February 2013

         The calendar New Year seemed to be disrupted by the Chinese New Year saluting the year of the water snake. Penang has a strong Chinese community and fireworks punctuate the evenings even though they are mainly banned.

          Nikki has started medical school and seems very happy to be involved in her chosen profession. Dani is well into her studies in Cambridge and is currently trying to procure a challenging place to work next year in her 'out' year. She is looking at a number of options in Spain.

           Helen has had a busy schedule running the house, teaching English and keeping fit. We decided to rent out rooms under the jurisdiction of 'Airbnb' and had two families stay back-to-back over the Chinese New Year period. Both families were excellent company; the first a Chinese family from KL were visiting relatives on the island. The second family were two medics from South Africa who were on a year-long world tour with their 14 and 12 year old sons. We had many stimulating conversations with them. In addition we had Tom and Mary Reynolds from Langkawi stay for a night and ex-colleagues Rebecca and Arjuna stayed recently for 2 nights. We love having people stay and Helen is an excellent guide and host.

           Around the house have added some pots of Bougainvilleas to give the panorama from the lounge a dining room some more colour. It passed inspection from the resident arborist.

          Coco had a date with the vet during the month and was spayed and micro-chipped. She got over the trauma quickly and continues to be an energetic but lovable part of the family. 

            The nature photography has been a bit disrupted with holidays and inclement weather but I have managed some quality shooting over on the mainland at my favourite haunts. I also spent 4 nights at Fraser's Hill with my friend Nick Baker from Singapore (more below). 

            The resident otters of Straits Quay also keep us amused. Helen has seen them on several occasions when she walks Coco in the early evening. I have managed to get a few more shots of them; one was a group of three that appeared to be herding a shoal of fish. They pounced at an appropriate moment and all enjoyed their tapas together. On another occasion a solo otter was enjoying a meal on a small shark or dogfish.

My friend Nick Baker flew up from Singapore stayed with us overnight in Penang and we drove to Fraser's Hill that is a four hour drive from our house. Fraser's Hill was named after a Scottish gentleman who was last seen pulling a mule-train loaded with iron ore over the hills of Pahang state in the region that now bears his name. The hilly region was later embraced by the British army as a hill base for relaxing military personnel. Sultans from each state had large residences there as well as wealthy entrepreneurs and companies. Many of the mansions were built of stone and have a stately appearance, albeit rather decrepit and neglected these days.

 The 17-22 degrees C temperatures and large expanses of natural jungle make Fraser's Hill a relaxing and refreshing place to stay. Bustling creeks and a diverse and different cohort of birds make this place a favourite with birders and bird photographers and picnickers. On the negative side Fraser's Hill appears to have seen better days with visitors as several large hotels are in a sad state of disrepair and decay. The local Government is doing some refurbishments but there appears to be insufficient funds to keep everything tidy. Still I enjoy the ambience and you never know what you might see. There are a number of walking tracks although they are liberally supplied with leaches. Nick usually finds interesting frog species at night and other mammals include; Slow Loris, Martens, Mouse Deer, and Wild Boar.

              The main bird photography spot is in the Jelai Hotel carpark....the hotel is currently closed but the car park can be buzzing with colourful birds. Elsewhere various species of monkeys or apes can be found.

           This months report will be posted early as we are off in a few days to Sydney for Sheralyn's and Mike's wedding. It will be great to catch up with family again and see the growing grandchildren later in Brisbane.