Getting Outside

Disclaimer: I'm not really a fan of New Year's Resolutions, so this isn't one of those. But as December draws to a close I do like to reflect on the year just gone and how I'd like the next year to be different. I've noticed that lately I've been getting outside less and less. Maybe that's because I've been busier at work, busier with other commitments, moved further away from my work so am less likely to cycle commute these days... Also, a few trips away to disrupt my routine, followed by a nasty bout of laryngitis, haven't helped. Anyway, I've spent much less time than I would like to outside, enjoying the world. So I'm going to make a concious effort to Get Outside and do something every day, whether that be walking, running, cycling. I play a team sport, so I know that some days I won't be able to fit in a game and a walk, but I think an hour or so running around outside chasing a ball can count as well. And some days a 15 minute walk around the ovals at lunchtime might have to do. But it will still get me outside. This isn't so much about the exercise (I get quite a bit of that already, although more will be good for me), but about escaping the office, getting some fresh air and looking at things more than a metre away from me to rest those computer-tired eyes. Of course it will also be a good opportunity to see more wildlife and take more photos along the way. On a recommendation, to hold me a little more accountable to this goal, I'm going to post updates on here to track how well I'm doing.

So, how am I doing so far...?

28/12/11 - walked up Mount Rogers (a nature reserve near home) for the first time in weeks. This was when I remembered how much I like to spend time up there decided to make a real effort to do so more often. A lot of my Getting Outside efforts will involve walks and runs along the network of tracks at Mount Rogers - 10 minutes walk up a steep hill and I can step out of the suburb and into a little bit of bush with great views looking over the city and surrounds.

29/12/11 - a run on the trails on Mount Rogers (~3 kms running plus a short walk there and back).

30/12/11 - no walk / run as we already had a day trip planned for this day, but I did get to take a nice drive through some country I haven't seen for a while and an hour or two Outside on a lake in a small boat - nice :)

31/12/11 - short but hard run on Mt Rogers - ~2.5 kms run plus the walk there and back. Didn't start until late-ish morning on what turned out to be the first really hot day of this summer - clever. Returned half an hour later with a bright pink face.

01/01/12 - walk up to the trig point on top of Mt Rogers and explored a few new (to me) trails with S. A storm front was moving in from the west so we watched the dark clouds morphing their way across the city, punctuated by lightning, slowly creeping closer with half-hearted rumbles of thunder. The currawongs were especially noisy that evening, anticipating the approaching storm. We made it home just as the first few drops of rain fell on our suburb...

02/01/12 - run on Mt Rogers - tried a new route, usually when running I follow a particular loop of ~2.5 kms around the contour line a little below the summit, but today I took one of the tracks heading up from there to the trig point at the top, then back down the other side before following my usual route home. A bit more uphill than I'm used to, but think it's time to push those boundaries. Not sure on the actual distance run, but door to door including the walk each way it was 4.5 kms.

03/01/12 - yesterday I took a slow walk on Mt Rogers again, trying some new tracks to connect routes I know already. It is a fairly small area, but there are several major gravel paths connected by a lot of little tracks through the bush, so plenty of scope for variety in the daily walk. This route took me past a scattering of boulders and I finally saw one of the elusive skinks I've been hearing in the bush up there. As soon as someone approaches they drop down from the rocks and bolt for cover. The grass is so long up there at the moment that you can hear them rustling near the rocks but have no chance of getting a look. Today a particularly bold individual hung around on its rock a little longer so I got to see the source of the noise at last. Not a good enough view to ID species given my poor knowledge of skinks, but it was much a bigger animal than I was expecting - maybe ~15cms long and quite fat with vertical stipes. Hoping for a better look next time to try to get a proper ID.

04/01/12 - today I went for a bit of variety, with a meandering walk to the shop in a neighbouring suburb. Went out for some bread, decided not to go to the closest shop to lengthen the walk, but was still totally surprised to get home and work out I'd walked 7.5 kms. A nice way to spend a warm, sunny summer evening.

Well, that's not a bad start, now let's keep it up...

As we're on the topic of snakes...

...the news today is full of stories about a very big snake. In Nature this week there is a paper describing the largest snake ever discovered: a a 60-million-year-old South American Titanoboa. Sounds like a snake I might not be so keen to meet up with. Being the slacker I am I haven't got to the actual paper yet, but news stories are here, here and here.

A snake and a quoll

I've just been away for a few days, visiting people in Tasmania. It was a nice trip and I hardly went near the internet. Hence no blog posts. It was also a bit of a reminder of the somewhat cloistered world I must live in, sheltered amongst scientists and other like-minded people as I am in my usual daily life. I am clearly a bit of a science geek. My reason for making this statement about this trip? It was great to see people I haven't seen for a while and spend time doing fun things, but the absolute highlights of this trip for me were two fleeting wildlife encounters. 

The first was a tiger snake encounter in a garden. Most other folk there at the time were not happy to see the snake and there was some talk of the only good snake being a dead snake. Perhaps the snake heard because it promptly moved on. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a crazy herpetologist and I am mostly definitely VERY scared of venomous snakes. I acknowledge that the snake was rather close to peoples' houses and it's probably better for them that it wasn't so close and they'd be a lot happier if it was moved elsewhere. I was certainly very careful where I put my feet for the next few days. But still, above all else it was just a wonderful thing to see. Here, judge for yourselves:

The second wildlife encounter was, if you can believe it, even more fantastic than the snake. Actually I'm sure a lot of people would find this the more favourable option. This because it involves a cute furry mammal. I saw a quoll! I have never before seen a quoll in the wild, although I've been in the right sorts of places many times. So this was very exciting. We were driving to the airport early in the morning. It was still dark and we were paying close attention to the roadside vegetation for fear of colliding with suicidal wallabies, when what should saunter across the road in front of us but an unmistakably spotty quoll. It was an Eastern quoll, I know this because it was black with white spots. We had to pretty much stop the car to avoid hitting it. It was only a quick look, but it made being up and about at 4am most definitely worthwhile!

In the news today

Well, there are lots of things in the news today of course, but two in particular caught my eye.

First, one of my all-time favourite people I've never met, Sir David Attenborough, on receiving hate mail from religious fundamental types. Sir David Attenborough: 'I get hate mail telling me to burn in hell for not crediting God'.

Sir David also said it was "terrible, terrible" when creationism and evolution were taught in schools as equivalent, alternative perspectives.

"It's like saying that two and two equals four, but if you wish to believe it, it could also be five... Evolution is not a theory; it is a fact, every bit as much as the historical fact that William the Conqueror landed in 1066."

I'm with Sir David on this one!



Second, a bit of "well I never!" or "how cool is that!". A NSW couple got to see a red belly black snake eat a brown snake - cool enough alone you might think - but THEN the brown snake managed to escape from the belly of the red belly black by exiting head-first from its mouth. Now that is seriously cool!

Mr Barton reckons that somehow the brown snake turned itself around inside the black snake.

"When you tell these stories no-one believes you, but I have the photographs," he said.

I have seen both these snakes in the wild, but never doing anything quite so exciting. Although S did a good job of almost stepping on a brown snake on a bushwalk late last year - that was exciting for us! Here's a nice red belly black I befriended (from a safe distance) at Jervis Bay a couple of years back: