So Frev are getting to the point where they need to go diving every so often, just to feed the addiction. They were so cold on their previous dive on the Brissie, so had purchased hoodies afterwards, so this was the test to see if they worked, and yes, they sure did work. It felt cool under the water, but not in a way that was all you could think about. However, it was on the boat between dives that it was really cold, the wind had gotten up and Kev found himself shivering uncontrollably during the hour long wait between dives.
Monodactylus argenteus, also known as a Silver Mono or Butter Bream
This was also our second Nitrox dive at 36% and Kev's first use of the new Olympus TG-6 camera.
Cheeky Gobie - what are you looking at!?!?
Mr Gobie again, pity about the coral across its face.
The boat was quite full, and, much to our surprise we were able to dive on our own, without a guide. So we planned the first dive to go down, turn right and head around the bow of the ship, after which we found a suitable hole and went into the wreck. We did a similar thing for the second dive but instead went left, around the stern, and then zig-zagged our way up the length of the boat to by entering the different holes in the hull. It was so awesome.
A highlight of the first dive was that we heard whale song again, it really is wonderful to hear these creatures chatting away to each other.
We both noticed that there were far fewer bat fish waiting for us around the mooring line, I wonder if they are seasonal, and if so, where do they go?
Coral, not sure what type, better get a book!
Coral, not sure what type
Fran in action, I need to sort out that back scatter.
Peaceful seascape
it was a great dive, especially the second when we felt a bit more comfortable being on our own. The TG-6 is a great success, although I have a few things to learn. I was amazed to find that I have taken 90 photos over the to dives.
We visited Chalkies Beach on our first full day, on a catamaran which also took us to Whitehaven Beach.
Plum Pudding Island is a small island between the northern ends of Hamilton and Dent Islands with a small and vibrant reef surrounding it. A highlight here was the beautiful Phyllidiid Nudibranch that we saw.
In addition to the snorkelling, we managed to get two dives in whilst on Hamilton Island. This involved a boat trip out to Bait Reef, where most people where tipped into the water to snorkel, but there were a handful of us who went diving.
Unfortunately, the first dive was only 15 minutes long as one of the young girls on the dive sucked all her air very rapidly, she was clearly very nervous. The second dive was a bit better, as the crew made a plan to take the girls up when they got low so that the rest of us could keep going. I managed to keep my air going for the ful time and we surfaced on 50 minutes after seeing some cool stuff.
Amazingly, there was also pretty good snorkelling at Catseye Beach, in front of the big hotels. I came across two cleaning stations where small cleaner wrasse where busily attending to Parrot Fish and another larger fish that I haven't figured out yet. I saw three turtles in my first session, and another one in my second.
As I wrote briefly about in my Bruny Island entry, we observed fossils on our last day of walking on the Cape Queen Elizabeth track. Having looked into this more closely, I believe these are paleodictyon fossils.
See the wikipedia entry here, and the pbs youtube video about them here.
Fossils! Possibly paleo dictyon?
Fossils! Possibly paleo dictyon?
Fossils! Possibly Paleo Dictyons, see the pbs YouTube video about these
It appears to me that these might be impressions of paleodictyon as they are the inverse of other images I have seen on the web, regardless, they otherwise look very similar. I initially thought that these rocks were the dolerite that is common around here, but now having read more about the fossils I believe they are sandstone, (or mudstone) which is also present nearby. Apparently, they are found in these sorts of sedimentary layers, especially mudstone which was formed by turbidity flows. I recall hearing about a turbidity flow event occurring in recent years off the Indian sub-continent.
It is incredible that these date back to the Precambrian/early Cambrian (see Wikipedia) period, which I understand to be around 500 million years ago, before the dinosaurs! Seeing these fossils, and knowing this information about their age is incredible, those creatures left their mark on the world half a billion years ago, and it is still evident, and will continue to be so for a long time to come, regardless of what we hominids do to the planet.
Paleodictyons are also trace fossils meaning that they are traces of biological activity rather than the remains of an actual creature itself. So fossil footprints are trace fossils. Trace fossils can also be fossil poo (coprolites).
Frev were joined by close friends for a walking trip with Parktreks to Bruny Island, a trip that always seemed to be in the distant future, but now was suddenly upon us.
The four of us travelled to Brisbane Airport together from the Sunshine Coast to catch our earlyish flight to Hobart. Amazingly it was bitterly cold in SE Queensland in the morning, which meant that we were primed for the cold that was to come!
Our flight landed in the early afternoon, when the ambient temperature was still below 10 degrees. We found it very difficult to get an Uber that would take all four of us with our luggage, so we ended up splitting into two Ubers for the trip to our hotel.
As we were checking in, the receptionist asked for a credit card, before the words were even out of his mouth, I had the dread realisation that I had left my wallet on the plane! An immediate dampener to the holiday which was resolved wonderfully by Virgin as I ultimately collected it from baggage services in Brisbane when we returned. It had had an adventure all on its own. The only thing I could see that was missing was the lotto ticket that I had purchased, otherwise all the cards and cash, even the $7 fijian note, were there.
Dinner that night was at an expensive restaurant called Mures, which had been preceded by a few, outside, at the Hobart Brewery. Dinner was amazing, Fran had the best Seafood Chowder I've ever tasted. I had a very tasty, but less memorable Salmon.
Australian Geographic has a guide to Bruny Island here.
Day 1
We were picked up Emma and EJ from the front of the Hotel Grand Chancellor as planned at 830am on the Wednesday morning. We met our guides and the other folk who were also joining the tour, all lovely people.
The journey to the ferry was quick with a short stop at a coffee shop to discuss the plans for the trip.
After the ferry trip and an enjoyable drive which included a Stop on the "Neck" to admire the views.
We arrived at the lodge which was situated in a remote part of South West South Bruny Island. The rooms were very comfortable although the bathroom facilities were shared but that was fine.
We unpacked and had a quick lunch before we set off for our first walk on the Luggaboine Circuit, which was on the Labillardiere Peninsular. I managed to contact Virgin Lost Property again on this walk and they confirmed that my Wallet was in Brisbane and could be picked up from the Baggage Counter at Brisbane Airport - phew, that was a relief.
After this short walk, we then visited the Cape Bruny Lighthouse, located in magnificent surroundings. The weather was very dramatic with the sun setting low in the sky across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. This was truly beautiful.
Day 2 - the Big Walk
Day 2 dawned cold but calm and sunny. Today's walk was a 12km out and back route from the mouth of Sheepwash Creek on Cloudy Bay up to East Cloudy Head.
The walk started with a tentative stream crossing of Sheepwash creek. The water was flowing quite rapidly but was shallow enough to tiptoe through. This was the first real test of our new boots and they passed with flying colours!
Crossing of Sheep Wash Creek
off the beach and on the way up to Cloudy Head
Taken with Skyline - Compass Heading : 313°, Version : 3.7.19(202109160929), Field of View : 67.1, Device : iPhone14,5(16.3.1)
Back towards Cloudy Bay, where we have come from
We were glad to have our full shin gaiters as the path was overgrown in places. The walking poles were also very useful on the rocky and steep sections.
Everybody seemed to cope well enough with the fairly challenging terrain, there were a few tumbles but thankfully no body hurt more than their pride.
I regret not taking photos of the Shongololo (millipede) creatures on the beach. They were fairly common on this walk and I assumed we would see them again but alas no. I also asked our guides about them when back at the lodge by neither EJ nor Emma new what I was talking about.
Highlights of this day were definitely the glorious sunny day coupled with the magnificent views across the stretches of water. the wildlife was a bit lacking in inspiration, just a few gulls, terns, Oyster Catchers and the like.
Day 3 - Funghi and Seals
So today we were going on a boat, but before that we went for a delightful walk through a temperate rainforest to look at gorgeous and numerous fungis in the forest. We took so much time looking at them that we didn't make it to the end of the walk and had to turn back to avoid being late for the boat trip out of Adventure bay.
I have to admit to being a bit meh, about the boat trip at first but it turned out to be a highlight of the trip. The fluted Dolerite Cliffs dating back to the Jurassic period (we were told) were magnificent. We were shown caves, and an impressive blow hole that blew spray all over the boat when we can in close.
As we made our way further south along the cliffs, the wind became stronger and stronger as we were moving out of the protection of the land mass and into the teeth of the strong Sou'wester that was blowing. We arrived at the Australian Fur Seal colony with a sense of pity for these creatures who were perched on the rocks seeking warmth from the sun amidst the freezing cold wind. Of course, pitying them is ridiculous as they would have been perfectly happy but it still looked like a miserable experience. Apparently only male Australian Fur Seals gather here with the females being further north with the kids. The thinking is that this is to husband the resources more carefully. We also so a colony of New Zealand or Long Face seals nearby, these guys included boys and girls and their pups, they were on the rocks, but in the shade of the adjacent cliff, I felt that I wanted to yell at them to move around a bit.
Another highlight from this trip were the Albatross that we saw on the wing on the way back. Such elegant birds that apparently spend almost all of their lives on the wing, with only occasional periods were they will come to land to breed and raise a chick. Incredible birds.
Only 5 of us from the gang went on the boat trip, the rest did a walk up the adjacent headland. It sounds like that was another tough walk but I was sorry that we didn't get to do that too.
Day 4 - Cape Queen Elizabeth
It was with some regret that we packed our bags that morning and loaded them into the trailer as this was our last day. The plan was to walk on Cape Queen Elizabeth.
It turned out that we didn't get to the end of the Cape, but we still had a lovely day. The highlights were the rock formations (Dolerite, Sandstone and some mudstone) and fossils.
Fossils!Fossils!Fossils!
Closing
As always, we had a hugely enjoyable trip. Emma and EJ from Parktrek were great, as were our fellow participants. We were reminded of the cold climates we used to live in in Londan and Christchurch, and, while we enjoyed all those locations, and Bruny Island, we are glad to be able to return to warmer weather.
The most memorable things from this trip were the fungi, the rock formations, cold wind and glorious views.
We will definitely be back for another trip with Parktreks, either in Tassie, or elsewhere in Australia. As an aside, they do walks in every state of Australia except Queensland (huh?).
Sunrise from our room
Drunken Admiral
HMAS Adelaide in the background, invisible on MarineTraffic.com
I took these photos using my 24-105mm lense, they seem to have come out ok but I really wish I'd had my 100mm macro lense and tripod as these funghi were enchanting. All the photos were taken in a temperate rain forest near Adventure Bay called the Mavista Trail.
I remember the existential awe I felt the first time I saw the Hubble Deep Field image. It’s an image of a seemingly empty patch of sky exposed for about 12 days by the HST. It blew my mind because it shows a multitude of different galaxies gazillions of light years away. Some of the galaxies have been gravitationally lensed by large masses (other galaxies or dark matter) between us and the lensed galaxy. These appear as ribbons or strips. I think these are also known as Einstein rings.
The massive galaxy cluster Abell 370 as seen by Hubble Space Telescope in the final Frontier Fields observations. (Source: https://frontierfields.org/)
Now the Hubble Deep field images are incredible, but what will the James Weeb Space Telescope show?! The image below shows the first deep field image taken by the JWST and shows incredible high resolution detail.
The Planetary Society’s website informs us that it was released on 11 July 2022. It is a high resolution, infra red image of a dark space between stars. The arcs of light are distant galaxies being gravitationally lensed by the mass of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 which is shown as it was 4.6Billion years ago!, THe earth is only 4.8billion years old, so the light that is being gravitationally lensed must be significantly older for it to have been lensed.
The Planetary Society website says that the most distant light in the image has taken 13billion years to reach us, the age of the universe is estimated to be 14.8 billion.
JWST'S First Deep Field image
My mind is blown to smithereens by these images and the sense of vastness that they conjure up. All of the follies of humankind, the wars the crime, triumph, despair, they are all meaningless when considering the vastness of the universe and time.
