Marsupial lion
Listening to ABC regional radio in the car today I heard about the discovery of marsupial lion bones near Burra in South Australia earlier this year.
The marsupial lion is regarded as part of Australia’s “megafauna” which became extinct about 45,000 years ago.
These were giant versions of wombats and kangaroos, and in this case a carnivorous predator.
The lion’s disappearance is unexplained, although it’s generally linked to climate change or the arrival of humans.
I reckon these beasts would have eaten any blackfellas who came after them, but one theory is the humans introduced fire which changed the lion’s habitat.
It’s a fascinating story and fun to ponder what happened.
Python eats family pet
Overseas readers will be interested to know the story reported in the Cairns Post of a monster python stalking and devouring a family’s pet dog.
Daniel Peric said he now would not leave his two children, aged five and seven, alone in any part of the house, after the “enormous” python ate his silky terrier-cross chihuahua.
Mr Peric said in the weeks before, the family had found their cat’s body, which looked like something had attempted to swallow it and on Sunday a smaller python had eaten their pet guinea pig.
Add cyclones to the location risk, cane toads and various marine nasties, and you have to wonder why anyone would live in the tropical north.
Australia doesn’t have lions or other large animals of prey, but we do have plenty of hairy eight-legged creatures and slippery ones with fangs.
In the water, watch out for sharks, jellyfish and stingrays.
And as Baino wrote in her blog earlier this year, beware the Drop Bear. This great scary kangaroo pic came from there too.
Kalgoorlie dawn
We’ve had some mild weather lately and I’ve taken to going for longer walks in the morning. I discovered a little-used track (pictured) at the back of Hannans Golf Course which I follow and then cut back through the fairways.
I’ve actually seen more wildlife on these walks than in the Karlkurla nature reserve.
There isn’t much grass on the golf course and the “greens” are sand. For those who don’t know, an 18-hole international-standard grass course was supposed to have been finished by now and it is supposedly still under development.
There is some grass on the Hannans course though and it greened up nicely after last week’s rain. In the dawn light it looks quite attractive and the kangaroos love it.
Kalgoorlie sunset
Kalgoorlie had a spectacular sunset on Thursday. Kalgoorlie Miner journalist Georgia Loney captured the scene.
Cooking a cockroach
I tried cooking a cockroach tonight. Well, I didn’t really try; it was more an accidental event.
We were preparing for a barbecue at home and after lifting the cover a cockroach crawled into the grill. Juliet wasn’t worried, she thought it might add some “flavor”. I think she was joking, but we both believed the roach would sizzle.
I was curious to find out though, because I’ve heard that cockroaches are the only creatures to survive nuclear explosions.
And so it was. Forty minutes later, while the sausages and chops were sizzling, the roach made its escape from the fiery depths.
Woody Island
We’ve just returned from six days at Esperance. Young Michael and I took the wildlife cruise on the Seabreeze II (pictured) to Woody Island and stayed overnight on the island in a safari hut.
This was a large, canvas tent with a timber floor, furnished with comfortable beds. There are shared amenities, including a camp kitchen and a kiosk which cooks meals to order. We had a fine breakfast there.
The island is fairly small but has some interesting walks and beautiful scenery. The vegetation is more lush than most other islands in the Recherche Archipelago. There is diverse flora and fauna including kangaroos (which were introduced) and lots of lizards, but no snakes.
Apparently one of the nearby islands does have snakes (adders), showing the fickleness of nature when these outcrops separated from the mainland.
We arrived just before a cold front which brought heavy showers for most of the time we stayed on the island. We managed to get all our walks in though between downpours. It was actually rather pleasant at night to feel warm and toasty in bed while the rain tumbled down on the tent roof.
If you’re not into fishing or biology there’s not much to do on the island apart from walking and relaxing. Michael probably would have got bored if we’d stayed much longer, but he enjoyed the short visit. I could spend a week there, no problem.
Spiders on the march in Kambalda
This is an article by Phillipa Prior which appeared on page one of the Kalgoorlie Miner on Thursday, July 12, 2007. The image was created by Greg Tossel … Read more
Me and horses
Me and horses just don’t get along. This picture shows me on a horse for about the first time. I was visiting friends at Gelantipy in 1986 and climbed aboard this rather docile creature.
It was a reasonably pleasant experience and it probably lulled me into a false sense of security and ambition.
A few months or so later I was an active member of Young Farmers and went riding successfully with a friend Joy on her steed called Raja.
I then came unstuck while riding with a (very short term) girlfriend. We built up to a canter. My mount suddenly decided to gallop and took off as though being whipped to finish a sprint at Royal Randwick. There was nothing I could do to slow the beast down.
Eventually, I steered him towards a fence and prayed it wouldn’t try to jump over. As he slowed down I took my cue and leapt overboard, fortunately with only minor physical harm and a very bruised ego.
A year or so later again I was visiting Perth. One of my cousins, who was then a jockey, took me to some stables. He asked me to hold onto a horse while he wandered off somewhere. I’ve never sneezed so much in my life. I was near total collapse when my cousin returned.
Ever since then I’ve been allergic to horses. A desensitisation program did little to help and I start sneezing if I get within 100 metres downwind of a horse.
Sunset at Falcon
I’m not very good at taking sunset photos with a digital camera, but this one gives you some idea of how beautiful the coastline is south of Perth, Western Australia.
We’ve been staying at Falcon, near Mandurah. The beaches are great and the sun sets over the Indian Ocean.
I hope to get a better picture tonight when we go to Preston Beach.
Good news on weeds
Weeds are a major menace throughout Australia. In this area we’re plagued with blackberries along stream banks, also black knapweed and broom. The problem sometimes appears so big that you wonder if it can ever be fixed.
I was involved today with a positive effort to do something substantial at the local level. A number of government agencies,
businesses and community groups have come together to form the Upper Ovens Weeds Roundtable.
The group is planning a combined effort to eradicate weeds and revegetate areas where weeds are removed. There are some immediate works planned and it’s hoped to eventually create a walking track along the river between Bright and Porepunkah.
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