Dorothy with a snake

For those who have been following my posts, I guess you remember that I have a couple of posts about my daughter's unusual interest in reptiles especially snakes, lizards and such. I am not sure if it's in the blood for hubby doesn't have any interest on any of them nor do I. But the fact that my step son has interest and even keeps them as pets, I come to think that its influence her a lot to wanting those creatures. My step son had a pet snake inside the house before but unfortunately the snake died about a year ago and since then he has only a lizard and some other pets. Dorothy had been bugging us before to have a pet snake. But we explained to her that we cannot have it for the reasons that nobody likes it except her alone, high maintenance and the thought of having a snake in the house really scares me. lolz. And just to satisfy her interest a little, I always take her to the zoo/wildlife park and even to any shows that features reptiles within our reach and last month was another great chance for her to have up close encounter with one of her favourite and coolest creatures in the world during the Blacktown City Show. Luckily, there were two wildlife entertainments, the Down Under with Reptiles and the Featherdale Wildlife Park. Dorothy spent a great deal of time in both and was given a chance to hold the snake with the supervision of the animal keeper. David on the other hand just watched and kept a good distance from the creatures.

Today's flowers-Wildflowers

Weekend bush walking trips have always been part of our life. It is a great way to rejuvenate our energy after a busy week. The kids love it too for we get to see some wild animals and birds. Other than that, I get the chance to see some native flowers that grow in the wild. That's why I never forget to bring my camera along with me to capture those beauties.

(Common Name:Mountain Devil)
Lambertia formosa is the only species in the genus to occur in eastern Australia. It is a small to medium shrub, often no more than a metre or so high but sometimes reaching 2 metres. It has stiff, linear-shaped leaves 0.3 mm wide by about 50 mm long with a sharp tip. The red, tubular-shaped flowers occur at the ends of the branches in groups of 7, each cluster being about 50 mm in length. Flowering usually occurs in winter and spring but some flowers are often present at other times of the year. The flowers contain nectar and a frequented by honey eating birds.

(No Common Name)

Isopogon is a genus of around 35 species, all occurring only in Australia. They are found in the southern half of the continent in temperate regions. Most are small to medium sized shrubs having flower clusters arranged in globular heads. The fruits are also globular in shape giving rise to the common name of "drumsticks". Some are also called "coneflowers" although this name is more usual in the related genus Petrophile.
(reference:Australian Native Plants Society )

To see more Today's Flowers entries please visit here.

Camera Critters-Grasshopper on a dahlia

It was one afternoon sometimes on January this year that I was cutting some of my dahlia flowers to be put in a vase inside our house. The dahlias at that time were blooming at its best. When I started cutting a couple, I spotted a green grasshopper on one of the flowers. He was just sitting under the petals but later moved around the flower but didn't hop away from me. He was watching me and looked like he was uncomfortable of my presence. Of course, I didn't cut that flower where the grasshopper was and just let him enjoy the flower too.

To see more Critters from all around the world please click, here.

Sky Watch Friday

These were taken while we were on board a ferry boat on our way back to Circular Quay from Manly last week. We had friends from the Philippines who came over to Australia and spent 2 days in Sydney and stayed with us. On the first day of their visit, I took them to Circular Quay and Sydney Opera House before catching a ferry boat going to Manly to have a glimpse of some of the waterfront views around Sydney. We were on the second deck when we noticed the sky started to display a beautiful sunset scene over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I captured few shots to share with you. Hope you enjoy.Have a wonderful weekend!

To see more sky photos all around the world please click, Sky Watch Friday .

At Darling Harbour

Last week, me and my friends went out to the City and one of our itinerary was to visit Darling Harbour, one of Sydney's waterfront destinations.
While we were strolling around the Harbour to take pictures, we spotted fish swimming close enough to the surface of the water as if they were desperately begging for food. We actually saw three, one was small and the other 2 were a good size. I hurriedly focused my camera straight to them but the smaller one swam down straight to the deep while the two started to display interesting swimming movements as if they were trying to catch our attention. It was just only for few seconds and quickly they disappeared. If I am not mistaken those fishes are called silver trevallyAnother creature that caught our attention was this big jelly fish swimming around slowly in the water. It was about the size of a basketball ball and my first time to see a jellyfish of that size.
And lastly, that's us together (minus the photographer) in one of the water features of Darling Harbour. This water feature is sometimes full of kids mostly on weekends and school holidays, playing the water or simply enjoying a walk around the water feature. At that time since it was a weekday, we were so lucky to have the water feature all by ourselves. :)Please visit Watery Wednesday for more watery sites all around the world.

A gift from a friend

I was really surprised when a friend whom I dont meet regularly gave me a gift during our meeting after such a long time. We dont see each other very often only on certain occasions. Last week, we were able to meet each other. It was a schedule meeting as we have friends from the Phils came over for a holiday here who were staying in our house. She gave me this colourful couch bag. It was my first time to have this colour as all my bags/couches are brown, white and mostly black. I really like it for a change. In fact, I have been using it since the day she gave it to me. Thanks a lot my friend. So sweet and thoughtful of you to give such a surprise present.

District Swimming Carnival

First of all I would like to thank you all for all the support, wishes and words of encouragement for my daughter. It was her best District Swimming Carnival ever. Not that she won but the best results among her District Swimming Competitions. We are just so glad that she is getting better and improving her game every time she is in the competition. But unfortunately it is really not her time yet, her swimming campaign has come to an end. There were 2 heat in the 12 yr old girls Freestyle and she was in the first heat, and came out 3rd place. While in the Breaststroke, there were 3 heat and again she was in the first heat, and came out 3rd again. She was really doing great. But she didn't come out a winner in the overall result of those races. It was tough competitions and some of the competitors have been trained so well which put Dorothy a far way behind in terms of skills and techniques.
I mentioned in my previous post that the Swimming Carnival was held on the 22nd of Feb but sorry I overlooked something with the schedule, must be my excitement overwhelmed me at that time..hehehe. It was actually held on the 24th of Feb. I stayed in the pool until my daughter finished her competitions.
The picture above was taken at the moment she surfaced from her dive. As you can see, her goggles came off (see, that pink thing around her neck) Poor thing! She must haven't put it properly but glad she was able to adjust it while underwater.

Camera Critters

These were taken during our visit to Chinese Garden in Darling Harbour. The duck tried his luck against those big Koi to grab pieces of bread that were thrown to the water. There were no other ducks except himself to compete with but underneath the water were big hungry mouths of the Koi. We saw that despite all of those competitors, he was still able to grab few pieces, otherwise he won't stay there waiting and fighting for food. This duck is called a Pacific Black Duck, the most familiar and common of all native ducks to Australians.

To see more Critters from all around the world please click, here.

Sky Watch Friday

To see more photos all around the world please click, Sky Watch Friday .

Wentworth Falls Lake

Wentworth Falls Lake is in the Blue Mountains about 98 km west of Sydney. It was created by the damming of Jamison Creek to supply water for the steam railway. The Lake is now home to native and introduced waterfowl, native fish such as Gudgeons, and water bugs including freshwater crayfish, freshwater shrimp and dragonfly nymphs. It is also a popular picnic spot, with barbeque facilities and children’s play equipment.

Please visit Watery Wednesday for more watery sites all around the world.