Pretty Polly

Here’s a couple of cheerful Sulphur Crested Cockatoos finishing up their breakfast on the verandah. They’re here every day at the same time screeching to be fed and, amusing and friendly as they are, they don’t half make a racket. In fact they are the noisiest creatures in the forest around here on the outskirts of Brisbane. Big birds they are too, a fair bit larger than a crow -
they can be quite disconcerting when they swoop down to say hello - and they won’t clear off until they’ve had their morning rations, this particular pair had first peck today but waiting not too far away are maybe another dozen more noisy so and sos all hoping to sweep up any remaining titbits.

G'day mate!

 Later on after the cockatoos drift  away looking for rich pickings  elsewhere other less assertive  ornithological delights come to the  breakfast table. This beautiful King  Parrot hops down from a nearby tree  bold as brass and touts for the odd  nibble. His slightly less red and  slightly less brave mate sits back up  in the tree closely watching to see if  he gets himself into trouble. So idly  sitting on the verandah watching out  into the woodland I'm not only able  to identify a plethora of different bird  species but also write an interesting  tale to accompany my photos, what a talent to have! 

The commonest and most colourful parrot to be seen here every morning is the Rainbow Lorikeet they appear in twittering droves hoping for any leftovers that the early birds have missed. All these lovely birds are found in abundance here less than 10 miles from the centre of Brisbane; however they can all be spotted throughout the environs even in the city centre at the Botanic Gardens. It's a twitchers paradise.

We're all pretty!

An Adelaide Stopover

Australia 2025 saw us take an initial dog-leg to Adelaide spending a few days in a new city (for us) before our onward journey to Brisbane. You could be forgiven for thinking that the photo here was taken somewhere like Sicily or Sardinia but it's at Largs Bay, a pleasant spot on the coast just outside Adelaide. The Largs Pier Hotel was built in 1882 and in it's early days was the first view that many immigrants saw of Australia after their long journey from Europe, the more well to do travellers undoubtedly spent their first night here. In the 1970's it was a lively music venue - AC/DC played here in their pub rock days! And it's matured into a grand and welcoming hostelry as we found out when we enjoyed fine food and excellent beer on a couple of occasions. We'd spent a few nights in central Adelaide exploring the compact city but then had a relaxing break by the sea in a well equipped AirBNB cottage round the corner from the hotel

Can the beak of a pelican hold more than its belly can?

For all those folk who fondly imagine Australia to be a land of warm weather followed by hot weather the South Australia coast in June would disabuse them of that misguided notion. It was COLD. Across from our cottage was the beach side boardwalk and on my early morning stroll I was astonished to discover that the wooden boardwalk slats were covered in frost! The chill didn't seem to bother the extensive birdlife - here oceanside of the boardwalkI came across a couple of scavenging pelicans who seemed quite tame. The famous Largs Pier, erected at the same time as the hotel frames the back of the photo.

On our first evening in Adelaide city we ventured forth out of our hotel to find thousands of people young and old all streaming in one direction, they were bedecked in black and white scarves and hats and were heading to the 50,000 plus capacity Adelaide Oval to watch Port Adelaide FC, the oldest Aussie Rules Football team in the country. Aussie Rules in the most popular sport in Australia and we were in the heartland of the game. The game involves a ball and 36 players running around a huge oval shaped pitch, there seem to be very few rules and plenty of mayhem. Despite the violence on the pitch the fans are generally well behaved and, as at Australian rugby and cricket games, they're allowed to drink beer and watch at the same time. Of course in order to provide pints of beer to thousands of punters in a short space of time novel serving systems are needed. I wandered over to the stadium the morning after the game and took this photo of one of the self-service bars just inside the gates - it's not just lager either, Stone and Wood's offering is quite a tasty light hoppy ale.

PS I knew that West End is a standard Aussie lager and had assumed that the drink on the far side was also an Australian style light beer but in fact it's 4.5% alcoholic lemonade - must be very refreshing if that's what takes your fancy!