The other day we took a trip around 100Km (60 Miles) Northeast of Adelaide to the country town of Eudunda. In October, artist Sam Brooks finished painting the Silos here. Inspired by Colin Thiele's book The Sun on the Stubble, it shows two local children.
The Silos are beautifully painted
Yesterday evening we took a short drive to look at some of the Christmas lights on homes around the neighbourhood. As usual there were some lovely displays
Earlier this week, there were reports of a mother and calf Southern Right Whale sighted off Christies Beach in the southern suburbs of Adelaide. As we hadn't seen any whaled this season, we decided to go and have a look.
The Southern Right Whale, Eubalaena australis, is a Baleen whale, and adults can weigh up to 23,000 Kg. They are migratory, and spend the summer in Antarctica, migrating to the southern coast of Australia in our winter to calve, before returning to the Antarctic in autumn.
Our first view was from a lookout to the south, and after a few minutes we picked up the adult around a kilometre away.
We were looking into the sun, so after watching it for a while we decided to move closer, and get better light for photography. There was a large crowd watching them, but everyone was considerate and abiding by social distancing requirements in these strange times we now live in.
The adult was pretty easy to see and was slowly traveling north, regularly surfacing. as it turned away from the beach, you got a better idea of the size of these majestic creatures.
The calf was not so easy to see, always staying close to mum. I did manage a few shots with the calf in view.
Today we took a short trip up to Owen, on the Adelaide Plains, to see their recently completed silo art. The theme is "Wheat bags to sand bags" and is honouring the men who left this area to fight in the First World War. It also honours the people left behind, who switched from making bags for the farmer's cereal crops to making sand bags for the trenches.
More information can be found here:
This weekend there is a "fly-in" at Truro Air Park in the Murray Mallee. I popped up on Saturday on what was a chilly, windy and dusty day.
Over 20 aircraft were there, with a mix of old and new, some gliders and a couple of gyrocopters
Amongst the planes were RV6 VH-VEE, Ercoupe 24-5047, Jabiru 19-3774 and the glider tug PA-25 Pawnee VH-HZY
The gliders, from the university gliding club included Schleicher K13 VH-GQC and K8B VH-GAQ
The gyrocopters were Cavalon G-2050 and Eclipse G-5070
In amongst the plethora of bizjets at Adelaide Airport today was an unusual visitor. It was an Aero L-39 Albatros, a Czech built fast jet trainer. Privately owned in Australia, VH-ZPM looked striking in it's bright blue Czech Airforce colour scheme. It only stayed a couple of hours before heading back to it's base at Essendon
The bizjets included Embraer Phenom VH-UYX, Citation Mustang VH-PWX, Citation Bravo VH-XBP and Learjet 60 VH-OLJ
Today was the long awaited return of an airshow to South Australia. It was at Rowland Flat in the Barossa Valley
There were a variety of aircraft on show including planes, gliders and helicopters
The helicopters included the Police Air Wing Eurocopter EC-130 and a Westland Gazelle
Adelaide Soaring Club displayed their DG-1000S glider, and I scored a lucky photo with the Piper Pawnee tug in the background.
This great day out was enjoyed by the many victors to the show.
Last weekend we had a short break in Robe. I took the opportunity to do a little birdwatching.
On Saturday morning i took a short walk through the dunes looking for a Rufous Bristlebird which had been seen here the previous day. No luck, but as I walked down to West Beach I spotted a small plover feeding on the shoreline. It was a Hooded Plover, a critically endangered rare breeding bird in SA. It was unconcerned when I perched on a rock nearby and slowly came closer to give me some of the best photo's I've taken of this species.
I made a couple of trips to Fox Lake which has a very well designed hide. Fox Lake is well known as a great spot to see the cryptically camouflaged Latham's Snipe. I scanned the mud flats and quickly picked out Red-kneed Dotterel and Black-fronted Dotterel. Both very common shorebirds in SA.
Scanning again, I picked out a Latham's Snipe partially hidden in the vegetation, then another, and another until i counted eight birds. Unfortunately they are not as easy to photograph as a plover on the beach!
