Crystal and Abraham's Wedding

Crystal and Abraham's wedding took place at The Baths in Sorrento, Victoria.  Abraham and I drove down there the week before and spent the week racing round doing all of the last minute jobs that need doing before a wedding.  I was the Best Man at the wedding and among my jobs were to try and take the stress off the groom, arrange the bucks party, hold the rings, give a speech and look good in the photographs.

Photos on the beach.

 Me and Abraham on the Jetty.

Amy (Matron of Honour), Crystal (Bride) and Abraham (Groom). 

Abraham and I at the reception. 

The first dance of the Bride and Groom (behind the pole).

Up Mt Gillen again, quickly this time.

Today there was no work as it is the Queen's Birthday Public Holiday.  So I decided to head up Mt Gillen again.  Usually it takes around 45 minutes to climb from the car park at Flynn's Grave to the cairn at the top of the hill.  This time I decided to see how quickly I could make it up.  It is a steep walk.  From the car park to the top you ascend a total of 296 meters over 2.7 km (and most of that in the last second half of the walk).  I was quite surprised that I was able to do it in under 40 minutes this time.  Usually it takes upwards of 45 and even then I'd be going at a good pace.  I made it to the top for a well needed rest and sat in the shade until I'd recovered sufficently enough to brave the way back down.

The view from half-way up.  I was heading for the highest point where you can just make out the cairn.

Relaxing in the shade of the cairn as it was a reasonably warm day.

 

The route and the climb.

Up Mt Gillen Sideways

Climbing Mt Gillen isn't just done in the traditional way, up the path from Flynn's Grave or the roadway to the radio antennas.  You can also go up the side.  It isn't an official route, in that there isn't actually any path going up there but it can be done.  The path to the base is quite flat.  You then climb 220m vertically taking about 25 minutes.  From the top, the view is pretty impressive showing a whole different view of Alice Springs.

Admiring the view on the southern side of the hill.

 A different view of the town.

 The Sunset from the top of Mt Gillen.

To Yulara and Mutitjulu

This week I went to Yulara and Mutitjulu.  For a short week (due to the May Day holiday) it was a busy week.  On the Tuesday morning I loaded up the car with a mountain of files, my food, gear and a small amount of other equipment that is required to be taken on any bush trip (cameras, recovery gear, first aid gear, satellite communications, etc) and set off south along the Stuart Highway.  Nearly 450kms later I pulled into the resort town of Yulara.  It was around four o'clock by the time I'd unloaded everything and settled into the clinic accommodation.

The next couple of days were a blur of meetings, inspections, long car drives, amazement, frustration and exasperation.  The last two are it seems, just as much of a part of the job as the others.  Still, at least I got to see the rock again and walk around it (9.6km done in 1.5 hours).

Me and Ayers Rock (right)

ANZAC Day 2013

Up early on our Birthday morning for the Dawn Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Meeting the Wildlife of the Top End

While up in Darwin I had a bit of time to see have a look at a few of the sights.  I went to the Aquascene and the Territory Wildlife Park.  The fish feeding was fun.  You got to go right into the water and feed the fish.

Feeding the mullet at Aquascene.

The fish swarm around wanting food.

 The Teira Batfish also come out of the water to get some bread.  These fish normally eat coral so it might be a nice change.

The batfish come right out of the water.

A Reef Egret (Egretta sacra) watching the fish as we feed them.  He was even having a go at some of the smaller ones.

A Katydid that jumped on me while in Darwin.

A pretty big phasmid, possibly a Goliath Stick Insect (Eurycnema goliath), that was sitting on a fence at the Northern Territory Wildlife Park.

A Merten's Water Monitor (Varanus mertensi) basking on a log.

Devil's Marbles

Stop off at the Devil's Marbles or Karlu Karlu as it is otherwise known.

Working hard

Looking through the boulders

To Fly in the Face of Karma

There are a lot of flies in Alice Springs at the moment.  While walking home this afternoon I was constantly surrounded by them.  Buzzing around my head, landing on my glasses, nose, ears and anywhere else that they could get to.  This fly was unlucky.  I swallowed him.  He was happily flying along right in front of my mouth and 'shuuuupp', in he went.  After a bit of coughing and spluttering I swallowed him down and kept walking.  The fly obviously had other plans and, from what it felt like, tried to crawl back out.  I was pretty surprised to feel him doing this and gave him a helping hand coughing him up.  After that I'm sure the fly was pretty shocked by his unexpected detour.  However, after being violated like that he was not to walk, or fly, away.  I took my revenge.

Sunset in Tennant Creek

Taken while I was going for a wander under a clear blue sky.

My Harry Potter moment at the Hanging Temple