Shingleback or "Stumpy-tailed Lizard"

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These Shingleback lizards are widespread throughout the Flinders Ranges. This image was taken in the Central Flinders at 2.38pm September 2006.

These skinks are common here on the family farm as well and love to raid my garden for flowers, the Gazania one of their favourites. When my husband was growing strawberries the plants had to be fenced off with netting or these guys would pinch them for their own supper.

I have always referred to them by the name of 'Sleepy Lizard' and you can read more about these reptiles by clicking on this PDF file.

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Sunflower

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For those that participated in the last post, here is the full version of that image. Probably if the seeds were more developed it would have given you more information and the plot away.

I do hope you enjoy this image and perhaps for the flower painter it might be worth considering.



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What is it?

How good are you at identifying a portion of a photo?

Do you know what this image is?

I know what it is and will post the full image tomorrow but lets see how good you are.

Tells us what you think it is by leaving a comment. Your friends are welcome to have a go as well.

Hint: It grows


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Wilpena Pound

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Wilpena Pound is one of my favourite haunts for bush walking. In this image is the Wilpena Pound wall in the background with some of the outer rolling land formations that are much easier to climb. There are many walking trails which climb Wilpena Pound and some are so hard that I don't think I will ever attempt them. Don't think I would have when I was young either because I am not all that partial to heights.

The walking trail that my husband and I had taken is the one from the Wilpena Resort and Caravan Park to St Mary's Peak. We knew we would not make it all the way to St Mary's Peak due to time constraint because I was rostered on to work later that same day.

If you are ever walking in this area make sure you stay on the marked trails because it would be very easy to become disorientated with directions back to the Caravan Park. Also make sure you are well prepare for these walks with plenty of water and also take notice of the warnings that the staff provide at Wilpena Pound as they are there for your own safety.


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Adult Bearded Dragon's

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You may have seen this photo on my Arts & Stuff blog. I decided to clean the image up and cut out the unnecessary outer area allowing more information with the size snapshots that I do post on this blog.

The original post can be found here.

These guys were actually doing a courtship dance at the time the photo was taken.


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Does my bum look big

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This pose instantly had me thinking of a title 'Does my bum look big'. I think what was happening though that this young fella was spying his lunch with so many bugs on the move on that particular day. If you look close enough there is already a moth sticking out of the Bearded Dragons mouth.




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I have posted this Dragon Lizard with a different pose here on SnapShots before and mentioned that I was afraid the little guy would be trodden on while my husband was cooking our Barbecue lunch. Even though the photo isn't the best shot of the Dragon Lizard I thought I would share this one with you to show the actual size of this little fella who would still have a lot of growing to do.


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Two Kangaroos

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No this is not a trick image, there are two kangaroos in this snapshot. Mum is the one in the foreground with bubs hiding towards the back.

It was while walking in the bush at the base of Wilpena Pound that my husband and I disturbed these two roos from a nap in the shade. Mum was not impressed and I knew it was time to back off when she started to snort at me. Obviously she woke up on the wrong side of the bed (or should that be grass patch) and didn't want her photo taken!

If you have never visited my Arts & Stuff blog you just might be interested in this post especially if you enjoyed the photo of Tess on SnapShots. You will see a lovely drawing of Tess by artist Wendy Prior.


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Three Emus

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Wanting to add more wildlife to this blog had me scanning my computer with thousands of photos to browse.

This image isn't clear because the emus were off in the distance but the three grouped together did catch my attention when viewing the photo. Cropping and playing around with the image has improved it although lacking some detail.

From an artist perspective if I was drawing or painting these birds I would want as many images as possible to come up with a good composition that shows off the emus personality. For this reason I considered it worth while posting the image on SnapShots so that eventually a collection of emu images are available to artists who visit this blog.

There is some information about these ground birds at this website. The snapshot that you do see in this post was taken at Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia at a time I was artist in residence. This residency position takes place each year and more information can be found here.


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A Web Woven

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Looking through my kitchen window while preparing breakfast I notice the sunlight striking droplets of water enhancing the silk of this spider web.

Dewy mornings so often can be a beautiful time of the day with light showing through transparent leaves and water droplets creating a truly magical wonderland.

This poor specimen for a web has me wondering if the spider did indeed catch his meal to sustain him for the rest of the day. The broken web, could that be evidence of a struggle with a big fat juicy moth? Probably the answer would be that the spider did indeed have a full stomach!

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Tess, the Working Dog

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This photo was taken of Tess when she was sitting in her box near our back door under the veranda.

Tess is a working Coolie kelpie cross dog on our family farm with more energy than two dogs put together. When she has her injections, the vet tells us that she has a very strong heart and I can say she has a powerful tail as well that whips you around the legs that one wonders if she is belting us up with happiness.

It isn't always easy to get a photo of Tess as she is always withering with excitement, so the command "in your box" has her sitting quietly for a couple of minutes while I grabbed some photos. I particularly liked this snapshot because she wasn't looking directly at me but staring at something else that caught her attention. Once she was told she could leave her box all that could be seen was a blur.


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Gawler Ranges Trip, South Australia "part fifteen"

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To finish this trip off I thought a panorama view of our last stop would be the way to go, which was Ranges View Rest Area, 62 kilometres NW of Port Augusta in South Australia. For those on dial-up please be aware this is a large file.

I do hope this image gives you an idea of the expanse of the landscape because so often a single photo will not do this. I did not use any automatic panorama software when stitching three photos together for this image because I just could not get the desired results that I was after. Instead time was spent with layers using Photoshop to get the best results.

I had mention in past posts of this trip that my brother and his wife also participated. In fact the original idea to make this trip was my brothers who also has a photo blog with photos of this same trip here. He kindly offered to be chauffeur with his own vehicle although I think I had him scratching his head where he was going to put our camping gear in the 4WD when he saw the pile of stuff that Malcolm and I were taking. I could have left the red wine home but I don't think anyone thought that was an option.


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Gawler Ranges Trip, South Australia "part fourteen"

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Lake Hart is located approximately two hundred kilometres North West of Port Augusta, South Australia. I believe this would be a spectacular spot to take photos early in the morning or as the sun goes down.




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Island Lagoon is 153 kilometres North West of Port Augusta, South Australia. The island jutting out from the salt lake was without a doubt the focal point when lining up me camera.

There will be one more post from this journey so please join me for that entry, as I close what was for me a very memorable trip down memory lane.

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Gawler Ranges Trip, South Australia "part thirteen"

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If you have been following this Gawler Ranges trip you will then realise that this is our second camp for the two nights that this little traveling party made.

After a long day on the road, an area was spotted to make camp not all that far off the main Kingoonya to Glendambo road. By the time we had our tents up and a fire going to cook our meal the night air was quickly cooling down.


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The landscape is truly beautiful in this area as the sun goes down with warm light streaking across the flat plains.






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The next morning as the sky awakens I can hear birds going about their business and cheering with chatter and song; a celebration of a new day for all living things.

Yes a new day where this traveling party must break camp and move on and head down the road towards home but first there is more to see before this journey is completed. I do hope you come back to see what this day had on offer.

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South Australias floral emblem; the Sturt's Desert Pea

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Gawler Ranges Trip, South Australia "part twelve"

I have titled this post differently from my past Gawler Ranges Trip entry because I really did want to bring attention to this Sturt's Desert Pea flower, Swainsona formosa.

The first image gives an indication of how these plants grow. At the time this photo was taken these specimens were very healthy in the early stages of flowering. I would have loved to had been there a week later as I can image a carpet of red would have covered this area. As it was I was nearly breaking my neck to get out of the 4WD before it stopped to investigate these little beauties.


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The Sturt's Desert Pea plant is not prickly but there were certainly plenty of vegetation that sank their thorns into my skin when down on hands and knees trying to get that perfect shot.






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There is more that you can read about these plants by clicking here and here.

I do hope you enjoy viewing this native plant of Australia. It is a favourite of mine; one that I have wanted to paint for a very long time. Now that I have images to work from this will happen in the very near future and will be posted on my Arts and Stuff blog, as a Work in Progress that you can follow along with me.


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