More Avian Antics

Watch out Attenborough.

Night Swimming

We had a good session in the rock pool today, not much in the way of swimming, but the weather provided a great mixture of strong sun and massive surf, which swept over into the pool. It took about 4 strokes one way then about 400 the other, in-between the odd wipe out. Like a free wave machine. Of course I didn't have my camera (duh!) .

Took a stroll down later on to try and catch the full moon. Didn't quite get it (damn my cheapo camera) but got some other decent photos in it's place.

Taronga Fauna Fix

It was Mandy's day off yesterday so we made some plans to head for Taronga Zoo. Weather wasn't looking too hot, but we decided to take the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay and then from there over to Taronga Zoo.

I'm really enjoying this get about by boat thing, it's so mucb more fun than sitting on buses or in traffic jams.

At Taronga the weather cleared and I managed to tick off a few more native Australian fauna. Be prepared to scroll, there are quite a few photos in this post.

These kangaroos were sleeping (honest). And whilst they slept this little fella was working out >

"Put em up"

The echidnas were, of course, busy rooting around for insects.


The chimps busied themselves with being angry.

But the gorillas were pretty mellow.


Hide your eyes from the tortoises though, who were also pretty busy in their own way.

Other animals just relaxed in the shade to get away from the heat.
Malayan Tapir

Pygmy Hippo


And now we have the galley of contenders for cutest animal in the zoo.
Red Panda (my favourite)
Meerkats (everyone's favourite)
Koala (possibly Australia's favourite)

Mandy had a near miss with a Leopard Seal. Good job I was there (to take a photo that is).


Not only is it a good zoo but this is the view>


It was hot, so we had a Mojito then headed back on the ferry to Manly.

Mandy's Folks in Sydney

Mandy's folks come over for a few days. Unfortunately the weather was pretty sucky for most of the time so we made the most of the bright spells. First of all was a bit of a get together around the ubiquitous 'barbie'.




The food and drink flowed (?) and cheers to Gareth for maintaining the cooking process, at last it wasn't me. We then sat up beside the pool for a few extra drinkies.


On the second last night we headed down to Sydney in the evening and back to our regular haunt 'The East' on Circular Quay. Special thanks to both Alan and Wendy for treating us (yet again) . I moved out of my comfort zone (chilli kangaroo) and went for the crocodile, which was like chicken, but not quite. Somehwere between chicken and seafood. A lot more appetising than I make it sound.

A grand few days, spoilt only by the weather.

More of Mona Vale

It's been a bit wet here for the past week, but the upside is good sunsets.

My New Friend

Hi everyone, this is Colin, and he's my newest friend.

Colin likes eating grapes and sunflower seeds, but not blueberries, cherries are okay if there is nothing else.


He also likes strong Italian espresso coffee, in a tall mug with milky foam and sprinkles (of course).

He likes to dress like MC Hammer too.

Downtown Up High

Mandy's sister Andrea came over from Perth for a few days. We had a quiet day on Monday and on Tuesday, Gareth came down and picked us up to take us over to Palm Beach and give Andrea his patented guided tour of the peninsula.




On Wednesday we took the ferry over from Manly to Circular Quay to meet up with an old work colleague of Andrea's. We headed up the Sky Tower to get an excellent 360 degree view of the city.

It was a really warm day so we spent most of it in the shade of the Opera House with a bottle of wine. Later on we had dinner at 'The East' (again). And afterwards headed up to the 'Rocks' before catching the late ferry back to Manly.