The winter creatures have arrived in force and there are now a large number of Grey Nurse Sharks circling the rocks at Byron Bay.
Visibility was a little down later in the day as choppy waves stirred up the sediment in the shallows. The temperature was 21 degrees in the deeper sections.
I recently entered the Queensland Conservation Council‘s annual Natural Wonders Photography competition, and won the category for Native Plants and Wildlife. I took this photo of a green turtle descending from the sea surface at Manta Bommie on Stradbroke Island – and both myself and the turtle feel very honoured to be awarded this prize.
The judges stated:
A dazzling image of a veteran sea turtle diving to the depths. The composition is perfect with the sun beaming from above and space around the image to gauge scale. The barnacles add context to the age of the turtle. An extremely strong image. Well done.
The following two photos are my other entries for the competition. For the Landscape category, I sent this photo of a full moon sinking behind the Great Dividing Range from the Scenic Rim in South-east Queensland:
For another entry to the Native Plants and Wildlife category, I submitted “You Shall Not Pass”, a photo of two huntsman spiders preparing to do battle (or worse,) on a tree branch on Mount Cootha. This is my favourite of the photos as it is technically better than the others, but is probably a little more difficult to sell to tourists.
Here are some other photos of creatures that we have seen around Brisbane in the last week.
Sundive was finally allowed to start running boats again to Julian Rocks on the weekend after three months of inactivity due to Coronavirus distancing rules. I was fortunate enough to be on the top of the list for diving.
It was an absolutely spectacular day with 30 metres visibility, four divers in the water, and nobody having dived at the rocks for three months. The shot of the Cod Hole below is quite rare given that it’s unusual to have this clarity in the water.
I saw… interesting things. The boat followed my bubbles back to the mooring line, which was really very nice of the skipper!
It’s been a bit of time between updates – mainly due to inability to walk on the hill some evenings. There have been a number of birds travelling through and eating the garden’s flowers, as well as a huge number of spiders and scorpions on the slopes.
We have unfortunately had very little rain, and this is normally the rainiest time of the year. This has meant that there are typically less creatures to see in the forest, but the ones we do see are double exciting!
A bit of rain coming though Brisbane has brought a lot of insect life out into the forest. The current restrictions on public events have made it difficult to organise dive trips and group walks in the evenings but we have been lucky to get out and see some of the forest friends.
The echidna was digging around looking for ants and was undisturbed by the people – must have been hungry. The dragonfly and owls have been brought out by the heavy rain. The powerful owl was watching us very closely for a potential meal… have to be very careful when walking around in the forest given current circumstances!
It has been an interesting week with a lot of different creatures coming out to play. This is probably as a result of reasonably heavy rainfall throughout South East Queensland, and the insect life in the forest has jumped significantly (including mosquitos.)
The seas around Byron Bay have been spectacular with 26 degree water and 20 metres visibility, despite the rainfall. Leopard sharks and mantas have been hanging around Julian Rocks and the turtles have also been very excited by all the commotion.
It’s been a slow week creature-wise as we have missed a few evenings with the rains. On the upside, the rain is great for the forest! We found a brown tree snake ealier in the week, which is one of the rarer ones we see up there. It has a very thin body and enormous eyes. And a much friendly personality than some of the other brown coloured snakes around Brisbane!
We have finally had heavy rain throughout Brisbane and the northern rivers in New South Wales. This has resolved the immediate problem of drought and fires throughout the East Coast, but has also brought a huge number of biting insects to Mount Cootha, and low visibility to the waters offshore.
Fortunately, we can use these issues to our advantage when taking photos! Hopefully the rains return soon and continue filling the dams and providing the forest with water.
This porcelain crab is sitting in an anenome with its gills open so it can breath more effectively. The water is surging backwards and forwards - it took 80 photos to get this one shot. It's possible that the photos became easier as the crab became more used to me taking the photos and realised I wasn't a threat.
Been a little slower on the hill recently due to a number of other activities going on – but here’s some creatures for the new year!
We have been very fortunate to have had few fire problems this week (compared to the southern states.)
We have been in the forest and sea each day and have been lucky to see these awesome creatures. With a bit of luck the weather will be kind and let the firies do their work to save the creatures and forests (and their own homes.)
The snake is the Morelia spilota mcdowelli, McDowell’s Python. What a lovely name for such a lovely creature!
