4th July 2010 Coles Bay

I feel for this fellow. He was struggling along with two of his legs tangled in seaweed. He waited patiently and trustingly while I removed it. Not long after this he started doing the soldier crab thing of spiralling into the sand on some sort of universal soldier crab signal. They all disappear within 15 minutes or so.

It wasn’t till looking at these pictures that I saw he has a bung eye.

They are so tiny that people walk on them, often indifferently or without even knowing.

Popularity: 1% [?]

25th July 2010 Geeveston

Another fungi from the track to Kermandi falls.

I’ve been reading a book during my breaks at work. I don’t read that often unless I’m on holiday. I’m really enjoying this book, so I’d like to recommend it.

It is Creatures that once were men, by Maxim Gorky. I downloaded it from the Australian Gutenberg site.

Another great book I have read, also downloaded from Gutenberg, is Last of the Mohicans. It is an old book – 1826. English of the day, although understandable, is different to what we speak now.

Popularity: 1% [?]

25th July 2010 Geeveston.

This photo is to celebrate the arrival of my new neice, born to Joanne and her partner Jason.

It is a young fern. The stalk is about 50cm high, but the first leaves are just starting to unwrap. The ferns probably grow so tall because there is minimal light.

It is beside the track to Kermandi falls.

The track used to be fairly faint, with a lot of climbing over and under fallen trees. Someone has cleaned the track up with a chainsaw and brushcutter. The track itself is just not as interesting now.

Popularity: 1% [?]

3rd July 2010 Coles Bay

These shots fascinate me. Water suspended in mid air by a fine spider web. The web itself was only about 5cm square, and hanging horizontally just off the ground. I’ve always thought water a strange medium especially when swimming through it beneath the surface. To see it like this, encapsulated and surrounded by air, seems weird.

These are probably the first shots I’ve enjoyed taking with a frustrating macro lens that cost me more than the camera and lens combined. The lens is frustrating because it is rarely able to focus for macro shots – isn’t that stupid for a $1,000 lens made just for macro? So, what I do is manually focus to the closest focus point – not easy, then move the camera till the subject looks in focus. One millimeter too near or far and the subject is out of focus. There is a lot to be said for compact digital cameras; they are so much easier for macro photography.

I was exploring on my mountain bike some of the tracks around Coles Bay. It is an adventurous and scenic place to ride. Some of the downhills are really steep and rocky; the sort of descents that you have to commit too because trying to stop part way down will somersault the bike. And there lots of sandy patches where you move your weight back, try not to control the steering too much, and try to keep the speed up.

Popularity: 10% [?]

18th October 2009, between Adamsons and Creekton falls.

This is the only time and place that I’ve seen pink mushrooms. There was one more within 100 metres of this one.

Popularity: 22% [?]

18th October 2009, near Adamsons falls.

This was on the way in to Adamsons falls. I have been exploring this area and wasn’t expecting much of a track, if any. It was a veritable highway compared to the tracks I’ve been following recently. And, it was the first track I’ve seen other walkers on. They were from another bushwalking club, and were all envious of my gum boots; the track was deeper than walking boot height in mud and water.

However, they gave up for navigation reasons and obstacles. Which is just as well, because things did deteriorate – depending on your point of view – from that point on.

Popularity: 21% [?]

10th May 2009,  Near Geeveston

These things are tiny, just a few millimetres across. I’ve only seen them on the lower half  of horizontal (fallen) trees. They reach out to get some light, although there’s usually not much light available where they grow. They are translucent.

Popularity: 22% [?]

10th May 2009, near Geeveston.

These are only two to three millimetres across.

Where I work there are different sections. To a degree there are also different cultures, habits and customs that have formed over time in these sections.

The section I used to work in, there are some obvious customs. One custom is to attach a paper tail, made out of paper hand towel, to the back of your pants without you knowing. It is pretty comical to see someone wander past with a tail dangling behind them.

And it evolves. A new person started there – he is from the north of Tasmania. He quacks, like a duck. As he walks past you hear ‘quack quack’. Now, at different times, everybody erupts into a quacking frenzy that runs for a few seconds then just stops. This has caused some questions from those not in the know but within earshot.

The area I work in now, they grunt For example, an office person on an errand came in and tried to ask a question – she received a cacophony of grunts and roars. She laughed, waited till the idiotic response died down, then tried again. As soon as she mouthed the first word the cacophony erupted.

Back in her office, she thought she might get an intelligible response to the question via email. The primitive mass discovered the hitherto unused web cam that was given to us for the misguided hope that it might be used for online meetings. It was removed from the cobbled together dalek idol (see below for likeness) that the mob used for worship and some questionable rituals and reincorporated into the magic gizmo that allowed us to browse the internet and do email. A response was choreographed and recorded (with sound) of what she had experienced on her first attempt at questioning and sent as an email attachment.

These people have built up a primitive but effective vocabulary with their grunts. I’m beginning to understand some of the meanings, and sometimes catch myself grunting in acknowledgement. I’m also beginning to wonder, if they could have communicated with primitive man, or present day primates?

There is more, like the negative choice game, used to explore your social and moral boundaries.

Popularity: 17% [?]

27th May 2009, Mt Field National Park

The rain has stopped; it looks like four days of good weather, at least.

I rode my motorbike to work this morning, and home again this afternoon in the sun.

Even the locals are saying this has been more rain than usual. It has been hard to get motivated to do stuff outside. So, I’ve been mostly researching cameras and lenses – I still can’t decide – and doing other indoor things. Every time I go outside, I’m wearing gum boots.

Everything here is now in flower – flowers are appearing around the block. A really nice thing about Tasmania is that people have planted daffodils everywhere. You can see them in the middle of paddocks and on road sides.

And the parrots have arrived, eating the kernels of fruit that fell to the ground earlier this year.

Popularity: 22% [?]

10th May 2009, near Geeveston

These mushrooms have evolved into skinny things. It’s because of all the rain.

Being skinny they don’t get as wet as the fat ones.

Popularity: 24% [?]