I finally got a good photo after over half an hour of trying! But back to the beginning. 

I had just locked up my chooks for the night, somewhat earlier than usual, when I heard a rustling. The rustling came from out in the the paddock next to the chook yard, some galahs started screeching and I could hear the animal dragging itself along. I suspected a goanna. Obviously I was wrong. 

As soon as I saw the echidna I raced back inside to get my camera (well that is rather obvious too) and asked mummy if she wanted to come and see it. We looked at the hump of spikes in the grass for a while, and touched it, and photographed it (well I did).

As the photos of the hump of spikes are not so interesting as some others I eventually got I shall not bother putting them here. Ann was not at all interested in the hump of spikes and soon Mummy took her back inside. They were followed by one of my other sisters who had also come out to see the hump of spikes. I stood there, for ages. Well it felt like it. Finally the hump moved, it moved away. The hump of spikes grew a long nose and little black eyes, and went off surprisingly fast. 

I followed and the echidna turned back into a hump of spikes in the grass. So I took off my shoes (gumboots) so I could walk more quietly. The echidna kept going but it would only uncurl for the least possible amount of time and then lunge forwards and then resume its look of a hump of spikes, making it very difficult for me to get a photos of it when unrolled, the waning light did not help either. 

I got some photos and realized the echidna always went in a general direction that would eventually mean it would have to cross the road. Mosquitoes also came out in vast numbers... and bit me through my clothes and on my ear. At least they couldn't get to my face as I had a camera there.  

 I put my shoes back on and waited for the echidna to get to the road. Then my camera told me the battery was about to die...... I ran, and got the spare battery and ran back in time to see the echidna start crossing the road. 

Luckily there were no cars as I did have to lie on the road.... for which afterwards I was told I was mad as well as walking around in the paddock without shoes. Which is understandable but I was aware that there is tiger-pear in the paddock and cars on the road, I had no desire to get got by either so I was careful. 

Most importantly though I got my photos.

 So this afternoon I went on a rather uneventful walk. Well it was until I heard a slithering rustle in the grass by my feet and turned in time to see a nasty, horrible, dreadful, awful, scaly, black snake slither down a hole. My heart beat very fast but luckily I was smart enough not to jump back. If I had I would have jumped of the edge of the cliff I was walking next to.

There is something beautiful in everything......

Eventually I got to the place above where I wanted to go. I headed down the slope. Clambered, slid, picked my way, jumped, sort of a combination of all those.  I tried to avoid, the nasty sticky plants that give one rashes and stick to everything, and the tiger pear, prickly pear, stickybeaks, other spiky plants and falling to fast.

Blossums

Then I found the eagles nest. With an eagle sitting on it but when it saw me, actually from the noise I had been making it had probably heard me for a long time, it flew off. Then I could see a little white fluffy chick and an unhatched egg. Wow. I wonder if the egg will hatch.

Wedge Tailed Eagle and the white fluff in front of it is its chick

I continued to zigzag, jump, and slide down. The slope had grass, ferns, moss, sticky weeds, wild peach trees and wild roses all over it.  Roses are not nice things to grab hold of............I got down to a flat, well it wasn’t flat but it was no longer going down steeply. And the ground was sand. I walked to the river and listened to the water splashing over the rocks. There were a few cattle with really long horns over the other side. Something moved next to me, a dragon sat in the tree next to me. It glared at me with its round eyes. It opened its mouth and roared, wait..... actually it was just a Water Dragon and it didn’t roar. It just hung onto the tree and let me take photos of it.

The Dragon

See long horns

Then I heard them. A crashing came from somewhere further up the river.  Into view came two animals cows, well, steers or bulls, I’m not sure which, but at that time I wasn’t thinking about minor details like that. One of the steers flung up sand with one of its front hooves. They had huge long horns. I switched off the camera and put it on my back, I was scared. They really looked like they were going to charge me. I glanced at the tree next to me. The tree had only small branches but it sloped slightly so I could keep most of my weight on the trunk. The cattle came closer and I was just starting to climb the tree when I realized both the steers/bulls had run into the water and were going across. There were some more cows behind them but when those saw me they turned and ran the other way.

Luckily they ran across the river
Photo is blurry because I used zoom, no time to focus, and funnily enough my hands were shaking.  

Wedge Tailed Eagle

After that I went back up.  I found another eagle’s nest and though I heard a young bird in it but when I got above it all I could see was a galah sitting on the nest, which is rather strange.  I headed back towards home and got some photos of an adult eagle sitting in a gum tree below me. The eagle flew off; I walked after it, well parallel, not over the edge. Then I got another photo when it landed in another gum tree, the process was repeated. It must have thought it was leading me away from its baby.  Then I saw another bird which I had seen briefly a few other times it was a Nankeen Kestrel. I got a few good shots of it.

Nankeen Kestrel

Down below me I heard pounding hooves. Three horses galloped into view on the other side of the river. The huge horned cattle stampeded down closer to the river. The horses were on the river side of the fence and galloping parallel to it.  They went past then turned and galloped back, wheeled around and stood still. Actually I think I heard the horses before I found the Nankeen Kestrel but anyway.

two of the horses....that appear to have no home.....someone must own them.

All in all a rather uneventful walk...........well not really.

Or a walk anyway. To me they are the same thing. I went across the road into the TSR and came across a few interesting things; a goanna, a large mud nest, and lots of butterflies. The latter flew too fast and were too small for me to get a photo of. There is a  paddock next to the one I went walking in and it had a horse in it so I took some photos of the horse too. Actually that was the main reason for my walking there.

Then I went for a walk down the road to where I know there are two other horses. I got some nice photos with the evening light on their coats. 

Further down the road cows were mooing. So I went to find them. The cows were very curious and came quite close. I walked along next to the fence and got my foot covered with tiger-pear.  This is the second time I have stepped in masses of in while taking photos. Some of it went through my shoe and into my foot. The sun set then and I had to use the flash for the photos.

Now I was rather a long way from home and the sun had set so it was getting rather dark so I decided I’d better head back. It was a long way.

Somehow the evening often fells more ‘alive’ than the day, especially when there is a reasonable breeze. The trees sway and almost sound as if they were whispering secrets amongst themselves. Kangaroos and things rustle amongst the grass. Birds fly home and sing the days last songs. The trees grow grey and shadowy in one direction, they all blur together. Then towards the sunset in the west the trees stand out in sharp, black silhouettes. The sky goes pink and gold then grows duller grey and dark blue. Tiny pinpoints of light shine in the sky, the stars. 

 There was even a cloud that looked like a magic carpet!

There are more photos of the cows and horses at my Photo Spot