Heading east from Ongula, on a surprisingly good road, we stopped for the night at a lodge on the river that forms part of the Namibian/Angolan border. The Rio Cubango rises in Angola's highlands and heads south-east to form that border for a while, before being joined by the Cuito, another Angolan river, and later... Continue Reading →
Etosha National Park
Being lucky enough to have more time than usual for our visits to South Africa, we added on a trip to Namibia and Botswana. From Cape Town we flew to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, where we hired a vehicle and headed north to Etosha National Park. Etosha is dominated by a huge salt pan... Continue Reading →
Western Cape 2018
Autumn 2018 (in the Southern Hemisphere) saw us in Southern Africa again, beginning our trip in the Western Cape to celebrate my Dad's 80th birthday with family. We did spend a couple of days in Cape Town, visiting the African Penguin colony at Boulders Beach near Simonstown and walking around Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden on a... Continue Reading →
FNQ – Tablelands and Cairns
Nothing like some stunning birds distracting one from having breakfast and packing up - these beautiful Olive-backed Sunbirds were having a great time feeding right next to our van. As we couldn't go further north in our hired campervan (or we could have but wouldn't have been covered by any insurance), we decided to head... Continue Reading →
FNQ 2 – Port Douglas and Daintree Village
A subtle sunset and a lovely meal on a tropical veranda in Port Douglas ended a great day - although I later realised that maybe I was a bit too close to the water's edge when taking this image, having forgotten about the crocodiles. Oops! The following morning saw us up bright and early for... Continue Reading →
Far North Queensland
This time last year I was lucky enough to spend a week in Far North Queensland, exploring the Cairns area with my daughter. I've always wanted to visit this area, largely because of the interesting birds that can be found there. The first day started well, with a new species (White-breasted Woodswallows) before I'd even... Continue Reading →
That was 2017, part 2
We got back to the cold and wet in early July. While we were checking up on the Bridgetown house, I was lucky enough to see a Restless Flycatcher on the back patio - such a beautiful bird. July also saw a mad dash to Canberra for my daughter's graduation, sadly without my camera. Back... Continue Reading →
That was 2017, part 1
Way back at the beginning of January 2017 I was planning to be diligent about posting on my blog this year, envisioning at least one post a month. That idea fell by the wayside rather quickly. In my defence, we have had a bit of a crazy year, what with selling our house, moving, travelling... Continue Reading →
Carnaby’s chicks on campus
Carnaby's Cockatoos are endangered parrots endemic to the south-west of Western Australia, usually seen around Perth from late summer through to winter, when they move inland to breed. So it was a big surprise last summer when observant students discovered two pairs of these iconic birds breeding on a local university campus. As mentioned in... Continue Reading →
A few more fairy-wrens
Nine different species of fairy-wren call Australia home - and I'd love to see all of them. So far I've found five - the two well-known 'blue wrens' and the three I will focus on in this post: Variegated, Red-winged and White-winged. White-winged Fairy-wrens are fairly easy to identify if you see a male in... Continue Reading →