Down Under - Men at Work

After breakfasting on coffee and Portland Apple (Birthday) Cake, lovingly made for me by Lizzy the Secret Lemonade Drinker's daughter it was off for an away day to the Purbeck Hills. A most beautiful run of coastal downlands and cliffs forming part of what is known as The Jurassic Coast. Meeting Lesley in Weymouth then Ginge and Val in Wareham, we were not sure of the events of the day but knew somewhere along the line we would be eating in the picturesque village of Corfe Castle. A late return home necessitates a 'filler' style post with more of today's shenanigans tomorrow. Oh, and it was another rainy day!

My Birthday Cake by the lovely Lizzy.

 

Next, my friend Paul Harris tells me of a new Macro function/lens he has recently bought to photograph Moths and other Insects, sending me a couple of examples of it prowess. The Moth is a Silver Y a very common summer migrant which can arrive on our shores by the millions. Named from the Y shape on each wing, Paul went on

 

to photograph this in close up, and this is the amazing result.

With this old style Telephone Box having been phased out over most of Great Britain only a few remain in evidence here and there, along with others bought by private owners as garden ornaments. This however is the most novel use I have seen of one with a cash dispenser in the front and an outside telephone at the side. Well thought out whoever you are!

Also around the Borough, but more particularly around the Olympic Sailing Venue, security forces have been lifting drain covers for inspection and on replacement sealing them with a white compound and stamping with a Saint Edward's Crown motif. I did find one which looked as though it had been tampered with and reported the fact to one of the many roving Police Patrols which are now a daily sight. The Copper was delighted and thanked me for my diligence.

So, a return to a different Australian Outback this time in the Northern Territory visited on a extended stay back in 2007. This is Mount Connor in the distance

and the open Highway that leads from there to Uluru. We had left Alice Springs where it hadn't rained for 18 months until our arrival and now the local river was a torrent, so bad we were unable to cross the bridge to a favoured 'birding' haunt.

Between Alice and the Kakadu to the north we has seen NORTHERN FANTAIL,

ORANGE-FOOTED SCRUBFOWL,

PHEASANT COUCAL,

PIED HERON,

RADJAH SHELDUCK

RED-COLLARED LORIKEET,

RED-HEADED HONEYEATER and

SPANGLED DRONGO.

Arriving at The OLGAS, a group of mystical and odd shaped rocks, sacred to the Aborigines, we found a

SPINY LIZARD in the middle of the road which we returned to the safety of the Desert.

TORRESIAN IMPERIAL PIGEONS were spotted in the few trees that grew there,

 

but then all attention was focused on ULURU, the world famous AYER'S ROCK. This I had read was something that would either overcome you or leave you cold, fortunately it was the former with a weird feeling of presences dificult to describe.

The rock formations thereabouts were also of great interest,

 

and although like the most sacred of all, there was little by way of restrictions. A very strange, beautiful and intriguing place to visit.

Our final find was a WATER MONITOR, strange in this barren,dry land