March 2013

March 2013

            On the last day of February Helen and I travelled to Sydney for the wedding of niece Sheralyn and her long time partner Mike. The trip was via Singapore and two budget airlines; Air Asia and Scoot. Space was not an issue on the latter flight but the 2.30am take-off and hard seats were. Rain greeted us at Sydney’s airport just before a warmer greeting from Doug and Lynette who gave us a welcome ride to Mike and Shen’s house......which is across the road from a lawn bowling club.

For the next three days the weather hardly relented with squalls coming straight in off the Pacific Ocean. We collected some provisions and had a barbecue at another nearby house with the New Zealand wedding contingent. The next day more people arrive and in the evening we survived the bucking bronco ride on the Manly ferry to meet Ann and Richard Epstein (old friends from Singapore) for dinner in the centre of the city. It was a good catch-up and good food while the winds raged overhead.

The weather relented slightly for the wedding that was held in the clubrooms of the North Curl Curl Surf Club. (spellcheck will always intervene on this one). The service was very nice and intimate and there was a welcome flow of drinks and food around the ceremony. Eldest son Paul and Marie also attended the wedding with Paul coming directly from Paris. We had arranged to catch the same flight as them back to Brisbane, which helped considerably in travel arrangements.

Brisbane offered slight better weather but the northern part of the state was being threatened by a cyclone gathering ammunition out at sea.

We caught up with 15 year old Elisabeth and a growing Daniel who turned 5 a short time ago.  During our stay with Paul and Marie we had dinner with them and their neighbours, Robin and  Margaret, went for a trip into the hinterland with Marie and up to Noosa with Paul and Daniel.  Paul took me through his company’s factory and I learnt a lot about what they do, the problems and the difficulty in closing down the manufacturing section. It made scientific research seem laid-back and hassle-free. We caught up with Glen and Debbie in their newly acquired home and Nathan, Hayley and little Phoebe.  Glen has a new consulting job having left Rio Tinto just before Christmas. The three children have many activities based around music, dancing and sport. Paul and Glen live within 5 minutes walk from each other in the Aspley suburb of Brisbane. There is a small creek with adjacent busy area nearby that is furnished with Kookaburras and Kangaroos and pleasant walking tracks.

Helen and I had a three flight journey back to Penang and arrived early on Saturday 9^th. Coco returned home later that day and after a fervent greeting settled in as if nothing had transpired.

Life in Penang settled back to normal. We had the enjoyable sighting of a small pod of Indo-Pacific Humpbacked dolphins near the house and the Smooth Otters continue to keep us amused.  It appears there may be at least three pairs in various lodgings in the area.

I went back to check on the Bee-eaters nesting and saw both species are nesting together.
I also checked out the changes in Byram, which was an underwhelming experience....that epitomized the conservation initiatives in this country; they are either ignored or greatly over-elaborated.

I had the good fortune to be featured in two articles this month. The first a USA-based on-line travel magazine, as seen here. The second was in the E and O Hotel magazine, which followed a Blog I did on the local fauna. I am also working on a Photo book that contains most of my best images. The current edition is at this site.

I have neglected the local Botanic Gardens for photography and had another venture there......it is very busy in the morning with walkers and joggers and I felt like I was standing in a river with spawning salmon running. It appears that you need to visit regularly for the shots....one of my targets is the orange-coloured babies of the Spectacled leaf Monkeys. There are some spectacular blooming trees set against blue skies or the surrounding forest-covered hills.

I had a moderate shoot at a small patch of bush with an adjacent river in a place called Hitam Air. It was a nice day  but images were hard to come by. I shot a Plantain Squirrel which is one of the more common species of squirrel in Malaysia and Singapore.....we had them around the Preston Rd property. The Malaysian species however has a red/brown tip on the tail which the Singapore species lack.

I saw two otters in the adjacent river while the resident Crested Serpent Eagle was dissecting a green lizard.

It was later back to Penanti to the Bee-eaters, Paddyfield Pipits and Kingfishers. One Kingfisher was seen feeding its offspring and the Blue-throated Bee-eaters are now present in large numbers. Like last year there appears to be only 2-3 Chestnuts still feeding their nests. The temperatures are hot and by 10am the birds are cooling off by opening their beaks,
Yesterday (26th) the Kingfishers were cooperative and there was plenty of Bee-eater action. There are young Kingfishers, young Red-wattled lapwings and Red Junglefowl chicks around.....parents are very protective though.

Nikki continues her early days at medical school with enthusiasm while Dani still braves cold weather in an extended English winter while mid year in this years program.
Around the house we have tried to give more colour in the view from the lounge. Last month we added some potted Bougainvillea plants and this month we have added some coleus. This alteration has passed inspection from the resident arborist. The plastic ball shown in the image came in a packet with 2 others....costing $2 from a budget shop in Brisbane.....easily the best value for money ever. We get non-stop Maradona moves and growled curses when the skid on the tiled floor seems to be too rapid!!!

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.