Sunrise to Sunset

I literally just inhaled a chocolate. I mean, I breathed in and it was gone. It was too fast to choke on and hopefully went down the right way. It was one of those choc covered sultanas, so there is nothing to worry about. I was getting my fruit for the day, maybe I have had enough of my fruit for the day.

Meanwhile I am deciding whether I want to go out or not and then thinking about the corned beef I should put on for dinner soon, which equals not going out. Maybe we should have something else. Milk we might need milk, nah it'll be right. Sometimes it is handy having shops so close and sometimes it is just too handy.

As you can probably tell I am back to tired brain. It just comes with the territory at this part of my roster. Oh, and then there is the fact that Mr Sparky decided 4:30am was a good time to wake up. Ummm 12:30 bed time, 4:30 wake up I guess that equals I need more sleep. While I'm on the lack of sleep whinge fest (take a teaspoon of cement, I know that is what you are thinking) they have been slashing our bit of grassy swamp out the back for the last two days which means no daytime napping for me.

Okay, so yesterday morning I tried a new sunrise location. It didn't go quite to plan meaning the sun was too fast or I left home to late, whichever way you want to see it. I got part way there though so that was good enough, plus I was sick of dodging bike riders. Can you guess where I've taken these from? It is a place that has been in the blog a couple of times just not at sunrise.

Okay, I'll tell you. It is from the Lake Morris/ Copperlode Dam road, looking over the city. I didn't make it all the way to the lookout but it was still a pretty view. You can look back here and here.

After that I went back to the Arterial Road and went to find this shed. It is pretty well known around here. 

I've always wanted to stop but never have. It really wasn't a good time to choose to either. The traffic was pretty heavy.

I turned and headed back into the city. Turning back onto the highway was interesting. I ended up going the same direction as I had been and turning up where there was a turning lane into a car park and then heading back for the city. Much easier option.

On the way back into the city I stopped and took random pics of sugar cane and high voltage towers.

I even managed somehow to get a deserted road, it didn't look like that for long though.

Back at home I was fluffing around when I saw a dragonfly hanging out.

It would sit for a while trying to catch something in its mouth and then zoom off. 

It would come back just as quickly, settling and doing it all again.

I somehow managed a shot with its mouth open. More the fact that I took way to many photos than a fluke. It looks a bit freaky really.

It was a pretty big fellow.

Oh, by the way our garden is actually growing things. Tomatoes and cucumbers have taken off so now we will see what happens. We also have rosella bushes growing again and our passionfruit is flowering, sort of, but doing nothing much, again. We won't talk about the basil that is coming up everywhere, including in cracks in the driveway, or the strawberries that got burnt and then grasshopper attacked along with my bigger basil plants.

Before leaving for work I did get to see the clouds taking on a pink tinge with the sunset. So pretty.

What would you love to be doing while watching a sky like this?

Butterfly, Flutterby

On Wednesday I headed back to the Botanic Gardens with Nova students. It turned into a case of third time lucky, the last two times it was very wet and this time we had sun, yay!

The butterflies were out enjoying the sun just as much as we were. We saw a few different kinds and possibly even a Ulysses or two, make that three. It turns out is bad luck to see two ... good luck to see one and good luck to see three or more. 

Butterflies are really hard to photograph, I swear they are impossible. How do those people get the beautiful photos that you can find. I did manage to snap one having a rest. It was blue on the top side of the wings and a brown pattern on the back of the wings. It is possibly a Blue Morpho butterfly or maybe those marking look more like a Shining Oakblue butterfly. I really have no idea other than that it was pretty and still. Despite me telling it repeatedly to open it's wings, it didn't, but it did amuse some other visitors to the garden, me talking to the butterfly that is.

Cockroaches

 For as long as I can remember I have called dates "cockroaches". I don't know how or when it started but I guess you could say it is a family nickname.

Now not confusing them when eating or cooking is very important.

This is a date, or more to the point these are dates.
 

This however is a cockroach and not something that should be eaten.

Now I bet that wasn't the post you were expecting and for the record yes that is a DEAD cockroach and yes it is on my floor. It is however now gone (you can breath a sigh of relief) and is a common occurrence (EWWWW!) due to living in Cairns, which I swear is one big cockroach nest. There presence in no way reflects on the cleanliness of my house, mind you if they like a fairly clean house then it can reflect away.

Cairns Botanic Gardens

The Botanic Gardens are not a place I go all that often but I headed there with a student last week. It is always changing with new flowers in bloom and maybe I am just spotting things that I never noticed before.
One of the first things I saw was a big old Cotton Silk Tree. I posted about one of these trees in flower a while ago. Well this week I got to see some of that cotton action way up high.

So now I'll leave you be with some random photos of the gardens.

Green Tree Ants

 These are green ants or green tree ants which are by the looks of it building a nest in my passion fruit vine.
Some of you are probably thinking that these look a little different to the green ant you are used to.
Maybe you are used to seeing those dark bodied, dark green abdomened green ants.
Well these are basically the same thing just a northern version that build their nest in foliage. They pack a punch when they bite too.

You find these green ants everywhere around Cairns.
They are super industrious, destroy a nest and you can bet 100s or 1000s of ants will be back to build another one somewhere else close by.

It is pretty interesting to watch them working together to create a new nest though.

From Minibeast Wildlife - Rainforest Encounter I found this informative bit of information ...
Green ants are fascinating in many ways. One unusual aspect of  their behaviour is the use of their larvae as tools - the larvae produce silk. The worker ants hold the larvae in their mandibles and use their silk producing siblings to bond leaves together to form nests. This occurs whilst other patient ants hold the leaves in place. This laborious process can take several hours.
 

The nests they build can get quite large and the ants are very aggressive about protecting it.

I found another blog post from Wild Wings and Swampy Things about them if you really want to read more about these busy ants.

I have a feeling that their nesting plans went a little haywire after I discovered them at work in our garden yet again, that is after I photographed them of cause.