Wanderlust : Lizard Island, Australia

Everyone has a different way to recharge their batteries. Mine is by travelling - in body or mind - and filling my senses with new images, different forms, shapes and colours, different light, sounds and scents, new ideas. 

I had first seen the coral islands of the Maldives in the Indian ocean from above while travelling from Hongkong back to Europe once, even before we decided to spend a vacation there. Looking out of the plane window down onto that dotted wonderland of blue, green and turquoise islands surrounded by sand banks and expanses of deep blue-green water from a height of 30.000 ft, I thought for a moment, the pilot must have taken a wrong turn, must be taking a rather long detour from Asia to Europe,  and flown to the Great Barrier Reef instead. I landed safely and on time in Frankfurt though, so the plane must have taken the unfamiliar southern route over South Asia. 

Lacking any travel right now, I have gone through my images from a trip to Lizard Island in the Great Barrier Reef, which I visited when my travel-hungry daughter took an exchange semester at Sydney University in Australia in 2013.

the airport 

Lizard Island is a dream vacation spot - mostly warm weather, but not too dry, interesting wild life (the island is a National Park) with a world renowned marine biology research station, a leisurely hill to climb, great diving and on top of that, a small luxurious resort with great food. I wish I could fly back there anytime.... 

a very long tongue ...

a bee-eater

a group of white-breasted wood swallows (Artamus leucorynchus) on an umbrella tree (Schefflera actinophylla)

this tree is also a favourite of sun birds (Nectarinia jugularis)

The nest of the Australian jumping biting green tree ant. They build intricate nests by weaving together leaves with "home-spun" silk thread. They can jump on their enemies and have been known to jump on photographers who approached the nest too closely, so I kept my distance. 

a rose dove (rose-crowned fruit dove or Ptilinopus regina) 

they have flying foxes, too, but I could not get close enough for a good picture

the research station for the Great Barrier Reef gives guided tours

This is an image overlay of several images that I created there. I  associate it with Grönemeyer's "Träume für bare Münze" which is actually called "Halt mich". It is one of my favourite songs and one of his few melodious and peaceful ones, but never mind. 

Apulian stories - Lizards and other visitors

Apulian fields are full of lime stone rocks and gravel. To be able to plough their fields, farmers have been collecting thoses stones for centuries and have built dry stone walls on the borders between fields. Our house was fenced by such a wall, too. They are an ideal living space for lizards and I have seen plenty. Here is a selection.

on an olive tree

a very long tail .... still the original

here with a regrown tail - they grow without the original colour and dots

This poor guy took an involuntary swim in the pool and could not get out. After his rescue he was so cold, he could not move for several minutes and had to pose for some portraits.

This lizard was hiding under a rosemary bush. 

He saw me but was less scared than others and waited half hidden watching me. I crouched low with my macro lens and waited patiently. After a while he decided I was no cat and posed no danger. His curiosity won over. He slowly slowly emerged from his hiding place,

 and slowly slowly moved closer to have a look at me and inspect the lens! Courageous ! 

Other visitors to our house were beautiful red and blue dragon flies: 

I had the ambition to capture one in flight, but they are so fast and small, and their flight manouvers  are so erratic, that the autofocus had a hard time. 

a grasshopper

and a much slower visitor.