Lilydale Falls

Another great bushwalk yesterday.  It rained hard overnight and then some more in the morning, but it cleared in the afternoon.  (If you don't like the Tassie weather, just wait an hour, it will change!)

On this trip, we went to Lilydale Falls, about 30 minutes outside of Launceston.  A short hike from the carpark took us up to the falls.

You can tell we had some rain, the stairs look like they descend into the pool.  Which they might, since we didn't follow them to their end!





This is a Yellow Admiral, a butterfly native to Australia and New Zealand.  It has prompted us to create a new list for the right sidebar - "Insects"  We also added a Satin Flycatcher to our bird list.

We also walked through part of Merthyr Park near Lilydale.  This is a eucalyptus forest on 47 hectares along the Second River.

We found several Laughing Kookaburra hunting in the forest.

We also found this "Prickly Beauty."  Leigh thinks it's named after her!

Stay tuned for some exciting posts in the near future, including "Lemon Tarts," "Stringybark Eucalyptus," and "Endemic Species!"

Scenes from a run

Today I went for a 4 mile run.  I did 4 miles of speed work yesterday so wanted today's run to be nice and slow.  I brought my camera along to show you one of my favorite Launceston running paths.

Such a beautiful place to run right along the water.  The weather was great too-almost 70 and breezy.  I am very lucky to have such nice places to run while here. 

Liffey Falls

We took a nice drive into the Great Western Tiers today and hiked to Liffey Falls.  The Tiers are a series of mountain bluffs in the central highlands.

After a drive full of hairpin turns on a narrow gravel road, we arrived at the park.  We hiked down through a eucalyptus forest into a temperate rainforest at the Liffey River. 

Back at the carpark, we added a couple of new birds to our list, the Flame Robin and Silvereye.  I've changed the ordering of the birds and animals list (right sidebar) to record the most recent additions at the top.

Yellow Wattlebird

Since we moved to this apartment, we have been awoken almost daily by a harsh bird call.  We have previously imagined this ugly sound as what a dying chicken might make.  (As an aside, Aussies refer to the chicken as a "chook.") 

Today, we believe we have finally identified this demon bird.  Our bird book describes the voice of the Yellow Wattlebird as "extraordinary discordant gurgling and regurgitation noises."  Other sources have described it as "a person coughing or vomiting."  What a good neighbor!

More Weekend Pics

 



Burnie 10

Sunday morning I ran the Burnie 10 as Ben mentioned in previous posts.   The race didn't start until 11:15 which meant we could sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast before the race.  We are so used to races starting at 7 or 8 in the morning.  There were over 3700 people signed up for the 10K race.  It was a really fun race on an out and back course along the water.  Coming back we were running into a pretty strong headwind which I think may have slowed me down a bit, but I was very happy with my time of 1:05:12 which was better than the other two 10K races I have run before.  

Ready to go before the race



The first place finisher! Check out his time!  Faster than 5 minutes per mile-amazing!



I'm almost to the finish line!



Yay, I'm done!

More Platypi!

After Leigh shattered her personal record in the Burnie Ten today, we drove home by way of Latrobe which claims to be the "Platypus Capital of the World."

They have a Big Platypus to prove their superiority.  (A future blog post might explore the Australian fascination with big objects.)

Nearby, we discovered another platypus feeding in the Mersey River.  Thankfully, the pictures are better than yesterday's.

The platypus is a fascinating creature.  With a bill like a duck, feet like an otter, and a tail like a beaver, British scientists thought the first specimen sent from Australia was a hoax.  However, platypus truth is stranger than fiction.  Adult males even have a venomous spur on the hind foot which can be quite painful.  Technically a mammal, the platypus lays eggs.  It uses electroreception to detect electrical signals from its prey (usually small invertebrates).  What a crazy animal!