Lottery

These little kids thought the Lottery ball machines were great fun and they looked so cute. They were turning them in time to the music that was playing. When it came time for the numbers to be drawn, they had to leave the stage though.

Something to Crow about...

This Cock crowed (maybe 40 times) while we were setting up for my Birthday party at the Territory Day Park. Auspicious..? My maiden name is Cock and I was born in the Chinese year of the Cock :-)

Nell

Nell helped me eat the birthday cake. It was hard work, but I think we made a fair dent in it :-)

Wrapper

A couple groups of lads went on stage and were "wrapping" or what ever they call it these days. They looked pretty good.

More Traditional Dancing

Malay I think?

Dancing girls

The girl in brown was a natural - she looked stunning. But we are not sure if the girls are Malay or Chinese.

Fan Dance

These Chinese fan dancers had a few false starts, but once they got going, they looked great.

Malay Drumming

Traditional Malay drumming, as well as a performer who looked like he was doing martial arts movements.

Lion Dance

I didn't manage to get any photos of the Lion Dance during the Chinese New Year celebrations. With the union celebrations, the dance was up on a stage, which made it much easier to photograph. I made sure I got a good seat :-)

Huge Cake!

Have a look at the cake the Islanders made for me!! They got my age wrong though and my name isn't UCIW!

OK - they didn't really make it for me, but it was fun pretending it was all in my honour LOL. This was really to celebrate the Unions 34th birthday. Labour Day might not be such a big deal in South Australia - but it is here.

Steve and Bill

Sharing some cheesecake with Steve and Bill.

Volleyball Team

Almost everyone from my volleyball team came to my birthday party. Only 1 lady didn't make it.

Katydid (I worked out what it is!)

I'm not sure exactly what this is - it looks a little like a grasshopper. I found it when we were setting up for my birthday party.

This was one of my first photographs. Afterwards, it moved to a position where it could watch me. Every time after that when I moved to get a side shot, it moved to stay facing me. I gave up and put my hand out to see what it would do. It climbed onto my hand. So I carried it over to a tree trunk where it climbed off and up the tree :-)

Long Fly

I started photographing this fly because it was diiferent - and different is interesting :-) It was being reasonably cooperative - apart from flying up to the light globe every time I turned it on (so I gave up and worked with the ambient light). The fly stayed still long enough for me to get my macro lenses out and start playing with them. I love what I achieved. If you look at the full sized image, you can see the blue patterns in this fly's eyes! Cool hey?

Sweet Pumpkin Pie

My sister gave me the idea to make a sweet pumpkin pie. The mixture tasted delicious raw, so I am looking forward to biting into it tonight for desert :-)

Little Banana

Aren't the bananas we get here really cute? Simon thinks they are perfect - bite size.

Male Frigate

while we were still in the jungle we could hear the male frigates warbling - we think it is their mating call or challenge.

Mostly Frigates

The birds riding the thermals over the beach looked like a swarm of insects.

Hermit Crab Heaven

There were literally dozens of little hermit crabs on West White Beach. Simon collected a handful of little ones for me to photograph. But he complained because they kept nipping him.

Returning Home

Once I turned his shell up, he uncurled and climbed back into it.

Nose Dive

I was carrying this hermit crab to a shady spot so I could photograph it better. But he tried to escape and fell out of his shell in the process.

Orange Hermit Crab

When I first spotted orange I didn't pay much attention because I thought it was just "another" red crab. But when I took a second look, I realized it was a hermit crab. It quickly disappeared under a rock ledge which made it difficult to photograph.

I spotted this hermit crab hiding in its shell, so I sat down and waited until it decided it was safe to take off again. My patience was rewarded :-)

Beach Snails

I've never seen so many Beach Snails on the move. In the past when I have seen these snails in rock pools during the day they have been boringly fixed in place. These were all on the move towards the ocean.

Not much sand

You don't walk with bare feet on the beaches unless you have very tough feet.

More West White Beach

Looking in the other direction up the beach.

West White Beach

West White beach is quite a long beach in comparison to many of the beaches on the Island. Like other beaches though, there isn't much in the way of sand. It is all coral rubble (smoothed by pounding waves), shells and rocks.

Gateway

Two dead trees that look like drift wood mark the entrance to West White Beach.

Rope climb

When Simon and I took the walking trail to West White Beach we had to climb 12 metres down these rocks using the two thick ropes left for that purpose. Going back, we had to climb up the same way. The only other alternative is to get a boat ride to the beach.

Boxelder Bug Nymphs

These bright red bugs look very pretty. I did some research and I'm very sure they are young Boxelder bugs. As they mature, they develop wings that are dark brown, so look quite different to adult bugs: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG0998.html.

Tree Orchid

These orchids were growing high on the trunk of a tree.

Empty Strangler Fig

The host inside this strangler fig was probably eaten away by termites. Only a bit of stump was left at the bottom.

Strangler Fig

The Strangler Fig spells disaster for it's host, but in the process, creates beautiful patterns.

Malay Drummers

These Malay men stood in a circle and played their hand drums.

Malay Children

The Malay community had a festival on Sunday morning. We have no idea what it was about because none of it was in English. These children sang beautifully.

Navy

The Navy has been moored in Flying Fish Cove for the last week.

Hughes Dale Pool

This is the pool of water under the waterfall.

Freshwater Eel

I felt sorry for this Eel. It was in one of the small pools of water in the creek below Hughes Dale Waterfall. Without any decent rain over the last week it was trapped. It was over 1 metre in length and had a body as thick as my arm.

I did some research and discovered I didn't need to feel sorry for this eel. It is a fascinating creature and very capable of surviving the environment it is in. If you want to learn more, read this article: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/05/06/2044390.htm

Hughes Dale Rocks

This is a close up of the rocks where the waterfall comes down.

Hughes Dale Waterfall

I went back to Hughes Dale again. Third time lucky - I had my tripod and it didn't rain, so I got my photos of the waterfall.

Peek-A-Boo

This Blue crab picked a shallow hole to hide in so tried to hide behind his claws :-)

Crab Penthouses

These crab holes running around a low hill of dirt looked like penthouses :-)

Juvenile Blue Crab

We think this is a juvenile Blue Crab, but it almost looks like a different species.

Little Nipper with eggs

These purple crabs are very difficult to photograph. They see you coming and run to hide under a log. Surprisingly though, this one showed a bit of defiance and stood it's ground before running away. You can see the eggs she is carrying.

Perspective

We thought it would be good to show you the average size of Coconut crabs here.

Praying Mantis

I rescued this Praying Mantis from the car park at the Rec Centre. I brought it home and put it in our garden. It watched me very intently while I took photos.

Tiny Wolf Spider

This tiny little Wolf spider saw it's reflection in the toaster and thought it would make a great meal. It only needed to bounce off the toaster once, to learn that wasn't an option. It sat and studied itself for a while afterwards. It even stuck one of its front legs in its mouth and nibbled for a while as though thinking and chewing a finger nail :-)

Grub

This grub was about the length of my finger. We couldn't work out if it was dying or just pretending to be a stick. When we found it, it was upside down under a fallen branch.

Baby Brown Booby

Brown Booby Nest

There were two Brown Booby nests amongst the rocks and bushes at Winifred. The mother Booby is very protective. When you get close, she picks up sticks and shakes them at you and makes pecking motions toward you.

Winifred Beach

Michael was dissapointed to discover that Winifred is not the type of beach where you go swimming.