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Category Archives: The Animal Kingdom
Sea Dog Summer
As the year turns towards winter, I find myself looking back to our sea dog summer spent at the southernmost point of the continent in the state of Victoria. There, on a stretch of coast between Lakes Entrance and Wilson’s … Continue reading
The Animals That Chose Not to Kill Me This Summer
Three weeks before year’s end, we set off on a long-looked-forward-to summer holiday, conveniently forgetting that Australia is home to some of the most dangerous animals on earth. Naively excited, as only the normally deskbound can be, we left the … Continue reading
Posted in The Animal Kingdom, travel
Tagged Albury, Black Cockatoo Cottages, Bright, Bundanoon, Eden, emus, Gippsland Lakes, Golden Beach, Goulburn, Great Alpine Road, Gundagai, Holbtook, Hume Highway, Hume Highway rest stops, Lakes Entance, Millars Landing, Mount Buffalo, Mt Doom, Murray River, Ovens River, Princess Highway, road trip, Sea Spray, sharks, Squeaky Beach, summer holiday, Tarcutta, The Honeysuckles, tiger snake, Trincullo Wreck, Victorian Alps, Wilson's Promontory, worshipping rocks, Yanakie
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The summer of drop bears
This summer, on our road trip to Portland, Victoria, I discovered that Koalas almost outnumber humans and are so common that they’re ignored by the locals as they walk down the main street. Okay, I’m exaggerating but only a little. … Continue reading
Posted in The Animal Kingdom
Tagged australia, Australian wildlife, baby koala, candid camera, Cape Bridgewater, Cape Bridgewater seal colony, Crater Rim track at Budji Bim National Park, drop bears, Great South West Walk, koalas, Manna gums, Mount Richmond, Mum and bub, nature, Portland Victoria, road trip, summer, summer reading, travel, travel writing, UNESCO World Heritage List, walking
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Hope is the thing with feathers*
Recently, while sitting under a tree in the Domain, trying to eat an egg sandwich, I was attacked by a Noisy Miner. Claws in the head. Several times. With one arm helicoptering desperately above me to ward it off, I … Continue reading
Posted in Spirit of Place, The Animal Kingdom, Writing Nature and Place
Tagged bird attacks Sydney, bull bull birds, Emerald class ferry, Freshwater ferry, hope is the thing with feathers, Manly ferry, native Australian honey eater, native miner, noisy miner, seagulls, seven miles from Sydney a thousand miles from care, silver gulls, slipstream, Sydney Harbour, The Domain Sydney
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Wildlife Encounters
I was startled by a loud thump, thump, thump. A sound halfway between familiar and threatening. It seemed to be coming from the coastal heath land behind us. We were sitting beside the river at Princetown, a tiny hamlet next … Continue reading
Posted in climate change, Habitat, The Animal Kingdom
Tagged Apollo Bay, Bathurst, bush fires, Coolamon, Cowra, eastern grey kangaroo, Great Ocean Road, jerilderie, Katoomba, koala, Macropus giganteus, Murrumburrah, Narrandera, Otway Range, Penrith 48.9 degrees Celsius, Riverina, Temora, Twelve Apostles, wildlife, Young
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The Rat Before Christmas
A few years ago, when we lived in the art-deco flat in Double Bay, I was woken by a mysterious night visitor. It was the week before Christmas and as I lay in my bed in a state of alarm … Continue reading
Posted in Habitat, Spirit of Place, The Animal Kingdom
Tagged antechinus, Christmas, felt sculptures, Huntsman, pesticide, rat trap, Rats, rodent, spiders, telepathy, The Night Before Christmas
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Lepidoptera
Did you know that a lepidopterist is an entomologist who studies butterflies? But what is someone called who kills butterflies? A little while ago I realised there was a problem with my Lime. It’s three years old and lives in a terracotta … Continue reading
Posted in Habitat, My Mother and Me, The Animal Kingdom, Writing Nature and Place
Tagged butterflies, caterpillar pests, caterpillars, caterpillars on citrus, citrus, Citrus Swallowtail Buttefly, Citrus swallowtail caterpillar, cocoon, curry tree, dragons, gardening, killing caterpillars, King Aegeus, larvae, Lepidoptera, lepidopterist, lime tree, monsters, Papilio aegeus, pupa, removing caterpillars, silk worms
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Whales to Starboard
“What’s there not to love?” Paul, my partner, asks. “Two days and three nights surrounded by the ocean; cocktails delivered to your deck chair, sublime sunsets and dancing the night away.” But I’m thinking Poseidon Adventure and Titanic. Then he … Continue reading
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