I was going to have this shot as my silent Sunday picture. I walked on a path at Wynyard and at 7.01am it was officially the time of first light.
So I prepared myself above the beach to take this shot when a little penguin ran to the edge of a bush and growled at me. This was followed by it scampering back into the bush and a lot of chittering.
So I quickly snapped a first light photo at 7.02am and left them to it.
I'm playing a chess tournament in Somerset near Burnie on Tasmania's north coast. There isn't a lot of spare time, but I did get to Doctors Rock near Wynyard. Absolutely glorious!
I was in a bookshop today but they didn't have the book I wanted. So I went to the desk to see if they could order it. While I was waiting I looked at a book on the counter called A Field Guide To Tasmanian Fungi and I thought what a great book to help ID all the species I see about. I wasn't going to buy it, though, until I noticed that I knew one of the authors, who besides being a mycologist, is a keen chess player.
I was very tired this weekend. I think the cold mornings have worn me down over the past week.
So it was a very short drive to Low Head to see if any Little Penguins were hanging around under the dense Box Thorn Bushes (there weren't, or at least none that I could see).
Then a trip to Green's Beach which is very close to where I live. It's a great place to sit on rocks and let the ocean's mood rub off on you. (Calmness was the prevailing mood)
I've just entered the Tasmanian Open Chess Championship which will be held in Somerset in 2 weeks.
I would have liked to enter the Asian Senior Chess Championship which will be held in Mongolia as I've never been there. But, alas, that will not be happening.
Been too tired to chase auroras the past few nights but really happy for those of you that saw it, and thankful for the amazing pictures you've plastered over Mastodon.
I did get out today in the autumn foliage and was lucky to see my first Mycena Interrupta, or cute little blue mushy, since moving to Tasmania.
I was cooking dinner, but then I got distracted by the view outside! We are lucky to see aurora from home and we were ready for this last night, but then we had cloud cover. Tonight is making up for it 🤩
These are phone pics with 2-3 second exposure #AuroraAustralis#Tasmania#lutruwita
We were doing a bit of gardening out the front of our house when we heard and saw some Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos in trees across the road. My wife went to check them out and took this photo of one flying away, with our house behind.
Grand Master Samy Shoker came to our little club yesterday to play a group of us simultaneously. We managed to score one draw against him (me) which was better than his simul in Hobart the day before when he won all his games.
Samy was a great gentleman, and was great with sharing his knowledge, especially with the kids who were thrilled to be playing and talking (even laughing) with him.
We have a chess Grand Master visiting Launceston today. Samy Shoker from Egypt is on a working holiday in Australia and is spending some time in our beautiful state. He'll come to our club this evening 🙂
Met this little guy last week by the Emu River near Burnie.
This is a Tasmanian Pademelon, a small marsupial which can now only be found here in Tasmania. There are other Pademelons in Australia and this species used to be on the mainland until humans decided to destroy them there.
This particular fella was probably young, because it was even small for a Pademelon.
Took a trip to Burnie on the north coast of Tasmania. There's a beautiful spot on the Emu River called Fern Glade Reserve, a good place for platypus spotting. Didn't see any today, but the track and river were beautiful.