Flowering Coral

This coral's "flowers" looked very pretty waving in the currents.

Black Trigger Fish

Swimming with this school of Trigger Fish was awsome.

Feeding Frenzy

A school of Convict Surgeon fish and Black Triggerfish.

Titan Triggerfish

This Titan lives up to its name - growing up to 75cm. Apparantly the females become aggressive when they are nesting and will attack divers. This one obviously wasn't because it was in a hurry to swim away from me.

Spotted Porcupine Fish

It's uncommon to see one of these fish out and about in daylight. They are normally nocturnal. This one had a couple of Common Cleanerfish hanging off it.

Padang Goby

This Goby blends well with its environment. It's common, but difficult to spot (pardon the pun).

Another Ornate Hawkfish

In this photo, you can see how the Hawkfish hangs on to the coral with its spiny pectoral rays.

Mating

I stopped the car to investigate these mating locusts - from a distance they looked like a strange crab.

Christmas Island Goshawk

Simon spotted this Goshawk when we were driving back from Dolly Beach todyay. I am really, really happy that I got this photo. It is only the second time I have seen a Goshawk - the first time Simon wouldn't stop the car because we were tight on time. He stopped the car this time though, so he is forgiven :-)

Trumpetfish

If you can get close enough to these fish in clear water, they are easy to photograph. They hang in the water pretending that they are a piece of drift wood or similar.

Ornate Hawkfish

This Hawkfish wasn't taking any chances.
When I got too close with my camera it broke cover and swam away.

Barred Leatherjacket

This Leatherjacket looks like it's had a couple minutes on the griller :-)

More Segmented Worms

I managed to get a better photograph of these gorgeous little sea creatures. The biggest challenge is getting the shot in focus because they are near the rocky coastline where it gets surgy. So I have to dive down, hang onto the coral with one hand, and take the photo with the other hand.

Waving Coral

All the filaments on this coral were waving in the currents.

Purple-green coral

I got a few good photos this afternoon when we went snorkelling. I found one small patch of water that had really good visibility.

Phosophate Ship

It was a very sunny day when I photographed this ship being loaded with phosphate. I got the moody effect by doing a double exposure. I took one normal photo and one Infra Red photo. Then I merged the two. Unfortunately, despite using a tripod, the two images didn't line up perfectly, so it's a little blurred. It's difficult not to move the camera when putting the IR filter on.

Leaf Insect

This insect managed to get inside the house, so I took it outside. It's missing one of its back legs.

Snails, snails, snails

I went outside after heavy rain one night and discovered all these snails having a mass orgy. I threw them all into this big tub of water and turned them into fertilizer. The shell of the biggest snail was about 10cm long.

Wedged in

I found quite a large colony of good sized hermit crabs hiding in all the crevices along the bottom of Greta Beach cliffs.

Send a Truck!

I went down to Greta Beach this morning. The ocean rubbish was piled so high it would take a truck to remove it all. I had to stay well clear of the waves that were coming in - I didn't want to get clobbered by any of the large chunks of wood that were still in the shallows.

I filled a large bag with thongs and carried it back to the pick up spot. I'm glad it's not a long walk, I thought thongs were light!

Horn-Eyed Ghost Crab

Yay! I finally found one of these Ghost Crabs on Ethel Beach! This is the pale variety - which blend in well with the surrounding pebbles and coral rubble. There is also a darker olive-green variety. This particular crab is a male - I know, because his eyes are "hornier" than females and juveniles :-)

I was surprised at how placid this crab was. He prefered to pretend he was a stone than run away. I prodded him a few times to work out whether he was alive. He eventually moved. Maybe this trick isn't the best method for survival - he was missing 2 of his left legs :-(

Orange Striped Hermit Crab

I love how varied the colours are amongst the Island's Hermit crabs! Just when I think there can't be any new variations to discover, along comes another :-)

Common Noddy

I posted a photo of a Common Noddy earlier this year, but here's another one. They nest in the cliffs along the coast.

Nesting

This Red-footed Booby was gathering sticks for it's nest. Not just any stick though - it picked up and discarded a few before it was satisfied and flew off.

Yellow Gilled Fungi

The underside of some fungi.

Up a Tree

This Robber crab is probably the largest I've seen. It might look like he/she is climbing down the tree, but in fact it is climbing up the tree - trying to get away from me.

Malay Swallow-tail

This is the first Malay Swallow-tail that I have seen. It was searching out the nectar in flowers near Grant's Well. It never quite landed though, so its wings were in motion the whole time. Its wings are also rather ragged. It probably ended up even more ragged because not long after taking this photo heavy cloud-cover made the day go black and it bucketed down with rain. So much for the "dry" season LOL.

Our "Truck"

Our 4 wheel drive is massive and sounds like a truck. You have to "climb" into it. I feel like a fair dinkum country Gal when I get behind the wheel! I have grown used to driving it - although I haven't had to get it in or out of a tight spot yet.

Ruins

To take these photos, I had to perch on top of a wide wall. I didn't like the thought of falling, so took great care. I think there was a colony of Glossy Swiftlets roosting in the shelter of a large tree growing aginst the wall - they were very annoyed with my presence and twittered away quite loudly.

Train Station Ruins

South Point used to be a thriving community, with a train line that connected it to the Northern settlement. Now, these ruins are the only remaining evidence.

Incense Urn

All Chinese Taoist Temples have a large urn filled with sand out the front - for burning incense sticks. No incense sticks were burning when I took this photo, but the clouds create an effect that looks like smoke.

Oven

This oven stands beside the Soon Tien Kong temple. I assume its purpose is the same as at Sheng Wong Temple - for burning offerings of money. I don't know if the money that is burned is real or not.

Soon Tien Kong

Soon Tien Kong is a large Chinese Taoist temple at South Point.

Phosphate Loading Site

I finally got out my Infra Red filter today. Conditions were perfect - bright sunshine with a scattering of clouds. This photo is where phosphate is loaded into a conveyor belt that carries it down the hill and funnels into the hold of a cargo ship.

Neon Green

Another very bright little fly. This one landed on the side mirror when I stopped to photograph a bird. The bird shots weren't any good - but the fly made up for it :-)

Meadow Argus

I found these gorgeous little butterflies at South Point today. I have the car this week because Simon is in Perth.

Varied Eggfly Butterfly 2

I chased the same butterfly from my garden to the edge of the jungle (not far) and managed to get a photo with its wings open :-)

There are several different colourations amongst the Varied Eggfly Butterflies. I posted one at the start of February with blue circles, but I didn't know what it was called at the time.

Wings Shut

This butterfly was sitting with its wings spread wide when I got home. By the time I got my camera it had moved :-(

Beached Whale

This old tub is full of character and going nowhere fast.

Boat yard

Some of the better serviced boats in the boat yard.

Stevo & Helen

Two of our friends are divers, so joined the dive team for the big clean-up.

Comments came back from different groups that less bags were filled with rubbish this year than last. I didn't say anything - but I wondered if it was the same number of bags that Simon and I filled in a couple of our own private clean-up sessions?

World Environment Day

On Sunday 7th June Christmas Island held its annual "Clean Up Day" to mark World Environment Day. Pictured is the rubbish that the dive team pulled out of the cove.

Golden Bosanbird

I knew I would get a good photo of a Golden Bosanbird eventually! Beautiful, beautiful birds and quite large. This one started circling over the cove with its mate while I was taking photos in the boat yard.

Sheng Wong God

A small statue of Sheng Wong on the alter of the Sheng Wong Temple.

In traditional Chinese culture, Gods are generally not believed to be omnipotent, abstract beings. They are beings similar to humans who have acquired the power to be recognised as Gods. For the average worshipper, there are numerous Gods that may be offered respect. Consequently offerings are only made to Gods who are local, or of some relevance to current circumstances. The worship of higher level Gods is explicitly forbidden. Only individuals who have high ranking positions in society may worship high level Gods.
Sheng Wong is Prime Minister to Yanluo. Yanluo is the King, or supreme ruler and judge of the Chinese Buddhist underworld, where there are up to eighteen courts or levels of judgment. Yanluo also has two assistants, “Ox-Head” and “Horse-Face”. They are the guardians of hell and take each soul that has died a natural death to Yanluo for judgment.
If a person has died a brutal or unjust death, or if they committed suicide, their soul enters a state of rage and anger. No guards will come for a soul in this state, leaving them to relive their last moments again and again throughout eternity. The place where the death occurred is considered haunted by the living and can only by cleansed by a Buddhist or Taoist monk.
Souls who are brought to Hell by the guardians must face the Mirror of Retribution, where their entire life is replayed. If the person lived a righteous and caring life, they will be allowed to progress to Paradise to dwell in happiness. The vast majority, however, are found guilty of selfishness, greed, and other transgressions, and are assigned another level of Hell for judgment and punishment.
When a soul has suffered all their punishment they are brought to Xue Luan Wang, the being in charge of reincarnation. Souls move up or down the spiritual ladder, depending on their actions in mortality. Wicked souls return as an animal or insect, while obedient souls return as a human. Each soul is given a drink of broth by Mong Po, which wipes away all recollections and memories. Mong Po then escorts souls to the Wheel of Reincarnation to be reborn into mortality.

Offerings

Offerings of fruit, meat, sweets, beer and tea are made to Sheng Wong to make him happy. This is so that he will bring peace and happiness to worshippers for the comming year.

Burning "hell" money

"Hell" money is burned to bring prosperity for the coming year.

Dragon Incense

Large amounts of incense - both in number and size - are burned to chase away evil spirits. These incense sticks were as tall as me and too fat for me to wrap my hands around.

Sheng Wong God's Birthday

Sheng Wong God's birthday is the time when a new temple committee is appointed along with a president. This committee takes on the responsibility of caring for the temple and setting out offerings for the next year. Two carved, crescent-shaped sticks are used to consult with Sheng Wong God about the rank of members within the committee. Each person throws the sticks to receive an answer. If the answer is “yes” they throw again. The more times that an individual gets the sticks to show an answer of “yes” the higher their final rank within the committee. The person with the most “yes” answers becomes the president.

Re-emerging

Linda took this photo of Simon as he crawled back out of the last chamber we explored. Further down you can see the photo I took with his feet dissapearing into the mouth.

The Climb to Daniel Roux

Our friend Linda sent a couple photos that she took. So for a change I get to post a photo of me :-) This is the ladder that we had to climb to get to the upper chamber of Daniel Roux. Only 1 person is allowed on the ladder at a time.