Tuesday, March 30, 2004

That was a very busy weekend. Friday me, Ellen and John from work went to Lorne (Great Ocean Road) to do small mammal trapping. A very rich man who owns land near Lorne wants to build a spa center there and he wont get any permits to do that if there are rare animals in the area. So we trapped but did not get any rare animils, we got Agile Antechinuses, Bush rats and Swamp rats and I got a bloody TICK on me, horrible... Ellen said that she had never seen me act as girlie because i completely panicked and just wanted to get that beast OFF !!! The idea to tape it on video came to me after we had flushed it down the sink, what a pity... So, I am fine with ticks squeezing theire heads into other peoples flesh but nooooot on me thank you very much :) yakkk !!! My love for animals does not quite reach ticks, even though the poor things are just trying to survive... We stayed in Lorne one night in a fantastic old house/hotel where there were eggs, bacon and orange juice in the fridge, very nice and made me feel better after the tick attack :)

Sunday was the day we had been waiting for and planning for ages, our housewarming. Brilliant weather, 30 degrees and sunny and lots of people and sooooo much food. Everyone was happy and we had a great time :) As soon as our last guests left it started to rain and yesterday it was pouring so we felt very lucky with the good weather on sunday :) Pictures will come soon !!!

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Long weekend ahead, tomorrow I am going to Lorne for 2 day trapping trip with John and Ellen and on Sunday me, Ellen and Kylie are (finally) having a houswarming. We are expecting loads of people and there will be BBQ and hopefully good weather :) So I will put lots of new pictures of the house on the web next week. So have a great weekend everyone :)

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Good news for all ye HAGGIS lovers out there !!! The lost Haggis stories are lost no more, enjoy !!
AND, New fresh Haggis Hurling pictures from the 47th Annual Geelong Highland Gathering :)

HAGGIS HURLING, an ancient custom revived

Ancient

The women throwing the haggis lunch to her menfolk working in the field or at the peat cutting.

Now - World championship haggis hurling
Events for both men and women; after rubbing hands in damp peat for better grip, they mount a barrel for throwing stance and hurl a 1 1/2 lb. frozen haggis for greatest distance. World record 158 ft not beaten in recent years by competitors of all nationalities. The flying Haggis trophy is presented annually.

Fiction
The habitat of the shy Highland Haggis is at the summit of most mountains, their right legs being longer than their left; enabling them to travel at great speeds in an anti clockwise direction without slipping. However in a change of direction they will roll down the hill and lie in a helpless state to await collection by local Highland Haggis gatherers. The Haggis is sold throughout Scotland where they are considered a great delicacy.

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Well, the haggis stories have unfortunately been misplaced somewhere... hopefully we will find them tonight so dont panik !!!!!

Monday nights are always something to look forward to for me and Ellen (Kylie always has to work so she misses all the fun). On Mondays there is the fab show 'Queer eye for the straight guy' following 2 episodes (one new and one old) of 'Sex and the City'. The Queer eye is soooooooo funny, those of you who have not seen it yet HAVE to check it out. Five gay men running around and helping straight guys, transforming theire appartments and changing theire looks... priceless :) But yesterday Ellen had to work, I really enjoyed watching the show but it just was not the same without her... :( ;)

Monday, March 22, 2004

My first trapping session is over. The site I trapped on is called Urqhuarts Bluff and it is near Anglesea on the Great ocean road, not bad hahh :) Kylie helped me and we put up 100 traps last tuesday and checked them 3 following mornings. It was great, we mostly trapped Antechinus minimus but also two swampies (Swamp rat). Here are new pictures !!!!

Saturday was very lazy but Sunday boy-o-boy me and Kylie went to a Scottish Highland gathering. Her grandmother is scottish so we went around the klan tents and tried to find her familyname somewhere. It was fantastic, competitions in pipe band playing, sword dancing, wood chopping, and HAGGIS THROWING COMPETITION !!!! YES, you did not read this wrong, they were competing in hurling frozen haggises. Tomorrow you can see haggis pictures here and I will go in detail in the story of haggis hurling, specially for Sigrun and our scottish friend Gordon, haggis, Taggart, haggiiiiis :) To be continued...

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Heyyy, check out new pictures from the Grampians !!! We took these pictures with the digital camera from Uni, my 'paper' pictures are still undeveloped so soon there will be more Gramp pics.

Smoky mouse in the Grampians

Monday, March 08, 2004

Back from the Grampians. This was a fantastic trip and among the animals we trapped there were 6 Smoky mice which is an highly endangered species. We were so lucky and happy to have the chance to see this little creature :o)
Me and Ellen drove up there on friday (4 hours) and camped near the Smoky mouse site and spent the weekend trapping with people in the fauna survey group of "Field naturalists club of Victoria". Very interesting to be among people who are so passionate about saving species, extremely stimulating. There were also rock climbers on the campsite and they just could not understand why people, volunteerly, would trap animals. It was completely un-understandable for them (specially one stubborn guy). We just asked them back, why would you NOT be interested in knowing what animals are in the area ????

Anyway, apart from a very swollen ankle from an ants bite and some rain, it was a fab trip. And now Im back to work, looking forward to my own trapping next week. I think I am getting addicted to trapping...

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Xavier Rudd is my favourite musician at the moment. I heard him play in Melbourne last year and was so fascinated that I bought his album and last night he was playing on the Deakin Campus. He was absolutely fantastic and now I adore him even more :o) He is very multitalented, masters the didge, guitars, drums and sings like an angel (well, a bit hoarse angel). All you didge lovers out there, you have to check him out !!! The band Gus and Frank were really cool too, I found myself beeing really grouppie getting a CD and a poster autographed...

Well, Im off to the Grampians, hopefully we will trap some Smokey mice and some other gorgeous little animals... Have a great weekend :)

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Had a great weekend in Apollo Bay (on the Great ocean road). Fred and Judy picked me up on Saturday and we stayed with Janice and Colin and the two dogs Sassie and Milo. Very relaxing weekend with so much food that I completely overate. I was so stuffed that I could not even have apple pie for desert one evening, but I did have the icecream though... We heard about a possibly new dodgy species of Antechinus who was spotted on a roof... so perhaps it was a Roofus Antechinus??? (If you dont find this funny that might meen that I am becoming a serious biologynerd... and YES CEDRIC, I knoooow I am a nerd !!! hehe) Came back on Monday and have not been up to anything terribly exciting really since then. Just washing in our 'new' washing mashine... I did not even know these type of washing mashines ever excisted. It is an old (40 years) twin tub, where it washes in one side and then we have to take the soapy clothes out and put them in the other side where it rinses and spins. Now I do appreciate the lovely mashines where you just put the clothes in... and take them out and they are clean.
The happy news for me is that I am going to be a double auntie :) Two of my best friends in Iceland are pregnant and I just cannot beleave that I am not going to be there when everything happens... TYYYPICAL !!! But I have been promised all the details and LOTS of photos !!! :)
Next weekend me and Ellen are going to the Grampians trapping animals as a volunteers... more about that later ;)