17 December 2019 Phew! The guided wildlife watching part of our trip is done with! We put in a six hour night drive last night after arriving in Sigiriya, and tonight we put in a seven hour drive (curtailed when the heavens opened at 3:30am and we had to hurridly cover the jeep and chug » » »
Posts Tagged ‘wildlife’
4 January 2020
Chital yawn
15 December 2019 Lunch has rectified the food situation. More good daal, but this time with an astonishingly good beetroot curry and a pork curry and an okra curry and a dish of sour stir-fried veg and chunks of roasted river fish. All ace. We went out in the afternoon for another game drive, and » » »
4 January 2020
Good smells, good flavours
14 December 2019 Yesterday’s blog covered today too, but since it all passed in a bit of a blur I’m going to fill in some of the more pleasant gaps. One thing I remember is the scents of the Sri Lankan dry zone forest. So many amazing smells. My best attempt at describing some: spicy » » »
4 January 2020
What day is it?
13 December 2019… probably Long flight days are always confusing. Taking off from London on a cold Thursday afternoon. Arrive in Doha and it’s dark and apparently midnight, and we take off at 2am. Bag of cheap crisps for £3 – they take airport snacks to a new level of rip off here! And then » » »
28 October 2017
Namibian mammals
We saw 51 species of mammal on our journey through Namibia, at least one new species every day. I got photos of 45 of them! It would be right to admit that at least 3 of those (sable antelope, waterbuck, blesbok) have been introduced at Erindi or Waterburg and are probably not living in their » » »
Tags: mammal watching, wildlife
3 September 2017
Holiday begins
29 August 2017 Really it’s a bit of a funny way to behave on a holiday. Getting up before dawn, hanging out on cold, windy mountainsides in search of animals that may never (indeed, never did) show up, same in the evening, then a late dinner and early bed. And having to spend a whole » » »
3 September 2017
Bare of bears
28 August 2017 The bears were even more of a wash-out than our lone wolf yesterday. We switched guides today, to Bernardo, who knows less English but clearly knows the mountains and wildlife like the back of his hand. And he took us out at a hideous hour to a very beautiful (very cold and » » »
3 September 2017
Wolf and rain
27 August 2017 Ugh. 6:30am is an early start, but worth it for the chance of seeing wild wolves in Europe. We were guided by Wild Watching Spain, who specialise in wolf and bear watching trips. They know where more than one pack of wolves lives, and invariably they live deep in the mountains a » » »
3 September 2017
A cool part of Spain
26 August 2017 There’s a really cool part of Spain that I don’t think many people are aware of. Right across the north of the country are some amazingly wild mountains, starting with the Pyrenees but running right across to the Portuguese border. And when I say wild, I mean that these mountains are still » » »
24 April 2017
Splendid Spis spermophiles
1 April 2017 Thoroughly recommend our hotel in Kosice – the Bristol. Lovely rooms, totally central, very good breakfast. Though they do a stupid thing where each person gets their own (tiny) single duvet, which is just weird and inconvenient. Anyway, after a fresh stroll around the middle of Kosice to admire it in the » » »
20 January 2017
The owl of Chipude
11 January 2017 Yesterday I really buggered up my knee on the downhill slog, so the plan today was to explore by car and maybe find a short and easy walk along the way to keep us exercised. Hmm… four hours is I suppose not very short, but since it only climbed 450m it certainly » » »
6 June 2016
Island fox in socks
7 May 2016 The last excursion of our California trip! A day out on Santa Cruz, one of the Channel Islands that lies off the coast near Los Angeles. What’s special about it is a species of fox that is only found on the Channel Islands, a very small fox called (originally) the Island Grey » » »
4 June 2016
Overdone kangaroo rat
4 May 2016 On most mammal watching holidays we hit a day when we overdo it. This was that day. It started really pleasantly, with some early morning sea otter watching from the shore at Elkhorn Slough. There was one dozing on the sand less than five metres from us. Because it was grey and » » »
22 May 2016
Bobcat bonanza day
26 April 2016 We started our day super-early, heading out before sunrise so that we could look for sewellel on the highest part of Point Reyes. The sewellel is a primitive form of rodent, also called a “mountain beaver”, that is very elusive and lives on plants other animals can’t digest like ferns and rhododendrons. » » »
Tags: mammal watching, wildlife
1 January 2016
Kiang West NP
26 December 2015 Up until our arrival at Tendaba our mammal list for The Gambia was one item long – the green vervet monkey seen at Tanji. Now it’s up to ten mammals (including 7 or 8 we’ve never seen before): Green vervet monkey – seen at Tanji bird reserve & Bo Bolong Patas monkey » » »
Tags: wildlife
1 January 2016
To Tendaba with Junkung
25 December 2015 We did nothing much in the morning, just lounged about on the beach. Hm. Okay, granted, that would be Entirely Appropriate Holiday Behaviour for many, it’s just very unusual for us! Jinack Island is like a bunch of other places we’ve gone looking for wildlife around the world – without a guide » » »
1 January 2016
Tanji Bird Reserve Eco Lodge
22 December 2015 There is a vast difference between roughing it in places like Khao Sok or Amed, and roughing it here at Tanji Bird Reserve. The difference is friendly, useful service. This guy who is looking after us here at Tanji Bird Reserve Eco Lodge – name of Lamin – is a complete idiot. » » »
5 January 2014
Mammals of Costa Rica and Panama
We saw plenty of mammals in Costa Rica and Panama; 26 in the former and 12 in the latter, which is good going for the number of days watching we put in. Here are as many of ’em as I got decent photos of… Related Images:
Tags: wildlife
2 January 2014
A guide to staying at Sirena ranger station, Corcovado
The vast majority of tourists visit Corcovado on a day tour and are perfectly happy with their experience. Any hotel in Drake bay should be able to arrange this for you. Generally you take a boat at 6:30am, spend 5 hours in the park, and return at 1pm. Even during this short time, you are » » »
31 December 2013
Last bit of mammal-watching
30th December 2013 Maureen much better, we rented a car for the day and went out to explore. First stop being the famous Milaflores locks on the Panama Canal. I have to admit, it’s a jolly big canal and those are jolly big ships going through jolly big locks! An impressive piece of engineering and » » »
31 December 2013
Bonus tamarins
29th December 2013 Not much to report today, as Maureen was out of commission so we stayed at our lodgings. At least our plans for the day had been fairly modest anyway: a trip to the Metropolitan Park, which is more like a slightly tamed piece of rainforest partly surrounded by the city, where we » » »
28 December 2013
Maureen and wildlife
26th December 2013 Well, I can totally recommend Bocas del Toro as a get-away-from-it-all low key destination. It has oodles of sun, sea and sand but hardly any people. The pace of life is slooow but there are still enough things to do to keep you diverted for a week or more between bouts of » » »
28 December 2013
Sloth time
25th December 2013 It’s definitely been a non-traditional Christmas. Waking up this morning at the horribly late hour of 8am we found a tiny sloth had taken up residence in a tree outside our house. So we spent the next three hours watching him, with a break for breakfast of fried eggs and last night’s » » »
25 December 2013
Mammals in Corcovado
21st December 2013 It’s true, Sirena station is a great place to look for mammals. I think it beats all our other rainforest visits for number of species and quality of viewing, especially as it was all in daylight (the few hours of early morning spotlighting being very unproductive). Sometimes it is stupidly easy; an » » »
Tags: wildlife
25 December 2013
Rainforest experience? Right.
20th December 2013 We’re back from our two nights in the Corcovado rainforest at Sirena ranger station. We were slightly perturbed by the rustic accommodation, but Corcovado is one of the best places in the Americas to see rainforest wildlife so it would be odd to pass it by. Almost… almost wish we had. The » » »
24 December 2013
Finca Maresia
19th December 2013 We went out early to visit Manuel Antonio park in the hope of spotting some wildlife before it got busy. At 7am the place was quiet, although the usual crowd of pests had already gathered to try and scavenge money from the tourists. Some guy in an official looking vest flagged us » » »
24 December 2013
What price silky anteater?
18th December 2013 In fact about $140. That was the price of our trip in a boat through the mangroves of Isla Damas to find a small bundle of tawny fur curled around a thin branch asleep. To be fair, any wildlife tour is reliant on luck, and on a different day we might also » » »
24 December 2013
Bats in tents
17th December 2013 One of the great things about a wildlife holiday is discovering things that haven’t even (that I know of) been mentioned in a wildlife documentary. Have you ever heard of tent-making bats? In parts of the tropics where there are few caves, bats have learned to build their own shelters for the » » »
Tags: wildlife
18 December 2013
Sloth in the rain
16th December 2013 Today we took ourselves for another wander around the jungle trails of La Selva, with very modest success; a squirrel and some more howler monkeys. I get the feeling wildlife doesn’t like rain much either. So in the afternoon we decided on some reconnaissance and jumped in the 4WD to find Heliconia » » »
16 December 2013
Sticky business
15th December 2013 La Selva is a research station in the highlands north of San Jose. I was expecting “research station” to be a pseudonym for “jungle lodge” but I was wrong – this is definitely a research station and facilities are more rustic than most jungle lodges we’ve been to. No drinks available in » » »
3 October 2012
From Denver to Denver
A photographic ramble through our trip across the Wild West and Yellowstone. Scenery, wildlife, hikes and towns. Related Images:
1 October 2012
Mount Rushmore
24th September 2012 Today ought to have been a trip to watch the famous bison round-up in Custer State Park. However, advice on all sides last night was to get there at 6am in order to queue with 20,000 others to get in before the round-up takes place at around 9am (all 10 minutes of » » »
1 October 2012
Plague and hyperbole
23rd September 2012 Today Maureen diced with death. She fed bits of Oreo to a chipmunk when we stopped to take in the views on one of the high mountain passes. A lady passing by issued this dire warning: “you want to be careful, chipmunks carry bubonic plague.” Yes, that’s right. Rats, chipmunks, gophers and » » »
1 October 2012
Silvergate
21st September 2012 Last night and tonight we’re staying at Silvergate Cabins, just outside the park. My parents got unlucky; their cabin has mice, who came out at night to eat their hot chocolate and poo on the table. We have a colony of sagebrush voles outside our cabin; they’re sweet little things and don’t » » »
Tags: accommodation, wildlife
1 October 2012
A grizzly sight
20th September 2012 This morning we got ourselves out early again, another 6:30am start. We didn’t see anything much in the morning mists until we slowed to a crawl past the place where the ravens were on the deer carcass. Lo and behold, there was a grizzly bear on the kill! We’d never have spotted » » »
1 October 2012
Wolf jam
19th September 2012 Arooooooo! We drove back up through the Hayden Valley this morning, seeing nothing more than bison, and found that the elk carcass had a wolf chewing on it. Over the course of an hour there were four different wolves at the meat, and near the end a brave little coyote showed up » » »
Tags: wildlife
1 October 2012
Yellowstone trio
18th September 2012 How have I managed to travel for a year around the world, staying in over a hundred different lodgings, and never left a single thing behind in our room? And then I come to America for two weeks and leave my satchel including my wallet in a cabin at Signal Mountain Lodge? » » »
30 September 2012
You just missed ’em
16th September 2012 Another pre-dawn start, this time driving in search of wildlife. Our first spot was a gaggle of cars at the roadside, always the most obvious sign that there’s an animal about. It was a family of moose, although we were a little late to the party and could only see them at » » »
30 September 2012
Elk in the smoke
15th September 2012 Oof, but the mornings start cold! It’s only September and the weather is fine, but it’s just below freezing at dawn and the bright sunshine only manages to deliver proper warmth in the afternoon. This is down to altitude; we may be on a flat plain, but we’re perched up around 2400m » » »
30 September 2012
The Grand Teton
14th September 2012 Today we took ourselves north from the nothing-much town of Rock Springs to Grand Teton NP via the gateway town of Jackson. What was once apparently one of the toughest towns in the west has been turned into a bustling tourist spot for well-heeled visitors. I have never seen so many art » » »
10 August 2011
List mania
Who doesn’t like Top Ten lists? Or top five, or top three. We certainly whiled away many quiet moments in our year putting together idle lists of our favourite and least favourite things that we had encountered on the way. I’m putting them in the blog to help us remember all this stuff, and also » » »
3 August 2011
Ecuador nutshell
Ecuador has a handful of really cool things tucked into a small country, although the two main draws – the Galapagos and the Amazon – cannot be visited cheaply. It’s got an attractive capital city, friendly people, half-decent food and lots of scenery. It is also fairly warm, as you’d expect from a country straddling » » »
24 July 2011
Birds, etc
Our final wildlife watching fling for the year was around Mindo, really not very far from Quito. The cloud forest is a beautiful and mountainous area, widely thought of by many people as the most diverse area for birds in the whole world. Related Images:
24 July 2011
Variable conditions
23rd July 2011 Today was a strange mixture. Up hideously early in the morning birdwatching; a long, weary and immensely frustrating drive all over the middle of Ecuador; and this evening finds us relaxing in our own hot spring pool in the rain and mist. The birdwatching happened by accident, we were asking Julia some » » »
24 July 2011
Motmot in Mindo
22nd July 2011 I feel a bit sick. More on that later. Well, we are definitely not birdwatchers. This morning we went out with Julia, a local bird guide, into the cloud forest reserve above our lodging and spotted 56 species of birds in just over five hours. By ourselves I think we might have » » »
24 July 2011
One more for the road
21st July 2011 We’re off on one more small adventure before heading home. One more cheap car rental and four days exploring some bits of Ecuador near to Quito. Renting a car and just heading off is definitely my favourite way of exploring. It’s about as independent as you can get. Even those travellers who » » »
20 July 2011
Chile nutshell
Chile wasn’t the most satisfying country to visit. It has some wonderful landscapes, truly breath-taking, but it sometimes feels like you get developing world quality for developed world prices. The Chilean people make up for this by being wonderfully friendly and helpful. For the prices below, exchange rate was 750 pesos to £1 when we » » »
20 July 2011
Subaquatic Galapagos
A visit to the islands of the Galapagos would be memorable enough, but some of the snorkelling we did off their shores was just wonderful. Related Images:
20 July 2011
Islander portraits
Close-ups of some of the wildlife from the Galapagos Islands, captioned fancifully by facial expression. My apologies to the Marine Iguana. Related Images:
20 July 2011
Love in the tropics
Silliness like this is just down to having too many photos to put in one gallery. Related Images:
20 July 2011
Galapagos cruise
We visited five islands in four days and saw an absolute wealth of wildlife, many of the species endemic and found nowhere else in the world. These photos cover each day of the cruise in turn. Related Images:
20 July 2011
Wonderful ridiculous II
16th July 2011 I’m talking about boobies. Boobies are birds, of course. Related to gannets if I’m any judge, but larger and – as with everything else here – quite happy for you to sit and watch them from just a couple of feet away. Indeed, some of the daft boobies make their nests right » » »
20 July 2011
Sealions and turtles
15th July 2011 Wow. I’m completely pooped, but very happy. Just been snorkelling with sealions and turtles. Earlier we went ashore to post our postcards in a barrel. The barrel has been there for over a hundred years and by tradition any passing ship would check the letters in the barrel and take any that » » »
20 July 2011
Wonderful ridiculous
14th July 2011 These wonderful, ridiculous islands are absolutely alive with creatures whose one shared characteristic is a complete lack of any fear of man. We went for a walk this morning and found dozens of big prehistoric land iguanas just basking to either side of the path and oblivious to us getting close enough » » »
18 July 2011
Mutiny in the Galapagos
13th July 2011 There was a mutiny almost as soon as we boarded the ship. Our guide, Wilo, explained that those who were on a seven day tour (us and most others) would visit the Darwin Centre to see the giant tortoise breeding program, while those on a ten day tour would visit the highlands » » »
17 July 2011
Life in the Amazon
Tropical rainforests are absolutely the best for sheer variety of life. Photography is challenging, though; down in the jungle there’s very little light even in the middle of the day, and everything from the bugs through the birds to the monkeys has a tendancy to jump, scamper or fly away after the briefest glimpse. Lots » » »
17 July 2011
Change your coffee
12th July 2011 On the boat back up the Napo River from Sacha we caught glimpses of some of the oil infrastructure here in what would otherwise be the wilderness of Ecuador. The Amazon basin is very rich in oil reserves and occasionally the jungle would open up to show a boat dock or a » » »
12 July 2011
Crossing the river
11th July 2011 This is our last day in the jungle. Per, Anita and Andreas (I hope I got our Danish friends’ names right) went home this morning so today we were just a group of two. We took a boat across the wide Napo River to the Yasuni National Park as our guide Dan » » »
12 July 2011
Happy kid
10th July 2011 As a child I had loads of enthusiasms, especially for weird and cool wildlife (and dinosaurs and astronauts but that’s not so relevant here). The kind of things I never expected to see, except while fantasising about becoming a wildlife film-maker. Today has been a really good day for fulfilling childhood ambitions. » » »
12 July 2011
Green gloom
9th July 2011 So what does one do at a lodge in the Amazonian rainforest? Well, there’s a few activities that seem pretty standard, at least based on this one (Sacha Lodge) plus the one we visited in Brazil a few years back. First off, you go for jungle walks on winding trails in the » » »
12 July 2011
In the jungle
8th July 2011 We’re in the Ecuadorian jungle, part of the huge Amazon basin that covers most of tropical South America. Outside our cabin I can hear the innumerable sounds of the tropical rainforest: cicadas chirping, frogs creaking, crickets playing, night birds calling and Americans talking. People whose conversational volume is loud enough that I » » »
5 July 2011
San Pedro touring
We spent two solid days in San Pedro de Atacama and explored the area by horse and minibus. It’s an interesting area, but I’d have to say the Culpeo Fox was our unexpected highlight. Related Images:
3 July 2011
Geysers
2nd July 2011 Honestly I’ve never been so cold in my life. You see, the attraction of the El Tatio geysers is in the mystical towers of steam they put out. But within an hour or so of dawn the bright altiplano sun has burned the steam away and rendered the spectacle nothing more than » » »
29 June 2011
Wild north Chile
The north of Chile has some wild landscapes – the desolate Atacama desert coast, then up into the dry Precordillera mountains with all their cactus, and then the incredibly high Altiplano surrounded by snowy peaks and yet the environment most full of life. Related Images:
28 June 2011
Salty
25th June 2011 Today we dared to brave the road to the Salar de Surire. The guidebook suggests you only try this with a high-clearance vehicle. The lady at the car hire place shook her head vigorously when we asked if it was sensible to do. But Flavio said that if we took it carefully, » » »
26 June 2011
Peruvian wildlife
We didn’t particularly expect to see much wildlife on our tour of Peru, since our travels were mainly organised into tours and the focus was Inca ruins and towns. But our Colca Canyon excursion at the end was an exception, and we managed to find a few things on the way besides. Related Images:
Tags: wildlife
26 June 2011
Amiable viscachas
24th June 2011 Today we drove higher still, up onto the altiplano above Putre which is mostly over 4,500m. Like being back in Tibet, although instead of the distant white Himalayas we were overlooked by the vast bulk of the volcano Parinacota. As far as I’m aware it has no plans to erupt this week. » » »
22 June 2011
Toured out
20th June 2011 It’s actually the 21st as I’m writing, because we curled up for a nap at 7pm last night and didn’t get up again until 7am this morning. Discounting five minutes at 11pm to actually undress. We’ve been to the Colca Canyon and now we’re back in Arequipa and have had our first » » »
22 June 2011
Premature condors
19th June 2011 Dinner at 10:30, bed by 12:30 and then up in the morning at 5:30 can’t be healthy. But our tour bus was picking us up at 7:15 and we still had to pack; the notes from the company said that we needed to only take small bags for the two day trip. » » »
16 June 2011
Tourist milking parlour
14th June 2011 That’s what Aguas Calientes is, the town in the valley that is the gateway to Machu Picchu. The local government clearly issued an ordinance stating that all buildings must be high-rise and made of concrete or cheap brick, and that no attempt must be made to cover the raw construction materials with » » »
9 June 2011
Chiloe moods
Chiloe was a beautiful place, notable for its churches, its sea views, and its wildlife. But above all notable for its weather. Look at how it adds mood to some of the pictures in this gallery. Related Images:
5 June 2011
Chepu otters
We came to Chiloe looking for otters, and at Chepu we weren’t disappointed. It also happens to be a stunningly beautiful place (if you are lucky enough to get sun!) which just shows that otters have very good taste. Look at where else they live: the Isle of Skye, Monterey Bay, Okavango Delta, Yellowstone, need » » »
3 June 2011
Success!
1st June 2011 Did I mention that the flooded river valley at Chepu is beautiful? It really is. Honestly, it’s so beautiful it makes you want to cry. Even living here you couldn’t get used to it, I swear. And we also saw the Southern River Otter, woo-hoo! We went out again in the boat » » »
3 June 2011
Fernando and Amory
31st May 2011 We went out kayaking first thing in the morning, an alternative attempt to find the rare Southern River Otter. The river was just as eye-achingly beautiful as yesterday, and just as quiet. No otters at all, but a lovely kayak trip nonetheless. We dedicated the rest of the day to relaxing around » » »
3 June 2011
Otter or not?
30th May 2011 Wow I’m tired. We were ready for breakfast at 7:30, just before dawn. The whole world was sparkling with frost and despite wearing almost every item of clothing we had, it was freezing. Breakfast at least was in the warm, porridge and hot rolls to store up some energy. At 8am down » » »
26 May 2011
Conservation paradox, Rangitoto
24th May 2011 Today we took a boat out to Rangitoto Island, an extremely young volcanic island in Auckland harbour. Less than 300 years ago local Maoris were able to watch Rangitoto erupt steaming from the waters of the bay, but now it is covered with trees and bushes that grow thick among the black » » »
23 May 2011
Australia nutshell
Australia isn’t a country, it’s a continent. On the other hand, vast areas of Australia are pretty much empty. There’s plenty enough to see but it can take a long time to get there. Civilised but expensive is the way to describe travelling through Australia. In fact in most ways its comparable in price with » » »
23 May 2011
Final outing
20th May 2011 Yesterday evening we tried our final bit of mammal watching for Australia, heading out to Royal National Park for some spotlighting in the forest. We saw a couple of Rusa Deer, no doubt introduced some time last century, and a single Sugar Glider which swooped past us through the air to make » » »
20 May 2011
Heart of Australia
The red centre is the landscape of Australia that you hope to find, huge and astonishing. After the summer rains it is as beautiful as it is uncompromising, and the wildlife in such a vast emptiness is surprising. We like it. Related Images:
20 May 2011
A town like Alice
17th May 2011 Alice Springs is kinda depressing. For starters, it’s an entirely unattractive town with a town planner’s grid of streets and nothing at all to centre them on. A river runs through it, but as with most rivers up here it is simply a very long sand pit. The town centre is cluttered » » »
20 May 2011
Green Centre
16th May 2011 Thus concludes our loop around the Red Centre of Australia, back in Alice Springs in a comfortable little apartment with a Thai takeaway to take away the taste of all the grimly cooked meat-plus-stuff of the last four evenings. Today we visited various beauty spots along the West MacDonnell Range, a rugged » » »
16 May 2011
Red Centre
15th May 2011 Today was awesome, and I try to use that word sparingly. We’ve already been on some dirt roads in our Toyota Landcruiser already in the red centre, but then again we drove down lots of dirt roads in our tiny Hyundai Getz. Today we drove the bone-shaking Mereenie Loop track which cuts » » »
15 May 2011
Flinders snaps
Only one whole day in the Flinders Ranges, but definitely my favourite bit of our short time in South Australia. And there really is absolutely nothing up here except landscape and a bit of wildlife. Related Images:
15 May 2011
Wine sans wombat
10th May 2011 Well, we didn’t see the dratted Hairy-nosed Wombat this morning either. It’s one of those cases where reality and expectation clash. Before we went to the Flinders we were under the impression that the Yellow-footed Rock-wallah was rare and hard to find, so we were delighted to spot two in the evening » » »
15 May 2011
Waltzing to the zoo
9th May 2011 Today we went to the zoo. We like visiting zoos and yet it’s something we haven’t done yet this year, probably feeling that we’re already doing “proper” wildlife watching and so zoos play second-fiddle. I was lured in by Giant Pandas, which I’ve never even seen at a zoo and certainly not » » »
15 May 2011
Flinders hop
7th May 2011 What should you do if you’re driving at 100kph along a dirt road into the sunset in your little red rental Hyundai and you suddenly come upon a herd of emus crossing the road? What you should not do is slam on the brakes, fishtail out of control on the loose gravel, » » »
15 May 2011
Kangaroo islanders
We had a bit of a whistle-stop two day trip to Kangaroo Island, where lots of people take a week to explore. We’re very satisfied though, having seen a bunch of great wildlife including three new mammal species. I guess our echidna “completes the set” of iconic Australian mammals: kangaroo, koala, wombat, platypus, devil, echidna. » » »
9 May 2011
Sealion blues
5th May 2011 We weren’t sorry to leave Flinders Chase Farm, not only freezing cold but home to rather over-familiar mice. One visited me in the bathroom, and another scampered onto the kitchen hob to see what we were cooking. The other special mammal species on Kangaroo Island is the Australian Sealion, this being the » » »
9 May 2011
Remarkable day
4th May 2011 Three remarkable things, that makes this a remarkable day. I shall elaborate… This morning we visited the Remarkable Rocks, which perch on the cliffs above the Southern Ocean on the south coast of the island. And they truly are remarkable. It looks like a modern artist has created a huge abstract installation » » »
9 May 2011
Cold comfort farm
3rd May 2011 Kangaroo Island is expensive to visit. Not only is the 45 minute ferry ride a total of roughly £250 return for us in our hire car, but all the accommodation is 30% more expensive than back on the mainland. Which is why we find ourselves in an en-suite backpacker room on a » » »
2 May 2011
Great Ocean Road
We enjoyed our trip down the Great Ocean Road. I’d recommend anyone stick it on their itinerary for a long holiday in Australia. It’s got beautiful seascapes, forests full of walking trails, little towns full of good things to eat (it’s long-weekend territory for Melbournites, you see) and lots of wildlife. Including koalas. Fear their » » »
1 May 2011
Bitty day
30th April 2011 So, haha. We went to the Park Info Centre for the Grampians and the nice lady there gave us a photocopied list of all the mammals found anywhere in the park, told us that she had no clue where or when to be looking (“they could be anywhere, but I wouldn’t know”) » » »
1 May 2011
Mammal experts
29th April 2011 You’re all mammal experts by now, I’m sure. At least you should be if you’ve been reading this blog avidly. Well, perhaps not. We don’t claim to be experts ourselves and a diet of David Attenborough and whatever we’ve picked up talking to guides and rangers around the world isn’t the same » » »
29 April 2011
Blue whale blues
28th April 2011 Today was a bit bitty. We are staying around the Port Fairy area, having another night in our neat little kottage. This morning we went out to Portland, as it’s supposed to be a great spot for sighting Blue Whales who visit here for a few weeks every year around Easter. But » » »
Tags: wildlife
29 April 2011
Fully equipped
27th April 2011 This is our third day on the Great Ocean Road and I must say it’s a fairly splendid drive. In fact, I reckon it beats other boastful coastal routes such as South Africa’s Garden Route and New Zealand’s Catlins Coast – you get more ocean views for your miles, and there are » » »
29 April 2011
Tasmania A to Z
Usually I’m trying to make a narrative or explore a theme with photo galleries, but this is just a ramble through our Tasmania snaps now that we’re looking back a good week or so. Related Images:
24 April 2011
www.Tasmania
21st April 2011 Tonight we’re back where we started, at the Giant’s Table near Mount Field NP; the place where we had a cosy plank-floored cabin with a wood-burning stove and no platypus in the garden. At dusk this time we did see a platypus, but our cabin was less cosy, with carpets and no » » »
24 April 2011
Overdid it
20th April 2011 This was my doing. We spent far too long night-driving in search of animals this evening and have overdone it. Unhappily, Old Wesleydale the Georgian house was only available for one night so we moved along to a nice old B&B in the same village of Mole Creek. This was our base » » »
Tags: travelling, wildlife
21 April 2011
Georgian comfort
19th April 2011 My image of Australia, far less Tasmania, didn’t remotely include a rambling old Georgian farmhouse set in rolling green pastures with a perfect cottage garden gently decaying into autumn browns and an old stone-build barnyard along the side. But that’s where we are tonight, in the old buttery which has been converted » » »
21 April 2011
Fuzzy lawnmowers
17th April 2011 The fuzzy lawnmowers in question are wombats. Narawntapu National Park must be the best spot in the world for these chunky marsupials, we could see a half-dozen without going more than twenty paces from the car park. They’re lovely animals to watch as well, because they’ll allow you to approach within about » » »
Tags: wildlife