Happy Australia Day holiday to all Aussies!

For those of us in the south, it's cool for this time of year (23C). Those up in SE Queensland and northern NSW are struggling with dangerous floods and heavy weather conditions from the remnants of Cyclone Oswald. Yep, this cyclone packed a punch-and-a-half. Some areas had 24-hour rain totals that were greater than Adelaide's yearly average! Sadly, some people have already lost their lives, many trying to cross flooded roads - why? And so many of these same people were hit 2 years ago from the La Nina floods. Coming on top of a series of extensive bushfires - it's not a great summer!

It's been "Back to Work" week this week, followed by the inevitable "Back to School" week for the students. I'm a little apprehensive this time simply because of the lack of achievement; hoping it improves this week.

On the writing front: I've emailed my entry to the CWA's Debut Dagger award - who knows, eh? I'm fixing up a short story to enter into the Bristol Short Story Prize and writing a new one for the Kernewek Lowenden writing competition. Plus working on my query letters (etc) - that should be finalised on Friday.

Met with The Summiteers (Bush for Life mini-BAT group) at MtBS to douse the seedlings with long-awaited water. Up until a few minutes ago, we'd still had no rain (be lucky if we've had 0.2mm), in fact, we've had no significant rain in 5 months. The Summiteers are a fabulous bunch: thanks Karen, Tony and Steph. We're meeting next week to plot this year's activities. Exciting stuff!

Bird update: Wrens, thornbills (striated, I think, who was telling me off - I apologised), RBFs, spiney, shrike-thrush, babblers (H), sulphurs, y/f h/es, pardies (H), Wes (H), rosies, pies, fantails (H), curras (H) - AND TWO RAPTORS DIVING OFF THE COMMS TOWER, possibly kestrels, could be falcons. [Background: I heard what I thought was a young cockatoo on the tower (squeaky gate-type call) but couldn't see it. Gave up just the second the two raptors dived off the tower - at full-speed. IMPRESSIVE!]

Fauna update: Kangaroo on the Australia Day holiday - very appropriate (driving at the time, so no photo)

Photos: Taken over 3 days (26-28 Jan) The manna gums are shedding their bark at present - looks fantastic! Yes, those are dead/dying correa bushes - the reality of 5 months of poor (or zero) rainfall. I tried to get one of a wren - came out as a small black dot in a tree (not included).

Happy writing
Bo
x

Took a day off today to see "The Hobbit." What a fabulous film! Exciting, fun, thrilling, entertaining, spectacular! Martin Freeman is a wonderful Bilbo, Andy Serkis's Gollum is superb, and Richard Armitage is a standout as Thorin. There's the fun scene with the trolls, and great tension between Thorin and the orc king he thought he'd slain. The backstory was well-done - not overdone (thank God) - just enough to understand some of the characters' emotions and decisions (particulary Thorin). The underlying menace of the rising of the Dark Lord builds the right amount of tension. The dwarves are fun and courageous, and the New Zealand, sorry, Middle-Earth, scenery is visually breath-taking - as always. Verdict: BRILLIANT!

The bird list for today: Not a lot, wrens, thornies, y/f h/e, clogs, rosellas. Heard: spiney, fantails, babblers, black cockatoos "blacks," and sulphurs. AND the reason I didn't see so many birds: the appearance of Wes (collared sparrowhawk) in a tree along the entrance road (and with a call almost like a noisy miner - HUH?)

42C tomorrow in Adelaide. 40C up here with extreme fire danger. Pray for our firefighters. It's snowing in the UK and Europe...

Stay cool for those in Oz.
Happy writing (if you can write in this heat)
Bo
x

As I'm writing this, it's nearly noon on the 31st. In a few more hours, it'll be 2013 - and I wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year. Let's hope the conflict zones around the world (especially Syria) can come to a peaceful resolution soon!

First: there's an RSS feed button on this blog page (just scroll down a bit - it's on the right hand side). If you'd like to keep updated, just click on the button and enter your email details.

The webpages and blog and undergoing major changes - which are taking far longer than I thought (whoops). I've updated The Crime Novels, The Whodunnits, The Short Stories and About Bo pages. Currently I'm working on the Gallery pages - and that's where it's slowing down. I'm taking my time chosing WHICH photos go in, rather than blindly uploading all of them.

On the writing front, I'm preparing my query letter(s) to agents/publishers, and have enrolled in a couple of Writer's Digest webinars to help me improve my chances, plus reading up from a few texts: "Guide to Query Letters" by Wendy Burt-Thomas (Writer's Digest books 2008) and "The Sell your Novel Tool Kit" by Elizabeth Lyon (Perigee/Penguin 1997). And what would the New Year be without rehashing a synopsis for the CWA's Debut Dagger competition?

This week, I've relaxed a bit, caught up with friends (always wonderful) and some work around the garden. We really could do with some rain. It's been such a dry spring and an even drier summer, with another hot blast on the way for Thursday. At least it hasn't been as hot as Perth, who've had nearly a week of 40C temperatures! No thanks!

MORE OF THE BLOG AFTER THE PHOTOS (keep scrolling!)

MONARTO:

Friday was a trip to Monarto Zoological Park - and that fabulous open range "zoo." Yep, lions, cheetahs, meerkats, rhinos, zebras, antelope and deer, bison and other plains grazers, chimps, ostrich and of course those beautiful giraffes. They have an impressive program of breeding mammals that are endangered in the wild, including our own yellow-footed rock wallabies.

You can catch a bus for a tour of the area (on/off stops during peak times) or walk some of the lovely trails through the park. An impressive day!

Oh, and we saw singing honeyeaters, yellow-rumped thornbills, wrens, heard babblers and weebills, and saw the tiniest of skinks.

Just before that, we had a SHORT trip to the beautiful Laratinga Wetlands at Mount Barker. It's the first time I've ever seen a SAND BAR in the first lake. It's that dry! Always a great spot for wrens, and there were a considerable number of wading birds (ibis, spoonbill) and of course ducks (black duck, grey teal, dotterels - or was it a plover?) I'll do a better list when I go back and have more time!

MOUNT BARKER

Mount Barker summit is dry, and the birds are moving down the mountain. Perhaps the best was being eye-balled by the juvenile Golden Whistler, who then followed Dad Golden Whistler into the tree-martin's tree for instruction on how to hunt for insects. Seen  Mrs GW in the same area too. The birds are often travelling in groups at the moment, and on various days I've seen large groups of wrens travelling with thornbills (striateds probably, and maybe brown) and fantails. Seen and heard: grey shrike-thrush, black-faced cuckoo-shrike, eastern spinebill, RBFs, rosellas (Adelaide), pardelotes, y/f h/es, babblers (always fun), currawongs, blackbirds, tree-martins, clogs, magpies, galahs, silvereyes, yellow-tailed black cockatoos, sulphur-crested cockatoos. Not all at the one time of course. Yesterday I had 3 groups of wrens (in one batch) OVERRUN me: I just stood still and gaped!

Finished a fabulous TV series The Killing (Forbrydelsen) from Denmark. Great acting, an exciting and thrilling story, and garnished with local politics. Superb television! Sophie Grabol is a goddess!

And finally, vale Gerry Anderson. Thanks for the some of my favourite childhood memories - great stories, heroic characters, and always with a great message. Thunderbirds are Go!

Happy New Year

Yours in writing
Bo
x

Saw a pair of golden whistlers (Pachycephala pectoralis) at the summit today, with the most melodious set of trills (in addition to the territory calls) that I've ever heard. Amazing.

Photo of the male GW is from the Birds in Backyards website (http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/) . Check out their info page too.

Yes I am still editing. A "summary" page has gone well! I'm really pleased.

Happy writing and birding
Bo   xx