Two more steps

Waves, Whale Beach.


Near Whale Beach Pool.

Two more steps to go: The final seminar, the rewrite and submission.
I return to Brisbane tomorrow and I haven't yet started the final seminar slides..
I am at home today, which is why the swim and the photos. Need to pack all I need for two weeks.

Norfolk Island pines and Cook Island pines

Norfolk Island pines (Araucaria heterophylla) on Whale Beach.


Cook Island pines (Araucaria columnaris) at the southern end of Whale Beach.

As you can see, the Cook Island pines are younger (fitting the thesis that they may have been planted some 30 years ago) and are all in bloom, and all on the slant, while the beautifully erect Norfolk Island pines show why it was once thought they might be useful for masts. (See Geoffrey Blainey, The Tyranny of Distance.)

Rabbits on a summer morning at Palm Beach

Summer morning, Palm Beach


Paperbarks and palms, beachfront garden, Palm Beach

The council empties the Whale Beach pool every Friday, so I swam at Palm Beach this morning. It was a beautiful morning with the sunlight just starting to light up the beach.

On the walk back home, however, I encountered yet another rabbit. In this last week, a rabbit every day, and yesterday two. Apparently the council can do virtually nothing. Poison is out, for fear of killing the bandicoots (and the likely outrage at the killing of domestic animals).

Sadly, when they released the calicivirus, domestic rabbits were able to be vaccinated against it. So now we have the prospect of erosion, loss of native vegetation, and ultimately loss of cliffs, thanks. (The bloody rabbits spoil each beautiful day..)

Eastern Reef Egret feeding

Eastern Reef Egret feeding IMG_7101

I had never seen this bird before. When I saw it, I thought it was a heron. But watching it to photograph it, it clearly was not, with its dark head and thick legs.

It was raining, and like so many of my photos, I see in the photo, what I failed to see, while looking.