East Point coral with sponge

Lee Point coral with sponge
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

I went on a midnight, low tide reef walk last weekend. The tide was particularly low (0.2m), so the reef off East Point was exposed and the NT Field Naturalists had a bit of a guided tour, complete with experts in sponges and various types of marine invertebrates. Very cool stuff. We walked out onto the reef and found stuff like these corals, with sponges. We also found lots of flatworms, nudibranchs, sponges, corals, octopi, toadfish, Darwin jawfish, brittle stars, and a lot of mud. Incredible diversity. Apparently Darwin has the highest diversity of sponges in the world (or second, it was nearly 3am when they shared that tidbit of information, so I'm a bit unclear on what was actually said). Here are a few photos of what we saw. Who needs diving gear?

long-armed, drop-arm octopus

long-armed, drop-arm octopus
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

This species was just described a few years ago, from Darwin harbour. Very cool little guys. The arms are incredibly quick and inquisitive. They also have a tendency to fall off (hence the 'drop arm' part of the name).

crab

crab
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

can you find the crab in this photo?

northern blue-ringed octopus

northern blue-ringed octopus
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Apparently, the northern blue-ringed octopus is a bit more deadly than the southern one (which is will kill you in a few hours, without you feeling the bite), and it has a pointier mantle (the head-like bit).

Lichen

Lichen
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Lichen and autumn leaves from the bottom of Leg of Mutton lake in Mt. Gambier.

Great Ocean Road trip

Okay, The next several photos are of my trip to the Great Ocean Road, on the southern coast of Victoria. I recommend reading them in order, starting way down the page at the apostles, and reading up (in other words, don't read down the page from here).

koala 2

koala
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

... turns out the koalas in this spot were really dense. There was one in a tiny little tree, at about head height. There is no zoom on this photo, in fact, I think it's a bit wide angle to get the fuzzy guy all in the frame. He was a bit scruffy, but so close I could smell him. Very cool.

koala

koala 2
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

That fuzzy blob in the tree is a koala. I'd never seen a wild koala before, so I went to a spot that apparently had a lot of them. I walked up the river a ways and spotted one way up in a tree across the river. (This one is actually along a different river but you get the idea). I was watching the koala through binoculars, when I heard a rustling sound next to my head...

puzzling sign

puzzling sign
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

There were some interesting signs along this highway. About every 100m or so, there was a sign reminding you that Australians drive on the left-hand side of the road. I'm still puzzled by this sign. Apparently, some quirk of physics in this part of the world makes it possible for a guy on a motorcycle to make parallel skidmarks, as long as he's leaning to the left (presumably because that's the side of the road he's supposed to be driving on). Unfortunately, May is not the tourist season along the Great Ocean Road, so there wasn't enough motorcycle traffic for me to witness this amazing feat.

cattle spot

cattle spot
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

The hills at the coast were unbelievably green, except for the tiny spot where all these cattle seemed to be gathering. I though it was a funny sight.

offshore winds

offshore winds
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

There were some nice offshore winds this day, so the waves (only about 2m this day) had a spectacular spray off them. Very scenic.

reflection

reflection
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Erosion through the limestone creates some interesting formations. Thsi was a collapsed cave, that left an arch overlooking the coastal cliffs.

magpie & coast

magpie & coast
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

An Australian magpie, and a particularly nice part of coast. I think this was at Port Campbell.

woodman

woodman
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Right, not doing well on the sequence. This guy was at the bottom of one of the craters at Mt. Gambier. It was in Leg of Mutton lake, which has no water in it any more.

penguin beach

penguin beach
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

This was next to London Bridge. There was a penguin colony down there, but they were all off getting brekkie. Lots of penguin footprints, though.

London bridge

London bridge
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

This one is called London Bridge. Apparently it used to have another arch to the left, but it fell down in the 1990's.

Larry lobster

Larry lobster
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Oops, forgot Larry. This guy was back before I got to the coast. Not sure how much a lobster this size costs, but I bet the tail is tough.

Arch

Arch
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

A bit farther up the coast, you get formations like this. The seas got progressively calmer as the trip went on - the swells this day were only about 2.5m, though I was getting sprayed way up where I took this photo.

Australian fur seals

Australian fur seals
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

More fur seals. I couldn't get decent photos of the New Zealand fur seals because they were mostly around the point. In the cove, the water was pretty calm, but around the point, the swells were around 4 meters. Made for some tough photography. When we got back at the end of the tour, the tides had come in a bit, so getting out without getting soaked was a bit tricky. Most of us failed at this. I was standing on the jetty when a wave came in - it was about knee high. It took 3 days for my shoes to dry out.

Australian fur seals

Aussie fur seals
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

From Portland, I went to Cape Bridgewater, where I went on a short boat tour to see fur seal colonies. These are Australian fur seals, but a bit farther around the bend were New Zealand fur seals.

Lighthouse- Portland

lighthouse_portland
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

The little lighthouse in Portland.

Mt Gambier

Mt Gambier
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Me at the highest point on the crater. This is the other crater lake.

Blue lake

blue lake
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Oops, skipped a bit. Before getting to the coast, I stopped in Mr. Gambier, and had a look at the Blue Lake. The town has some volcanic craters that have filled up to form some very scenic lakes. The water is incredibly clear, apparently because it is filtered through the limestone bedrock. The town uses this as it's water supply (that's the pumping station in the photo). The crater is interesting because the base is actually below ground level outside the crater. That's why the lake filled in - it's below the water table.

ducky

ducky
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

In Portland, I stayed in a cute little B & B, the Victoria House. The shower had this little guy to keep me company.

more coastline

coastline2
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

After the fog cleared a bit.

coastline

coastline
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

When I finally got to the coast, it looked like this. None too shabby, eh?

Keith

Keith
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

Along the way, I passed this sign for Keith - the town, not the guy I'm working with. He's a lot farther away, though the sign does point in the right general direction.

Coorong

coorong
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

The next stop was the Coorong, which is a strange penninsula of coastal dunes. It's separated from the mainland by a narrow strip of water that's as little as 100m wide, and something like 40 miles long. Very strange. This is the narrowest part.

Murray Bridge

Murray Bridge
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

The trip started with me flying in to Adelaide, and promptly driving out. I made it as far as Murray Bridge the first night. The town is cleverly named after the bridge over the Murray River - apparently the first one to span this important river.

12 Apostles

apostles
Originally uploaded by wandering lizard.

I just got back from my trip to the south of Australia, driving along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. I haven't had a chance to filter the photos I took (over 300, I think), but will be posting a bunch here soon. This one is a teaser for what's to come.

The 'highlight' of the Great Ocean Road is the 12 Apostles, a series of limestone stacks in a bunch along this strech of road. There are only 6 that you can actually see (7 if you count the rubble pile in the foreground, which apparently collapsed several years back). To be honest, I didn't think this spot was the most impressive of the trip, but it is pretty speccy nonetheless. This is one of the iconic viewpoints in Australia, right up there with Uluru (Ayres Rock) and the Great Barrier Reef.

I'll post more about the trip, and more photos, in the next few days.