Monthly Archives: November 2018

Catnip

Posted on November 14, 2018 by d4vid

Few things in the world will draw my attention like a locked passageway overgrown with plants.

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Little

Posted on November 14, 2018 by d4vid

A pygmy hippo!  A 小河马 (xiǎo hémǎ or “little river horse”)!

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Billed

Posted on November 14, 2018 by d4vid

And the worst wildlife photography you’ve ever seen continues!  This blur is a platypus.  Just take my word for it.

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Tornado

Posted on November 14, 2018 by d4vid

Warner Bros. cartoons have misinformed me yet again.  Looks like the tasmanian devil was yet another indigenous Australian species to be adversely affected by the invasive dingos, displaced (like the now-extinct tasmanian tiger) off shore to the island of Tasmania.

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Aviary

Posted on November 14, 2018 by d4vid

This aviary was colorful and beautiful and calm.  (The exact opposite of being penned in with bats.)Great, parrot.  Don’t get cocky.These Red Junglefowl are the ancestors of all modern domestic chickens.I never realized cassowary were quite so beautiful.I like this … Continue reading →

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Clump

Posted on November 14, 2018 by d4vid

Wait a sec.  蓝山丛林游览 (lán shān cónglín yóulǎn) means “Blue Mountain Jungle Tour”.  The word for “jungle”  丛林 (cónglín) literally means “clump forest”!

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Fittest

Posted on November 14, 2018 by d4vid

Having established that Australia already looks a lot like San Diego, I appreciated this robotic T-Rex roaring with Sydney visible in the background.

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Unsavoury

Posted on November 14, 2018 by d4vid

What better way to celebrate my time in Australia than having the zoo ruin koala bears for me? My fault for visiting in spring, I suppose, but the mature male seemed disconcertingly, um, rapey.Not anthropomorphize but all the other koalas … Continue reading →

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Leela

Posted on November 14, 2018 by d4vid

Took the ferry across to Tarongo Zoo Sydney.  (Tried—and failed—not to think of Turanga Leela every time I heard the name spoken in a thick Australian accent.) I thought this logo was pretty cool.

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Excelsior

Posted on November 13, 2018 by d4vid

Stan Lee, who knew that with great power comes great responsibility.  May his memory be for a blessing.

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Remembrance

Posted on November 11, 2018 by d4vid

In America, we think of World War II as the “big” war.  The war the biggest impact.  The war that shapes our self-perception as a nation.  For France and Britain and the British Commonwealth countries like Canada, New Zealand, and … Continue reading →

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Chuppah

Posted on November 11, 2018 by d4vid

The main event!  The reason I’m here in Australia!  The wedding of my friend Evan from back at ODW on the beach at Watsons Bay. (named by Europeans after the British sailor Robert Watson who beached his ships here, but … Continue reading →

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Loyalty

Posted on November 10, 2018 by d4vid

Checked out of the Mercure Alice Springs, flew to Sydney, and checked in to the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.  Mercure, like in Oxford or Xi’an.  Sofitel, like in Redwood City or Wellington or Chengdu.

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Ironwood

Posted on November 9, 2018 by d4vid

An ironwood tree at dusk with a crescent moon behind it.  The Europeans used the hard, termite-resistant wood for building.  The aborigines used the wood for weapons.

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Sanctuary

Posted on November 9, 2018 by d4vid

In Alice Springs, went to a kangaroo sanctuary run by a guy name Brolga (a 6’7″ Aussie who got his nickname from a type of tall, slender bird.)There are 50 million kangaroos in Australia, compared to only 25 million humans.Most … Continue reading →

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