Google

2008 is a leap year and of course Google has a doodle to commemorate it.

Ever wondered who makes these doodles?
A time lapse video that shows Chief Google Doodler Dennis Hwang drawing a Google Doodle from start to finish. Here he creates a doodle that commemorates the Lunar New Year.

Weird Nature Devious Defences

Devious Defences is episode 4 of the BBC series Weird Nature.
In six engrossing episodes, many natural oddities of animal behaviour are explored, interpreted and filmed in exquisite detail. Using a unique presentation that combines elements of drama and special effects to explaining each amazing subject, Weird Nature delves deep into the every day lives of living things to reveal that the bizarre is commonplace in the natural world.

If you liked this one you might also like : Weird Nature Bizarre Breeding.

Canberra

Thursday last week (Valentine's Day) we treated ourselves to a long weekend away in Canberra. We eventually chose to do the scenic coastal drive as we weren't in a hurry particularly. Neither of us had driven further south of Sydney than the Royal National Park. So once we drove through the first few coastal towns and followed the coastline there was no stopping us.

Past Wollongong and Kiama on to Jervis Bay. Stopping along the way for a photo or two and driving on again. In Kiama we stopped for a home-made lunch near the Big Blowhole. The big Blowhole is quite a sight as it is BIG. And on we went to Jervis Bay via a small unintended detour (Jervis Bay Territory). We stopped in a small town called Huskisson where you can go for dolphin watching and/or whale watching which we might do when it's whale watching season again and enjoy its bright white beaches.

And then on inland to Canberra. Driving this route to Canberra took us twice the time (6hrs) than it would have taken us via the inland route. Needless to say by the time we got to Canberra and freshened up it was dinner time.

Old and New Parliament Building
('Everything' in the old parliament building was left the way when they moved over to the new a real time capsule.)

Friday the weather was wonderful, somewhere in the high twenties, and we thought it would be a good idea to see all the attractions of Canberra on foot to get a good feel of the place. From the hotel we went straight for the Parliament House, the Old Parliament House, National Portrait Gallery, the Aboriginal Embassy followed by the National Gallery of Australia and across the bridge over Lake Burley Griffin on which we saw some wild black swans, to the National Carillon and along the shores of the lake and up Anzac Parade to the Australian War Memorial and back via Captain Cook Memorial Jet (147m high) and home again.

Left to right: Black swan, National Carillon, Parliament House, Old Parliament House, House of Representatives, Old House of Representatives, Australian War Memorial, Bagpiper at Australian War Memorial, Captain Cook Memorial Jet, Aboriginal Embassy.

It was a busy day and a whole lot more walking then we had initially anticipated. We were looking forward to a nice refreshing bath in the hotel, except our room didn't have one. There is a lesson in there for me.
On Saturday we were going bush. In the 9 months that we have been here so far we have not seen one wild kangaroo so that became our mission for the day. But before we headed out for a few walks in Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve we stopped at the Mount Stromlo Observatory. Although it was closed (until mid 2008) it was still nice to see the domes that house the telescopes. Not deterred by its closure, we went on after a brief stop at Casuarina Sands Waterhole with its many Gippsland Water Dragons and a few wombat burrows, to the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. Here they have huge antennae or satellite dishes. The biggest (72m across) was listening in on Voyager II at that moment. Just for the occasion I wore my Greenwich Royal Observatory t-shirt and walked around as an Uber-Geek, just to be funny. From there we went to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. Here we finally saw kangaroos roaming free in their natural habitat and also quite a few emus.

In Tidbinbilla there is also a very large koala enclosure where you can walk through and walk either the 20 minute loop or the 45 minute loop. We thought having the best chance of seeing one was by doing the 45 minute loop. After a little more than an hour looking at every tree we were back at the start without having seen one. Okay, not being outsmarted by some koalas we went for the 20 minute walk. 30 minutes in we still hadn't seen one. Disgruntled we left. But the rest of the park was wonderful. Later on there was a platypus spotting tour with one of the rangers we went on. But probably because of the large number of people present none showed.

Platypus, Tasmania 2004

By the time we finally set home it was around 18.30 and we learnt that the local snakes came out to play. Because not soon after we saw one - an Eastern Brown Snake (1m) warming itself up in the middle of the road. Of course we stopped the car and I immediately jumped out to have a closer look. Brown Snakes are not aggressive (but very poisonous) unless threatened and normally shy away when approached. This was also the case with this one. As soon as it was in the grass and by the leaf litter it literally disappeared in front of my eyes. I did have a careful look around but as soon as I realised I could not find it I slowly backed up. I didn't want to get bitten with 2 more holidays to go. Thinking that was going to be all the snake we would see on this trip to my delight there was another one around the same size only a few hundred yards away. This one was also on the road but being attacked by two magpies and trying to get to the grass on the other side. That was about the time I reached it and as soon as it was in the grass it disappeared in it, just like the other one did in the leaf litter even before I could take one photo of it.

Sunday we went to Namadgi National Park for a few more bush walks and to enjoy the scenery.
After a hard walk up some steep hill we thought that we had seen enough and we would try again about seeing some koalas in Tidbinballa. On the way to Tidbinballa we stopped at Gibraltar Falls and on the way out we spotted an Echidna shuffling around by the side of the road. Unfortunately once we got to Tidbinballa the koalas were still not to be seen despite looking in every tree. But I thought maybe we'll see some more snakes.... Naah, nothing but it was still a great day out.

On our last morning in Canberra we went for a tour around most of the embassies you can find there. Some are really nice like the Embassy from Papua New Guinea built like a traditional longhouse and it was open to visitors unlike most of the other embassies. The Chinese Embassy was built with Chinese style roofing all around. The British Embassy was more or less a fortress but not as bad as the Israeli Embassy. And the Dutch Embassy looked awful compared to some of the other embassies who had put some of their national identity in it. It resembled a boring, built in the 70's, school building from the outside. But then maybe we, the Dutch, are supposed to think that they didn't waste any of the taxpayers money unnecessarily.

After that we went to the Telstra Tower for a final look down on the city. This is also where the Australian National Botanical Gardens are so we popped in there as well. As soon as you walk in you are confronted with a sign warning you there are Brown Snakes present in the Gardens and that they are part of its ecosystem. Not thinking, but secretly hoping, we would see one we went on our way. We were surprised by the amount of Gippsland Water Lizards we found walking around everywhere and their size as we hadn't seen them anywhere else in Canberra. It was even a bigger surprise to us that we later heard and then saw a proper size Brown Snake (black body) who was probably less then 2 feet next to us crawling over some dry leaves into a crevice in the Rock Garden. Again too quickly to take a picture. We waited around a bit and had a look again but it would only stick out his head a little bit and as soon as it saw us it retreated. They were quite pleased that we reported the sighting for their research project.

Brown Snake warning sign, small Gippsland Water Lizard

After that it was time to go home. We took the inland route and it was quite dull being on the motorway. Next slight right in 226 Km was when we noticed the distance we still had to go on the Hume Highway.

The only thing that excited me so far for 15 minutes or so was the cruise control as I had never found a need to use it before. The next thing that excited me was a sign only saying The Big Merino in Goulburn next exit..... I had seen it on TV before when they moved it. A huge cement/concrete structure in the shape of a Merino sheep - a good place to stretch the legs as any other, we thought.

And we were home again in only 3 hours time from leaving the Australian Botanical Gardens.

The Wrong Landing

When a Martian couple arrives on Earth, the landscape looks very familiar... Did they really arrive on Earth? He is convinced they are, but ... she doesn't think so. Who is right?

Wine Cruise

Last Sunday we went on another Harbour Cruise on board the Commissioner II this time.

Commissioner II

(We didn't dare to ask what happened to the Commissioner I)

The occasion was a lunch organised by the Wine Society of which Caroline is a member. Usually these events are in the evening and I have the privilege of driving Caroline there and going home again. But on this occasion I went too, after Caroline assured me they would serve me beer. It was a nice cruise as we saw a lot more of Sydney Harbour/Paramatta River then we had done previously on other cruises.
Apart from going right past the Opera House and Luna Park we also went right into Darling Harbour, under the ANZAC Bridge, past the Sydney Fish Market and we went as far as Iron Cove (Bay Run) not far from our house.

Upper left: Luna Park; Upper right: Luna Park , Harbour Bridge, Opera House

Bottom left ANZAC Bridge; Bottom Right: Sydney Fish Market

It was a lunchtime drinking event and by the time we went home we had had enough, without being silly, but both of us felt we were ready for a nap. Instead of taking the bus home we took the ferry to Abbotsford as if the previous 3hrs on a boat hadn't been enough. But that gave us a chance to walk some of the wine/beer off in the 20 minutes it takes to walk from the wharf in Abbotsford to our house.

Instead of walking straight home we made one more stop on the way for a refreshingly ice cold Coke. Needless to say once we got in we didn't do much else after that.
We weren't the only once cruising along the Harbour there were 3 huge cruise ships one of them was the cruise ship Amsterdam of the Holland - America Line with the best berth at Circular Quay, right by the Opera House.

War of the Wombats

On Australia Day Animal Planet aired War of the Wombats.
With their cute and cuddly appearance, wombats are an Australia icon but the future of the world's largest burrowing mammal is uncertain. Shrinking habitats, crippling droughts and hunting have all combined to drastically reduce their numbers in recent years. Just 90 individuals remain of one species. War of the Wombats reveals the extraordinary efforts being undertaken by a group of passionate Australians to save these creatures from extinction. Right across the country, scientists, researchers and volunteers are desperately racing against the clock combining new technologies, innovative experiments and groundbreaking science to create an 11th hour survival plan.
Here you can find War of the Wombats online.

......and if you'd like to help with Wombat conservation please click the banner below.

Life After People

Life After People
What if...?
What if people ceased to exist as of now? Maybe due to a pandemic greater than the Spanish Flu or something else we made ourselves perhaps, something that wiped us all off the face of the Earth. What could happen to planet Earth? A great documentary by the History Channel.

Get Amongst Giants

Get amongst giants! Immersive Media Streaming lets you get in the midst of it all.
Simply move your mouse around the video and the camera 'follows'.
Even with a 360 shot they miss it sometimes.

Gen H-4 Personal Helicopter

My birthday is still months away but I thought it might be a good idea to start early and drop some hints for Caroline.

It can only carry one person, but that person can weigh up to 190 Kg. That is about 2 1/2 of me. Costs are ¥3,780.000 or around US$35,000. It's top speed is around 90Km/h and can fly you up to an altitude of around 1,000 meters for 30 minutes. Make sure you keep an eye on your watch. "Time flies".
Here is a link to the manufacturers in Japan and here a link to the US distributor.
Next problem is how do I get rid of my fear of heights?

The Trainee

What do you do with your trainee if you're not ready to retire yet?

Super Size Me

What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for a whole month? In Super Size Me that is revealed.

Enjoy!!!
..............best with a Big Mac Meal. "Super SIZE Me."

America Got Talent Magician's Act

One spooky magician's act!