dive-bombers

The one problem being the Noisy Miners - who even have their own Birds Behaving Badly webpage. There is a gang of four to five birds who are very loud, and can aggressively attack the cat if she ventures out onto the balcony, squawking wildly and flying directly at her. Even if she is sitting inside at the window.... 

cat duty

Staying in Elizabeth Bay, looking after K's cat, making for a lovely interlude. Feeling a bit guilty about leaving my own cats back in London, but enjoying - obviously - another cat's affections.

a little story

The Broken Hill tour and the Terra Nullius book have got me thinking a lot about stories - about the kind of stories that get told about a place, particularly to its tourists and visitors (and in a way, therefore to the inhabitants themselves) something I will be returning to.

So here is my anecdote: that says something about that weird intersection between what feels like an unbelievably ancient land and the way the most recent settlers cruise across its surface. At one moment on the train, as I was watching out of the window idly staring at mile after mile of scrub and orange-brown soil, I saw 3 emus  appear from nowhere and cross the long straight road running parallel to the train tracks. This in the middle of an empty plain. And at that precise moment an ute  drove past (the first vehicle I had seen for 20 minutes). The first and second emus got by, but the third, thrown into a panic, turned back and was hit a glancing blow, such that it flew up into the air. I saw feathers explode and the emu hit the ground - and then the train had gone by.

And then nothing for ages.

going to rotto

Another must-do - although not cheap - is a visit to Rottnest Island (or Rotto).  You get there by boat from Perth, Freemantle or the Hillarys, to a place almost without cars that is mainly a nature reserve with large shallow salt lakes in its centre and a whole series of beautiful bays around its periphery. It has a holiday camp feel, with groupings of near identical huts - left over from its penal colony and military days? - luggage transported by electric trucks, and tourists walking or cycling by.

It also has quokkas, a small marsupial not found in many places - hence its European name, since early Dutch travellers mistook them for rats. Despite the ferry there being packed, I rode off on my bicycle and later had the salt lakes and their bird life all to myself.

danger: wildlife

I may have gone on before about the sheer fecundity of the flora and fauna here (unlike Britain where in comparison everything has to be coaxed from the ground and nursemaided into adulthood; and where the animal and insect life is almost totally benign).

Everything here is bigger, brighter, glossier, more dangerous (I won't even get onto sharks or crocs). Ordinary butterflies are three times the size, spiders are terrifying large - although in this case the dangerous ones tend to be at the boring end* - and birds are just more full on all around. This sign warns of the reality that, when it has young (luckily a time of year we are now past) it will most certainly attack you, even peck holes in you. Particularly, it seems, if you are on a bicycle.  


* trigger alert: someone thought it was amusing to make the spider illustrations on this website jump about unexpectedly. 

mobbed

Had given up my habit of watching the sun go down whilst eating fish, chips and salad on Coogee beach following gym sessions on Thursdays after being mobbed - and I mean seriously attacked - by seagulls on every occasion. (The photo here is of only one seagull because I was in the process of a forced leaving, with one hand on my food, one hand trying to frighten away the feathery hordes, and one around my camera...)

But it was such a beautiful evening tonight that I tried again. And although there was some keen interest from a couple of inquisitive gulls, the only other birdlife around was a bunch of small noisy miners - for yes that is their name - being given flying practice by their parents.


Note: As another blog notes, it is very easy to get noisy miners and indian mynas mixed up; so here is how to tell the difference.  

not the Melbourne Cup (2)

When I say the Melbourne Cup is a pretty big thing here, I mean that lots of people get the afternoon off work or - like us - take time off to watch the action. Ours was quite impromptu - spare bottles of fizz and snacks from some previous event, a spur-of-the-moment sweepstake. I got the favourite - a japanese horse called Admire Rakti..... which ended up last, and then died immediately after the race.

... and there was a prize for whoever got the last horse. So I got 2 bucks back, which was actually not that nice. 

not the Melbourne Cup (1)

The Melbourne Cup is a pretty big thing here (its a horse race, not a yachting competition as A thought or some kind of Australia-rules football, which is what I imagined). My workplace is right next to the Royal Randwick course which runs a race day at the same time - supported by a giant screen so race-goers can also watch the Big One from Melbourne.

So I spent quite a lot of time trying - and failing - to get a photo of a race here (although the smell of horses from the stables is over-powering, a smell I luckily like).

leaving (2)