Australia Zoo: Megan the naughty wombat

This is Megan. She is a Common Wombat. In my previous post you would have seen a picture of a wombat eating. He was at the bottom of the hill close to the enclosure wall. Megan was at the top of the hill digging. The carer was down with the one eating and looked up to see Megan having a great time digging away near the main gate to her enclosure. "Megan"! she shouted out. Megan look up and looked at the carer, then casually went back to digging. She knew full well that she was digging in a no dig area but that is what made it all the fun.

The carer left the other wombat and calmly marched up the hill. Megan saw her coming and quickly ran away from the fence. She knew she was in trouble.

The carer finally rounded her up and directed her down the hill where she could get some food.

Megan decided to jump over a log but soon realised the jump down was higher than the jump up and wasn't sure if her stubby legs could handle it.

So after a few seconds of contemplating she decided to turn around and take other route.

Of course she chose a route that was like a mine field. There was a hollow log with twigs blocking the entrance, a tree and long grass plants surrounding its trunk and general area. When she finally found a way through she stood and watched as the other wombat ate. It did look delicious but she was still hesitant to go down because she was still in trouble.

Fortunately for her, the carer was a forgiving soul and had a large bowl of fruit and a gentle pat waiting for her.

Astralia Zoo

On the weekend Mum and I went to Australia Zoo. Yes we saw Terri Irwin as she drove by. She waved. That was my star spotting for the day.

I have added a slide show of photos from the zoo at the end of this blog. If you put your mouse over the picture you will see a comment I have made.

In the meantime I thought I should do the elephants bath on its own as it is a story to be told.

Part of the elephant show was to bath and elephant. What I found ironic is the elephant in the background. One takes a bath while the other gets dirty on a dirt pile.

I missed the spraying of the dirt all over her back but she was very content and happy to roll around in it.

This is Sabu getting her bath while the other one is still enjoying the dirt. If you click on the picture you will see dirt flying.

Dirt, bath, dirt, bath which is best

This side is done now to get up for the other side.

Getting up can be a real struggle

"I loves the water!"

Full Moon Flying

This time last night I was on a plane flying back from QLD. Let me tell you that place is so humid! It is great to visit but no way could I live there with that sort of humidity. I think the least humid day was around 60%. Anyway that is off the topic.

The flight home was 5 long hours. I had a window seat just on the edge of the wing. Once the cabin lights were turned down (due to the late hour of the flight) I was able to get a better view outside. There was not a cloud in sight and the full moon was so bright at first I thought it was one of the lights on the plane and then realised it wasn't flashing.

I believe at the time we were flying over Lake Eyre (not sure of the spelling) which is one of Australia's biggest inland lakes. Most of the time it is a salt lake with little to no water. This is one of those times. Most people would know how much a full moon can light up a dark night but I have never seen the earth from 12,000 feet on such a night. There was a halo around the horizon of the earth and the salt lakes beneath us glowed in dark landscape. On the edge of the lakes I could just make out the ghostly shadow of the creases in the folds of the landscape. It was an eerie but beautiful sight.

We soon passed over some small towns. From the air you can normally see all the lights of the houses and the roads. One of these towns was different. It was like everyone had tuned in early for the night and the only lights that were on were the street lights. It was like looking at a road map. Each road was a dotted line of light but the area where the houses were was dark. You could see how each block was laid out. It was fascinating.

By the time we hit Perth the plane flew in from a northern angle. As we slowly descended I looked out the window again and noticed that there appeared to be a trail of really bright white lights that seemed to be following the plane like a beacon to tell people we had arrived. The brightness would last a mere second before it faded to a pale dot on the landscape. Obviously I knew it wasn't lights but I couldn't figure out what it was until we descended even lower. The lights were in fact the reflection of the moon on pockets of water. I can only assume they were people's dams as they were quite rounded in shape. It wasn't until it hit part of the river that I realised what I was seeing. It was beautiful and so bright. I wish I could have had a video camera on the wing to show you what I saw.

Over the next day or so I will post some photo's of my trip to QLD. At this stage I am being lazy thought Jackie did get me exercising tonight. Must go shopping for food tomorrow as there is none in the house. :)

LOL Dogs - What I did for Christmas

QLD First Week

I have been in QLD for a week now. I tried to download photo's but the rip off hotel connection is not allowing it so you will all have to wait until I get back home to see the photos.

The wedding is tomorrow and let me tell you, my little cousin certainly has found herself a nice catch. He can cook, has a great sense of humour, loves to cook, gets on well with the whole family, can cook, puts up with our sarcasm and teasing, loves to cook, has a real caring quality to him and did I mention he loves to cook. He has made the most wonderful meals since we have been here.

Considering that most of mum's family is in and around Brisbane area we had a family Reunion last Saturday. It was the first time I met some of my cousin's children and the eldest is 14! I also met up with some that stayed with us for Christmas 4 years ago and boy have they grown up. Mind you Liam was still as annoying but that is just because he loves me and doesn't see me often enough. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Ok now to wedding issues:

1. The bride had a cold on the weekend and then had gastro yesterday but appears to be doing fine now.
2. The groom is exhausted and not sleeping well which is why I think we are getting lovely meals because that is his downtime.
3. Me (the photographer) got a bad head cold yesterday which touch wood is now much better.
4. Brother of the bride also had bad gastro yesterday.
5. The maid of honour and sister to the bride woke up this morning with a cold after having nightmares that all the decorations came falling down in the middle of the ceremony.
6. Mother of the bride also woke up with a cold.
7. Maid of honour dumped her wedding jewelry out of the bag and lost an earring (which was found when mum stepped on it this morning).

In all everything is going well.

On a side note the funny story of the week is what my male cousin and his wife did. The apartments have two phones. One is the buzzer to let someone in the security gate. It sounds like a smoke alarm. Tina buzzed to get in one morning after going for a walk and tried them first because they were on the ground floor. They thought they had set off a fire alarm because they had toast in the toaster. They unplugged it and shoved it in the cupboard hoping they wouldn't have to pay a fine for the firemen coming out.

OK more wedding stuff to organise. I won't have access to a computer until I get home now so there will be no update until then.