Our World Tuesday - Great Barrier Reef

It only took us about 25 minutes to travel out to the Great Barrier Reef from Cape Tribulation.  After the necessary safety talks, we set off.  The colour exploded around us.  A number of the shots I took ended up in the recycle bin because there were schools of out of focus fish in the way!  It was that kind of place.  When you were over the coral you never knew where to look, and it did not make that much difference anyway – there was always something to see.

I’ve never been in a place where I could name so little of what I saw.  Normally I would have found this annoying, but here there was no option but to give in to the wonder over abundance.

I’ve picked these images to try to give an idea of what drifting about on the surface of this reef was like.  They may not be pin sharp, but then again neither are my memories.  Colour and movement, shape and form, schools of half hidden fish, specks of life with colour to spare, more after more after more.  I loved it.  I’m going back.

You can find more pictures from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking on the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen.

Macro Monday - Blue Starfish

I expected that the Great Barrier Reef would be bright, but I have to say I was pretty shocked when more or less the first thing I saw was a bright blue star fish.  And as you can see it’s not blue in a pale washed out sort of way, it (they!) were bluer than cheap jeans.

The common name of this star fish is The Blue Starfish (!) and its scientific name is Linckia laevigat.   In the end we saw quite a few of these wonderful animals.  They are not much bigger across than an adults hand, but they are smaller than the smiles they create in kids!

This is the first of my special “reef week” posts – more to come.

You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking on the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen.

Enjoy the close ups.

SkyWatch Friday - Sky River

These pictures were taken less than an hour after last Fridays Skywatch pictures. Just to make sure that I did not get too carried away, the weather decided to replace rain with a mist!  All the times you hear that the “river/lake/sea was like a mirror” can make you forget that sometimes it really is!

So this is sky river post.

I don’t really know what was causing the green mist to the right of the tree – but it was there when I took the picture - strange!

You can find the first “wordy” post about my trip to the Daintree here – if you like some of my pictures you can find more there along with some of my words.

You can find more skies from around the world at SkyWatch Friday.

Enjoy the pictures.

Wild Bird Wednesday 2: Southern Cassowary

Southern Cassowary are an iconic, flightless birds found in a relatively small area of Northern Queensland (plus PNG).  They grow to just under 2m tall and a large female would be pushing 60 kg.  These are, by any measure, an impressive bird.

We were walking along a board walk through some reasonably dense forest when we happened upon this female and a well grown chick.  We were just in the right place at the right time.  With a bird this think on the ground there is always an element of luck involved.   Although generally considered shy, there was no evidence of shyness in these birds.  By the time they melted back into the forest, a group of about eight people we watching them.   At one stage I had to move away from the adult bird – not because I was feeling any form of threat, but because it was too close to focus on!  These are I need to say, wild birds! 

You can see the free hanging wattles that hang from the neck and the large crown or “casque” on its head.  This casque grows as the bird matures, and you can see the base of it on the head of the young bird.

As you may well imagine I got rather excited about these birds.   We also another adult and chick cross the road in front of us later in the trip – remarkably they were crossing near a road sign of the “look out cassowary crossing” type –  what a strange coincidence.

You can find more wild birds – although possibly not ones this big! – by clicking on the links below.

Enjoy the birds.

Our World Tuesday - A whale of a time (II)

The Great Barrier Reef is such an icon that it may even suffer from its own reputation.  We had booked in on one of the large reef tours that depart from Port Douglas, but weather, a sense that we really did not want to snorkel with 250 other people and the discovery of a small company based at Cape Tribulation made as cancel.  It was a very good call!

The reef was remarkable (pictures will follow) but the trip also happened to coincide with the return of the Humpback Whales to the area.  They had been seen briefly the day before, but on our trip they put on a bit of a show.

There were at least two whales in the area.  They seemed to be staying at the surface, slapping the water with their tails rather than diving.  We could not get too close to the whales, but the whole thing was pretty exciting for all of us.

I had hoped to see good things on the reef (and I did), but the whales were a bonus.  And just like the small stone you put in your pocket as a memory of a beautiful beach, the few minutes we watched these remarkable animals will be a powerful memory.

You can find more images from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking on the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the page.

Enjoy the pictures.

Macro Monday - Close Enough

I’m not entirely sure these count as genuine macro shots – but these are as close up as I was happy to be if the truth be told!

These are Estuarine or Salt Water Crocodiles.  Although these are not huge there are large enough to discourage swimming.  The Daintree River is famous for its crocodiles and we found these at the start and end of the day – just waiting for a chance I suppose.

In the pictures of the adults you can see the large tooth the sticks up on the outside of the mouth.  This is used to separate crocodiles from alligators.  In alligators this tooth fits into a pocket in the upper jaw rather than being visible on the outside.  I think it would be important to tell the difference between a croc and a gator when one is attached to your leg.  And the mystic arts of taxonomy provide you with an easy guide!

The young crocodiles were still hanging around the nest site – but were very well hidden.

I think the buzz you get from seeing a predator of this size in the wild is all the justification you need to protect them.  A world without them would be a much lesser place.

You can find more macro shots at Macro Monday.

You can find the latest post to my other blog by clicking the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen.

Enjoy the close ups.