and an echidna

The wildlife here is really wonderful. I've been trying to photograph the "red-rumped parrots" which are everywhere, but fly away as soon as you get close. However, the echidna didn't fly away and allowed my to walk up to it to take some close-up photographs! I also have to put up yet another photo of a kangaroo (this time with a joey in her pouch). I went on an enjoyable 5km walk around the area yesterday and found a huge number of kangaroos!

Some more kangaroos

A tree of parrots

A penguin in Manly

Marta has just scanned in the photos that she took of the penguin that we spotted in Manly (just next to the ferry wharf). Here are a couple.

A bad idea

I don't recommend watching the Olympics, staying up until 10:30, observing and trying to do some programming simultaneously. I seem to be making a lot of mistakes. I'm meant to stay up until about midnight to help start some observations and then get up around 7am to start the next set.

The building in the photograph is where I'm working at the moment.

Don't forget

This blog is simply so I don't forget this web site.

In Narrabri

I'm back at the telescope in Narrabri again. It has been about 1.5 years since I last came here and have spent all day trying to re-learn what I'm meant to do. I had a great flight (apart from the fact that we took off at 7am which implied that I had to wake at 4am to pack - yes, I should have packed the night before, but I went to orchestra instead).

There are lots of kangaroos outside my room. Apart from the kangaroos, I have stolen the photos on this page from Alice's facebook account (hope she doesn't mind!).

A very varied trip to Parkes

What a dramatic trip to Parkes! All the photos in this blog entry were taken within a few hours of each other. We had some stunning views of the Blue Mountains, but then the weather got bad! The main highway West was closed in the morning (although we did manage to keep going). Apparently Parkes has just had its coldest day in 45 years! I've just gone to turn my heater on.

Oh, I had a wonderful evening last night as well. I spent most of the day trying to clean out my fridge (not so exciting, but rather time consuming), but spent the evening playing music with Maureen, Kate and Alice. It was wonderful. We worked our way through the Dvorak, Brahms and Mozart piano quartets and also attempted a Brahms trio, plus a whole heap of solos and duets.

Whale watching

I'm tired!!!! Yesterday I spent the day working at Sydney university (working except for a great Thai lunch with Tiffany and her friends), had an evening meal cooked for me at the ATNF lodge (thanks Alice!) and then played some violin/piano duets. Today I somehow managed to pull myself out of bed at 6am to meet Alice (Xiaopeng didn't wake up) and take the bus into the city. We went whale watching!!! It was fun. We sat at the front of the boat in waterproof clothes that seemed more suitable for the Arctic. They were needed -it was cold. We spotted some albatrosses and humpback whales (we watched a mother and her calf). On the return journey as we got back into the harbour we saw a stunning white eagle and then a whole pod of dolphins just next to the harbour bridge and the opera house. It's only 6pm and I'm ready to sleep.

Hiking, music and films

Apart from collapsing with the flu, I've managed to have some great fun in the last few days. Yesterday, Alice, Xiaopeng and I went hiking in the local area. We headed off South on the Great North Walk (see photos). It was a perfect day - blue skies, not too hot, lots of parrots flying around ... We ended up at the Lane Cove Weir. I've just found a nice website on the Lane Cove Park containing a list of wildlife that has been recently spotted. This includes 4 wallabies, 2 powerful owls, Long Neck Tortoises, echidnas, baby lace monitors, brush turkeys, bandicoots, Boobook Owl and 2 red belly black snakes. Actually, here is an even better link about the Lane Cove National Park. On our trip we managed to spot some brush (or "bush") turkeys, heaps of birds and lots of little lizards.

After our hike we ended up eating icecreams and buying food at the Macquarie centre before I went off to tidy up my house (but actually fell asleep on the sofa). In the evening, Alice, Xiaopeng, Nicole, Kate (and later Jonathan and Tiffany) came around to have a meal and play music. Stunning!

Today my plan was to go to the boat show in Darling Harbour, but I didn't wake up in time. Whoops.