Sneak Preview - A Flock of Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoos

My good friend Antonia and I just hung our first ever collaborative art project this morning. It is part of the Environmental Art Collective Exhibit titled "Art | Science | Play" which opens tomorrow night in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, QLD.

For this artwork, we each developed four drawings of the endangered Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo in flight and etched them onto metal plates. Using a printing press, we then made a series of 6 prints for a total of 48 birds in flight.


Our exhibit is interactive and tries to illustrate the concept of extinction and population loss. If a piece is purchased, it is removed from the wall immediately leaving a blank spot where that individual had been.

Antonia hanging our piece.

Our exhibit is not a negative process like real extinction -- all our birds will be surviving in a new home and 25% of all of the proceeds from the sale of the work will be donated to the Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo Recovery Team.

I hope to add a few photos from the opening tomorrow night!

Another Lamington Adventure!

For my birthday (well really, just because) we went for a weekend camping trip with our good friends Bevan, Jamie and Colleen. We had fantastic weather and lots of hiking and wildlife. Here are some photos.

Bevan and Eric resting after an unsuccessful search for a bower bird's bower!

Orchids in bloom.

Jamie and Colleen looking dutifully surprised next to Surprise Rock.

One of many waterfalls we saw on our 17km hike.

A cheeky Grey Shrike-Thrush (I think) looking after Bevan's pastry.

One of many land mullets we saw over the weekend. These are very large land skinks -- totally harmless and very cool to see.

A blue crayfish (about the size of a lobster!) close to where we saw the enormous freshwater eel that we did not manage to get in any photos.

We also saw lots of little pademelons, crimson rosella's and bower birds (for photos, visit our blog from Sept 08 or Feb 09 at Lamington).

Fiji - August 09

We just got back from a brief holiday in Fiji – exploring the big island of Viti Levu. I participated in a biogeography workshop in Suva for a week and then Renee joined me for a short collection trip and a couple days of exploring. Before Renee got in, I had a chance to explore Suva a bit (capital city, east side). I was most impressed with the markets. The smell of the curries and spices was great and all the colours were incredible.

locals selling orchids and flowers-

rows and rows of curries and spices-

lentils-


Josh buying some dried kava-
After my workshop I flew back to Nadi (west side) and met Renee at the airport then quickly jumped on a bus to the Coral Coast (southwest corner). We spent the first couple days just relaxing and snorkelling.

Getting ready for a holiday-

Hexagon Grouper-

Renee snorkeling (I love this photo)-

On the third day we caught up with some friends to spend three days on the small island of Naigani (off east coast) collecting for our research project. The island is beautiful and the reefs are in great shape. Because we wanted to collect in the area, we had to ask permission from the local village. During this welcoming ceremony we presented them with gifts of dried kava (waka sevu sevu) and drank kava with the elders. Hard work, snorkelling, diving, and relaxing followed…

Renee in the palm trees on Naigani outside our bure-

Eric fishing

Giant clam-

This was a bit of a photo-shoot. I was trying to look cool... oh well!

Josh took this photo of me... kind of neat, I think.

Low tide at our beach-


After Naigani, we left our friends at the pier and caught a cab to the northern most point to take another short boat ride out to Nananu-i-ra Island. We had two days of just snorkelling. It was overcast, so the u/w photos are not great, but it was good fun nonetheless.

Driving north along the King's Road was quite tropical-

Around the north side, it got quite dry-

On the island, I found a coconut and husked it for an afternoon snack-

Semicircle Anglefish-

Nemo! or his cousin, at least-

A colorful sea slug-
Enjoying a Fiji Bitter on the beach at Betham's-

We spent our last night at a posh yet cheap hotel in Nadi and flew out early Sunday. We got back to Brissy around noon. We’ll have a shortish work week followed by a long weekend camping up at Lamington National Park. Bevan and a couple other friends will help us celebrate Renee’s Bday! We may have a couple photos so share after that.
Cheers-Eric

What happened?

I can not believe it is August already! Seems like it was just a couple weeks ago that Darcee & Mike were here. Let me tell you, the last several months are a blurrrrrr - I'll briefly recap some of the big adventures, and then try to get back on the ball with a post every couple of weeks.... Here' goes:

In the two weeks after Mike & Darcee left, we relaxed, played barefoot bowls (too much fun!), and got ready for my trip to the US. Renee had an art show at the Fairfield Library - just up from our neighborhood.

Nice form at the Yeronga Bowls Club

In early May I flew out to the US for a conference in DC. I spent two weeks on that side of the pond and was able to catch up with some good friends in DC & family in York-PA and Wisc. A couple days after getting back, I ran off to Perth for the Fish Conference and then directly up to Ningaloo for field sampling. Ningaloo was beautiful - coastal desert with nearshore reefs. No - I did not go snorkeling with the whale sharks - that can wait until I go back with Renee. June was also a big month for Renee - she had a great show at KILN and participated in their artwalk. Her show was sold out!

Ningaloo's sandy/rocky shoreline

Eric hard at work...
Serious termite-action in Australia!
Yes, another sunset over Ningaloo
At the end of June, Renee took her first trip to the outback (for work). Although she does not have many photos, she said it was absolutely incredible. I imagine we'll get out there later this year.

After being gone for nearly two monts, Renee and I drove down to NSW for a long weekend away. We stayed at a B&B and enjoying hiking in the rain, soaking in the jacuzzi & relaxing.

Just relaxing a bit

Eric & Renee enjoying a beautiful scenic overlook...
Squirrel glider at nature park
In early July I flew down to Adelaide for the Australian Marine Science Conference. It was a quick one - four days, two presentations, and some great side meetings. The following weekend Renee shared a booth at an art market up the river. It was a long day for her, but quite successful as well.

Two weeks later, I drove up the coast with my lab & assistants to try out a local collection trip. It was mostly successful, but I froze my bumm off! Renee joined me for a couple nights (& we put her to work ;-). We set up a wet lab on the balcony...

Dissecting sea squirts and urchins

Catching sea slugs
Research team on boat leaving Mooloolaba Harbour
Wow, now its August. I'm off to Fiji in less than a week, and then Renee is coming out to join me for a week-long holiday. We're planning on snorkeling, diving, surfing, & hiking. I'm sure we'll have a couple photos to share.

Be sure to check out Renee's new art & shows: http://www.reneesartwork.com/.

Cheers-Eric

Darcee & Mike's visit - April 09

Our good friends, Darcee & Mike, came out to visit for a couple weeks – we just dropped them off at the airport. They spent a couple days in Brissy, then we all went to Melbourne, D&M went on to Tassie, then we caught back up in Brissy again for a couple nights. They covered a lot, including a National Rugby League game (Broncos vs Eels) on their last Friday eve, gold bikini-clad meter maids & old-man budge-smuggler sightings along the Gold Coast, and a quick tour of the Sunshine Coast.

One of the highlights of the trip was our tour along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, just west of Melbourne. We started in Melbourne, drove west to Geelong, then turned south towards the coast and drove along the southern ocean for 3 days. The coastline was spectacular, the day hikes were sensational, and spotting wildlife was a ton of fun. Below are some of the photos:

On Bells Beach: Our first walk in the sand along the Southern Ocean. I’m not sure what I was saying or what Mike is smirking at.



The Twelve Apostles (well, seven, at least) – stunning rock pinnacles rising from the wild ocean.


Self portrait with apostles


Wild Southern Koalas were spotted! They are a lot more fluffy and a little bigger than our northern variety. Darcee saw them first, then screamed at me to pullover… she essential jumped out while the car was still moving ran to get some photos. Here are some of ours. As Mike said, they kind of look like old men Muppets.





One of the day hikes was out to the end of Cape Bridgewater to see the Australian Fur Seal colony.




Group photo of us watching seals


Shoreline of Cape Bridgewater – I was trying to play with black and white photography again.


Hiking the Grampians… or resting/chatting…

Fuelling up for the hike – that’s my ‘Blue Steel’ (with a mouth full of chips). If you haven’t had the Sweet Chilli & Sour Cream chips – you’re missing out!!


We saw Emus in the Grampians!! I’m sure Darcee saw them first. She let the car stop before jumping out.




We saw this little red wallaby on a short walk in a park.


We were surrounded by currawongs and magpies at our cabin in Halls Gap. Here’s a close up of a currawong.


Darcee at work at the petrified forest… we can’t wait to see your photos