"Straddie"

Just continuing on from yesterdays post thought I might pop a few pics of Stradbroke Island up here. These were either taken during a camping trip on Flinders Beach or during a stay at a holiday home which we rented along with other family members.

The first one is the view from our beach campsite on Flinders Beach at Sunrise, such a wonderful view to wake up to. It was slightly chilly and from memory was around April 2006. I snapped it with my tiny 3.5mb Nikon Coolpix camera.

There are around 250 different species of birds on the island too. An inquisitive little guy a "Major Mitchell Parrot" had obviously found himself a home in this gum at Amity Point. The more pics I took of him, the more he posed from me.
I love the contrast of colours with the hot pink of the parrot again the vivid blue sky and grey-white of the tree.

Above is a pic of "Main Beach" on the Island. As you can see it goes for km's. Its great for 4 wheel driving (you do need a permit)and you're always bound to find a spot for a picnic lunch.

Dragonfly - Highlights of 2007 continued -

This morning I sat down to read an article in the latest Bulletin Magazine about Amber, but got way laid reading, about Dragonflies and felt I needed to record something about what I'd read. You may recall last year my post about the pic I took of a Blue and Yellow Dragonfly which inspired a piece of Jewellery I made and named "Dragonfly Summer" I really do love the look of dragonflies and I guess now that means I've joined the ranks of "Odonatists" meaning lovers of the Dragonfly or Damselfly.
I was fascinated to find out also that the Odonata insect order of these flies are some of the oldest critters on Earth and that Dragonflies are viewed with affection in Japanese and certain Native American traditions where they are revered as symbols of strength, happiness or pure water.

Well yes, I can see why they would be a symbol of happiness. Looking at some of the stunning colours of these creatures would brighten anyone's day. Take for example the "Red Barron" or " Urothemis Aliena" who would have thought that dragonflies came dressed in Red. I love Red, its one of my fav colours. The article went on to say, "other cultures see them as sinister". eg. in Europe, dragonflies were called "horse stingers" and "devils darning needles" stemming from a myth that if you fell asleep by a stream in summer, they'd use their long thin bodies to sew your eyelids shut....lol..now that is indeed would be a very funny sight.

Apparently there are 88 species of the Dragonfly found in South East Queensland and they are most active on hot, sunny days. I've noticed one or two occasionally in my garden, but they are usually tiny and not very colourful. I guess that's why this big colourful creature really made me sit up and take notice that particular day on Stradbroke Island. I now want to find out what species it is and a little more about its habitat.
Specific data in this post has been provided by Ric Nattrass a wildlife ranger whilst the article was written by Katherine Fleming of Bulletin Magazine.

I've emailed Ric personally to enlist his assistance with identification.

Ed: Ric tells me my Dragonfly is a "Blue Skimmer" or "Orthetrum caledonicum"
Thanks Ric!!

Cool Bananas - I'm offically a Photographer....lol

Recently after some prompting I forwarded a few of my better pics to an online photography site, kind of like someone hosting your stock photos on their site and you may op to sell them.
Well they got accepted and are now available for viewing only (pics won't reproduce very well at the size they've been uploaded at) and sale at http://www.photoreview.com.au/ click on the words "Photo Gallery" above the pic on the first page then use the drop down list of names.

It would be great if a cereal company picked up the one of Izz, my friendly Eastern Water Dragon indulging in a bowl of muesli. Am sure their associated advertising company would come up with a great slogan, can think of a few very apt ones myself. You can also vote for Izzy's Pic on Picture.com or see the link on my front page.

Speaking of Izz, she's finally come out of hybernation. I found her asleep in the pot plant on the front verandah last Saturday night when we arrived home from our latest camping trip. She usually disappears from about the end of May thru to mid September, then suddenly appears on the back verandah out of nowhere. I thought it odd, that she was asleep on the front verandah, but perhaps she'd been basking in the sun during the day and just curled up in the pot because it was there. Normally during the day she spends her time on the back verandah perched on the back of a chair waiting for a feed of fruit or what ever else is available. Her fav's are green grapes, pitted cherries, strawberries and sometimes I buy live worms from the pet shop for her, and.... believe it or not she comes when she's called.

Am a little concerned about how she and Rem are going to get on, as he's already chased her once this week. Rem's not at all like my other Border Collie, Jet, who would sit patiently beside Izz waiting for a titbit too; but then he was alot older and not a silly pup. Mind you Jet had his moments when he was a pup, I found him with a little eastern water dragon in his month once and told him to drop it, which he promptly did... smart boy. I always suspected that lizard was Izz, cause she might have lost her toe when Jet grabbed her. Now I always know Izz from any other dragons that appear in the garden, she's minus a toe.