More From the Main Range - Wallaby!

The Agile Wallaby is found in this part of Australia, and we're pretty sure we've identified this correctly. The pictures are not the best for identification, but they do show that we've actually see a "real Australian."

Birds at Queen Mary Falls - II

At the car park was a tea shop and out front was lots of seed scattered to attract the birds. And boy did it! First on the list here are the rosellas and parrots. Here is the Crimson Rosella having a nosh.

Birds at Queen Mary Falls - I

So, let's start with the birds slowly. I don't have photos of all twelve of the new birds that E identified, but I a got some of them pretty well. Above you see the Variegated Fairy Wren. Here is a couple preening on a limb near the picnic table where we had our lunch.

Waterfalls

Yesterday we drove south and east to the Main Range National Park. There are a couple waterfalls here that are clearly much more impressive (at least at this time of year) that the Crow's Nest Fall I posted about earlier. Above is the Daggs Falls. The image is a bit dark from shooting into the sun, but it is, nevertheless, an impressive drop.

On down the road a ways, we came to an overlook and could see the beautiful clear skies and rolling hills founds here.

Then we came to Queen Mary Falls where we spent the bulk of the day. The waterfall is a nice one and well worth the short walk out out from the parking area. This 40 m drop makes for a pleasantly cool space to stand and view a very peaceful place. I could have stayed there all day.

On the walk back to the car park, we did see a nice rotting log with a deathly collection of mushrooms.

The next blog entry will show you why we spent all day here. The birds in the picnic area were great. E had an twelve bird day!

Rudd's Pub in Nobby

Several days ago when we visited Nobby, we stopped in Rudd's Pub for some lunch. I just got around to fetching the the photos from my iPhone.

Lake Annand Park

Today was mostly a man and mend day. We spent the morning washing Ms. Poppins to remove the layer of clay we put on her during the late adventure, grocery shopping, and getting some laundry done. As the sun was setting we out to one of the many parks here in town. today we visited Lake Annand Park.

Sunday's Adventure

Saturday we decided that Sunday would be a slow day. We'd just hang out and get some organizing done. Sunday morning it seems like we could drive to Crow's Nest and just sit in the car and look at the scenery and maybe a few birds.

If you've read E's entry already, you know it was more than this.

Why Children Should Study Science

Hello, friends and blog readers! I am having a very large glass of wine tonight in celebration of living to write this post. Stevie and I went on a 2.5 hour bush walk today through the Crow's Nest National Park. I'm certain he'll blog about that, but the thrill was sighting the nearly extinct Brush Tailed Rock Wallaby. He wouldn't sit still for a photo, but we saw him!

After the bush walk, we attempted to drive the Crow's Nest Country Route. Sadly, our GPS became hopelessly confused and led us into a washed out, deeply rutted, thickly muddy track that required four wheel drive and physics!

My friends have often heard me complain about Steve's driving, but you've also probably heard me say he's the best snow-driver I've ever known. I'm officially adding mud-driving to that list (short though it may be). After steering the car out of several spins, ruts, and slides, I completely freaked out when we arrived at a deep and muddy ditch across the road. Dr. Steve sized it up, took the wheel and saved the day. This was about 25% more adventure than I crave, and while not the most frightened I've been in a car, it earned a spot in the Top 5.

He's old, he's bald, but he's my HERO!

On TV

We are watching a race on TV now. It is a "V8 Ute" race: a race of pickup trucks with V8 engines on what resembles a Formula One track. Clearly, they are light in the back judging from the way they spin out all over the place. Otherwise, it looks a lot like a slow NASCAR race with all the steering wheels on the right.

Like Australian rules football, everything is just like in the States only entirely different.

Saturday

Today is a slow Saturday...it is raining and cold. Of course, cold is a relative thing. Here, cold seems to mean anything below about 15C (59F). For example, in the Toowoomba Chronicle this morning is the article:

BREAKING: It felt like minus 0.2 degrees in Toowoomba this morning as freezing blasts of wind, light rain and cold conditions grip the Garden City.

Toowoomba Chronicle


Just for those of you don't pay close attention to such things: -0.2C = 31.7F. While technically, this is a freezing temperature, I'm pretty sure that nothing except the air around the thermometer was actually below freezing.

On the other hand, I still see kids out and about in shorts, and azaleas in bloom. We had planned to attend the Camellia show today but decided against it due to rain and wind.

The thing to remember is that Toowoomba and Brisbane are about the same distance from the equator as Miami, FL. Toowoomba gets a bit colder since we are not on the coast.

We've learned that part of the difference in the way we perceive cold that aside from stores and malls, the places we've been in mostly don't have central heat and air. It is handled on a room-by-room basis with units that mount in the wall. This is what we saw in Botswana also. When it doesn't get cold very often or for very long, no one invested in heat. We warm the sitting room when we are in it and turn off the heat where we go to bed. Same for the bedroom. The rest of the house is not heated.

Certainly part of this approach to heat is due to the fact that little of the year is cold. But the economy is not helping. Starting July 1, electric power rates have gone up 20%! This is a really big jump and has to hurt. We've been asked by out hosts to be mindful of the heat and watch our usage. Absolutely we will.

This morning we went to the movies to Ghostbusters and had a great time. We went early to avoid the  crowds and it worked just fine.

Lake Apex and Freeman Wildlife Sanctuary & Parkland

Purple Swamp Hen

After our trip past Gatton yesterday, we decided to go back and spend some time at Lake Apex and Freeman Wildlife Sanctuary. There's a large cultural center there. This seems to be a library, tea room, visitor's information center, and spaces to let for various occasions.

Chamber Philharmonia Cologne

Last night we attended a concert by the Chamber Philharmonia Cologne, a chamber music ensemble who did a very good job playing Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, and Borne. There was an excellent violinist and a flautist to play the solos. The flute player was outstanding.

The concert was in St. Stephens Uniting Church. The Uniting Church of Australia was established on 22 June 1977 when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, the Presbyterian Church of Australia and the Congregational Union of Australia came together. The particular church we were in was formerly a Presbyterian church, as we could tell from from the marble memorial on the wall for those list during the Great War 1914-1918.
  The first violin player also doubled as a singer and she beautifully sang  a piece by Handel, and in the encore, a piece by Chopin. The solo violinist is 26 years old and quite good.

We sat near some very friendly people where were eager to share a program with us. Like everyone else we've met here, Australians are tremendously friendly and helpful. Australia is a great place to be and the music was the icing on the cake. 

Allora

Today we ventured south from Toowoomba and visited several places. First was Clifton with a Baobob tree on main street (the only street). Then came Allora with it's great post office.

Jackie Howe

Jackie Howe left more in his wake than shearing records -- he created a fashion statement still found in Australia. Howe was so muscular (his hands were the size of small tennis rackets) that the sleeves of his shearer's shirt restricted his biceps. Howe cut out the sleeves and part of the underarm area, creating the Jackie Howe singlet, a top found on sale throughout Queensland.

Calendars

So, here's a source of aggravation for you to consider: getting things on your calendar in the right time zone.

When in London back in '14, I forced my iPhone to set items on the calendar in Eastern Time so I could keep up with things back home. Now that is no longer needed (yeah!), so after putting a couple items on the calendar and having them show up on the wrong day (14 hours off), I dug into this and sorted it all out. I finally have all my calendars and cameras in the same time zone.

What a pain.

Jondaryan

Eager to enjoy of new truck, we rode out to Jondaryan yesterday. A small community about 30 minutes west (more of less) of Toowoomba, this is an interesting place. Our first stop was at St. Anne's church. A small community church that has service only once every two weeks.

Our Wheels

Against her better judgement, E finally agreed to be in a photo with the new (used) vehicle we bought. I think it is pretty dandy looking (and of course it looks even dandier with E at the wheel).

We Have Transportation!

Today we went to Cars Galore to finalize the purchase of our vehicle. We got home from our jaunt to the Carbarlah Cemetery too late in the afternoon (it's winter remember and the sun sets early) to get good photos. I'll get them in the morning.

We bought a Ssangyong (yes, that's two S's) Actyon Sport turbodiesel truck. We're really happy with it. Going to haul our stuff and us in style. Cruise control, automatic transmission, air, and all the wheels reach the ground in pretty much the same plane. You see, I find that pretty amazing since there are four wheels. Three points determine a plane so have four points in the same plane is kinda special alignment.

Oh. Sorry. Forgot that you were there. Just kinda grooving on the geometry of a vehicle that is planar.

Anyway, we learned that car insurance in Australia is way cheaper than it is in the US. Including the currency conversion, we are paying about 20% of what we pay in the US for a lower deductible. And boy are the Australians friendly! We talked with a young woman this morning to buy insurance that was really great. Helpful, patient, knowledgeable, and friendly. RACQ is a great place to do businesses.

Cabarlah Cemetery

Those of you who have followed our blog for a while know that we love us a good cemetery. So many stories are told in a kind of haiku of chiseled stone. Even the stories told in boring bland verse are interesting. Every life...

Today was a buy day with several high points. In the afternoon, we visited a cemetery in Cabarlah, just north of Toowoomba. This is a unique graveyard in our experience. There are five clearly separated sections for Anglicans, Presbyterians, Catholics, Lutherans, and non-denominational. We've never see a cemetery remarked in such a way. Each section has a sign tell what sort of believer is interred there and there is a space between them and the next flavor of church-goer.

Got to Keep the Threats Straight

There were reports of spiders (plural) "as large as dinner plates".  This was, of course, an exaggeration..

Police said only one spider had "invaded" the campervan and the real concern was the 2 metre long scrub python that liked to curl up on the back seat if the doors were left open.

Come on people, get your threats sorted out before calling the police!


http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-police-save-french-backpackers-from-spiders-as-big-as-dinner-plates-20160709-gq25n3.html

The Japanese Gardens

Today we visited the Japanese gardens on the Toowoomba campus of the University of Souther Queensland. This is on the south side of Toowoomba not far from where we are living. A Sunday morning in a quiet and peaceful place was a real delight.

There were several rocky streams flowing into the reflection ponds making for pleasantly noisy places to reflect.

The bridges are all named in the garden. This is named Ko Ko Kyo or the "Stepping Over Rainbow Bridge". So today, I walked over the rainbow bridge to be with E over there on the bench.

A First Attempt At Birding (updated)

Today we spent a couple hours in the Toowoomba Waterbird Habitat. It is a modest (19 acre) park about four minutes from the house. We've arrived in Australia in time for breading season, and the Australian White Ibis (a.k.a. the Sacred Ibis) were in full breeding plumage and were clearly frisky on their nests. In fact, there was lots of squabbling about who was going to be in what nest with what partner.

Most Amazing Sight

It is 6:30 PM here and in July, being winter, it is already dark. We live on the south side of the city center but are by no stretch of the imagination out in the country. When I look toward the center of town I see glow on the horizon. But not much.

Much higher in the sky is the moon. We now have a waxing crescent at about 25%. A bright sliver but not an overwhelming source of light in the sky.

But as you stand the yard for a few minutes, you realize that with your hand to block the nearby streetlights, you can see that there is a background to the many stars you can see. The Milky Way! When was the last time you stood out at night, in town, with the moon up in any phase, and saw the milky way!?

There is now a plan forming to drive out to the edge of town (as we get used to driving about on the left) and see if we can get some photos of this amazing sight.

In Toowoomba At Last!

We have finally made it to Toowoomba and gotten settled in. Today our hosts left on their own journey, and we unpacked. We made an excursion out for some supplies and had a nice dinner.

We're in a lovely, quiet neighborhood here in Toowoomba in a really great house. It's going to be a fun four months. Stay tuned.

We Have Arrived!

We arrived in Brisbane yesterday (July 5th) and got to our hotel. We are staying in Toowong, a suburb of Brisbane. We walked the block or so to the village and scoped out the Coles (grocery) and had lunch at Nando's (including a bit of Peri-Peri). After picking up a few items at the grocery for noshing, we headed back to the room. Not surprisingly, we crashed soon after.

Arkansas and Beyond

Saturday we made our goodbyes to our extended family in Arkansas, both two- and four-legged. We had a great time there, petting cats and humoring Holly the dog, and exploring a little of Northwest Arkansas.

We now sit in a hotel room across the street from LAX gathering our stuff and strength to go back across the street to do battle with the bustling crowds and quasi-stationary lines. Our plane leaves tonight (July 3) at 11:30 PM PDT. This means it will already be July 4 in Australia (Brisbane is 17 hours later than LA) and since our flight is 14 hours long, we nearly skip the 4th altogether, getting no more than eight hours of it in the air before we cross the International Date Line and fly into the future.

So, for the first time, we are preparing to be real "time travelers" and board a plane to the future. The past is not forgotten, of course. We have spent the last couple months visiting with friends to "seal in" the memories that we take with us. As Antonio asserts in Shakespeare's The Tempest, "What's past is prologue."

We carry more baggage with us that what we are checking at the counter this evening.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

William Shakespeare

Botanical Garden of the Ozarks

Yesterday we ventured out from our friends' home to explore the botanical garden. It was suitably hot and humid to keep us reminded that we were, indeed, in the South in the summer. Sitting on this cattle ranch in the northwest corner of Arkansas, 30 minutes south of Missouri and 20 minutes east of Oklahoma, puts us in a beautiful neck of the woods.

I have a few images for you to enjoy today, but, alas, I failed to pay attention to all the plant names so you only get half of a presentation - all the pretty with none of the education - kind of like it felt some of you lectures used to be (maybe that was really none of the pretty and none of the education?!).

Cat Torture

It seems that sometimes we are simply meant to harass cats and wake them up.

All it takes the click of the camera shutter to ruin what was a great nap. Easy-peasy!

St Louis

When we visit a city, one of the first things we look for are the old, large cemeteries. We love seeing dead people. Since we only spent one evening in St. Louis, we planned to spend the following morning briefing exploring  the large Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries in town. These are adjacent to one another: Calvary is for the Catholics and Bellefontaine is for protestants.

Moving West

The first day of retirement was spent driving to Louisville. The second day was spent wandering about Louisville with family to see a few things we've never seen. Near the Muhammad Ali Center is the back of some historic storefronts seen above.

The Ali Center is a really nice space, not so much a museum as a discussion of that make him a great man. It was very impressive.

Leaving Home 6.23.16

Yesterday, I planned to make a picture of us leaving the house while standing on the back porch, but the rain ruled that out. So we headed for the library where I could put the camera on the wet bar for support. And here we are, saying goodby to the house, collecting the sprits of our kitties to take with us, then hitting the road in the sometimes blinding rain.

Pretty Much Read to Go

Today I visited the office for the last time. I gave Kim my JAC Card and my keys. We transferred signature authority from me to Chris and Ioana. I'm done.

We've made our last trip to the storage facility to put aways the bits we want to keep. We've made the last trip to our security box at the bank to put away important papers for safekeeping.

Today I made a (nearly) last pass at packing. We bought two luggage sets of three bags. These are nice polycarbonate spinners that nest inside one another. We only need five of the bags to hold all our stuff so one of the medium-sized bags is nested inside the matching large one. This will give us room to expand as we travel with souvenirs. All that is left to pack are the cords and chargers for our electronics. This will happen in Arkansas when we are ready to fly. All our clothes for the trip between here and Tontitown are packed separately and will not make the trip any farther.

We have rented a car for the trip to Arkansaa since the big red Caravan has died. It is a bright red Jeep Compass. Plenty of room for us and our stuff. I gassed it up this morning.

All that is missing is the sale of the house. We have a nibble and are hopeful that this will come to fruition (an offer) soon, perhaps in the next week or so.

So with a few speed bumps, we are on track for fun and adventure. Tomorrow we pack the car and make a final cleaning of everything.

Thursday, we hit the road.

I Just Couldn't Pass This One Up...

Giant crab horde gathers in Australia

Where else would a giant horde of crabs gather but off the coast of Melbourne in Port Phillip Bay?

Amazing Photo

Cindy Goeddel's image Peter Pan and His Shadow is one of nine photos featured on time.com from the 2016 NANPA Showcase competition highlighting Nature Photography Day. See more at: http://time.com/4366180/inspiring-nature-photography-day-nanpa/?iid=sr-link1

Cindy Goeddel's image Peter Pan and His Shadow is one of nine photos featured on time.com from the 2016 NANPA Showcase competition highlighting Nature Photography Day. See more at: http://time.com/4366180/inspiring-nature-photography-day-nanpa/?iid=sr-link1

I try to only upload photos that I've taken, but sometimes I see things that are really too good to pass up. The photo above is one of those images. What I see in an image like this is not only good technical skills but a really cold person, perhaps hungry person, sitting in the snow for hours, waiting patiently for the just the right moment to press the shutter button. Not sure I can do this myself, but I sure admire it.

Some Things You've Just Got to Do

www.gettyimages.com

About three years ago I gave up mowing the yard. The mower died one last time, and we hired a landscaping service to do it for us. I've enjoyed the leisure since then. Today, while pet-sitting, we needed to mow the lawn at our host house. The yard here is very small and it didn't take long, but the memories of all those years came flooding back.

I used to see good things about the effort of mowing. The engine noise creates a sonic envelope around you that gives you isolation from the world to think. The effort and attention to the task keep you from drifting too far afield. Not a bad way to spend a few hours on a Saturday (or Monday). But, like many other tasks in life, I've reached the point where this is less fun that it used to be. Nowadays, the work feels like it out weighs the good. I don't know. Perhaps the next time will be more fun.

Sadness, Horror, and Hatred

John Birmingham writes regular columns for Fairfax Media in Australia. In a column published in the Brisbane Times today, he puts the blame for the Orlando massacre squarely where it belongs...

Hatred.

We can see the evidence of the hatred boiling away inside the shooter's heart and mind, but we cannot now clinically dissect it. We can only ponder the consequences of hatred. It always ends in blood, in horror. Always.

 and on who is responsible

Some of you might consider the effect you have on weaker, smaller, more unstable minds when you point your crooked staff at a reviled minority and pronounce your very own fatwa upon them.

There will be blood and a few inconvenient drops of it might just splatter on you as they fly. 

We all bear the responsibility of this terrible shooting and we all must stand together to stop it from happening again.

Recent Activities

We are pet sitting in Staunton while friends do some pet sitting of their on in London. Between petting and feeding, we are still trying to finalize our travel preparations. We made a visit back to the house to make another pass at packing and I think we have now packed all that we can before really are ready to pull out of the drive way.

Time Travel

As all of you know, the seasons are generally delineated by the relation of the sun to equator. When the sun is crossing the equator headed north in March, we call this the Vernal Equinox and it marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and fall in the southern. Correspondingly, as the sun later crosses the equator headed south in September, we have the Autumnal Equinox.

The word equinox come from the latin for equal night. In March equal night happens, depending on the year, on March 20 or 21 and in September it is on the 22nd or 23rd.

When the sun reaches its northernmost excursion, we have the Summer Solstice on June 20 or 21 marking the beginning of summer in the north and winter in the south. Similarly, northern winter and souther summer begins when the sun is at the southern extreme, the Winter Solstice on December 21 or 22. The word solstice is from the latin for sun stands still.

Easy peasy, right? Just what we all were taught in grade school. Well, it seems not everyone views the seasons this way. In Australia, all the dates are moved back to the beginning of the respective months. Thus, spring there begins on September 1, Summer on December 1, Fall on March 1 and Winter on June1.

Here I've been trained to see the start of a season as being tied to this astronomical stuff and not open to discussion. Now I realize that a season begins when you say it does and is just as manmade as daylight savings time, peak commute times, prime time for television, and business hours. Learn something every day!

We tie our season shifts to astronomy, the Australians connect theirs to the weather. Now is the beginning of 'summer weather' so now is the beginning of summer. Simple as that.

Besides, who can ever keep track of what day the equinox or solstice really happens on? Clearly the Aussies are on to something.

Nice...

The money quote:

Gympie snake catcher Cody Rowe agrees.
"It doesn't really matter what time of the year you stumble across them. Like in winter they are real slow and sluggish but give them a few minutes and they'll be right royal fine to give you a run for your money," he said.

See more at the Toowoomba Chronicle

Time is Short

Timing is Everything

At St. Simone's Island, Ga.

As I find retirement approaching quickly, I've been thinking about life and the pursuit of happiness. As I've told several students, we are about to embark on the adventure that I wanted to try when I graduated from college, but had neither the money nor the courage to attempt. This is true. But there are many other reasons why this is happening now and now 40 years ago.

We'll Be Moving On Soon...

As we draw near our departure date (and our house still hasn't sold - get with it people and help us sell this thing!), we enter a spell of rain, do a few house sits and find totally unsurprising news in the Toowoomba newspaper.

The big Blue Ridge fire now has competition from mother nature and our gardens are getting a good drink.

We are just finishing a sit in Harrisonburg taking care of a couple rambunctious pups. More cats and dogs to take care of soon.

And the latest news from the Toowoomba Chronicle is: Snake on the loose in Toowoomba park

Spring Is On the Way

Above is a bit of detail from the raised garden in the center of the driveway in the backyard. Flowers are a'comin'!

The reason this small section of the yard is interesting is that I took this image with my new Nikon 200-500mm VR lens. With the TC-14E III attached and the lens zoomed all the way out, 500mm becomes 700 mm and the field of view is tiny. I was standing on the back deck. Just a quick test that the lens arrived safely. I'll get some more interesting test shots soon.

Did I mention that our house is for sale?

Around the House

Finally, a day with a bit of sun, even if it is cold. So, I decided to get a few photos of the outside of the house to advertise things a bit. Help us spread the word about this house so it will sell quickly, and we can get on with out adventure.

Our House is for Sale!

Our house is officially on the market! Please tell all your friends (and enemies for that matter) to give us a look and and BUY OUR HOUSE!!!

Don't you worry about what we do if (when) the house sells in the first week. This would be the very best problem to have, and we have plenty of options. Before we worry about that, the house must first sell and this process is finally started.

Everyone now stop reading this boring post, call your friends, and tell them to head over to Listing 544898 for the full details.

Coming Home

          The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Lao Tzu

A journey of 18 ½ hours ends with both cheeks numb. Anon

So. Last Friday morning we got up early, finished packing, said goodby to the pets, and headed out for breakfast.  About 9:00 AM I took E to the airport with the luggage, and I went to get the car washed. We'd been on lots of muddy roads, including the one that Glen lives on, and we wanted to return it clean. The car wash we picked out was closed. Who closes on the Friday before Easter, eh?

I went down the road a bit to another place, and they were happy to do it for us. The whole process took about an hour with two fellows working inside and out with the vacuum, rags and a pressure washer. Looked very nice when they were finished. Total cost 80 Pula... a bit less than $8.

Back at the Airport, E continues to wait.

Home Again!

Sorry to disappear on you. The trip home was exhausting and we are only now recovering. Work on the house took a bit longer than expected and the floors downstairs received the final (I hope) coat of polyurethane today and we are staying in a hotel until it is safe to walk on (at least tomorrow). I'll try to get a post up about the "fun" we had on the way home on an 18 ½ hour flight from Johannesburg. I need a day or two to recover first. Be patient.

Baboons

Just so you understand what you are seeing here: all the photos in this post were taken inside the city limits of Maun almost directly across the river from the town center. There are two main roads, one on each side of the river. This is on the side of the river where we are living.

South African Airlines

Completely incompetent.
Row a canoe across the sea; it will be easier.

By the Boteti River in the Noonday Sun

White Stork.

Riding out of town  we spied a clutch of White Storks in a field alongside the road. We had a fun bird day even if there were no new birds to add to our lists.

Country Life

As far as we can tell, most folks in Maun have electricity although some (many...most?) do not have running water. We know this because even first thing in the morning, Kitsiso and KB have charged cell phones, but we also see lots of people carrying water from the river.

Out of town, even electricity is scarce.

The Local Scene

Terri (in the bed) and Emma doing what they do best.

There are three roads that lead out of Maun, and we've travelled each many times. Yesterday we spent some time exploring locally.

Roads

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.  Inigo Montoya

Roads are strange places in Botswana. Sure, they are sometimes paved and when they are, they are often painted with traffic-directing marks just like roads everywhere. But here, roads are so much more.

Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan National Parks

White Stork.

With all the rain we've been having and our reluctance to get involved in driving on untarred roads where the chances of getting stuck are non-zero, we decided that Friday we'd drive on the tarred roads  and visit the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans. These salt pans are the remains of large lakes that used to exist here. In the southwestern portion of Makgadikgadi there is still a lake, but it is much smaller than when Livingstone first saw it. Nowadays, there is a the A3 that cuts through the park area on the way from Maun to Francistown. We came to the edge of this before. This time we went all the way.

Driving South Again

A pair of White-Backed Vultures alongside the road south of Maun.

I'm a little behind on the blogging since we've been on the go for a few days. This combined with the weather, had made it difficult to keep up.

Out Into the Bush (Just A Little)

After having our second breakfast at our usual place, Motsana, and seeing the sun come out, we decided to have a mini-safari. We decided to drive towards Moremi and stop when the roads got too bad. There were things to see even without actually getting into deep water or the game reserve itself.

National Goat in the Road Day

After a hard rain Wednesday morning, we discovered that it was National Goat in the Road Day. OK, so it is not really a national thing, we sure saw lots of goats in the road here in Maun.

More Rain

Today (Wednesday) we planned to leave early for a full day at the Moremi Game Reserve. However, during the night it began to rain. It was a steady, hard rain by the time we got up at 5:15 and by the time we finished our morning ablutions about 6:00, it was still going strong.