Didgeridon't

Snapped this cute little guy in Kuranda near Cairns.


Then I found this pic from a visit to Perth, which reminded me that not everyone likes having their photo taken. Check out the expression on his face. After I took this, I walked off down the mall, only to hear shouting behind me. He was yelling for me to come back, but needless to say I didn't. Obviously someone didn't have a busker's licence and was feeling a little precious about it. Ah, the perils of being a front line photographer!

A powerful wind

Took this pic of a wind farm when we were on the Tablelands behind Cairns. The turbines are huge and make an eerie whistling sound, but the cows didn't seem to mind, so neither did we. There is talk of wind farms being harmful to human health (people falling sick who live near them), but I don't know how much of that is true and how much is sour grapes because they don't want them in their neighbourhood. Wind power seems like a fantastic alternative to what we've got now anyway. I'm sure the residents of Fukushima where the recent meltdown occurred would rather have had a few big fans whirring away on their hilltops than the lethal cocktail they were served with. More power to the wind I say.

Land of the giants

Was browsing through old pics and noticed a recurring theme. Every place we've visited seems to have a giant something or other to call its own. There's the giant mango in Bowen, the giant crab on the road to Cairns, the giant brolga at the entrance to Townsville, the giant banana in Mackay, the giant Ned Kelly in Glen Rowan and the giant galah in the middle of the Nullabor. What's with that, I wonder? Would make an interesting holiday (worthy of the Griswalds) to travel around Australia photographing every giant this or that you could find. I wonder if Darwin has a giant sea wasp? Or if Canberra has a giant politician? There you go! A giant Tony Abbott in his giant budgie smugglers! (ewwww)

Attack of the killer figs

When we visited the Tablelands near Cairns, we saw this strange sight. It's called a curtain fig and it's not something you want to make friends with. The sign in the attached picture explains how a fig seed lands in the crown of a tree and then puts down aerial roots all the way to the ground. These roots then encircle and eventually strangle the host tree. The dead tree then falls onto a nearby tree, where it leans and the fig's roots develop into this curtain-like arrangement. Eventually the host tree rots away and the fig tree is left standing by itself. Does it feel remorse for its actions? No, it doesn't give a fig. It's curtains for anything that gets in its way. (sorry, no more puns).

Life's little ironies

Sometimes the picture says it all. Snapped the top one in a back street of Launceston Tasmania and the bottom at Club Croc in Cairns. Talk about mixed messages!