urban daisy

It was such a peaceful scene to wake up to.  A mist was rising from the dam, the birds were producing a cacophony that would have been dreadful had it been sung by anything but birds, and there was a crispness to the air that promised a fine day.  My today was perfect!

This railway car provided a slightly different perspective on the old, rusty, car body in the yard look.  They are often moved to properties and renovated to become guest accomodation, or put poolside as dressing rooms.  Not this one: it appears destined for terminte fodder.

Owls are spectacular birds!

This variety, the barn owl, is very common in Australia, but you might not know that if you don’t share my propensity for driving around the countryside with spotlights attached to your vehicle.

I thought my joy was complete when we saw a sugar glider swoop across the road above us.  I didn’t get a very good shot of this adorable little creature (he was very, very high up and a little shy!), but I was thrilled just to see one.  It is only the second time ever I have seen one outside of a zoo, and they are the dearest little things!

We saw frogs, nightjars, and some roosting birds.

There were pairs of these birds all over the tree.  When driving past, it looks like a tree with tissues scattered over it.  It is very easy to understand how cats can destroy a bird population.  The birds didn’t stir through all the flash and torch light, or me descending a gravel ditch right beside them, and I could have reached out and plucked one from the tree had I been less polite.

There is something special about observing nocturnal wildlife.  Spotlighting is one of my favourite things to do!

There are places to be alone and feel peaceful: there are others where a creeping awareness of your vulnerability errodes the sense of tranquility.

The drop was terrifyingly, excruciatingly, mercilessly vertical.  Taken on private property, there was no fence, no guide rail, not so much as a “do not cross” line drawn in the sand.

I took this shot while trying desperately not to think of…anything!

You know you are heading into seriously deep country, when mysterious structures of indefinable purpose appear, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

We recently engaged in an activity that is one of the fondest memories of my childhood – spotlighting.

For the uninitiated, spotlighting involves (typically) taking the most powerful torches you own, wandering around the bush at night, and scaring the daylights out of the wildlife.  In my youth, we did this on foot.  With a toddler, it was easier to hang out of the window of the 4WD and go slowly along the crunchy dirt and gravel track.

We were stopped at one point by some fellow night explorers who looked the more serious country type.  They drove a big, dirty, muscly, old 4WD ute, as opposed to our city style Territory, and spot lights that could blind you from 500metres.  They asked if we were out shooting too?

I sheepishly held up my shooting instrument (the Canon EOS 1000D), and felt like a true city slicker: they were out to lower the rabbit population.

Here’s just a sample of the possums we saw.   It was a bit tricky to shoot them, even with my new speedlite 430EX, because I found that after focusing manually, (a bit of a guess job in the semi-darkness) I was blinded by the flash and the image appearing on the LCD screen after each shot.  So blinded that I couldn’t see the view finder AT ALL for some time after.  Poor possums!  I don’t suppose they enjoyed the flash either.

It was such a fun experience for me (big child that I am) and thrilling for my children.  It’s well worth setting aside a night to explore the nocturnal happenings of the bush!