Last day in Townsville

I was getting ready for bed on Monday night when Jose called me to photograph these two tree frogs who were sheltering downstairs. Not much light but they came out okay. One has a bug on it.



On my last full day in Townsville, Ady and I took an early morning walk on the beach with Sally. A good opportunity to take a photo of Townsville with Castle Hill in the background. Yesterday, I took loads of photos of two fruit bats. The mature one visited in the morning. I was doing Qigong on the deck when I noticed the bat just hanging out in front of me. The baby bat flew in just as Jose came back from work.

A & J's pool



Ady and Sally walk along the beach


A heart shape on the beach this morning

Ross river and Crystal Creek

Yesterday, Ady and I took Sally the dog for a walk by the Ross river. We were looking for bee eaters as they still haven't come into Ady's garden. A lovely walk was had by all.
This is an update on the foxtail palm from the last blog. As you can see, the flower buds are bursting out now.

I don't know the name of this flower.

At last, a rainbow bee eater

A spangled drongo

One of the houses by the river



Today Pip drove Ady and I to Frosty Mango for coffee then we had fun at Big Crystal. As we were leaving, Mardi arrived with 6 teenagers who were looking forward to going down the rock slides. We had only played in the 'spa' at the bottom of the slide.










We went on to Paluma and a short rainforest walk.
This is part of a fig tree which takes over another tree and lives off it.

This was a dead tree, inside of which was the 'parasite' growth.

There were several of these redbark trees on the walk. They were wet to the touch.

A lovely pattern on a bark on the rainforest walk at Paluma.


Back at Pip's house, her husband, Paul showed me a bower bird's bower. The male bird makes this and collects 'silver' objects to attract the female birds. I managed to snap a bowerbird but he was moving around a lot.

A walk through gardens

Ady and I walked through the Palmetum in Townsville yesterday. I have also added some photos from A & J's garden and neighbourhood.

These four young tree martins watch us take the dog for a walk around Currajong Park


I thought these wallabies at the Palmetum were statues until one moved. Unfortunately, I only had a chance for a grab shot and so they are blurred.








These ibis are everywhere.

This is a foxtail palm in the garden with three stages of the flower developing. It has come out on the left as you look at it. It will have bright orange blooms in a couple of months. The right hand one is about to burst into buds. The front only revealed itself when the dead leaf peeled off.


A little excitement today as I felt two tremors of the 5.4 earthquake which occurred 154 kms south east of Townsville. Ady, Jose and I were watching a movie when the house 'moved' a couple of times.

Magnetic Island

I spent Wednesday with Ady and her friends Pip and Robert on Magnetic Island. We hired a moke and drove to the Forts for good views over to Townsville. Actually, I had been promised koalas but they did not appear! After lunch at Horseshoe Bay, we drove to Alma Bay where we swam and relaxed. Pip then showed me two Kookaburras and I spent about an hour photographing them and the lorrikeets. Needless to say, the evening was spent deleting. Off to Picnic Bay and had a look at the jetty, damaged by the cyclone. It is not likely to be repaired or replaced. I watched the pacific swallows flying around while we were drinking tea. My last photo is of a crested tern. I have found an excellent website which has photos of all the Australian birds. Unfortunately, you need to know what they are first, so I have had to trawl through the photos. Other birds seen in A & J's garden but haven't been photographed (or not well) are helmeted friar bird, blue faced honeyeater, kingfisher, sunbird (just before doing this blog) and the peaceful doves. I am still waiting for the bee eaters to appear.

This first photo is of a palm tree in Ady and Jose's garden.

A fungus on Pip's lawn - have not tried to find a fungus website.

This is a mural at the Sun ferries terminal on Magnetic Island.

Townsville from the trail to the Forts on Magnetic Island

Lorikeet at Alma Bay

Blue winged kookaburras




Galahs on the wire

Townsville, Australia

I was invited by my friends Anne and Rod to spend Easter at Coral Bay in Western Australia. This was a good opportunity to add on a visit to my sister, Ady and family in Townsville. I arrived safely, although there was a quick dash at Brisbane to catch the flight to Townsville, due to a delay from Singapore.

Ady had been to a funeral recently and was describing the tombs at Townsville cemetery. The day after I arrived saw us both at the cemetery for me to take photos. As you can see, the cemetery is by the airport - don't read anything into that. Quantas is, of course, one of the safest airlines.




In the afternoon, Ady's friend Pip drove us to Majors Creek. This is off the road out of Townsville, towards Mt Isa and Charters Towers. We were joined by Mardi and Mandy and Pip's dog, Sammy. We all floated down the river for an hour.

Mandy, Ady, me and Pip

Me with Sammy on my back and Ady

Pip and Mardi


Sammy and frog. The frog jumped onto my hand just after I took this!

Just in case you think the water was brown, this shows how clear it is and you are seeing the sand on the bottom. My hand is under the water.

Ady, Pip and Sammy

Mandy

A local riding his horse. We met him when we returned to the car, which was parked at the beginning of our journey.


This morning, Ady, her daughter Anna, Pip, her friend Kim and I went to the Heritage tearooms for breakfast. The oldest building left standing in the district.