Adventures in Sydney Aquarium Wonderland Part 2

Here are some pretty grazing dugong (and fish) pics to arouse your interest ... and don't forget to join the Sydney Aquarium Conservation Fund. STILL TO COME: I'll post the Lego mermaid pic once Cat downloads it from her camera.

Adventures in Sydney Aquarium Wonderland Part I

I'm entertaining my friend Cat from the USA who I've known for over 15 years but only met in person less than a week ago. She used to work as a Marketing Manager for Warp Graphics who published WaveDancers back in the mid 90s. Jozef, Bruce (ex-BMP partner and co-writer) and I hit it off with her then and we've kept in touch through triumph and tragedy and become FaceBook buddies. She's only got nine days here and yesterday we devoted an afternoon to the Sydney Aquarium.

I hadn't been for a long time so I was surprised at how deceptive it was in size. The entry looks quite small but actually hides a labyrinth of rooms, alcoves, passageways, tunnels and both miniature and giant tanks. It actually took us four hours to make our way through from top to bottom and the only thing we missed through either a wrong turn or a miss was the glass bottom boat. Next time ...

However, we found the aquarium to be magical. There was smaller tanks for marine exhibits such as the moray eels which hid in a bundle of pipes and larger tanks for an abundance of tropical fish like the Barrier Reef exhibit that also held wonderful coral and anemone life. Some of my favourites included the moon jellyfish, upside down jellyfish (which looked like giant snowflakes if you looked at them from the top), the gropers and giant cods, the glorious weedy sea dragon and elegant seahorses, the wise and all knowing octopus who I could have stayed and watched for ages (as well as its relative the cuttlefish), the wobbegong sharks in the giant shark tank, and, of course, the wonderful dugongs, which we covered in a previous post. (Still can't believe it took me two years to get here!)

The entryway to the dugong tank was a ramp that led you through a lovely mermaid meets dugong mural (see attached images) and then into a large tank which you could view from the top and also from the bottom. Dugongs feed on sea grasses from the ocean floor which are difficult to harvest and also disturb the environment. The nearest equivalent and yummiest plant life is the tried and true cos (romaine) lettuce. The leaves are threaded into square plates with grids in them and then lowered to the bottom. The dugongs swim down to feed, as well as multiple fish.

The dugongs were a delight – one male (Pig) and one female (Wuru). Their tails and fins were indeed mermaid-like and their gentle faces looked as though they were smiling. There was a lovely peaceful energy about them. Check out the pics in Part 2 of this post.

The whole experience made me want to get back into the water and start snorkelling and diving again (though I'd have to go back and do another scuba course from scratch because I've forgotten pretty much everything).

Here's more info about the Sydney Aquarium, and if you want to adopt an ocean creature then choose from the dugong, saltwater crocodile, marine turtle, clownfish (as in Finding Nemo), grey nurse shark, little / fairy penguin, the wonderful platypus, and white's seahorse.

Blessed are Australian waters indeed!

The Mimic Octopus

We support various environmental groups and receive regular email newsletters from them about what's happening on the planet. A recent story "The Amazing Mimic Octopus" on Care2Causes recently made us sit up and pay attention because the accompanying video was simply fascinating. The octopi featured in the video are shape-shifters – they mimic everything from poisonous banded sea snakes to lion fish to a "furry turkey", which to us looks more like one of Australia's most venomous creatures – the stonefish. Apparently there are 15 species of mimic octopus. Glad to know that Aussie biologists are at the forefront of this discovery ... coming from a land of glorious beaches most of us appreciate and respect the ocean world and its wondrous magical inhabitants.

Giant Jellyfish

Seems like Japan is a "hive" of activity when it comes to underwater life (what a terrible mixed metaphor but you get our drift! Haha – "drift"  – just some juvenile humour at work here). This story, however, isn't funny. Although the photo is remarkably beautiful, CNN.com tells us in its "Japanese Fishermen Brace for Giant Jellyfish" article that, "Giant jellyfish descend on the Sea of Japan, causing untold devastation to coastal villages and leaving a trail of destruction and human misery behind." The species is called Nomura's Jellyfish and it can grow 1.83 metres (6 feet) in diameter and weighs 204 kilos (450 pounds). They swim in shoals and can rip fishing nets apart. We wouldn't want those stingers wrapping us up any time soon.

Teaching Baby Wolf to Howl

You all know I'm an animal lover ... well I came across this video the other day and have been emailing it left right and centre to all my friends. Now I want to share it with you. It's just gorgeous. I've seen this Wolf-Man on Australia's version of 60 Minutes and I love the work he's doing with these wonderful animals  – he's become part of a wild pack in the UK and has found a great girlfriend taboot who's willing to eat raw meat alongside him in order to undergo wolf initiation and be accepted by the pack. When I watched this video it just made me soft and fuzzy for the entire day. Hope you love it as much as I do. I have bestowed it with repeat-viewing status.

No Mermaids, No Comics, No BMP

Why did we post this? It's just too adorable not to.

Knee Deep in Kitty Cats

This has nothing to do with comics or mermaids I know but I have to tell you I am catching feral kittens again. I have caught three out of four and the last one is eluding me. I feel like Sylvester and Wile E Coyote all rolled up in one – hatching plans that inevitably backfire – although I am stalking kittens not canaries or road runners. I must add that I also have no intention of eating the kittens or possess any instincts like Clem from the Buffy TV series. 

For those of you are unfamiliar with my exploits, I live on a farm and I look after 10 domestic cats and about ten plus feral cats. I am attempting to get the ferals desexed (or spayed as it is known in the States) but they are exceedingly street smart and refuse point blank to step into the cat cages. I have written about my adventures on my Tame Feral Cats blog. Of the kittens born to the two fertile feral females (all my domestic cats have been neutered – both male and female), I have rehomed some and kept some. We just can't afford to let the population get out of control. This is very stressful as I cannot afford to fall in love with them all as I invariably do, so unless I am going to keep them I do not name them. 

The kittens you see in the pic are the now grown up ex-feral Squeaker Sisters – Sihri and Sasha – covered in earlier blog posts. They were handed to me in a box by a neighbour who had had them dumped on her two days before she was flying off to Alaska for six months. The other two are part of a litter of five – Samson and Savannah – born wild but now loving and cuddly and actively seeking contact with their human companions. Their siblings found wonderful homes.

The three I am socialising now (please come forth oh fourth one!) lived in a drain on our property. Progress is painstakingly slow but I had a breakthrough this morning when I stroked one while she was eating and she didn't hiss at me or run away. Check out the "Chronicles of the Xmas Kitty" journal entries if you want to read more.

Mermaids & Dugongs at Sydney Aquarium

I spotted this gorgeous pic in an advert in the Sunday papers and was completely in raptures. It's the promo image for the new Mermaid Lagoon exhibit at Sydney Aquarium. The tropical water oceanarium habitat features two dugongs (Pig, a 10-year old male and Wuru, a four-year old female). Only five are on exhibition around the world and Sydney is the only place in Australia where you can get close up and personal with them. The tank also features turtles, schooling fish and rays.

According to the media release:

[Dugong] numbers are declining in the wild due to a number of human threats including degradation of habitat, boating injuries, and drowning in nets. 

These two were raised at Sea World after being rescued as orphan calves before being brought to the Sydney Aquarium.

In the past, superstitious sailors and pirates often mistook dugongs for mermaids, thereby creating the mythology. I believe they both exist, but who am I am to say – I'm just a writer! Check out full exhibition details on the Sydney Aquarium website. Jozef and I are dusting off our walking shoes and heading down to Darling Harbour once the holiday crowds thin out. Thanks to Loren Pawlik, Sydney Aquarium Media Communications Executive for allowing us to use the video.

The 6 Deadliest Creatures (That Can Fit in Your Shoe)

Cracked.com has one of the funniest articles I have ever read in years about poisonous creatures around the world – most of which come from Australia. It is the commentaries that actually cracked me up, especially the mention (Ogenbite 12/14/2008) that the Brazillian Wandering Spider is the "Rasputin of spiders". And I agree with Davo (12/14/2008) "Australia isn't for pussies...". This article probably just undid everything the $40 million dollar Baz Luhrmann Australia Tourism advertising campaign set out to achieve!

More Pigs in Mud

Following on from my God Save the Pig post on 23 September and the follow on story Can't Get Enough of Dat Darn Pig, I've received lots of private and FaceBook feedback from some of our readers who were fascinated with the ongoing saga of Bruce. I also received another 'domestic pig gone wild' anecdote from my wonderful friend Sue Hudson from Armidale. Sue is an Archeological Consultant specialising in Aboriginal archeology. She sent me a photo of this beauty, wallowing in the mud and the following story:

Life is full of stressful situations:

When everything gets to be too much of a hassle, lie back, take things easy, look at the bright side of life and relax!

While investigating some land for rezoning and looking for Aboriginal sites and relics, I was driving down a narrow lane searching for things of antiquity and I found this amazing site – Miss Piggy lying in a muddy pool of water under a railway crossing. This spot was shared with some ducks who were busy going about their days foraging for food (stressful for ducks). Obviously Miss Piggy had been having a hard day (waiting for food to be deposited), stressed out by not being with other pigs, hot, dry and feeling the world was just TOO much. Being a pig required keeping her skin cool and free from annoying biting insects, so she relocated to piggy heaven. Not even my vehicle stopped her from enjoying this blissful de-stressing.

We should take good advice when it confront us – do what pigs do – just go to the nearest muddy pond and veg out!!! 

Can't Get Enough of Dat Darn Pig!

More on Bruce the rogue pig – he has apparently become a stud-master at a piggery. I hope there's some accountability involved and he's not secretly sacrificed when he's no longer considered newsworthy. I looked at some new footage on ninemsn and I think his size has been grossly exaggerated. There are several breeding pigs on a property down the road from our farm, which we walk past every few days when we're exercising. Their size is on par with Bruce. If the piggery owners remain true to their word then this is a very happy outcome for the animal and we can all breathe easy from here on.

God Save the Pig!

A rogue "pony sized" pig that adopted 63-year old vegetarian, Caroline Hayes, has by the latest accounts apparently been saved from being destroyed. The pushy (and previously thought to be doomed) pig visited her rural property in northern New South Wales ten days ago and has refused to leave despite many forcible attempts by Council rangers to evict him. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Ms Hayes told the ABC she took pity on the pig when he wandered into her yard 10 days ago, nicknaming him Bruce and patching up a few ailmenets.

"When I found it, it had 15 ticks in its eyes which I actually took out," she said.

"One of its eyes it couldn't see out of, so I put cream in it and I fixed its back up, but apparently it's actually claimed my land and claimed my place."

Bruce – who by my reckoning has demonstrated remarkable resilience and intelligence – obviously knows a good person when he sees one. Despite having bailed up Ms Hayes in her outside toilet, ripped up a king sized mattress and rolled up a mat, he obviously has a champion in her. When council workers tried to remove Bruce, the distraught Ms Hayes, asked them to leave. I hope he stays permanently or if not finds another safe home. We'll just have to wait and see how the story pans out but I'll keep you posted. Thanks to my sister for giving me the hat tip. Check out photos at the ABC North Coast and the Daily Telegraph. In the meantime, hail to the pig and hail to the heroine!

Winter Mornings

I do not have a fondness for winter mornings. Despite the fact that I am an 'A' (see my 1 May 2008 post on Circadian Rhythms) it's difficult to get up to cold dank dark weather because like many Australians – warmth and water are my thing. However, this morning was different. The sunrise was orange and pink and gorgeous. I traipsed the farm in my gumboots, sinking into ankle deep mud in places – a side effect from the heavy rainfalls we've had over the last couple of weeks. I walked to the top of the hill and looked across a large vista of mist in the pastures below and just made out the silhouettes of horses and cattle. Around me were the shadowy frames of deciduous trees still clinging to some lone yellowing leaves. Two peregrine falcons screeched from their perch on a gum tree – new neighbours I believe – they've been here for about a fortnight and I think they're going to stay. A flock of ibis flew overhead in formation and I heard the call of black cockatoos again which means more rain. All in all it was a wondrous morning. Sometimes it's good to find a bit of stillness and appreciate the natural world.

Kitty 4 & 5 Staying in the Family

I'm glad to announce that Kitty 4 & 5 are going to my sister and her partner. Here's a pic of them both – the tabby is a boy; the tortie and white is a girl. They're gorgeous and a little older than when these photos were taken. And in case you were wondering what's happening with the Squeaker Sisters (see 10/5/08 post) who were dumped at about four weeks old in a box on a neighbour's doorstep, well they're staying with me. The grey one has been named Sasha and the champagne pink and white is called Sihri. Liz, the wonderful woman who took Kitty 2 and 3 (see 26/5/08 post), has named them Aslan and Sylvester. We're all going to the vet together in a couple of weeks to get all six kittens microchipped and vaccinated. Followed up on Kitty 1 (see 2/5/08 post) the other day and she is loved and adored. I can breathe easy now.

Kitty 2 & 3 Find a Great New Home!

Remember a few weeks ago (on 6 May to be exact) when Kitty 2 (a white and silver tabby) was returned to me, well I'm pleased to announce that he and his brother Kitty 3 who has Sylvester-like black and white markings (as in the cartoon character but a whole lot cuter and far more intelligent – he would have had Tweety for breakfast by now!), have gone to a wonderful home. I dropped them off to Liz today who lives on a 15-acre farm nearby. Liz has four dogs, two horses and loves animals. We put the little ones in the sunlit back room and they started exploring straight away. They purred, ate, purred some more, played with the ping-pong balls and climbed up a roll of carpet. They both appeared to be very relaxed so I felt comfortable and peaceful about leaving them there. In weeks to come when they're older and allowed to explore the garden and the terrain they're going to have a grand time in an eight-room stable out the back, which has the warm smell of lucerne and horses. They're ten weeks old now and very robust, and Liz has kindly extended visitation rights to me if I want to see how they're going. In the interim, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of photos and updates sent to my phone. The pics were taken when they were about five weeks old, so they're a little bigger now.

The Squeaker Sisters!

My two dumped kittens that I have dubbed the "Squeaker Sisters" for obvious reasons (they don't meow yet) have got the runs. At the moment they are sleeping and purring on my lap, but I have had to clean up several sloppy dollops of brown goop from my pink office carpet over the last couple of days with my Martha Gardener's Country Homestead Wool Mix. There are soapy patches on the carpet now and the entire room smells of eucalyptus, and I've gone through more towels and sheets than an army hospital. Need to give the sisters a kitty shampoo and massage tomorrow, and check them out at the vet. Will also need to get my carpet cleaned some time soon. Here's a little (slightly out of focus because they keep moving darn them!) peek at the two critters. 

A Dignified Death

Yesterday afternoon a crested pigeon flew into a  glass window on the farm where I live and broke its neck. Our huge black, King Kong of cats, Scotchgard, instantly leapt towards the poor creature but was swiftly diverted by a pack of screaming women who wanted to check if the bird was still alive. It wasn't. I quickly picked up its body and swaddled it in a towel, hoping our initial triage assessment was wrong and that it was merely stunned. I put the bird in our sports room and closed the door so that no inquisitive animals should take it upon themselves to wander in. Needless to say, when I looked at the bird again, I could no longer deny the reality when confronted with full blown rigor mortis. It got me to thinking about its burial. I know that some people will toss an animal's body haphazardly into the trash, but I think otherwise. I firmly believe a human, bird or beast should be allowed a dignified death.  I believe it should be honoured by going into the ground to become one again with nature, which was indeed what happened to my poor pigeon who was buried right outside my office window.

It also got me to thinking about a writer who had a huge impact on me both as a teenager and as an adult – Oscar Wilde. His short stories were, and still are, amongst the most beautiful soul-centred ones I have ever read and they still inspire me and make me weep every time I reacquaint myself with them. My little crested pigeon reminded me of one of those stories – The Nightingale and the Rose – (warning: spoilers ahead!) a story about a nightingale that sacrifices her life to create a red rose for a young man to give to his love who in turn rejects him and the flower he bears. In a fit of pique, the young man then willfully tosses the rose into the gutter where it lies with the dead body of the nightingale getting trampled by horses and carriages and passersby. 

So this is a lament for all the broken bodies of animals labeled as road kill, for the poor dumped pets out there who die carelessly and without compassion, and for the wild creatures that die inhumanely at the hands of the unsympathetic few.

Bonjour Again Kitty 2

Kitty 2 has returned home. Apparently, he pined so much for human and animal companionship when he was left alone that it was heartbreaking. Ashlie being the sensible woman that she is, recognised that he was exceptionally social. To deprive him of animal interaction for the better part of the day while she was away at work would have been tantamount to cruelty. The sad thing is that she and her son had bonded nicely with him. They had played with him and had given him a bath so he was extra clean and fluffy when I picked him up. He cowered and yowled all the way home and I needed to keep petting him through the cat cage and reassure him with countdowns – "we're only 15 minutes away from home ... only ten minutes to go ... nearly there, it's just around the corner". When he was reunited with his siblings he became a new cat – leaping about with joy, purring his contentment and exploring the room again to reacquaint himself with his domicile. The experience was extremely stressful on both the cat and me. I was told the other day that one of the most stressful jobs in the world was in animals welfare and that there is a quick burnout rate. I can believe it. Rehoming animals by way of merely interviewing interested parties and quickly assessing their competency as loving and responsible human beings willing to undertake to protect their animal family's health and welfare, is a huge job in itself. These kittens deserve to find people who will love them unto old age and death, and I will turn away anyone who doesn't fit that criteria. I will make one of many public proclamations right here right now – anyone working to save animals is a hero in my eyes.

Capricorn Hill Revisited

My mum, my cool friend writer/producer/director Zoe Harvey of Torrid Films and I said goodbye to Capricorn Hill yesterday. This 100-acre rural property on the road to Canberra served partly as a country home and also as a writers' and artists' retreat for several years through the generosity of owner Ken Methold, an AWGIE award winning scriptwriter and educational writer who now spends his time between a beach house on the South Coast and his Southern Highlands country retreat. Jozef, Bruce and I of BMP (Classic) were among the lucky ones to have stayed there in 2001 when it first opened. I remember bringing a plate of chocolate fudge brownies for Ken when we came to visit. They were pounced on by the other guests, the caretakers and (dare I say this rather sheepishly) us, and poor Ken nary got one. On my return home I promptly baked another batch and delivered them to him with the strict instructions he was to share them with no-one! Anyway, Ken has just sold the property and I wanted to revisit it again one more time before it passes over to its new owners, and to also show it off to my mother and my friend who have an affinity with nature as much as I do. 

It was a glorious day to visit. The sun was out and it was completely silent except for sound of the whistling wind, lapping water and various vocal birds. We walked down a slope of winter grasses to two dams brimming with water. We discovered about eight wombat burrows – absolutely wonders of excavation. Wombats are nocturnal creatures so we didn't see any up close and personal but there was lots of evidence of their travels through the pastures in the form of rather substantial droppings. Wombats can be deceiving – you think from their photos or film footage that they are small and cuddly, but in fact they can grown to about a metre in length. I saw one at dusk a few years ago crossing the driveway of a relative's property and had to wait several minutes for him to waddle to the other side before continuing in my car – he was massive (about the size of a pig but close to the ground). 

During our sojourn at Capricorn Hill, a flock of about 30 black cockatoos flew over the pine forest next door in semi formation. They don't screech like the white ones – instead they make a sound that's kinda hard to describe – for me it was like like a squeaky wheel and for Zoe it was like a rusty gate. My friend Sue Hudson who is an Aboriginal archeologist told me that black cockatoos are rain heralds if they fly in from the west. This has proved to be accurate countless of times in terms of my family farm – whenever  a couple of black cockatoos appear, we get rain within 24 hours.

Our time at Capricorn Hill was spent climbing fences, spotting butterflies and wild ducks, sitting on the deck and admiring the view, and completely surrendering to the experience. I felt lucky and grateful to have visited several times but to also have said goodbye on such an amazing day. Thanks Ken.

Au Revoir Kitty 2

I would have called him Leo if he had stayed, but I already look after 14 cats (6 domestic and 8 feral cats, the latter of which I am in the process of getting desexed). He is gregarious, exceedingly affectionate and a frenetic purrer, and he loves eating and wrestling. It was with tears that I said goodbye to Kitty 2 who went to a good home with Ashlie and her son Damon who promised to keep me informed on his progress.