Eastern Brown Snake

Our first snake visitor of the season, a 1.5m adult Eastern Brown that was passing through our back yard. He didn't stay long, more scared of us than we were of him.

The light at the end of tunnel...

CHEVIOT TUNNEL YEA (iPhone photo)

The Cheviot Station, just 3.4 miles (5.5km) west of the tunnel, was built to load sawn timber harvested from the Murrindindi Forest, some 14 miles (23km) away, and transported to the station by horse-drawn wagons. Cheviot Station opened with the rail line in 1889.

The first 3’ (0.9m) gauge timber tramway opened in 1901 and led to a terminus some 5 miles (8km) from the Station. It was extended to the Station in 1905. A second tramline commenced operation in 1925. Both tramways stopped operation in 1937 when the horse-drawn wagons were replaced by trucks.

Two six-ton derrick cranes were installed at the station yards in the 1920’s to handle the large volume of timber transported. Foran (1889-1890), Vinning (1892-1906), Wightman (1893-1901), and McKenzie (1899-1901) were the major milling companies that operated in the early years. The timber industry around Yea peaked between 1907 -1915 just as the Great War saw many men enlist. This was followed by another boom period between 1923 – 1930 before the Depression caused production to reduce greatly and demand for timber fell.

More...

Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)

Spotted Dog Mine Jetty. Gipsy Point VIC

Beautiful in pink...

Going head to head with a cheeky Rainbow Lorikeet

Australian Brushtail Possum + Joey, Gipsy Point VIC

It was dark with only a small amount of light coming from the kitchen, but the light level was so low that I had to take these at ISO 1600, f3.2 and shutter speed of 1.3 seconds. I had to hand-hold the camera as the possum kept moving.

The joey (baby) came out of the pouch for the first time the night before we came home and was very wary. It did not like the light so I had to do the best I could with almost no light. We gave mum pear and apple to get her to sit still but her mouth was always on the move, so with such slow shutter speed it was impossible to get a crisp focus.

The second photo shows mum with that huge joey in the pouch, with just his back showing. How does he fit?