The Trek Continued

I love low tide!  When the water recedes so far that you can walk for an hour and still have dry feet.

Searching for puddles and rock pools full of sea snails, shells, tiny fish, seaweed, jellyfish, all sorts of crabs, stingrays, and turtles, all the while hot on the heels of a whole range of sea birds like seagulls, terns, oyster catchers, stints, pelicans and curlews.

Overhead, soaring high, were Whistling Kites, Brahminy Kites and White Bellied Sea Eagles, none of which were interested in my tasty herrings!  Ugh!

There was even a goanna sunning himself on the rocks before I went for my seventy minute walk along the beach.

I took a lot of photos today, but none with my new lens.  I also deleted a lot of photos today that didn't make the cut.

I followed the Sea Eagles up to the Lion's Park but they disappeared after that, so I took a couple of photos before I returned home to Adoring Husband, four hours after I had left home this morning.

So I hope that today is the start of a beach walking habit that I can continue for life!

But tomorrow is Chicklet day, so there will be no walking along the beach in the morning ... perhaps in the afternoon, if I can find the motivation - I am not an afternoon person.

Right now, I have two football matches to watch, including my beloved Broncos.

Nite all. 

The Wide Angle Trek

I was excited to pack my new lens in the back pack before I took off for my morning ritual.

My first practise run.

Tide's out at the Lion's Park beach

It's very different to use.  Who'da thunk that all the different lenses could all be so different to use!  I think this one is going to be great on the road trip for all the landscape and scenery shots.  My imagination is already going crazy!

March Photo a Day Challenge ..

104 Challenge ..

Still Life - Photo 69 of 104

Me, just playing around ..

Bird Prints in the sand.

Lorikeet in the park

Whistling Kite whistling.

I enjoyed my morning with the camera but I was home earlier than usual because it got so hot, I thought I was going to expire!

Adoring Husband and I watched Breaking Dawn Part I today.  It was better this time than when I saw it at the movies, but I still think the wolf scene was cheesy and tacky.  Now I start the countdown for Part II, which is released in November this year.

Sadly, the Twilight series will then be over :o(

Chicklet walked today!!  For the first time.  There'll be no stopping her now and I can't wait to see her on Saturday ... before she starts running!

I am going on another wide angle trek tomorrow.  The tide will be out again in the morning and I will have longer to walk along the sand flats before the tide turns back in.

I hope that the White Bellied Sea Eagle will be out looking for food because he is my main aim tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.

Nite all

Return to Paradise

Adoring Husband returned home today and despite one aborted landing, his plane touched down safe and sound on the tarmac in the pouring rain.  He did not enjoy the flight and he was very happy to be home!

Earlier in the day, I had driven into town with Woman of Many Talents, and she dropped me off at Vegan Chickie's place.

I got to spend the morning with my little Chicklet, who provided hours of enjoyable entertainment.  She is growing up so fast and is SO close to walking but doesn't even realise it.

She has lots of words in her vocabulary, speaks a second language (not exactly sure what it is - perhaps Martian or Neptunian??) and is full of energy.

I adore her.

Adoring Husband, Vegan Chickie, Chicklet and I had lunch at The Bayswater, which was very nice - even though the weather was still very rainy.  The Bare-chested Chef joined us for a while as well, but he was preparing to go to work.

We said our goodbyes and then drove past lots of localised flooding on our way home.  Quite amazing considering there had only been 30 ml of rain.

After we arrived home, Adoring Husband gave me my Breaking Dawn dvd.  Well actually, he didn't have a chance to give it to me because I snatched it out of his hand so fast that he didn't know what hit him!

Then he told me to sit down and close my eyes, which I did obediently.

He placed a gift wrapped package on my lap with a card.  The wrapping paper was white with gold hearts and the card was a beautiful anniversary card inside which he had written lovely romantic sentiments.

Our anniversary isn't for another 6 weeks.

I unwrapped (more like 'tore apart') the package and there, to my delight, was a Canon wide angle lens!  Wonderful!  Adoring Husband wanted me to have it for my road trip next month and thought I might like to practise with it beforehand.  What a treasure :o)

I am spoilt.  I deserve it.  Oh yes I do!

March Photo a Day Challenge ...

... and that is all for today.

Adoring Husband had a busy and hectic week in Sydney, catching up with mates, spending time with his Mum for her birthday and joining in birthday celebrations with other friends.

He is, however, very pleased to return to paradise.

Nite all

Nana Naps Rock!

Dennis the Menace gave me some Herring this morning.  They were in a little ziplock bag.  They were especially to feed the Eagles and Kites.

There were two Kites in the tall tree near the Seat of Knowledge, so I tossed a Herring into the river under the tree and it sunk!

Why does this happen to me?

When the men toss their old bait fish out of the boat, they float.  Why do my dead fish sink??

So, I rode down to the Lions Park, parked my trike under a tree, and walked along the beach to the trees where the Kites sometimes sit.

I took a Herring and tossed it onto the sand just down from the trees and then I sat on a small sand hill with my camera at the ready.

I kept my eye on the trees, waiting for the Kite to appear.  After about 15 minutes it appeared alright ... from behind me instead of from the trees!

It hovered high above the fish for about 30 seconds.  I had the camera focussed on the fish and I had one eye looking through the view finder and while the other tried to keep the bird in view so that I could time my shot.

It swooped down so fast!!  I fired off a few shots hoping to capture him in a couple of frames, but when I checked, there was only one frame with him in it and it is very blurred...

Next time I will use a different lens and a faster shutter speed.  The potential was there!  You will see the improvement with the next shot - which I will get before the end of the week!

I had morning tea with the girls today, which I always enjoy :D

This afternoon, I was feeling decidedly weary, so I decided to have a nana nap before my 'date' with the gang (fish and chips at the park for dinner).

I climbed into bed at 2.45pm.  There was a deliciously cool breeze coming through the bedroom window and the neighbourhood was very quiet.  Even Psychotic Dogs didn't make a sound!  I slept until my alarm woke me at 4.15pm.

It was the best nana nap ever!

When I woke up, I quickly made my salad - watermelon, tomato, cucumber, avocado, onion, walnuts and rocket.  I threw two bottles of cold water in the bag along with a fork and a sachet of french dressing.  I grabbed my camera bag and jumped on my trike to pedal to the park.

There were lorikeets everywhere I looked!  So I stopped a couple of times to get some shots.

March Challenge.

14. A Sign

104 Challenge.

Devonshire Tea - Photo 68 of 104

Tomorrow is Chicklet day, so I'd best get to bed.  The nana nap rocked, but now I could probably stay awake til 2am!  Wish me luck.

Nite all.

March Challenge Catch Up

Spoke on the phone with Number One Son this evening and he said he'd like to see some photos from me that didn't have feathers in them!  How rude!

So here is a catch up on the March Photo a day Challenge and I'm pretty sure that there are no feathers in any of them.

7. What I wore today

8. A Window

9. Red

10.  Loud

11. Who I talked to today.

12.  Fork

Today has been a wonderful day of solitude, and I have enjoyed it immensely.  I am going to finish it by going to bed an hour earlier than usual!

Nite all.

White Bellied Sea Eagle

It eludes me.

This magnificent creature lives around here somewhere.  I have seen him many times in the distance or sometimes just high in the sky ... high enough that he cannot be captured with a 400 mm lens.

This is the closest I have caught him and this happened yesterday morning, while he was being chased by a large number of small birds.

I took the mullet with me this morning.  I saved it especially for my eagle and planned on tossing it in the water for him to swoop down and steal for breakfast, while I snapped continuously to capture the perfect eagle shot.

There was no sign of any of the big birds this morning.  Very very unusual.

Every morning the whistling kites sit in the tall tree near the Seat of Knowledge whistling away, and sometimes swooping down to fish their breakfast out of the river.

The Brahminy Kite regularly soar above the river also searching for food and having to fight off the seagulls and terns who try to steal the food.

So this morning was unusually quiet and the skies were empty of birds (except the shags who continued to follow their usual flight path over the river).

There have been a high number of tourists in town this weekend for a Kite Surf Carnival and also a caravaning group filled the park.  This created lots of traffic on the roads and in the river and along the beaches, so perhaps the tourists scared the big birds away?

So plan B was to go to an open beach area and throw the fish into the water.  I imagined the eagle seeing it floating on the surface, it's silvery skin glistening in the sunshine and it would fly down to the beach and swoop down for my shot.

I rode to the very end of the path, took the fish out of the bag, walked down the steps onto the beach and tossed the fish as far out into the water as I could manage.

The fish promptly sunk to the bottom like a rock.  What the??!!

I waited and I watched, hoping it would rise to the surface.  I felt like a complete doofus!

That was the end of that!

So I packed up my camera and climbed back on my trike and rode home.

Not a single photo was taken.  My White Bellied Sea Eagle shot has to wait for another day.

Nite all.