Archive for the ‘Landscape’ category

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Turtle spotting on a cloudy day

September 4th, 2010

Clifton Beach and Palm Cove

On a cloudy grey day today I crashed for a bit on the rocks at the end of Taylor Point, where there are a couple of patches of sea grass on which the turtles love to feed. It’s rare that they’re not there, and today I watched two small green sea-turtles feeding beside an oyster-encrusted rock a few meters from shore (in the top photo the rock is underwater at centre-right). You don’t see much, just a head poking up for a brief moment before they head back down again. Sometimes the shell breaks the surface, but normally the below is all you see.

Green sea-turtle

Trying to get a photo can be frustrating. You need to focus before the turtle shows, then try to grab the shot in the second or less that the turtle shows itself.

I’m looking forward to the return of blue skies… hopefully before my four-day long weekend is over.

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Saturday on Trinity Beach

May 22nd, 2010

Trinity Beach

It was a beautiful day in Cairns today, as pictured above. After my usual Saturday morning trip to Smithfield to grab some groceries and have breakfast at Cafe Soul, I decided that it was too nice to spend the day doing housework. I grabbed my netbook computer and headed to the beach.

Lazing in the shade of a palm tree, I watched Thursday’s episode of the Rachel Maddow Show. Topics included Libertarian US Senate candidate Ron Paul’s trouble with the Anti-Discrimination Act and World Metrology Day (yes, metrology, i.e. measuring things, not meteorology). After that, I remained lazing on the beach for a bit longer, listenng to music and drafting a couple of blog posts including, of course, this one. Parts were written in the past tense despite trying to describe future events. The sentence here originally said that I had coffee and cake at the Trinity Beach Bar ‘n’ Grill, but I ended up feeling rather hungry and munched on a serving of lasagne while reading Simon Singh’s Big Bang. A coffee ended my beach sojourn and I headed home. Housework tomorrow… No, I don’t believe me either.

The primary target audience of this blog is family in my once hometown of Canberra, where I believe the temperature range was 0° to 15°. Brrrr. For Canberra that’s a nice, warm autumn day. I escaped Canberra in 2000. Here it was a lovely 29° with only a couple of small clouds in the sky.

Life in the tropics is tough, isn’t it?

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Wallaman Falls

March 21st, 2010

Wallaman Falls

I had a long drive today, going down to Wallaman Falls and back. I’ve hired a Ford Falcon for a couple of days, so it was a rather comfortable ride – much better than the little Corollas I usually rent.

Wallaman Falls is Australia’s highest single drop waterfall, with a 268 metre drop down into the pool at its base. The car park is located next to the lookout from whichthe above photo was taken, and a 2km trail leads down to the base. Going down is, of course, pretty easy. Coming back up just about killed me.

Down in the gorge it’s thick rainforest and, I assume, perpetually wet from the mist the falls generate. Up the top it’s quite open casuarina and eucalypt forest. It’s well worth a visit, though if I go back I may not make the hike to the bottom.

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A lazy day

March 7th, 2010

Trinity Beach today

I decided that today would be very lazy. I had a bit of a sleep in, fetched some water for my marine tanks, then crashed on the beach with a bacon and egg sandwich, some orange juice, and Why does e=mc² by Brian Cox and  Jeff

Not sure what species this is, but they seem to like human skin

Forshaw. After a while I wandered slowly to the northern end of the beach, allowed some fish (one pictured at right) to try eating the skin from my lower legs, watched a sea eagle eat its lunch, then wandered back to the cafe again for an iced chocolate and some mango and macadamia cheesecake.

I may wander back to the beach for a bit this afternoon, maybe with the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe and a Malibu and cola. Yes, it’s a tough life.

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Drying out after Olga

January 31st, 2010

Taylor Point

It has been a wet week following Cyclone Olga last Sunday, with 254mm recorded at the airport. Yesterday was particularly wet, and I only ventured out to get some bread. Despite consulting the radar to try to pick a gap in the rain, I got caught in a downpour on the way back. It was, however, nice to see some heavy wet season rain.

Today we’re seeing a bit of sunshine and a fair bit of blue sky, so I went for a wander around Taylor Point. King tides occur at this time of year, and a 3.44 meter high was due at 10:08. Around at Taylor Point the track was cut by the water, and the beaches were totally submerged. The coconut palms at the end of the track were experiencing more erosion around their bases, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see one or two fall in the not too distant future.

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Bluebottles on a blue sky day

December 22nd, 2009

Trinity Beach today

Wandering along the beach this afternoon, I noticed a bluebottle a few meters out from shore. I stopped and looked at it for a moment, and thought about how it could wash onto the beach and sting someone.  A few steps later a wave washed in around my feet. I felt something snag on both my feet. Looking down, I saw another bluebottle and realised I had been stung.

There was no immediate pain. It took about thirty seconds before a sensation a bit like pins being pushed into my skin developed. It was only slight, though unpleasant. A little further down the beach I found one of the vinegar bottles put out by the sur lifesavers, and that seemed to do the trick.

I wandered on to the café with crashed with an iced chocolate and Supersense by Bruce Hood, which is about the psychology behind supernatural beliefs. It covers everything from our tendency to believe in mind-body dualism to people’s reluctance to wear a cardigan they have been told was owned by murderer Fred West. It’s an informative and at times very amusing read.

My feet experienced a few minor tingles from the sting, but nothing of any great note. No weal, rash or anything showed. It seems my first encounter with a bluebottle was a bit of a non-event. The photo of the bluebottle didn’t come out very well.

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Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas

September 6th, 2009
Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas

Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas

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Taylor Point from Kewarra Beach

June 22nd, 2009
Taylor Point from Kewarra Beach

Click the photo for a larger version

I took this photo last week after I went to explore a large open area behind the southern end of Kewarra Beach which I saw on Google Maps. It wasn’t terribly interesting, and looks like it had been cleared for development a long time ago then abandoned. Unlike the walk over the top of Taylor Point, I don’t think it’s one I’ll do again.

Work is getting in the way of posts, so the blog hasn’t been updated much for the last week. The fact my Olympus FE-310 camera is playing up doesn’t help. It detects batteries as empty after just a couple of shots.

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A winter evening

June 12th, 2009
Looking north from Taylor's Point

Looking north from Taylor's Point

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Taylor Point

May 23rd, 2009

A small bay at the end of Moore St, Trinity Beach

A small bay at the end of of the Taylor Point Track, Trinity Beach

At the northern end of Moore St you’ll find a dirt track heading into bushland. If you follow that you will come to the western side of Taylor Point with a view across to Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove and Double Island. You can wander around the rocks to find the small bay above.

Click the photo for a larger image.

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