Hong Kong Stopover

We had a three night stop-over in Hong Kong on the way back to break the journey and to help reduce the jet-lag.  Like most big Asian cities, it's big, dirty, and noisy but has a vibrancy and charm that makes it unique.  It's not all concrete jungle though - there were black kites nesting just over the road from our hotel, and we did our best to find nature inside or outside the city.

The first stop for any tourist in Hong Kong is Victoria Peak which despite the monstrous viewing platform and ridiculous shops up there is a fairly green patch of mountain.  This is the obligatory view of the city from the Peak.

There is a pleasant walk that winds its way round the peak so that you get views of each side of the island.  This is a magpie-robin that we found there.

Having walked round the Peak, we wandered higher up towards the Victoria Peak Gardens.  This is a Red-whiskered bulbul that we found in a playground and garden on the way up.

I'm fairly sure that this is a scaly thrush. We found it hunting for worms in the Victoria Peak Gardens along with a number of olive-backed pipits and a lady playing a harp.

On our second day in Hong Kong we extended our knowledge of the public transport system and went out to the Hong Kong Wetlands Park.  Here we found this very pretty female Daurian Redstart.  

Also at the Wetlands Park, there were a number of butterflies still around (it's winter there or at least the cooler season - about 18-20 deg C)  This one is a fairly well camouflaged Lemon Emigrant (my dear Watson!).

But when it comes to camouflage, some species adopt a more subtle approach.  This Chocolate Royal butterfly has leg-like prongs on its wings and markings that look like another insect so that a predator will attack the wrong end and give the butterfly chance to fly off.

The National flower of Hong Kong is that of the Hong Kong Orchid Tree (Bauhinia blakeana - a sterile hybrid).  Hong Kong is not a nation, of course, but now part of China.  It does have a flag though, and it features a stylized representation of this flower (considerably more beautiful than a magnolia too).

On the trip I've seen 3 species of spoonbill - the Royal, the Yellow-billed, and this, the smallest species, the Black-faced Spoonbill in the Wetlands Park.

No visit to Hong Kong would be complete without a trip on the Star Ferry from Kowloon to see the lights from the Island.

Back on the mainland

Just one week before we pack up and leave Australia, but there's still plenty to see and do.

We were amazed and puzzled to see this large insect fly up onto a branch.  The wings looked like a dragonfly and were as big, indeed bigger, than some dragonflies.  But the body was nothing like a dragonfly.  Something about it made me think 'lacewing', so I Googled Australian lacewings and it came up straight away - It's a blue-eyes lacewing and the wings can reach 11cm.  No kidding!

Spiders everywhere of course, but not necessarily identifiable.  This one had pretty yellow stripy legs so qualified for a photo.

This is a Common Buttercup - common to Australians, that is, but unknown to us pommies.  This is Ranunculus lappaceus.  Did you know that ranunculus means little frog?  Goodness knows why botanists named it that - maybe something to do with the seed pods.

If you are squeamish don't look at this photo - oops too late.  Probably the ugliest fly in Australia, but there are plenty of contenders for that prize.  It was certainly one of the biggest.

You will often see trees like this one in Australia, and it is often called the Scribbly Gum.  The scribbles are caused by the larva of a moth which eats its way into and under the bark and follows a zig-zag path and then doubles back on itself.  The tree produces scar tissue in response which the larva finds highly nutritious. The larva makes its way out to pupate and eventually the outer bark falls off showing the zig-zag tracks.  There are about 10 different eucalyptus trees showing scribbles and about 14 different moth species scribbling.  The best known tree is Eucalyptus haemastoma and the first moth species described was Ogmograptis scribula - a micromoth.

This a really pretty lizard - and check out the false eyelashes! So far it is unidentified so I'll call it the Eyelashed lizard for now until I find out what it should be called.

There are more than 50 different species of Australian sundew, and many look similar to this one.  It was only about an inch across and growing in a damp crack in rocks near a stream.  The genus is Drosera.

This looked to me like a skipper butterfly from the way its wings were held, but the Australian name for it is Greenish Grass Dart (Ocybadistes walkeri), though it is listed as a skipper butterfly.

This also looks like a skipper, but so far I've not been able to identify it.

Something not quite so pretty to look at and definitely one of Australia's less pleasant animals - it's a leech.  We stopped to look at it and to take photos, thinking "that's interesting, we didn't know Australia had leeches", and we'd never seen them before.  But just as we were setting off walking again we realized that we'd got several on our boots and socks.  After a bit of panicky scraping we managed to get away without any involuntary blood donations.

Tasmania 3

Okay, there were more photos than I thought so I've divided them into 3, and this is definitely the last Tasmania post - until next time we go, that is.

Another wallaby that's fairly common in Tassie is the Bennett's wallaby.  This is a sub-species of the red-necked wallabies we saw at Potato Point earlier in the holiday, but this one was quite shy and not at all sure if it was safe to stay near the people in the car that had suddenly stopped in front of it.

Tasmanian devils are Tassie's iconic marsupial, but they are in serious trouble at the moment due to a virulent contagious cancer. For once, it isn't man's fault and the authorities are doing all they can to save it - including this quarantine centre where healthy animals are separated from potentially diseased animals in the wild.

This pretty lizard is a White's skink.  We found it and many others near a view-point on the Freycinet peninsula, a particularly wild and relatively untouched part of Tasmania.

This kookaburra not only posed nicely, but allowed me to creep up on him to get a better shot.  Other Australians walking on the same track couldn't understand why I wanted a photo of such a common bird.

This very blue-grey seal was snoozing (and snoring) peacefully on the rocks at Bicheno.  I've not been able to identify it yet as it doesn't seem to be a common one.  More research required.

And last but not least, a gull that I'd not seen before because they are only found around the South coast of Australia - the Pacific Gull.  That's a big bird with a wicked looking beak.

Tasmania 2

From Cradle Mountain, we moved on to Launceston, near the Bass Strait coast, then down to Scamander on the East coast, Bicheno further South - one of our favourite places on the coast from where we visited Freycinet National Park.  From there we went back to Hobart.

 One of Tasmania's specialities is the Black Currawong and it is a very common bird there.  On the mainland, the Pied Currawong is the common species but they don't occur on Tassie.

When it comes to colourful, the birds don't have it all their own way.  This shield-bug found in the Cataract Gorge in Launceston is a strong contender for the most colourful prize.

Farther along the Cataract Gorge we were amazed to see this New Zealand fur seal haul itself onto the rocks and lie there basking in the sun.  New Zealand fur seals are found with their  Australian fur seal cousins in the Bass Strait, but this one was about 50km inland up the Tamar Estuary.  Maybe he just knew a good rock when he saw one.

 This chunky spider we found just as we were about to get back in the car after pestering an echidna.  No idea what species, but she was a big girl and looked ready for a fight.

Pademelons are a Tasmanian endemic wallaby.  They are quite small with shorter legs and tail than other wallabies which makes moving around in dense forest much easier.  And it makes them seriously cute.  This one was cleaning up after the tourists near a waterfall by eating a banana skin.

Bottle-brush trees are an Australian speciality and many different species can be found there.  These two photos show the bud spike and flower spike of the Silver Banksia or Silver Bottle-brush tree.

Another Australian speciality is the Grass Tree.  These start from the ground and end up with a trunk one or two metres high.  They are always the first plants to regenerate after bush fires and many show by their blackened trunk that they've been there during a fire.  This one is a mere babe with no trunk yet visible.  I find that staring into the centre makes you lose all perspective and starts messing with your vision.

Back to birds, we had a brief visit to the Botanical Gardens in Hobart where this angry looking Little Wattle-bird had his fill of nectar from this showy tree.

Tasmania 1

There was lots to see in Tasmania, but out of 7 places that we stayed, only 1 had usable WiFi.  So tht is why I've divided the photos into two posts.  Tasmania, or Tassie as it is affectionately known is beautiful and full of wildlife and wild places.  It has its own blend of wildlife - some species the same as the mainland, some that the mainland doesn't have, and missing some that the mainland does have.  In many cases where the same species occurs in both, then the Tasmanian examples are often different enough to be described as sub-species.

Echidna

One of the first species we saw was the echidna - this is slightly less spiky and more furry than the mainland examples, probably due to the cooler, insular climate.  Like the duck-billed platypus, this is a monotreme, or egg-laying mammal.  

Sometimes, very occasionally, you can get close to the wildlife, especially if, like this red-billed gull, they are sat on a nest or protecting their young.  In such cases it is best to take the photo and get out quickly to minimize the distress.  I say red-billed gull because that is how I know it from New Zealand.  In Australia it is the same species (Larus novaehollandeae) but is called the Silver Gull.

This is the flower-head of Button-grass.  It is a species that defines its own special habitat with its own endemic species.  It occurs on the mainland, but is most extensive on Tasmania where it thrives on wet, poorly drained and nutrient poor soils.  It is also fire-resistant and nearly always contains dry material that catches fire easily.

The white flag-iris is a common plant in Australia, but the name doesn't really do the plant justice.  It would suit something like Splendid white flag-iris better.

Much of the moorland on the approach to Cradle Mountain consists of button-grass moorland.  This is the  view looking towards, if not at, Cradle Mountain over some of that button-grass.

Many of the hillsides at the side of the road on the run up towards Cradle Mountain are covered in wildflowers.  It would be useful someday to have time to identify them.

This beetle doesn't seem to mind what the flower is called as long as he can rest on it.  Besides, I don't know what he's called either except for shiny green beetle.

It was nice to see this coral lichen again.  The last time we saw it was in New Zealand in quite different habitat. It has the most exquisite structure that's so unusual it doesn't seem to be part of the natural world.  But it is definitely a lichen, and has nothing to do with coral other than its appearance.

The place we were staying at - Lemonthyme Lodge - was originally built as a backpackers wilderness lodge. It's more luxurious now but it's still 8 km up a dirt road and is a fascinating place to stay.  Each night, they put out scraps to attract the wildlife which gives an opportunity to see brush-tailed possums like this as well as a few pademelons.  Interestingly these possums are a protected species in Oz, but are considered vermin in New Zealand where they eat tons of vegetation every night.

Another interesting beetle, also unidentified, though it has a look of the ladybird about it which may be a good place to start.

This blue-tongued lizard posed nicely for the camera and didn't seem to want to move however close the camera got.

 Another plant that doesn't look natural is this Spreading Pinkberry - such an imaginative name, but it really was that pink. (Leptecophylla divaricata)

And while we are looking at startling colours, how about this red velvet fungus growing loudly on the end of a moss and lichen covered fallen tree.

The Blue Mountains

The views from Echo Point are stunning, and the descent down the 900 steps of the Grand Staircase to the valley are almost worth it.  The few miles of fairly pristine bush along the bottom are interesting, but the slog back up the Furber steps is definitely a test.

White-browed Scrub-wren

This Scrub-wren popped up on a rock as we were walking along and was as surprised to see us, as we were it.  One occasion when I just happened to have the right lens on.

Satin Bower Bird

The female bower bird was more stunning in flight with her chestnut brown primary and tail feathers spread out.  She had just been fighting with a much bigger Currawong, so she may well have been protecting a nearby nest.

At the top of the cliff we were rewarded with the sight of this attractive butterfly.  It wasn't keen on opening its wings but it was just as beautiful with the wings closed.

On another occasion we went for a walk at Glenbrook at the other side of the Blue Mountains.  The wildlife highlights were this yellow-tailed black cockatoo...

And this large beetle with his warning colours on.

The historical highlight was a view of the Red Hand Cave.  This is where about 1600 years ago, aborigines used red ochre to make hand prints on the wall of a cave.  As primitive art goes, it's nothing special, but the fact that it has lasted for 1600 years in the open is mind-blowing and it felt a privilege just to be there and to see it.