Monthly Archives: July 2016

Australia, Bungendore, NSW

Wombats

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I know what you are thinking, OH no, she hasn’t has she.  Well NO I haven’t and yes we have only just got the car back from the kangaroo incident, but today on the way out to the shopping we spotted a potential driving hazard just yards from the side of the track.  Well technically it is a road, but we won’t cover that bit.  However, the road is a self limiting road at that point; in other words trying to do anything other than about 5kph is impossible even in a 4 wheel drive (or more accurately an all wheel drive (AWD) which is what our vehicle actually is).  So what do they look like?

Have you spotted it?
Have you spotted it?
Wombats... they are not a good thing to hit apparently
Wombats… they are not a good thing to hit apparently

Yep, it’s hiding.  Actually it stayed out long enough for us to really see it well. And it was there on the way home as well, out in the same spot.

So how do we know it is not the same wombat that I saw one on of my first night’s here?  Well, wombats only have an territory of around 18 acres and given that this one is almost at our post box (yes we do have one) that is 4km or 2½ miles away, we have to assume that this is a different wombat.  They also have loads of different holes (and tunnels) to their dens.  Apparently they have an extensive network of tunnels, with many entrances to their various dens.   Wombats are also nocturnal, so we have no idea why we got to see this particular one twice in daylight.  It wasn’t as though the second time was even around dawn/dust.  First time around we saw it around 8am, 2 hours from dawn.  Second time around was closer to 1pm!

So what else has happened.  Well we had a really nice sunset (as they go around here because there is a mountain in the way) last night.  I managed to get out and get some photos.  There’s a surprise for you!

The sunset last night
The sunset last night
The detail in the sunset last night
The detail in the sunset last night
Sunset
Sunset

 Told you it wasn’t a bad one!

Australia, Bungendore, NSW

Stars… So Many of Them!

Last night whilst talking to David on the phone, I turned off the lights in the laundry and once the phone had decided not to have the screen on, my eyes adjusted to the night sky a little. The laundry has a wall of glass, plus half the ceiling is glass as well. This means that if you sit on the worktop and look upwards, you get to see the Milky Way. And here, with no light pollution, you really get to see it.

So after Stuart had finished with a work phone call (calling the UK which he sometimes needs to do), I dragged him outside once we had wrapped up. It was cold out there and there was a good frost this morning. Last night was around or below zero again. There was some cloud in the sky to the west, but the rest of the sky was clear. We didn’t venture very far from the house. We will need to to get some better photos in the future and to get our power lines out of the picture, literally. But here are a few of the ones I took last night. I have also tried to identify the southern cross. I don’t know if I am correct, but….

The Night Sky from our parking area.
The Night Sky from our parking area.  Looking more easterly and the edge of our trees.
The Night Sky from our parking area.
The Night Sky from our parking area.  Looking NW I think, with some cloud and a shorter exposer.
The Night Sky from our parking area.
The Night Sky from our parking area and trying hard to get the Milky Way horizontal to capture more of it.
The Night Sky from our parking area.
The Night Sky from our parking area, and showing a more accurate orientation of the Milky Way.
The Pointers on the left (Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri) and the Southern Cross on the right.
The Pointers on the left (Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri) and the Southern Cross on the right.

I’ve never tried astrometric photography and I have only rarely tried night time photography, usually preferring low level light photography around sunset and sunrise.  And I was using the little camera without a tripod.  I was simply balancing the little camera on the mobile phone!  Once I have unpacked the big camera, I will try again with it and the tripod and see what we can get.  It should be fun.

If you want bigger versions of the pictures, you should be able to click on the picture and see a larger version (hopefully!).