Tropical Queensland

And it's not even 8 am!

A brief update on the parkrunning scene - we have been in Airlie Beach, Northern Queensland - not as hot as last year, this being still wintertime so we've some good runs (results below), joined by some younger parkrunners. In fact Airlie Beach is one of the trial locations for the first three Junior Parkruns in Australia - and here are two enthusiastic junior parkrunners!

You can pick a lock with this beak!

Airlie Beach is up in the tropics and there's some exotic wildlife around - this little fellow kept flitting around by the front drive of the house where we were staying. For days I'd been trying to get a photo of this elusive character until one morning it was as if it had lost its shyness and it was sitting a few feet away happily chirruping to itself. Easy enough to identify as an Olive Backed Sunbird - how about that?

Mrs C: "It's a blue sea you see!"

And here's Mrs C at the top of Mt Rooper after a pleasant walk through the bush with some of the Whitsunday Islands behind us. Isn't life idyllic here? And dangerous - we were warned about dangerous stinging plants by a notice at the beginning of the walking track. And those beautiful blue seas behind us? Full of deadly stonefish and puffer fish, lethal sharks, poisonous jellyfish and stinging coral. If you've tread on a stonefish you're in trouble unless you can get specialist treatment, they're called stonefish because they look like stones, not fish! And they can be found out of water on the beach. The Japanese consider stonefish to be a delicacy as long as the venom is removed. Pufferfish on the other hand are poisonous  when eaten. And I've not even mentioned the spiders and snakes!

Mick Jagger?

Airlie Beach parkruns -
22nd Sept: Me 6th 22:37, Vicky 44th 34:32
29th Sept: Me 8th 22:10, Vicky 85th 38:18
6th Oct: Me 43rd 33:58 (ran with Annie who beat me!)