Category: Pets

The Impossible Dream

January 19, 2011

It started in Sydney, when my departing plane was delayed by two and a half hours due to a ‘malfunction’ (never fully explained to us). Boo to United for poorly informing us, since at one point (on the board) the flight was described as ‘cancelled’.

That’s how I feel right now, +1 day after finally getting back here, jet-lagged and very tired. I just finished the most essential class-related work, and am going to go rest soon.

Upon our late arrival in Los Angeles the plane departing for Chicago was delayed as well (due to ice in Chicago). This meant I was able to make the connection, although even then it was known the Albany one had no chance.

I think that goat will remember me for ever. “Never”, did he think, “did I think a human would ever pick me up!”. And for that simple act he came to love me 🙂

United put me in a hotel in Chicago. A spiffy one, better than anything I’d probably pay for myself. And yet it was lost on me for I had no clean clothes and simply washed what I had in the shower and went straight to bed. Only I didn’t sleep, just playing DS all through the night and drying my clothes with the hair dryer.

Even now, +3 days from leaving Oz, do I recall the delicious taste of grilled – always fresh, not frozen – chicken sandwiches. Many things change in life, but that memory will remain always.

The flight from Chicago the next day was similarly delayed. As it turns out our first plane broke, and we had to wait over 3 hours for a replacement. Then we were detained further still. I spent almost 5 hours seated on planes just yesterday, and only 80 minutes of that was actually in the air. When I finally got home to Albany, I almost thanked God.

I must make a correction – I inaccurately described these guys as Rosella numerous times on this blog. They are in fact a different type of Parrot – a Rainbow Lorikeet. I originally described them as both in the video, thinking the two names were synonymous but they are in fact different birds (google Rosella to see how equally beautiful they are). At any rate check out this guys plumage.

If any bird described to be called Rainbow surely this is the one 🙂

Long Walk

January 13, 2011

Finally I walked the entire Fernleigh track from Adamstown to Jewells! It was long and hot but I managed to finish the ~20 km trip (including from my parents place to the start of the track) in a little over 3 hours.

A couple of notables I saw on the trip:

This walk, which diverts from the track just beyond Burwood Road near Kahibah, leads all the way to Sydney! Although I love walking, I’m not one for multi-day hikes. That said, I’d love to walk to Sydney from Newcastle!

If you’re looking for spiders, walk Fernleigh. I must have seen about eight-hundred zillion this morning and this guy is a nice example. He’s a Saint Andrew’s Cross spider, and measured about 6 cm in length. I saw some spectacularly big webs this morning as well, spanning the entire width of the path (ie. meters). I can only imagine the size of the orb weavers who created them (in one night!)

This was an ironic find. Many, many years ago I was walking (with a few friends of mine) on the old rail line that has now been turned into the Fernleigh Track. We came across a tiny old shack that contained a single chair and a wooden box. In the box was a collection of very old – but well preserved – magazines (I can remember some Playboys, Family Circles and some train magazines) and some unopened – and also very old – tinned vegetables. It was a bit creepy because we wondered who put it there and why, and also how long it had been there, presumably forgotten. So we just put it all back and left.

Cut forward ~20 years and imagine my surprise when I found the shack again on the track about five minutes north of Whitebridge! As you can see it was very overgrown, so I didn’t explore. But it certainly brought back memories of that strange find many years ago.

Dad was to meet me in Redhead for the final leg of the walk to Jewells. I got there early though so strolled down to the beach. It was very, VERY hot (easily over 30, with no breeze) and I couldn’t believe the amount of people out sunbathing. It was all I could do to stand out in the sun just to take a few photos.

Also near Redhead I found this on the track:

Oh the memories! That’s a used firework, probably brought home illegally by someone who holidayed in another state. I could (and one day, will) do an entire entry on the fun Bernard and I had with fireworks in our youths. Before they were banned in our state 🙂

I had seen and heard countless birds along the way, including kookaburra, cockatoos, whip-birds and bellbirds (common between Whitebridge and Redhead) but down in the north Belmont wetlands dad and I were treated to a fine performance of bellbird song:

After we finished the track we bussed to Charlestown for some lunch and quick shopping. Both of us were pretty tired by now, so I debated the madness of getting off the bus home on Beaumont Street for one last look at the used bookstores. How fortuitous I did though, for I was able to get two more gamebooks I didn’t have, that were – the attendant told me – just sold to the store yesterday!

Two last shots:

Pretty mannequins! Why do I always take photos of mannequins? In this case I like how they are all different…

Yesterday I bought my parents Scrabble. The new version includes an incredibly complete rulebook, that contains advanced rules (“Don’t think about using the X unless you can make at least 30 points…”) and a dictionary of all legal 2-letter words. Fun stuff, but this next shot shows what can happen to a game when such a dictionary is available:

Tomorrow I shall bid my parents goodbye and take an early train to Sydney. I’ll have 2.5 days left to amuse myself. Hopefully I shall make them productive!

I Fed A Kangaroo (And I Liked It)

January 12, 2011

Sue and I started our day with a quick jaunt up Mount Sugarloaf, one of the tallest mountains near Lake Macquarie, and sight of many TV transmission antennae.

The walk to the lookout is much shorter than I remember as a kid, but still somewhat strenuous especially in the heat. There wasn’t anyone there when we arrived, or for some time after, so we had the butterfly and lizard inhabitated lookout for ourselves.

That second shot is of course no butterfly. It is instead a horse fly, and they can give a nasty bite so avoid them if you see them. They are hard to miss as well, being about an inch long. Yucky things, they are 🙂

After Sugarloaf the real adventure began. Today we went to Hunter Valley Zoo.

I can hear my brother asking right now “What?”. And the answer is there is a very small ‘zoo’ up in the vineyards calling itself Hunter Valley Zoo. Some may say the admission price of A$16 is a rip off. But to those people I say the following: “At how many other places can one do this…”

That’s a (super cute) Wallaby. Here’s some video of one of his friends:

And some of his distant cousins:

I was in heaven at this point. For some reason ever since I arrived in Australia this time I wanted to touch a kangaroo!

But guess what: it didn’t stop at Kangaroos!

Yes sir! Rosella feeding. The one on my hand was the parent, and kept nipping at my fingers when I tried to pat the baby. They were both very friendly though, and so close I could really admire their beautiful plumage:

Before you think the zoo was all about Kangaroos and Rosellas, I give you… Koala petting!

What Twilight Zone had we stepped into that we found a nearly empty zoo that let us just wander around touching the animals? Cute Australian animals too!

But but but but… amidst all this splendid fauna of terra australis, who ever would have thought the childrens petting farm could have been the best attraction? Don’t believe me? Then watch this video:

Until this day I honestly had no idea how much fun it was to hold a goat 🙂

Yes, I just kept picking them up 🙂

And so on, and so on. Here’s a bunch of other random shots from Hunter Valley Zoo:

And there was plenty more, including Alligators (which we got to touch), Pademelons, Thick-Knees, Ostriches, Emu, several types of Deer, an Ibex, Tasmanian Devils, many types of Monkey (!) and many, many, MANY birds! The zoo may be small, but it has heart and variety and given how close we got to many of the animals was just a great place to visit.

Right at the entrance, just sitting on a branch out in the open was this guy, a tawny frogmouth.

He’s beautifully creepy isn’t he. When I put the camera close to take the photo he leaned forward, almost as if begging me to touch him. Unlike most of the other animals today I declined 🙂

Robot Claw