nature study

We snuck away this past week, to a little house down the coast we have been going to for over ten years now, wow. I was reminded the other day of one of our first trips and when I used to snorkel and swim off the beach. The boys, just toddlers, used to weep and wail on the beach (with their Dad looking after them) till I came safely back. We were a sight! These days they are swimming happily alongside me.

I do miss my babies, but its so wonderful having older children and bushwalking and exploring together. On the last morning I snuck in a quick bushwalk with camera in hand, up the hill directly behind the house. My boys came with me, taking photos of the lizards and birds, coming across the skeleton of an old 20s car chassis, leeches in the wetland pools, a beehive in an old tree, frogs and birds and insects. It was fun discovering and exploring this new trail with them.

It makes me so happy that they share our love for the natural world, for walking and swimming and fishing and exploring. I was tickled when we ran into an older local man on our walk, in the middle of nowhere, carrying fuzzy boom mikes and other bags of paraphernalia. He greeted us with the words 'loving the planet?'. When I asked him about his equipment he told me he was going to record the sounds of a nearby creek in flood. Apparently every creek has a slightly different soundscape of tinkles and trills and he likes to record them.  A kindred spirit. I only wish I'd had the time to come and sit quietly in the sun and listen with him!

We encountered a couple of my favourite birds while we were away, the blue crane and the black cockatoo, and luckily I had my 'bird lens' at hand. I also captured this little Eastern Spinebill through the kitchen window one day.

I have some more photos of our time away but I'll save them for another post.