's raining. So the sun kindly showed it's face.

^Waves from the wind in our driveway puddle

After 1.5 hours, Rudd was off again.

By the time I left work, over 20mm had fallen (in the rain gauge that is - the rain was horizontal a lot of the time so I reckon a lot missed). My friends and I went to the pub to celebrate.

Anticipating rain

2009-05-30T09:50:00.004+08:00

Last week rain was finally on the forecast. With a front heading toward us from the south west, our dry spell was set to end. Kalbarri had had over 170 days without rain - a record. Here in Gero we were having the driest start to a year. Farmers had been putting their seed down the week before, hoping rain was on its way.

The clouds started building on Wednesday with the first falls arriving Thursday morning around 6am with wild winds and large ocean swells.

I went to Point Moore on the Wednesday afternoon to see the clouds build and hoping to feel a few drops of rain.

The air was heavy with nervous anticipation and excitment - the feeling that something different was on its way to end the sameness of the beautiful fine weather.

You know you're in WA when you see cars parked on a beautiful beach!

Sunshowers

2009-05-30T09:48:00.000+08:00

Port Denison

2009-05-27T15:00:00.001+08:00

dunes

2009-05-27T12:27:00.000+08:00

Dongara

2009-05-26T12:19:00.000+08:00

Why the west is best...

2009-05-17T12:32:00.000+08:00

Kalbarri revisited

2009-05-16T12:03:00.003+08:00

This photo was taken last time I was in Kalbarri, when Sandy (pictured) and I visited the Murchison River Gorges. I thought I had posted it, but apparently not. I will find the one with me in it too!

Kalbarri

2009-05-16T11:51:00.003+08:00

Yesterday I headed up to Kalbarri (150km N of Gero) to go Kayaking which is something I have gotten into lately. I dragged along a pilot friend who I met on my trip to the islands. The kayak hire place was near the river mouth and you weren't allowed to paddle far up stream which is a shame. But we were able to paddle to the sand dunes over the other side of the river which separate it from the beach.
Later we found a secluded spot on the river, watched the clouds and the pelicans glide across the water, and played guitar. Then we headed to the pub to enjoy their gourmet vegi pizza!

Ellendale Pool

2009-05-16T11:39:00.004+08:00

This is Ellendale Pool, approx 30km SE of Gero. Unbelievably, someone told me that it wasn't worth visiting! How wrong they were!

It is such a picturesque spot. Had we not been starving, we would have stayed a lot longer.

After seeing the sign (below), we decided not to swim...Although the ducks looked healthy enough as they greeted us. There was a family swimming (left), but they may have gotten in further up where there wasn't a sign. Or perhaps they didn't care!

Could this be the Australian dream? 4WD, caravan, tinny and a sattelite dish. Everything you need!

Beautiful red soil

harnessing natural resources

2009-05-16T11:29:00.003+08:00

On a hill about 40kms from Geraldton stand these turbines. The are, according to the sign, the world's largest turbines - 78m high with 41m blades. There are 54 of them. The sign also claims that they can supply enough electricity for 60,000 homes.

Surprisingly, more wind does not mean more power. The blades turn at a steady 14.4 revolutions per minute (220km/h!) in winds above 35km/h or 18kts. If winds reach 65km/h or higher, they shut down to avoid damage.

Walkaway

2009-05-16T11:15:00.002+08:00

Strange name for a town - Walkaway. Despite looking through all sorts of things from the early days of this town, death records (most were children), old rail and farming equipment, in the museum, I didn't find out how this place got its name.

There isn't much here - just the museum (which doesn't have a sign pointing to it), the old general store (closed I think), two churches and the pub. Oh, and a tennis club.

leaning-ish tree

Hutt Lagoon revisited from another vantage point

2009-05-16T11:07:00.003+08:00

dust devil

2009-05-16T11:01:00.001+08:00

plowing the fields before dry seeding (and then praying for rain) all around the office

harvester+heat+wind=dust devil

Shallow Fog

2009-05-16T10:46:00.000+08:00

<--Instrument enclosure at Geraldton Met Office

Shallow fog

On a completely different note...

2009-05-08T10:23:00.000+08:00

Last night I watched the first episode of the 7-up USSR series on Foxtel. I found it incredible, amusing and heartbreaking. For those who haven't seen any of the series, the show follows the path of kids as they grow up in seven year intervals - so at age 7, 14, 21 and 28. The first series began in the UK in 1964. I think it was filmed in the mid- to late-80’s as Gorbachev was president. I’ve only seen clips of the UK and US series, so unfortunately can’t compare those children to the children in this one.

It's meant to follow 7 kids, but I counted at least 12, including 3 sets of twins. They were from all over the USSR - Moscow, Leningrad, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Siberia, in all different situations and with different hopes and dreams and opinions on their country and the west.

They all had a good knowledge of their country’s politics and the Revolution, knew who Lenin was and who the president was.

Some things that stood out were the military-style school uniforms some of them wore and their love of fighting. You never saw anyone trying to break up brawls at the schools. The boys were all into Rocky, Bruce Lee, kungfu and karate movies from the West – one of the few influences from the west. Some of the wealthier kids were shown at movie theatres which were little more than a black and white tvs showing old Westerns. The commentator said 'what a strange impression they must have of the west'.

MacDonald’s had recently opened a store in Moscow. It was the only place in Russia with a cue longer than that it Lenin’s mausoleum (great quote by the narrator: ‘Brings a new meaning to fast food!’)

The kids are asked questions about all sorts of things – history, their plans for the future, love, war etc.

They were all aware of the racial divides in their country and the fighting and uprisings that were going on or imminent. For them, it seemed war, fighting, hunger and inequality were just a part of life. Military service was a given – what you were expected to do for the country.

It was surprising how many kids didn’t have dads around. The divorce/separation rate was high. One or two had had their fathers killed while on military service, other fathers were away serving and others were dead.

The kids:

There was a Kyrgy refugee living in a tent in the Red Square. People are entitled to housing, but only in the country of their birth. Being Russian, his family thought it safer to live in this refugee camp than in Kyrgyzstan.

Twin ballerinas in Leningrad who were accepted into a top ballet school.

A comparatively wealthy kid in Moscow who believed that the USSR was going to catch up with the West soon despite the fact there was often no food in the shops. When asked what he wished for he said “nothing. I consider myself well off”.

Jewish twins on their way to Israel from an area in southern Russia where anti-Semitism was growing. One was sad to leave Russia, the other couldn't wait to see the sea. They were travelling across Russia to Lenin's mausoleum to pay their last respects before leaving.

A sad little girl who helps take care of her younger sister and baby brother. If she was given lots of money she would buy a tv because her mother had to sell theirs to buy food. If she could have any wish granted, it would be to be able to play.

A Russian girl in Kyrgyzstan who learns martial arts to protect herself and is all too aware of the fighting between the Kyrgys and Azerbs. She wished that people could be peace loving and that there was no martial law or uprising.

A boy living with his grandmother near the Chinese border who, if given all the money in the world, would buy exercise books.

A Georgian boy who would never fall in love with a Russian, even if she spoke Georgian (but and American might be ok).

One girl, if she was given lots of money, would buy a tv, a dog and a vase.

A little girl desperate to get herself and her mother out of Russia and to a better life and become an English teacher. She was the only one who didn’t love the country and didn’t believe it was going to improve. What she wished for: “to have something, just something”.

An orphan who lost his mother at two living in a children’s home. He had been selected to learn to play music which means he must play in military bands when he grows up.

A tiny girl who knew way too much for her mere 7 years. She even spoke one part in clear English. When asked about God she explained how Buddhists worship Buddha, Muslims worship Allah, Christians Jesus Chris, in the Little Prince, the rich man worships money, the drunkard alcohol...
When asked about the revolution, she explained that it was more of a 'coup' ...
When asked about what she would do with all the money in the world her reply was that moral qualities were more important. Qualities like kindness, charity, conscientiousness and diligence.

‘Who won the Revolution?’ twin boys: "Lenin!!!"
‘What happened then?’ one twin: "Peace!" other twin: "no, then there was civil war"

I couldn't imagine the 7 year olds in the other shows talking like this. If you have seen any of them, I'd love to know what you think.

The only people not looking forward to rain:

2009-05-08T10:10:00.000+08:00

Still no rain in sight. Bad for the farmers, not so bad for the sports club. Great risque headline to an article in the Midwest Times this week:

"Cockies screw with sports stadium roof"

The cockatoos have actually been removing the screws from the roof leaving approx 3000 large holes!

They are waiting for the winter rains to learn of the level of damage. Could mean that Gero will get a second swimming pool!

Pieces of history

2009-05-08T09:53:00.000+08:00

This fort on one of the Abrolhos (which means 'open your eyes') Islands is the oldest standing European structure in Australia. In 1629 a Dutch East India Company ship called the Batavia ran aground on one of the islands. The captain headed to the mainalnd and then back to Jakarta, leaving 268 people including soldiers behind. In the pretext of finding water, the soliders were sent to this island without weapons. Meanwhile there was a mutiny on the other island and 125 men, women and children were murdered. The soldiers built the fort to protect themselves from invasion.

Below is a shot of one of the three shipwrecks we saw, that of a steamer which helped build Fremantle Port.

Abrolhos Islands from above

2009-05-08T07:56:00.000+08:00

Cray fishermans shacks on the Abrolhos Islands off the coast of Geraldton.

I think this is the island with a primary school. One has a AFL oval which hosts a competition between islanders once a year.

Welcome aboard...or offboard

2009-05-03T07:35:00.004+08:00

This is the Sun Princess cruise ship. I had 2 people from this ship on our Island tour. There are 1900 people on board, which is by no means capacity. The average age of people on board is 77, and there are about 10 people under 18. The couple I met were in their 40s and had sailed from Sydney on an 18 day cruise, ending in Freo the next day. I think they were kind of looking forward to it finishing.

The husband was frustrated because WA gaming laws prohibit gambling at sea or something like that, so the casino had been closed since they left Darwin. There was also no Bingo allowed because of the cash prizes which is probably why the complaining old people were getting on the wive's nerves. Bet the cruise ship companies hate it too because it robs them of the chance of robbing more money off the people trapped on the boat!

The red boats you can see entering the new marina are the tenders which bring the passangers from the ship when it cannot fit in the port!

The couple were saying that the towns in WA they stopped at gave them a great reception. Gero puts on a market at the pier for them. In Broome, the council sends out a warning to all the businesses, including the met office when a ship is about to arrive, so they can prepare for an influx of customers.

Burn offs

2009-05-03T07:20:00.002+08:00

View of fire from work on Thursday afternoon.
View from the air on Friday afternoon.

Farmers are burning off their stubble at the moment and DEC (Dept. Environment and Conservavtion) are doing their 'controlled' burnoffs.

One of these (not pictured) was billowing very black smoke last week, not far from town.

They had been burning off green waste at the tip and the wind changed and set the rest of the tip on fire. Yuck.

Dry

2009-05-03T06:54:00.002+08:00

The main cropped farmed around here is wheat. Unfortunately we have had the 3rd driest start to the year and 3rd driest April on record (average April rainfall is 24mm. We had 1.2mm). It was also the 7th warmest April - 2 degrees above average.

Everyone is hoping it will rain soon so they can plant. So of course everyone I meet asks when it's going to rain and if I can bring them some rain. Wish I could.

Abrolhos

2009-05-02T11:59:00.002+08:00

The longest island is 17km but only a few hundred metres wide in some places

The Abrolhos Islands

2009-05-02T11:48:00.003+08:00

Day at the beach

2009-05-02T11:28:00.004+08:00

This is East Wallaby Island. We didn't see any wallabies despite desperate attempts by the pilot/tour guide. No one was too fussed.

We spent the day on the beach at Turtle Bay (below).

Looks beautiful and secluded, but all the charter companies go there and set up on the same corner of the endless beach. Probably because the pilots are all mates.

I didn't last long snorkeling because it kind of freaks me out because I don't know what I'm going to encounter, and the water was too cold for swimming, so I got to know the other people on the flight and the pilots (who I later went to the pub with).

It may have been dreadfully boring had there not been some unintended entertainment - the pilot from Kalbarri Air Charter lost his keys on the beach! The other pilots couldn't believe it - they always leave their keys in the plane. I mean, there are maybe 20 people on the island, tops, and all the pilots there have their own planes, so no one is going to steal one!

This guy walked up and down the beach for an hour while his passengers waited at the plane. Eventually they came to help look and we did a bit of scouring too. We felt bad for the poor guy but it was pretty amusing too.

It could have been a lot worse though - they could have been on a different island without other charter companies and pilots around to lend a hand, and one without mobile phone coverage (yes, 80 km from the coast we still had some coverage thanks to a tower on one of the inhabited islands).

Anyway, the keys were never found and the people on the Kalbarri half day tour ended up with a full day one as they waited for the company's chief pilot to fly back to Kalbarri from Perth, find a spare set of keys (if they existed) and then fly to the island.

This is an osprey's nest on the island. It has been built over a 50 year period. You may be able to spot a lightbulb, a fan belt and some bones.

This is what it looks like on the island - quite desolate. And to think that shipwreck survivors lived on one of these for 11 months...

Taken to the skies

2009-05-02T11:09:00.004+08:00

Yesterday I did a scenic flight over Geraldton and the Abrohlos Islands. The day tour included stopping on one of the islands for lunch and snorkeling. Such luxury.

I've only been snorkeling once and that was in Thailand where the waters were 30 degrees and so salty that you couldn't sink. Bit different here - cooler, and some strong currents. Saw a few big fish and some amazing iridescent blue coral.

I flew in a Gippsland Aeronautics Airvan which was fitted with 6 passenger seats. We had to wear life vests as we were flying over water.

someone isn't obeying water restrictions:

The 'new' marina and the old marina and port

Speedway

thirsty?

2009-04-28T12:16:00.003+08:00

Note the boat in the background - almost missed it because I stopped to take this pic!

emu encounters

2009-04-28T11:39:00.004+08:00

<--Emu in main street of Denham

Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of emus. I have a memory from childhood going into the bush to show my Nana from England some wildlife and having the car surrounded by inquisitive emus as we tried to get out.

I haven't had anything to do with emus since then aside from seeing them at Healsville Sanctuary and keeping my distance! Until now.

The Monkey Mia emus, like the pelicans (will post on them later) are a bit jealous of the attention (and food) the dolphins get, so have no qualms harassing tourists as they are enjoying a rest on the lawn (and getting sunburned as I later found out).

Being city girls, it was quite a thrill to see them walking around the streets of Denham and the resort at M.M. But then they started to get a little too friendly!

Sandy trying to save her drink bottle (and self) from nosy emu

She must have jumped so high that she lost both her drink bottle and hat!
Now I've been spotted!

Turns out they eat the berries that fall off the palm tree we were reclining under. But I think they were also checking out if we had something better. Did give me a good chance to get some close ups despite the animal growling at me.

Then they decided we didn't have anything they wanted, and headed to the cafe.

Shell Beach

2009-04-28T11:30:00.001+08:00

To the left is Shell Beach which is between Hamelin Pool and Monkey Mia. It is a huge stretch of, well, shell beach!

There are millions of these tiny shells. In places they have compacted into a limestone which has been quarried at Hamelin Pool and also a little at Shell Beach (hence the craters)

<-- Limestone quarry at Hamelin Pool

<--Close up of the rock

The stone was then used to construct some buildings in Denham

Hamelin Pool

2009-04-28T11:15:00.000+08:00

This is Hamelin Pool. I have been wanting to visit this beautiful bay for years since hearing about it in first year Geology. It is extremely saline which provides the perfect environment for these:

No, they aren't turds! But stromatolites. They are mounds of bacteria which exist in only a few places. The salinity means they have no preditors (aside from us, hence the boardwalks)

They only grow a mm or so a year. Most are less than 30cm high, but they are still pretty old. Some have a red tinge which may have been caused by high iron content in the water at the time of formation. But they don't know.

The lines through the flat area of stromatolites are from wagons! When this area was settled the people had to walk and cart their wagons through the shallow bay. It just shows how fragile this eco system is - the impacts from 100 years ago can still be seen.

Changes

2009-04-28T10:58:00.003+08:00

I don't know that anyone noticed, but I changed the picture on my blog. The original is here:

And this is what it has been replaced with: my first completed oil painting! Look familiar?

buzz

2009-04-28T10:52:00.003+08:00

I could have spent all day looking at the gorges in Kalbarri NP, but for the flies. The constant buzz, worse than traffic, ruined the peace.

On arrival at Hamelin Pool I invested in a fly net. Not the best look, I admit, but boy was I thankful. I was so fed up of swatting and picking flies out from behind my sunnies!

Sandy resisted and put up with the flies for the whole trip. She was the only one at Hamelin without a net! I don't know how she did it. She did eat and inhale a few though...

Kalbarri Gorge

2009-04-28T10:15:00.002+08:00

Kalbarri 1

2009-04-28T10:08:00.002+08:00

I really hate blogger! It's going to take the rest of my life to upload these holiday pics!

Anyhow, these are from 2 of the look-outs in Kalbarri Coastal Park.

Sad but true

2009-04-15T13:08:00.003+08:00

Ok, so even my weather nut friends will think this is sad, but yes, I visit weather stations in my spare time! The white box has the thermometers in them (often automatic ones), and the cylinder is a rain gauge. Some sites have co-operative observers that read the instruments once or more per day.

Rottness Island: sited on a hill opposite the hill the lighthouse is on (not fun to ride up, I tell you!)

Cape Leeuwin - the most SW point of Australia, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet (also near the lighthouse). Automatic rain gauge.

Manual rain gauge at Hamelin Pool and disused screen. The gauge is actually on top of a sand dune which I was surprised about because there are specific rules about siting these. Turns out that the old one was washed away in a flood last year, so they had to put the new one on higher ground!

Treasures of Northampton

2009-04-15T12:31:00.006+08:00

Northampton - prob 60km north of Geraldton is famous (?) for it's National Trust classified buildings and the Hanging of the Quilts (sadly, not til October). Also has a coca-cola museum, strangely enough. And a really good op-shop which gets it's stock all the way from Perth ('not from Geraldton') and has a whole room of $1 stock (which is where we spent most of our visit to Northampton!)

The pink lagoon

2009-04-06T16:52:00.007+08:00

This is Hutt Lagoon near Port Gregory. If I'd known you could see it from the highway, I wouldn't have done a detour to the town (if you could call it a town).

Fortunately Sandy had the idea to take a pic of the Lonely Planet Guide :

The 'beautiful beach' and wooden jetty which is 'perfect for fishing holidays', or so says the LPG

Gero back beach

2009-04-06T16:45:00.002+08:00

Taking Sandy to her Cove

2009-04-05T16:51:00.003+08:00

On the map we noticed a place called 'Sandy Cove'. So naturally we detoured 20km to see it (I was travelling with Sandy, you see). It was called a 'recreation reserve' and that sounded interesting. It was a camping site with a beach. The road let you right onto the beach (I am against 4WDing on beaches, so we quickly reversed and departed the area).

To get there we passed a limestone quarry with big warning signs about asbestos in the area. We drove a bit faster.

There were many more 'Sandy' places on the map, but one was enough for me. Had there been some place with my name, perhaps.

Rocks

2009-04-05T16:30:00.005+08:00

This is a Pinnacle. I think it looks like a warthog.

The Pinnacles Desert is made up of hundreds of these limestone rocks varying in size (see below). It is 245km north of Perth in the Nambung NP near Cervantes.

You can walk around and through them on a somewhat marked trail, or drive in a circular loop. Given we had been sitting in the car for 3+ hours, we opted for the walk and were joined by 100s of flies. Some friends of mine admitted to doing the drive and hitting a pinnacle (a little one) in their hire car!

My German housemates came here for the day when I was sleeping between nightshifts (the only considerate thing they did for me) and complained it was just a lot of rocks. Unfortunately I had to agree with them. I was disappointed with the size of them and that you couldn't get a good view of the whole area. Later in our stinking-hot-fly-infested walk, we found some bigger ones, and took silly pictures to keep us amused.

I was hoping to 'see' more things in the rocks, like the warthog above (which I only discovered when browsing my photos), but aside from some phalic like shapes, there was nothing. Nothing but a long, hot detour.

Proof that I am taller than Sandy.

strangeness

2009-04-05T12:38:00.002+08:00

Our first night in Geraldton we stayed at the Ocean View Villas. We ended up there because I phoned the Motor Inn which was in this year's RAC accom guide, but the number was diverted to this place. Unfortunately I forgot my binoculars, so I couldn't get a view of the ocean. Great view of the highway though.

The first thing I noticed were these tiles in the bathroom and kitchen:

I think they were hand painted because they were all different. Someone must like horses.

Windy balloon release

2009-04-05T10:17:00.003+08:00

The black and silver cylinder is a remote balloon launcher (RBL). The balloon is inflated inside here. Attached to the balloon is a target (silver) and an instrument (Radiosonde, pictured below) which measures pressure, temperature and humidity as it goes up into the atmosphere. It has a spool of string so it hangs beneath the balloon which unwinds after lift-off. There is a 10m long cord which goes from the RBL and attaches to the instrument with velcro. Once the balloon has moved more than 10m away, the cord detaches. This is to try to prevent the radiosonde hitting the side of the RBL and getting damaged.

Dynamite Bay, Green Head, WA

2009-03-26T16:24:00.004+09:00

Last month a friend from Melbourne called Sandy came over to WA to partake in a roadtrip with me. We travelled from Perth to Monkey Mia which is maybe 800km north of Perth. All up we covered 2100km in 7 days.

This was one of our first stops: Dynamite Bay. It was described as being one of the nicest on this stretch of coastline. Judge for yourself:

Toodjay and Wundowie

2009-02-28T20:45:00.002+09:00

Freemasons pub in Toodjay Toodjay

Old Wundowie Post Office

lightning

2009-02-28T20:40:00.002+09:00

I took this shot last month when I inadvertantly found myself storm chasing in Melbourne's east

bush day

2009-02-28T20:37:00.002+09:00

Today Jennifer and I went horseriding. We now have sore butts! Of course, trust me to remember I am allergic to horses just before I mounted up!

Penguins

2009-02-28T20:32:00.002+09:00

I have spend the last 5 months making this quilt for my friends in Broome who were expecting a baby. They had the baby last week - a little girl called Josephine Jenna Tenni.

Both parents have been to Antarctica and have lots of penguin things around their house.

First completed watercolour painting

2009-02-28T20:24:00.002+09:00

This is a watercolour painting of Santorini I did for my dad for Christmas. The original picture was in Notebook magazine which I don't really like but they sometimes have good pics.

Voyager Estate, Margaret River

2009-01-16T04:11:00.004+09:00

Voyager Estate winery - definitely the most impressive I've seen

A380

2008-11-17T08:20:00.003+09:00

One of the few exciting things that has happened in Perth in recent months was a visit from QANTAS' brand new A380 aircraft. Plane nuts flocked to the airport to witness the arrival of the world's largest aircraft.

I was lucky enough to be at work that day, so got to see the plane fly overhead and later taxi past my office! It is a very quiet aircraft which is surprising for its size, but shows how much technology has improved (the loudest aircraft here are the small older ones like the 717s)

Quiet

2008-11-17T07:20:00.002+09:00

Ok, so I have forgotten about/been avoiding my blog for a while. Sorry to those dedicated followers!

My plan had been to do some exploring of Perth and the surrounds and get excited and write stuff. I did a little bit of exploring, got fed up and wasn't inspired. I think getting lost in Kings Park killed my exploring side (as did petrol prices)!

I also don't think I read any books following the previous post!

What has been taking up my time is sleeping, patchwork and art. I have been taking oil painting classes for just over 3 months and watercolour painting for 1 month. Don't have a whole lot to show for it (especially as my camera won't take good pics of it), but more pics to come!