The vastness of the universe

I've been reflecting a lot lately about the vastness of the universe.  It's extraordinary, literally beyond comprehension.  It gives me a deep sense of wonder which I find very useful in my spiritual path.  Below I'm going to keep quotes and images on this subject.

• "Wonder is the basis of worship." -  Thomas Carlyle

• To give you an idea of how vast the space is between celestial bodies, consider this: Light traveling at a constant speed of 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) per second takes just over one second to travel between the earth and the moon; light from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach the earth. Light from our nearest neighbor in space, a star called Proxima Centauri, which is the sun that is closest to our own sun, travels for 4.5 years before it reaches the earth. This is how vast the space is that surrounds us. And then there is the intergalactic space, whose vastness defies all comprehension. Light from the galaxy closest to our own, the Andromeda Galaxy, takes 2.4 million years to reach us.  Eckhart Tolle

• "The atoms that make up your body were once forged inside stars." - Eckhart Tolle

• If you watched a rock your entire life it would never look different. But if you were God and could observe the rock over fifteen billion years as though only a second had passed, the rock would be frantic with activity. It would be shrinking and growing and trading matter with its environment. Its molecules would travel the universe and become a partner to amazing things that we could never imagine. Scott Adams, God's Debris

• Imagine that the earth, 4.6 billion years old, is a 46 year old women. It has taken the whole of the Earth Women's life for the earth to become what it is today. For the oceans to part. For the mountains to rise. She was 11 when the first single cell organisms appeared. She was 40 when the first animals like worms and jellyfish appeared. She was 45 - just 8 months ago - when dinosaurs first roamed the earth. The whole of human civilisation as we know it, began only two hours ago in the Earth Women's life. An awe - inspiring and humbling thought that the whole of contemporary history, the World wars, the man on the moon, science, literature, philosophy, the pursuit of knowledge - is no more than a blink of her eye. Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

• Put three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars.  Sir James Jeans 

Pylon Lookout (Sydney Harbour Bridge)

Surprisingly, I've never been to the Pylon Lookout before up on top of the Harbour Bridge. It provides a great view of the Opera House and city from a high vantage point. It also had some very interesting photos and information about the building of the bridge. Definitely worth a visit.

Photos of the building of the bridge

Some interesting facts about the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Vital statistics

• 1149 meters long
• 503 meters wide
• 131 meters high
• 181,000 cars cross a day

It took over eight years to build the Bridge, between July 1923 and March 1932.   Planning for the Bridge began as early as 1912.

Before the bridge was built, ferries transported 40,000 people a day from Millers Point to Milsons Point.

Ingredients to make a bridge

• £100,571,170
• 52,800 tonnes of steel
• 6 million rivets
• 95,000 cubic meters of cement
• 272,000 liters of paint
• 16 lives 

Amazing facts about Australian Animals

I wrote this for a class based on Google found information.  Some interesting facts about our local critters.

• Marsupials like koalas and kangaroos can be found nowhere else in the world. Marsupials are animals that bring up their babies in a pouch.
• It is difficult to be a wild animal in Australia. It is very dry and food can be hard to find. This means animals need to use less energy.
• Marsupials use so little energy that they need to eat one-fifth less food than mammals of the same size.
• There are over 60 different species (types) of kangaroos.
• Kangaroos hop because it is takes much less energy to move around.
• A million years ago, there was a type of kangaroo that was over three metres tall.
• Koalas eat gum leaves which are so poisonous that they use 20% of their energy just digesting their food. They make up for this by having tiny brains (brains use up a lot of energy). They are very stupid! But nothing hunts them so it is OK.
• Koalas are not always cute. They can make an extremely loud growling noise.
• Australia has two mammals that can lay eggs. They are the platypus and echidna. They are the only animals in the world to lay eggs.
• Platypuses can eat their own body weight in food in a 24 hour period!
• The Emu is the world's third largest bird. The nest of an Emu can be up to 1.5 metres wide!
• The Tasmanian Devil has very strong jaws (nearly as strong as a crocodile). This helps them to eat bones.
• There are more than 150 million sheep in Australia and only 20 million people. That's 8 sheep for every person.
• Young Kookaburras (a type of bird) often stay with their parents to help them bring up new chicks because food is difficult to find.
• It is thought that Dingos were the first domesticated dogs and the "father" of all other domestic dog breeds.
• Australia has the longest fence. It's known as the Dingo Fence and runs through central Queensland and is designed to keep sheep safe from our native dog the Dingo... the fence is about 6 feet high and stretches over 5500 kilometers.

Dangerous Animals

• Australia is home to 10 of the world's 15 most poisonous snakes. Of Australia's 155 species of land snakes, 93 are poisonous.
• The Australian Taipan is the most poisonous snake in the world.
• The Stone Fish that lives in the Great Barrier reef has strong poison that can kill a person in less than two hours. People sometimes step on them. The only way to stop the poison is to put your foot in boiling water. Ouch!
• The box jellyfish kills more people in Australian each year than Snakes, Sharks and Salt Water Crocodiles.
• The Irukandji jellyfish is only 2.5 centimetres in diameter, but can cause death to humans within days.
• There are 1500 species of Australian spiders.
• The saltwater crocodile is the world's largest reptile - males can reach a staggering 6 metres long.
• The temperature of the saltwater crocodile's egg will decide the sex of the baby crocodile.
• The saltwater crocodile has only two muscles to open its mouth but 40 to close it! 

 

 

Fascinating facts about the Melbourne Cup

This is part of a piece I wrote for my students about The Melbourne Cup to get them in the mood for the race.  We stopped our lesson early and all went to the local pub to watch the race together.  Of course, needless to say, we all had a bit of a punt (I organised the class "sweepstakes") but my horse came second last.  Oh well, gambling and fishing just don't seem to be my thing...

• The Melbourne Cup is Australia's most famous horse race. The race always happens on the first Tuesday of November and it starts at 3 p.m. This is the 150th year that the Melbourne Cup will be run. So, you are here in Australia at a historic moment!

• The Melbourne Cup takes place in (yes, you guessed it!) Melbourne at the Flemington Racecourse. Horses have to be three years or older to take part.

• The Melbourne Cup is known as "The race that stops a nation." That's because just about every person in Australia stops doing whatever they are doing to drink beer or champagne and listen to or watch the race.

• A recent survey calculated that the Melbourne Cup costs the Australian economy over $ 1 billion in lost work. That's because no-one does much work on the afternoon of the race (not even English students) and it’s a public holiday in Victoria. But who cares! It's lots of fun and an excuse for Australians everywhere to have a party.

• Australians love to gamble on any day and especially on the day of the Melbourne Cup. The "sweep" (sweepstakes) is particularly popular where each person puts in some money and they are given a randomly chosen horse. The person with the winning horse wins all the money. Then they get to buy everyone drinks!

• The Melbourne Cup is not really about horse racing at all! It's about having fun and drinking champagne and eating canapés and looking beautiful in the latest fashions. It's one big fashion parade and it's all about being noticed. And often the most popular way to do that is to wear a huge, exotic looking hat.

• Sometimes the fashions at the Melbourne Cup influence what people wear all over Australia and even in other parts of the world. In 1965, everyone remembers when Jean Shrimpton, a model from England, wore a miniskirt. The skirt went just above her knees (shocking in those days!) and caused a worldwide sensation. Soon everyone was wearing them.

• The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861 and was won by a horse called "Archer." Archer lived in Nowra in New South Wales so he had to walk 800 km's just to get to the start of the race! Seventeen horses took part and the prize was a gold watch and £170 ($ 300).

• In today's race, 24 horses will take part and the prize money is $ 7.7 million and $ 4.5 million of that goes to the winning horse. Even if you come 10th, you get $ 160,000. Over 100,000 people will attend the race.

• The Melbourne Cup is one of the most difficult and challenging races in the world. The race is run over 3,200 metres and it is a handicapped race. This means that the better the horse is, the more weight it has to carry in the race. In the 1890's there was a particularly strong horse called Carbine who won many races. He had to carry a weight of over 66 kg in the Melbourne Cup (that doesn't even include the jockey) and yet he still won the race!

• Only four horses have won the Melbourne Cup twice and only one horse (Makybe Diva in 2003) has won it three times. The distance and the handicap make it very difficult to predict who will win the Melbourne Cup. Any horse can win. Who knows, maybe it will be your horse than wins the race today. Good luck! And if you win, remember to buy your teacher a beer.

Jean Shrimpton in her “shocking” miniskirt that caused a worldwide sensation.  Get a life, people!

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Fascinating facts about Australia

We have been re-reading Bill Bryson's fantastic (and hilarious) travel book about Australia called "Down Under" as well as "The Lonely Planet Australia."

Here are some of the fascinating facts we have gleaned:

GEOGRAPHY

• Australia is the only island that is also a continent and the only continent that is also a country.

• Australia's population is small by world standards - only about 20 million. China grows by a larger amount every year.

HISTORY

• It is conjectured that Aborigines arrived in Australia about 46,000 years ago, at a time of lower sea levels, during the ice age. They came via South East Asia and had to cross water passages at least 70 km's wide

• The first colonists from Europe nearly starved to death waiting for shipped in supplies rather than finding out what the indigenous population was eating.

• Several of the early European explorers were so convinced that they would encounter mighty river systems or even an inland sea that they took boats with them into the interior. Thomas Mitchell, who explored vast tracks of New South Whales and Victoria in the 1830's, dragged two wooden skiffs over 3000 miles of arid scrub without once getting them wet, but refused to the last to give them up.

• The gold rush of the 1850's marked the end of Australia as a penal colony and its beginning as a nation. In less than a decade, the country took in 600,000 new faces, more than doubling its population.

LANDMARKS

• When Sydney's city burghers decided to put a bridge across the harbour, they determinded to make it the longest bridge in the world. Stretching 1650 feet, it took almost 10 years to build. Just before it was completed in 1932, the Bayonne Bridge in New York quietly opened and was found to be 25 inches longer.

DANGEROUS CREATURES

• Five of Australia's creatures - the funnel web spider, box jellyfish, blue ringed octopus, paralysis tick and stone fish are the most lethal of their type in the world.

• Australia is home to 10 of the world's 15 most venomous snakes.

• Of Australia's 155 species of land snakes, 93 are venomous.

• The Australian Taipan is the most poisonous snake in the world with a lunge so swift and a venom so potent that your last mortal utterance is likely to be: "I say, is that a sn-"

GEOLOGY

• For the last 90 million years, Australia has been geologically comatose. It was too flat, warm and dry to attract glaciers, its crust to ancient and thick to be punctuated by volcanoes or folded into mountains. Under such conditons, no new soil is created and the old soil is leached of its goodness, making much of Australia's soil infertile.

• Ayer's Rock (Uluru) is the eroded stump of a mountain that 350 million years ago was the height of the Andes.

AMAZING CREATURES

• The largest roo that ever existed was the giant short-faced kangaroo, which lived during the Pleistocene era. It grew to heights of up to 3 m!

• The saltwater crocodile is the world's largest reptile - males can reach a staggering 6 m long

• One of the most common marsupials in Australia are nocturnal rat like creatures called antechinus. They live for only 11 months, the first 10 of which are spent eating and growing. Then their minds suddenly become obsessed with sex, so much so that they forget to eat and sleep. Instead, they gather in groups and try to woo passing females with serenading squeeks. By the end of August, just two weeks after reaching puberty - every male is dead, exhausted by sex, and by carrying around swollen testes.

• Marsupials are so energy efficient that they need to eat one-fifth less food than equivilent-sized placental mammals.

• Kangaroos hop because it is the most energy efficient way of getting around at medium speeds. The energy of the bounce is stored in the leg tendons, much like a pogo stick.

• Koalas eat gum leaves which are so toxic that they use 20% of their energy just detoxifying their food. They make up for this by having tiny brains (our human brains take up 20% of our energy.) Living in tree tops with so few predators means koalas can get by with few wits at all.

• So challenging are conditions in Australia that several of its birds (kookaburras, magpies and blue wrens toname a few) have developed a breeding system called "helpers at the nest" Young adults stay with their parents to help bring up new chicks.

• The dingo is thought to have been the world's first domesticated dog and the ancestor of all domestic dog breeds.

Galapagos Islands

Ever since Mr Howard, my school biology teacher, told us about Charles Darwin's expedition to Galapagos in 1835 and how his findings inspired his theories on evolution, I have been fascinated by the island. Seeing footage on David Attenborough wildlife documentaries motivated me all the more to visit.
So, to say my expectations were sky high when we flew from Quito to Galapagos for a 8 day tour of the islands would be an understatement. Did our trip meet our high expectations? The answer is that it blew them out of the ball park. This was the undoubted highlight of our time in South American. What an amazing way to end off an already fantastic 6 months. 



The first thing that struck us when we stepped onto the islands was that the animals are incredibly tame. Not just the Iguanas and tortoises that we expected to be slow anyway but lizards, snakes, hawks, herons, finches, albatrosses and seals all tolerated incredibly close approach. It was evident everywhere that the fewness of predators on the island has made shyness unecessary and curiosity an advantage.




The tameness of the birds in particular was remarkable. We were able to approach, to within a metre, birds sitting on eggs and involved in elaborate courting rituals without effecting their behaviour in the slightest.

The other amazing thing about Galapagos is the uniqueness of so many of the species. Most of them are found nowhere else in the world. There are 26 unique species of birds alone which of course was very exciting for me. In addition to that, there are other strange and wonderful creatures like marine iguanas and giant tortoises that blow the mind when you see them.

The Galapagos Islands have never been attached to the mainland, but instead rose from the sea as the tips of huge volcanos. Thus, all life on the islands came from another place. The tortoises, for example, would have come from the mainland on floating vegetation. Once they arrived, the colonists adapted and evolved into the unique species that exist there today.

Here are my photos of birds, reptiles and mammals I saw, along with some interesting facts we discovered about them:


TORTOISES

To think of Galapagos is to think of tortoises. Indeed the very name Galapagos is derived from an old Spanish word referring to their saddle like shape. They are undoubtedly the archipelago's most celebrted animals and it is a pity that their story is a sad one and their population has fallen from 300,000 to 15,000 over the years.

One reason for this is they were used by 18th century sailors to provide fresh meat for long voyages. In the days before refrigertion, the sailors would put them upside down in the hold where they could survive a year without eating or drinking.

We saw a number of enormous tortoises on the Island of Santa Cruz, both in captivity in the Darwin Centre and in the highlands. They were beautiful and extremely impressive creatures.



In the Darwin Centre, we also got to see "Lonesome George". He is the last remaining member of his species and has been all alone since before 1970. When he dies, his species will officially be extinct and there will only be 10 species of Galapagos tortoises left. It could be a long wait to join his ancestors as he is youthful 90 years old and these tortoises can live to over 180. Lonely George is a world famous symbol for conservation and is the subject of several books.




Two tortoises started "procreating" while we stood by, intrigued. We later discovered they were two males!





MARINE IGUANAS

The marine iguana is the only true marine lizard in the world and,along with the giant tortoises, is a quintessential symbol of Galapagos. They are very well adapted to their marine lives. The larger males can dive as deep as 12 metres and stay down for up to 10 minutes. To aid matters, they have special salt glands that allows them to drink sea water.

The iguanas were extremely tame and allowed us very close. They love to sleep. In fact, they only spend 5% of their day swimming, the rest is spent basking in the sun. Not a bad life. And incidentally, male iguanas have not just one, but two penises!

LAND IGUANAS

Land iguanas feed on cactuses and are seemingly immune from the long spikes. They seem to wear a permanent smile and have a rather dim witted countenance. However, once they have warmed up, their sprinting ability will take anyone by suprise.

SEAL LIONS

We loved spending time with the sea lions. They loaf around in piles on the beach most of the day and love to cuddle up to each other. The young ones are absolutely adorable with their big eyes and cute whiskers.

The alpha males, however, were not quite as endearing. Cantankerous and tetchy, they vigorously defend their portion of beach, allowing only females to sunbathe there. Of course, the females have to pay rent by mating with the male when the time comes.

Often, when we were snorkeling close to a beach, the male would swim by, snorting aggressively to remind us that the beach was his and not to fool around with his females. Needless to say, we respected him!

The younger seals were extremely playful and curious and would often come very close while we were snorkeling, sometimes even nibbling on our flippers. This was a wonderful experience.

GALAPAGOS FUR SEALS

Unlike sea lions, fur seals shun body contact and hide away in lava crevices. They were hard to photograph but I did manage to get a nice shot of this cute pup.




TURTLES

Galapagos is one of the few remaining places in the world where turtles are still a common sight and we were able to snorkel with Pacific Green Turtles on several occasions.

A real highlight was snorkeling with Ally, hand in hand, following a huge turtle. He was completely relaxed to have us there and every so often, would look back at us to make sure we were keeping up, then languidly move his flippers to keep snorkeling. We will remember that experience forever.

Only 2% of turtle hatchlings survive their first few days of life. They hatch from eggs laid in holes on the beach, then dash for the sea. The survivors roam the oceans for up to 20 years before returning to the exact beach where they were born to breed.

It is interesting that the sex of turtles and tortoises is determined by the temperature of the hole in which they are incubated. Warmer nests result in females, cooler nests in males. Also interesting is that female turtles are able to capture and store sperm so they can reproduce, even when there are no males around.





LAVA LIZARDS

There are 7 species of lava lizards on the islands and we saw several of them. Their colour patterns and behaviour varies from island to island, as you can see in the photos below. They are very territorial and scare off other lizards by doing agressive push ups.

BOOBIES

I have decided I love boobies! There are 3 species of them at Galapagos, all with different coloured feet and all adorable. They have forward pointing stereoscopic vision which allows them to pinpoint their prey and also gives them a particularlly comical appearance. The woord booby comes from the Spanish word "bobo" meaning clown. The booby dives at 70 km an hour headfirst into the water to catch fish. Sometimes the water is only a foot deep! Talk about extreme sports.

Blue footed booby

Masked booby

Red footed booby

FRIGATEBIRDS

These giant flying machines have the largest wingspan to bodyweight ratio of any bird, making them highly acrobatic flyers. Their favourite trick is to steal food from other birds in mid fleight, hence their nickname "man o' war birds".

We got to see males doing their mating routine and it was the most extraordinry sight to behold. When ready to breed, the male frigate bird pumps air into his grossly exagerated, bright red throat pouch until it is the size of a party balloon.

As`soon as a female flies by, he loses control and erupts into fits of rapturous headshaking and vibrating. If the female is suitably impressed, she will alight beside him and, with his wing jealoudly protecting her, the pair bond is sealed.

As you can see from the photos below, we saw some very impressive red throat pouches.

ALBATROSS

The waved albatross is the biggest bird in the Gallapagos with a wingspan of up to 2 metres. We watched in awe as a couple did an elaborate courtship dance in which, facing each other, they went through the motions of "bill circling", "sky pointing", the "shy look", the "drunken swagger", "bill clapping", "mooing" and "gaping." They stay with their mate for life which can be 40 years or more so the courtship rituals are very important to keep the romance alive.

This was the first close up albtross I had ever seen. Really exciting and the realisation of a life goal.

Interestingly, waved albatrosses produce a vile-smelling stomach oil that they regurgitate and squirt at enemies. The oil makes an excellent sun tan lotion but wreaks havoc on your cothes and your social life.

STORM PETRELS

Believe it or not, the storm petrel is very closely related to the albatross despite being the smallest sea bird in the world - only 15 cms long. The name petrel is named after Peter as in St Peter, after their dainty ability to walk on water. Fluttering like butterflies, they gently patter along the water suface, creating tiny currents which drag food particles towards them.

In addition to seeing them from our boat, we visited a petrel breeding colony at Genevesa Island. As the photo shows, there were thousands of them flittering about.

REDBILLED TROPIC BIRDS

I was thrilled to get a decent photo of a red tropic bird. They are beautiful with their long streamer tails and arial courtship pursuits. But they are notoriouly difficult to photograph due to their love of wheeling and diving and nesting in inaccessible places.

SWALLOW TAILED GULL

The swallow tailed gull is the world's only nocturnal oceanic gull. At dusk, they fly out to sea many kilometers in search of squid, their favourite prey, and their eyes are specially adapted for the dark. We often saw them flying alongside our boat for kilometer after kilometer at night from our cabin window. I loved their red eye ring - very photogenic.

PENGUINS

The Galapagos penguin occurs further north than any other penguin in the world. It seemed very strange to find penguins at the equator. We were lucky to snorkel with penguins and watch them "flying" underwater, so graceful compared to their waddling on land. It was very hard to keep up with them though. Apparently they can swim at 35 kms an hour underwater, almost faster than we can sprint on land!

GREAT BLUE HERON

The largest of the Galapagos herons, sometimes they eat marine Iguana hatchlings.

YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON

They are solitary and tend to hunt at night. Their favourite food is sally lightfoot crabs.

LAVA HERON

These are "sit and wait" predators and manage to maintain a fabulous sense of alertness for hours and hours.

AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER

Oystercatchers make their living in the intertidal zone, feeding on crustaceans and molluscs.

GREATER FLAMINGOS

The same flamingo as we get in Africa, but they are much pinker. In fact, they are the pinkest flamingos in the world due to the pink organisms they eat.

MOCKINGBIRDS

Of the 4 species of Mockingbirds, we saw two. They were extremely curious and came hopping down the beach to investigate what we were up to and beg for a sip of water from our water bottles. However we were forbidden to share our water as it then makes them too reliant on people. It sure was hard to say no as they were quite adorable and very persistent.

FINCHES

Undoubtedly the most famous endemic land birds in Galapagos are the 13 species of Darwin finches. These birds, with their different shaped bills adapted to different foods and environments, provided Darwin with important clues that allowed him to generate his theory of evolution. Apparently all 13 species originated from one original species from the mainland. They were very challenging to tell apart at times but I am confident that I saw and correctly identified at least 5 finches.

YELLOW WARBLER

The yellow warbler is not endemic to the island, enjoying a huge range from Alaska to Peru. It provided a nice dash of colour against the black volcanic rocks.




FLYCATCHER

We saw the Galapagos flycatcher, an endemic but rather nondescript bird. Unfortunately we did not see his far more impressive cousin, the brilliant red Vermillion Flycatcher. We hope to see him in the cloud forest during our next stop in Ecudor.

DOVE

The Galapagos Dove is common in the arid areas on the main islands. On Genovesa Island, there are no bees which the cactuses normally rely on for pollination. The cactuses have relaxed their defences through evolution (the spines are now soft and hairlike) allowing the doves to pollinate them instead.

HAWK

Galapagos hawks are so tame that they will even land on people's heads. It has peculiar mating behaviour. The female mates with up to 4 males and all the males will then help defend the territory, even during non mating season. They also help with the feeding and caring of the young. This bird is probably the rarest non threatened raptor in the world with only 130 pairs on the islands.

SALLY LIGHTFOOT CRABS

These brightly coloured crabs eat anything they can get their claws on and play an important role in keeping the shore clean of detritus. Their name is thought to originate from a Carribean dancer and refers to their agility in jumping from rock to rock.

PAINTED LOCUST

The emerald green locusts were beautiful, contrasted against the arid vegetation. Once again, my super macro lens came in very handy.

GALAPAGOS SCENERY

Below are some views of the scenery across the different islands we visited. We spent most of our time on beaches and sea cliffs close to the island shores, in addition to one trip to the highlands of Santa Cruise where it was too misty to get good photos. To get to the shore from our boat, we used motorised dingies. Many of the landings were "wet", necessitating jumping out of the dingy into the shallow surf. This of course just added to the fun.

THE EDEN

Here is a photo of the boat, "The Eden" that transported us from island to island and where we spent our nights. We were spoiled with very comfortable cabins with hot water and 3 amazing meals a day. Much more luxurious than we are normally accustomed to.

The crew were amazingly friendly and helpful. A great highlight was watching the excitement of the crew when Ecuador won their first game in the world cup football (2 nil against Poland.) Our guide, Raul, was also a tremendous asset and his vast knowledge combined with his sense of humour kept us captivated.

And our fellow passengers were really great too. Lot of fun and all passionate about travel and nature.

And of course, I got to do one of my leaps...

All in all, the experience of a life time.



OTHER HIGHLIGHTS (for memories sake)

• Reading Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species" - tough going at times but worthwhile
• Seeing a yellow bellied sea snake in the sand while swimming. They are highly venomous but it seemed placid enough
• Snorkeling with turtles, sharks, penguins and rays - just amazing!
• Seals treating me as a "playmate" while snorkeling
• A curious seal island coming up to smell my nose and legs on the beach
• Not getting sea sick during the nightly island crossings (several of our fellow passengers did)
• Seding post cards from the "pirate's internet"
• The challenge of trying to identify and photo Darwin finches
• Walking through a 500 metre underground lava tube (about the size of a London subway), caused by lava flowing towards the sea during an eruption. The outside cooled and solidified while the lava inside continued.to flow, creating tunnels through the earth.
• Exploring Turtle cove - a beautiful estuary - in a dingy and watching hundreds of blue footed boobies diving at once, white tipped sharks and rays swimming and black tipped reef sharks barrel rolling out of the water like dolphins (this is how they rid themselves of parasites)
• Snorkeling with playful sea lions - particularly two gorgeous ones who considered me a playmate
• The excitement of the crew when Ecuador beat Poland 2-0 in their first game in the 2006 World Cup
• The shower in our cabin - best shower in South America!
• Seeing 27 new species of birds, including 13 endemics
• Watching swallow gulls following the wake of our boat for ages from our cabin door

List of birds seen

• Blue footed booby
• yellow warbler
• Great blue heron
• Magnificent frigatebird
• White vented storm petrel
• Audubon's shearwater
• Great Frigatebird
• Swallow-tailed gull
• Lava gull (*)
• Small ground finch (*)
• Noddy tern
• Galapagos hawk (*)
• Galapagos mockingbird (*)
• Hood mockingbird (*)
• Redbilled tropic bird
• Yellow-crowned night heron
• Galapagos flycatcher (*)
• Waved albatross (*)
• Masked booby
• Lava heron (*)
• Warbler finch (*)
• Medium ground finch (*)
• Large ground finch (*)
• Small tree finch (*)
• Red footed booby
• Large cactus finch (*)
• Galapagos dove (*)
• Wandering tattler

(*) Endemic to Galapagos




EXCERPTS FROM ALLY´S JOURNAL

The night before we left for Galapagos G´s legs came out in 100s of little mite bites that were so itchy. The next day at the airport we tried to find a pharmacy but no luck so it was with some trepidation that we set off for a whole week voyage with no contact with civilisation.

Arriving on the boat was very exciting. It was so much bigger than we expected with a super bunk cabin, TV, books and were greeted by a delicious lunch – good sign of things to come.

Our first afternoon we went to the beach and saw marine iguanas (they were smaller than I thought), flying frigate birds and beautifully coloured crabs. Nothing ran or flew away when we got close which of-course is the unique thing about the Galapagos as they have had such limited contact with humans and very few predators they are curious rather than scared.

First Day – North Seymor Island
On Monday morning we went for a walk on North Seymor Island and were just amazed by the show the magnificent frigate birds put up for us. Well it was actually the males puffing out their red chests while the females flew overhead assessing who had the reddest, puffiest chest. I must admit that they all looked the same to me – just as well I am not a frigate bird. We also saw our first blue footed boobie. There was a mom with a chick. They nest on the ground due to their being so few predators and we got within half a meter and mom was quiet happy to preen her feathers while we all took hundreds of pictures.
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First Day – Santa Fe Island
That afternoon was snorkelling. Along the rocks we saw sea lions diving down. Two decided that G would make a good playmate and were swimming all around him. That was until the big boss arrived – the huge male. That was the end of playtime. While crossing the bay we saw sting-rays lying at the bottom. But they were just docile with other fish hanging around them.

Then we saw turtles. One had a shell on its back – like it was hitching a ride. A smaller turtle saw us all and promptly hid himself under a rock and some sand. The G and I spotted another adult. Swimming side by side with G´s hands holding us together we swam above the turtle. He was so relaxed to have us there. Every so often he would look back at us to make sure we were still keeping up and then he would languidly move is flippers to keep swimming. He was just over an arms length away from us so we could see all the details and markings on him. I will remember that moment in time forever. G, me and the green backed turtle like we were the only creatures in the whole universe for just a minute.

In the evening we went for a walk on the beach amongst the sleeping seals. Some wanted to smell us (the sun tan lotion is delicious) and some barked at us when we got to close. Particularly the pups – they were scared that we were trying to steal their milk. They certainly were not as smelly as the colonies in Cape Town. Around the island we also saw a yellow land iguana who was not pleased to see us – we had disrupted his peaceful life. Growing on the island were holly trees – the sap is a mosquito repellent and on the branches grows a hanging green lichen which was used as a paint pigment. This was one of the original businesses run out of Galapagos, apart from fishing, salt mining and not to be forgotten whaling and piracy.

That night it was very rough crossing but thank goodness G and I were OK unlike our fellow passengers.

Second day – Gardner Bay, Espanola Island
Thinking that it would be very hard to beat yesterday we made our way to our next island. Upon stepping off the boat we were greeted by masked boobies flying off the cliff and reddy/black marine iguanas warming up in the sun. The highlight was definitely the albatrosses. Every since I saw the David Attonbourgh I have wanted to see the courting ritual of albatrosses. These were smaller than the ones from further down south – still the wing span is 2m. I got to see a couple doing their courtship ritual with much beak clacking, head nodding and fancy walking. They mate for life so this ritual has to form a very strong bond. Once the chicks are old enough they fly off and stay at sea until the reach sexual maturity after about 5 years and then they return to their island of birth. The older males – even those who are still attached – take advantage of the younger unattached females, the sneaky devils, when they come back to the island for the first time. As harsh as this sounds there is a purpose. When couples lay there eggs they are easily broken. If they do break they will take over an abandoned egg from an unattached female and raise it as their own. I feel that they are such elegant and beautiful birds.

After visiting the albatrosses we went to a cliff site were we saw hundreds of reddy/black marine iguanas on the rocks. Even though they are not social they were in such numbers that they had to lie over each other. Whenever one of them moved they all got cranky and tried to bite each other.

Third day – Punta Cormorant, Floreana Island
Wednesday morning was flamingo time. Although there weren’t that many they were the most iridescent pink. They are the pinkest flamingos in the world due to the pink shrimp they eat. We heard the sucking sound they make while filtering their food.

Third Day – Post Office Bay, Floreana Island
This spot has been in use since 1791. An oak barrel was placed there and ships would post their mail in the barrel and they would take any mail addressed to their destination. Sometimes even personally delivering the mail. The Americans used it as a trap during the Anglo/ American war. As the British came to drop off and collect mail they sunk the ships. Hey managed to sink 12 this way. We posted some cards – we will see how long they take to get there. We also took some for SA to post in June.

Fourth day – Santa Cruz Island
Santa Cruz has the biggest port on the Galapagos Islands so we spent a while looking around the shops – our brush with civilisation. Our visit to the Darwin centre was really interesting. There were originally 14 races of tortoises on the islands but sadly now there are only 11. Ships used to stop at the islands and either take the tortoises back to the ships for fresh meat (they can last for 12 months without food or water). So cruel. Or they used to slaughter them for oil – leaving their shells littering the islands. The photographs were very sobering.

They are slowly breeding a whole new generation of tortoises to re-introduce back into the right islands. They are having great success apart from lonely George. He is the last of his race left and he cannot seem to mate with his closest genetic females. However, even if they could get him to mate they would not have a pure breed so I am not sure what they will do in the long term. He has another 100 years to live so who knows what advances will be made in tortoise fertility. When he goes there will only be 10 races left.

An interesting fact about female tortoises is that they can store the sperm from a male for 2/3 years. Thus ensuring that during lean times they are still able to reproduce despite no males being around.

In one pen they had 6 giant male tortoises that used to be pets all across the world. In an effort to find Lonely George a mate they asked people worldwide if they had pets from Galapagos. They had a great response but sadly no fellow female. But they did get these 6 brutes. They put a couple of females in for company but they nearly killed them with their enthusiasm so now they are left to their own devises. It was great to be in with them and they were so happy and relaxed with us there. I felt that on the whole they looked like gentle souls with wise age old expressions in their eyes.

Later that day we went to a farm where they have a number of tortoises that live in the area. They were really scared and spent the whole time in their shells blowing air through their noses trying to ward us off.

The Galapagos islands are essentially volcanic islands formed many millions of years ago. They are still forming today. Sometimes growing sometimes disappearing into the ocean. Many islands still have live volcanoes. On Santa Cruz we went to visit a lava tube. This was formed when molten lava was flowing down towards the sea and the outer part solidified while the inside continued to flow. This was slowing buried underground over the years. We climbed down into the tube by stairs and it was wide and high when we started off and over the 0.5km it got narrower. At some points you could see where two lave tubes had joined (one on top of the other) to create and even bigger tube. I never knew such things existed and I found it fasinating.

Fifth Day – Egas Port, Santiago Island
Here we spent a wonderful two hours walking along the rocks and looking in all the pools. I felt like I was reliving a day of my youth when we used to go to the rocky pools around Boulders. In the pools there were miniature anenomies, hermit crabs, fish and mussels. Crabs were scattered across the rocks eating and the marine iguana were bobbing in the water after eating algae off the rocks. Turtles were coming up for air and the fur seal pups were sleeping the morning away. A highlight was seeing a very deep pool with natural rock bridges and a turtle swimming lazily around the pool and under the bridges. Back at the beach we went for a snorkel where we saw a dead shark (G got to swim with a live one) and seals playing, turtles eating and many colourful fish.

That afternoon we headed off to Bartholomew Island (the movie Master and Commander was filmed around here). I spent time sun tanning and G went swimming and the penguins decided to join in. Then we climbed up the hill to look at the view. It was splendid. On the main land you could see lava flows from 1840 (to me they looked like lava glaciers but to no one else). On the islands you could see the smaller volcanic chutes that had come up to let out hot lava and steam. The lava flows ended in the sea creating wonderful nesting sites for the penguins as they would uses the hollow bit inside.

Getting back to the boat we found that Ecuador had won their first match of the 2006 soccer world cup being held in Germany. They won 2/0 against Poland and there was much celebration including jumping off the top of the boat into the water – much to the amusement of the crew.

I have to report that G´s legs are fine – we actually shaved them (very hard work as he is very hairy and I hate to think what the cleaner of our bathroom thought) but we think this killed them thankfully. Otherwise he would have scratched himself to death they were so itchy.

Sixth Day – Prince Phillips Steps, Genovesa Island
On our last full day we arrived at the island, which is the furthest north that tourists are allowed to go. We chose our boat Eden because it came here and we wanted to see the red-footed boobies, which are only to be found on this island.

We stared off in the dingy floating at the bottom of the cliffs so we could see more gulls with red around there eyes, crabs and very unsocial fur seals who bark at each. The frigate birds were hassling other birds to get their food – they are the thieves of the islands. Landing ashore we saw a red-footed boobie on the first tree. It was almost like he had been planted there as the welcoming committee and to give us a real close up view. Well he needn’t have bothered as all his brethren were spread along the path giving us the most fantastic showing.

They have a regressive albino gene so every so often we would see a white red-footed boobie as opposed to the normal brown coat. There were also masked boobies but no blue feet. The masked boobies nest on the ground whereas the red-footed nest in trees – they alone have feet that are able to grasp branches. I loved the red-footed most of all with their pink and blue beaks, red feet and albino white feathers.

On one set of cliff edges (lava edges from 300 years ago) there were hundred of thousands of storm petrels flying around. They have a very jerky flight as they are trying to avoid the owls who are waiting close to their burrows to pounce on them. Along the path we saw many owl pellets showing that they certainly catch many.

Also on the island were mockingbirds. On Espanola island they were smart and knew that tourists carry water and whenever we sat down a few would congregate around our water bottles and some would even try to stick their beaks in but were stopped by the top. We were not allowed to give them any, as it would be disastrous for them to rely on tourists for water.

We had another snorkel along the cliffs. The waves would pound against the sides and G got caught up in a big one and got washed up but no injury. Unlike another girl from another boat who was really badly cut by the barnacles and needed stitches.

That afternoon we were on Darwin Beach were we saw more frigate birds trying to attract a mate and very relaxed seals including the cutest baby seal waiting for its mom.

They also had cactus plants whose spikes were not hard at all as they want to encourage the cactus finch to spread their seed. So it was like a furry cactus. Very strange.

Seventh Day – Black Turtle Cove
Here we saw many blue-footed boobies just waking up on the rocks at the edge of the water. Then, upon a signal they all flew off at once in search of food. It was magnificent to have them all flying around us.

In the mangrove swamp the water is very shallow and clear. So it is the perfect place to see white tipped sharks (from 3 foot to smaller) and whole schools of golden rays. There were also turtles and eagle rays. Black tipped sharks were jumping high out of the water and doing barrel rolls as a way of getting rid of parasites.

I have to say we had a splendid boatload of people. There were Sara and Isaac who have just finished 2.5 years studying seals and albatrosses in the Antarctic. Dave and Shana from Queensland, Di and Karin – mom and daughter who knew a lot about marine biology, Ev who studied neurons and is working on a way to fix the optic nerve. Shaniel and Monique – 1 doctor and doctor turned management consultant. The Italian couple on their honeymoon and Natalie and Colin from Perth who we will hopefully see when we are there.

Our boat, Eden, was really great and I thought quiet luxurious. We had bunks and when the door was open we could watch the sun catching the waves. Also at night we had gulls flying next to our boat hunting squid. I would fall asleep with it flying and wake up and it would still be there. The boat had one of the best showers we have had in SA and there is nothing like a hot powerful shower after and hour snorkelling – divine. The food was outstanding with 3-course dinner and always dessert at lunch. G was in heaven.

It was very hard saying goodbye to the islands and people but the memories will stay in our heats and minds. At the airport we saw a big land iguana crossing the runway near a plane and that seemed so fitting. Here, the animals rule!!