Heading North towards the Equator
 

as opposed to North to Alaska. ;)

Just want to tell those of you who may be interested that I'm heading off on a 3 month adventure. I'll be in civilization so I'll still be here at Nt of course.

I'm spending the time in the area where I grew up and as a young adult. I've been wanting to get back there for a long time. I'll be enjoying the heat and the humidity near (and in) the Great Barrier Reef. Crossing fingers there'll be no Cyclones/hurricanes, but it's bound to happen. I just hope they don't happen at my beach.

I will head off Monday my time. 20 hrs drive. I'll post photos when I can.

It's a trip. :)

Here's a photo.
I go down to watch the sun rise every morning here.

I have a new camera so thought I'd test it with the colours of the building. I am having difficulty with the settings and the book is over 200 pages long ... so, it's trial and error. :)

The big tree to the right of photo is a Melaleuca or paper bark tree and they're everywhere here and apparently hundreds of years old. The glow is from the sun rising. I was standing about 20 feet from the ocean. (Coral Sea)

Just click on the Attachment to enlarge.

Dear Lara,

So glad to hear that you won't lose touch with us. Have a WONDERFUL time. Will be looking forward to the pics.

Love photo, Lara. I really envy you today. We had so much snow over the weekend...sigh. Almost 8 inches.

Sorry about so much early snow. :eek: That's unreal.

It's pretty warm here to say the least but the sea breeze is nice. I just find a palm tree and sit under that for a while. I have to keep the sunscreen topped up though. Getting a tan in the shade from reflections. It's very nice I must say. It's great for my daughter too who spends her days inside studying mostly. Her skin was alabaster, not that there's anything wrong with that at all, but we're certainly getting our grand share of Vit D. ;)

Lara, that is a great picture - I always enjoy looking at paperbarks.

I hope that you and your daughter have a great time in FNQ :).

Thank you!

I used to make bark paintings when I was a child.

I found a couple of massive paperbarks. One was the size of a car around the base.

We're loving every moment. I might stay. :o

Now I just need to work on my camera knowledge.

Hi Lara,

Everything looks and sounds idyllic!

I hope the 3 months pass slowly for you.

Dave.

Hi Lara

Just sent you a PM before reading this. Have a great time up north - take in lots of those Vit D rays and stay safe from the cyclones.

Will look forward to your posts - are you planning a trip out to the reef?

Cheers bluesfan

Lara,

So excited and happy for you! What a wonderful adventure and special time. I wish you many perfect moments and priceless memories. It sounds restorative and stunning!
:hug:

Well, Lara... I found that learning one thing well at a time, was best for me when I first got my digital camera.

Trying to do too much in the beginning just made my head swim!

I chose a camera was was mostly automatic (it has optional manual setting capabilities which I don't use yet) was good for me. I am just not technical enough for it all. But our son, well he is very good with white balance, ISO settings, etc. He has a DSLR camera, and takes photos in RAW format. (whatever that is...:o:p )

So just try to do a bit at a time. I tend to think while sleeping, so I read the manual before bed....then it percolates during the night, so when I read it again, it isn't so complex as time passes.

You'll be a pro in no time, I bet.

Ah yes. Aim and click just isn't cutting it. These days I have 3 sets of glasses. One prescription sunnies long distance. One regular long distance. One reading. I always forgot to take my reading glasses with me when I leave the house so basically I can't see what I'm pressing anyway. :D

I just took one, but a little hand symbol came up when I did so I guess it's going to be out of focus or the light was too low.

anyway... still lots to learn.

The little hand is the motion stabilizer. If your light is low, the shutter has to stay open longer, and hence motion is exaggerated in the result.

Your photo is very nice and works at the setting the camera chose.

The motion stabilizer does eat battery life however, so if you use it alot you'll need to charge more often. This function also comes on when you use the zoom feature, in low light as well.

I totally understand about the vision. When I use my camera for birds, I get very visually exhausted. I have trifocals and even with them, going near and then far trying to find my fast moving object bird, is very tiring. Our muscles in the eye to focus get weaker with age. When I did my recent few hummingbird photos, using the zoom feature, it was very difficult for me. I just rely on the little focus boxes that show on my screen and shoot.

UpNorth ---
I couldn't even see the hummers at the feeders at all, but I saw them fly by me to get there, so I just started pressing the shutter. I still got some nice shots, that I shared here with you and others, and they were intuitive all the way! LOL You can delete right away any failures or misses.

Your camera is 8 megapx, so you will have to decide on the resolution you want in your photos fairly soon. At fine/high resolution you can't store much on your card. If you lower that more photos will fit. I ended up getting a new card for my new camera which is also an 8megapx...so I could get fine detail in zoom shots (I edit on computer alot). I now have a 4 gig card. When I started, I had 500mB, then I moved up to 1gig, but that became too small, so I got a nice deal on Ebay for 4 gig summer 2014. Since the cards have come down here quite a bit, I might even get an 8 gig soon. My son insists I not leave photos on the card as storage, as he says they are not designed for that. But I do keep some still today ...sssshhhhh don't tell on me. ;)

Thanks for all the tips you've been giving me, mrsD.

I have now figured out heaps of the settings. I had it set on the largest size at the lowest picture quality. :rolleyes:

I've also found all the settings for different lighting and there's one for almost every setting possible inside or outside. There's one especially for "beach" and another for "foliage" so that's excellent. Lots of amazing Ginger plants flowering at the moment and I wanted to keep those. Now that I've found all those it explains why all of my beach pics are out of focus.

Thanks again. :)

I guess your "beach" is my "landscape"....;)

Your getting on very well, and faster than I ever did! :hug:

Hi Lara
 

Have a great time, you deserve it! Keep sending the photos . You'll be a camera expert in know time :) Jim

Thanks Jim and thanks everyone for all your good wishes. I appreciate them very much.

I forgot to reply to bluesfan about going out to the reef.
I'm not so sure I can do that anymore sadly. I have many times in the past though.
I have enough trouble in water with my vertigo so I'm not sure I could handle the movement of any size boat or catamaran anymore. I'll see how it goes. I might be able to get ON the boat but getting OFF the boat and back on land might be a major problem. ;)

Thanks Lara!
 

Hi Lara,

Sounds like you are enjoying yourself! :D
Thanks so much for continuing to share!

:hug:
DejaVu

Here's a little snippet from today...

Click Thumbnail to enlarge.

Crystal clear, great colors.
Good work Lara. Give the operating manual the flick.
Phil

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Is that a Warning Sign about Salties, Lara? How big do they get there?

Dave.

Thanks for the pics....this one is just beautiful. You're doing a great job.
D.

Hi Lara, you travel safely and have a wonderful time. Will follow your adventure on here.
Stay safe.
Phil

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Hi Dave,
Yes, they're warning about salt water crocodiles. The males can be very large and grow up to about 5 metres (16 feet?). Mostly the ones sighted here are small. Just the day before yesterday one was photographed swimming in the stinger nets at the next beach from here. It's quite a funny photo to me. The reality is that it was probably in there all day having a swim and so were people.:o

from The Cairns Post - Croc in nets

At this time of year people usually only swim in specially made enclosures or wear stinger suits. The massive swimming enclosures are netted to stop the Irukandji jellyfish. When I was young they weren't around but with the warming oceans they're now found much further south.

I have seen all the signs around but figured that was just to alert the public who might not think they're around. My warning photo was taken at an inlet of a small creek to the sea. That's where most of the signs seem to be.

I've not seen a saltie yet thank goodness, but I did see a Bush Stone Curlew. It looked a very mysterious creature on very long legs looking this way and that and acting quite suspiciously as it raced across from the bush to the beach. I didn't have a camera with me unfortunately and it's possibly a lost opportunity because I may not see another up here. [p.s. the Curlews - they make really eerie sounds in the night. I hear them every night]

I just took a couple of the Curlews that I found in the carpark of all places. I thought they were nocturnal but obviously not as it was very bright and very hot out there. I took these ones and then when I came back there were 3 of them, but they scurried off with the adults protecting the baby.

These are Bush Stone Curlews *I think*.
They make very loud wailing or screeching sounds. :o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZWHUU41gsk

and some neat footage of them in breeding season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpNf5yPcoqk

Cool Curlew pics, Lara. I miss taking photos of birds particularly, either in my garden or at the cliffs of the local Bird/Nature Reserve.

Dave.

It's a beautiful early morning in the tropics! :D

Took this not long ago this morning. Lots of mozzies after the rain. UGH. Have to keep them at bay. Dengue and Ross River fever rife here. Had a few extremely hot days after a deluge of glorious torrential rain.

Poor baby curlew appears to have been abandoned by its parents already. It's still sitting in the same area on its own day after day. I hope it learns to feed itself soon because it doesn't look so great to me.

Just wanted to post this pretty sunrise from this morning. It's the best part of the day for me (apart from the mozzies today) temperature wise plus there are few people around which is how I like it. ;)

That is a lovely picture Lara :).

I hope that the baby curlew learns to fend for itself - can you put out any food for it to tide it over?

We decided that if we see it there tomorrow we'll call a wildlife carer. Usually I would think it best to leave the bird to fend for itself but these birds are supposed to be nocturnal and this baby is sitting out all day in a tiny garden in the middle of the carpark. It's not even in any shade and it rarely seems to move out of one particular open area. It's in one of my photographs above.. I'm not sure what is best really. I don't have many "grasshoppers, spiders, lizards, centipedes, snails, small frogs, small reptiles, ground beetles, crickets, caterpillars" (from the net) on hand :eek: to feed it is the problem, although it did say they eat "small fruit". Maybe bush berries of some sort. Heck.

If it's there in the midday sun tomorrow I'll call someone about it. I can't understand how it could bear to sit in this heat especially in the concrete car park. It's hard just walking out of the building to the car for hours of the day because the concrete reflects the sun and heat.

Maybe it sleeps with its eyes open. I should look into that. I just can't understand how it's always awake if it's nocturnal. It's not active during the day that's for sure, but it has its eyes wide open. Such an odd little bird.

eee gads, just saw my temp. It's nearly 9pm and it's 29C LOL ugggh

kiwi, just an update about the Curlew chick.

I'd not posted again because the day after I posted the above message I went out before the sun came up and saw him/her pecking away in the lawn at the front of the building and it was also drinking water on the side of the road. I thought that was a really good sign and obviously he or she heads out in the dark to feed.

I still see the bird sitting in the same area during the day but I am relieved to see that it's looking quite healthy now compared with just a couple of weeks ago.

I just came across an article posted this morning on the ABC Au, about how the drier weather is causing Curlew parents to abandon their chicks. The article is about Townsville and it's been very dry down there. In this area it's unseasonally dry because of El Nino effect but we have been having some rain at least.

ABC Au - North Queensland drought conditions blamed for curlews abandoning chicks

When I look at the tiny chicks in the article that have been abandoned, I realize that this one in the carpark is much older and should be able to fend for itself.

These are very interesting birds. Check out the angle of their joints in their legs. When they grow into adult birds, it's such a funny sight to see them sitting down on the ground with these great long legs out in front of them.

Thanks for the update Lara - I was getting worried about the chick but good to read that s/he is doing OK :). Wow, those are great pics of Curlew chicks. I have only seen one once (an adult) when I was walking around Mission Beach in FNQ, which was a great experience :).

I don't pretend to understand El Nino in much detail but we had about 150 mm last week which my garden, especially my ferns, approved of.

Hot pic from the carpark. ;)

Found CurlyLew taking a rest just now. Usually spends his or her time standing.

Thanks for the curlew pics and info Lara - glad to see the little fella is doing better.
I started watching the David Attenborough Great Barrier Reef series on tv last night - really interesting with amazing footage - seeing all that cool blue ocean while sitting in 32 Celsius at 9pm (no air-con) made me wish I was over there. We're having a minor heatwave past few days - nothing like you get over there but when you're not used to it you want to be anywhere cooler - I'd even take the blizzard they're having on the east coast of the US (hope you're all okay over there). Add to that a mozzie invasion during the night and I'm ready for summer to end. How hot's the weather up in Cairns?

It's pretty darn hot bluesfan. Not as bad here near the water although the temp overnight hovers around 25C

Apparent temp at this moment is 33.5C with actual temp just starting to drop now at almost 5pm. It's just under 30C and about to rain hopefully.

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ60...01.94287.shtml

I'll write more later. Have to race to shop bfor rain.

back...

It's like a sauna out there. ;)

I know you have difficulty with the heat causing more pain, so I hope it cools a little for you soon.
32C with no aircon is not good for you.

The best way to describe the temp really is that it's constant and humid all the time.
Only two seasons here. Wet season and dry season.
We don't seem to get extremes like down south has had lately or you for that matter.
Today was really the first day I felt a little faint out in the midday sun. My daughter notices it more.
Looking at radar earlier it shows a lot of storms around the country.

Lara, that is a great picture of the Curlew :).

Uggh, 30+ C and high humidity is not fun. I hope that it cools off a bit overnight.

bluesfan, do you have a fan??
If I get overheated I have to get in the water. Even just getting the hair and head wet cools me down a little. I hope you have screens to keep the mozzies outside. Last thing you need is to come down with some nasty mosquito borne virus. Some of those around these parts too.

kiwi, 30 isn't really that hot for a Queenslander. ;)
I've become a bit of a wimp.
Can't believe I grew up here and no one owned an airconditioner in a house or a car.
Any wonder I have some skin damage from the sun. We just lived in the water outdoors.

Hi Lara

No I don't have a fan - electricity's too expensive here to blow hot air around! The only window screened is the bedroom - fortunately I can leave that window open at night - I have to close the windows before turning on any lights or hundreds of insects come in.

The mozzies get in when I have all the other windows open as late in the eve as possible to cool the house down - one or two get into the bedroom and it's the buzzing noise of that invisible menace that drives me nuts and has me chasing around with a fly swat at 1am! - I don't like sleeping in bug sprays.

Still it's not going to last for ever and if I do get desperate I know somewhere stashed away I have a hot pink mosquito net from my backpacking days. Overnight temp tonite is supposed to get down to 19 C (currently 28 at 10.30pm)