Australia

Cairns was the site of the International Carbohydrate Symposium. The weather was beautiful, always sunny! The promenade offered an interesting stroll into the conference in the mornings. The tidal mudflats were full of birds - Willie wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus), Australian Spoonbill, Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) and Masked lapwing (Vanellus miles) to name a few in the images. An evening stroll resulted in a cacophony of calls from the Rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) playing in the Palm trees. The most unnerving moment arrived when a fuit bat, aptly named the Flying fox (Pteropus scapulatus) flapped past overhead - it really looked like a fox with wings! The outside of the hotel was alive with geckos but unfortunately none allowed a closer investigation.

Arriving a few days before the start of the conference allowed time to explore the Rainforest in the North. A trip was booked with 'Billy Tea Bush Safaris' to the Daintree River, Cape Tribulation, up the Bloomfield Track to Emmagen Creek, then back via Mossman Gorge.

(1) The trip began with a river cruise on the Daintree River - note the Estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) and the buttress roots of the Mangrove trees (1st and 2nd rows of images).

(2) Happy not to be eaten by crocodiles, lunch was had at Emmagen Creek (3rd row of images) - consisting of burgers, salad and some strange tropical fruits, some decided to go skinny dipping in the creek. Being more discerning i had a quick investigation of the area and to my delight, perhaps not to others - found a weaved mass of leaves, the nest of the Weaver ant. Being odd, this more than made the trip for me! Drawn out of the undergrowth by the smell of burgers - a Goanna visited the BBQ just as we were leaving, but stood eating long enough for a photograph - unlike other lizards they have forked tongues that they flick out to taste the air like snakes.

(3) Stopping off at Cape Tribulation (4th and 5th row of images) for a walk along the beach and a botanical walk through the trees allowed some scenic shots of the coast - also a close up of the Mangrove roots. The journey back had an altered road sign to warn of bumps in the road and to beware of Southern Cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius) crossing the road - these endangered birds have a stronghold in the rainforests of Queensland. Someone had altered the bump giving it a head and legs to indicate 'before' and 'after' a Cassowary meeting a car!

(4) The final stops were at the Marrdja boardwalk and Mossman Gorge (6th row of images). The Marrdja boardwalk was a quick tour of the trees in a swampy region of the rainforest. Mossman Gorge provided the most picturesque image at the end of the day. Taken after a nervous crossing of a rope bridge, the sunset was spectacular.

The conference timetable included a days visit to the Great Barrier Reef with associated snorkelling. There are no images of the trip out to the pontoon as somebody spent most of the journey feeling worse for wear and sucking an ice-cube that was supposed to alleviate sea sickness. I soon came around once on to the pontoon and spent most of the day in the water observing the reef (1st row of images), only coming up to eat and drink. The snorkelling was fantastic, so many different colours and varieties of fish to see - the images do not do them justice. The fish imaged are: 2nd row - six-banded angelfish (Pomacanthus sexstriatus), bullethead parrotfish (Chlorosus sordidus), ?????, barred rabbitfish (Siganus doliatus), giant clam (Tridacna gigas) and the coral; 3rd row - humphead moari wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), prickly red sea cucumbers (Thelenota ananas), coral and Harlequin sweetlips (Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides).

Distracted by the fishes i failed to notice almost everybody leave the water - it was then i noticed the dark, skulking shadow of a very large fish beneath the boat! Certain it was a shark, i decided to leave the other three snorkellers to it and promptly vacated the water to eat. It turned out it was in fact a Humphead moari wrasse, so i then felt safe to re-enter the water and take a photograph! Unfortunately no turtles were seen, but other sea life was plentiful - truly a natural wonder!

The return journey allowed images of the surrounding coast to be taken (4th row), and the fresh sea breeze overcame any feelings of sea sickness. The failure to bring water resistant sun cream had repercussions later that evening - its hard to sleep on a raw baked back! The journey was quite taken alone - Simon from work was also sent to the conference and we then travelled to Alice Springs - Simon was to take a tour of New Zealand and beyond!

Arrival in Alice Springs as dusk approached was perhaps not the best scenario - perhaps it was unfortunate and i was tired, but it resembled a derelict shanty town that first evening. The dormitary was shared by a couple of travelling workhands who had never seen soap in weeks. Regardless, they left the next day leaving a couple of days to explore the surroundings before venturing off to the 'Red Centre'.

The evenings at the 'Toddys Resort' (Row 1) consisted of a BBQ and beer, which was not altogether unpleasant, and aided sleep as i was still concerned about being bitten by a black widow spider. I was certain something would get me - in the end it turned out to be myself, as upon returning from the tour of the 'Red Centre' i managed to smack my head on a post in the middle of the BBQ - where there is no sense!

Still, it did seem to cheer up one of the other backpackers who had decided to take a year out from University to travel Australia only to find out a couple of months in he was actually quite homesick. To Simons credit he listened patiently, becoming quite the Agony Uncle, and i'm guessing at times increduously, as the lad tearfully explained in contradicting sentences how he missed his girlfriend who after brandishing a photograph proclaimed 'is a bit on the large side', then in the next breath 'was not sure if they should remain together'. I decided to get clean and have a shower - camping in the 'Red Centre' is a dirty business! I have a travel pillow stained with sand from Uluru to this day!

A walk around Alice Springs during the day was more pleasant with great views across the McDonnell range (Row 2, image 1). The river running through Alice Springs was completely dry. The tracks along the river contained a number of wildlife - Ring-neck parakeet (Barnardius zonarius), Euro (Macropus robustus), termite mound and the reknowned 'flaming' Galahs (Cacatua roseicapilla).

The tour of the 'Red Centre' began with a long coach drive to Kata Tjuta, also know as 'The Olgas' - quite why they are named after Eastern European women is anybodys guess! The group then camped out overnight before visiting Uluru in the morning - the tour guide gave an option of either walking up the sacred Aboriginal rock or taking a tour around the bottom. Most people honoured the Aboriginal wishes and walked around the bottom.

Stopping off at Ellery Creek Big Hole, there was two options, to go for a swim in the billabong, or to go for a walk. Myself, Simon, Alice and Davy (a French couple on their honeymoon, who very kindly later offered us the chance to visit them in Paris; Simon, Alice and Davy in the image) decided to take the 1.5 hour walk around the area through the bush. Although it had recently been subjected to a bush fire we did manage to see a Spinifex hopping-mouse (Notomys alexis) - that hopped out of its crevice at the base of a rock - sorry no image, it was too small and too far away.

If i thought the night was cold - 5am in the morning walking around a big rock was even worse - grumpy is probably an understatement! My mood lightened as the sun rose and you could see the lovely shades of red of Uluru. Crested doves were everywhere begging for food. The evening allowed an opportunity to photograph the rock as the sun set - the rock gradually changing colour with the setting sun.

We then rode donw to Kings Canyon, spotting our one and only Dingo along the way! We stopped off to collect fire wood - happily a found a termites nest, much to other members of the tours disgust - seemingly insect social structures are not interesting across board!

Kings Canyon offered spectacular scenery amongst an arduous hike. Not being fond of heights, i was quite happy to pootle along not teetering on the edge when i was presented with the notion that we were going to have to go down into the gorge via an unstable set of wooden steps (in my opinion - 1st image, 2nd row). However, the view of the watering hole (billabong) at the bottom was stunning.

Gosse Bluff is a crater formed by the impact of a large comet or meteorite about 143 million years ago. The original crater was ~22 km in diameter, and that the object which made the crater would have been traveling at 40 km/sec. The structure seen nowadays is the result of erosion - the crater would originally have had an outer raised rim, now removed by erosion, and a prominent central peak. The core of the original crater is now represented by a ring of low hills. The effect on the surrounding countryside is plain to see in the undulating hills caused by the impact.

Ormiston Gorge was pretty dry when we visited, although again the scenery was stunning. There was enough wildlife to get my attention - the Black-footed rock wallaby (Petrogale lateralis) was plentiful; Alice managed to take a photo of me standing with my hand in the air - the wallaby was supposed to be sitting on my hand, i think it hopped away! A yellow-throated miner bird (Manorina flavigula) hopped out of the undergrowth when lunch was being provided. The numerous bilabongs contained fish - these are likely to be Bony Bream (Nematolosa erebi), a natural die-off event occurs each winter as the cold conditions in the low ocygenated waters allow parasites to grow on the gills causing suffocation.

The Ochre pits have multicoloured walls that contain minerals that are mixed with water by the Aborigines to derive paint for their rock art.

The Aboriginal community of Wallace Rock Hole provided the venue for our final nights stay, and an opportunity to view some ancient Aboriginal rock art - the image depicted either denotes a water hole or Honey pot ants. One further point of interest was the sighting of a grey centipede with paler legs (~50-60 mm long and 8-10 mm wide) - easily the biggest i've ever seen.

A stop off for petrol allowed the opportunity for an ice-cream - and a rather gruesome find in the freezer - kangaroo tails - apparently a delicacy!?

Palm Valley offered Simon with the opportunity to demonstrate his tracking skills! Excitedly reporting back that he had found a snake track, deflation occurred when the guide decided that it was probably caused by the tail of a wallaby. Unfortunately no snakes were seen!

However, the palms were beautiful - i don't think the images really do justice. These Red Cabbage Palms (Livistona mariae) and the cycads are unique to this area and are a throw-back to wetter ages 60,000 years ago when the area was a tropical sea with lush shores.

Lunch was had in the wooden buidling called a 'Wiltshire'! The final image is of Simon preparing a sandwich and Alice looking on, tongue-in-cheek retorting that it was the first time Simon had helped out.

Standley Chasm was the final stopping point on the tour and was a mad scramble through the dry river bed of the Hugh River. The sides of the gorge are lined with cycads and river gums. Standley Chasm itself is composed of hard quartzite rock standing ~100m high and a few metres wide. Formation was by the erosion of softer rock by the river.

Standley Chasm is named after the first school mistress of Alice Springs, Ida Standley who taught Aboriginal children in Jay Creek.