Trip to Canberra and animals

I left Sydney this morning with Les Fortescue to come to Canberra. It's about a 3 hour drive over to Canberra. We made one stop to look at Lake George, an ephemeral lake that fills up every 7 years or so. At the rest stop we saw an Echidna, a marsupial spiny ant eater that is an egg laying mammal. On the way to Les' house, we stopped roadside to see a mob of Kangaroos at a nature reserve that runs up to his house. A group of Kangaroos is called a mob - not a herd or flock or some other term.

After I finished my work at the herbarium, Les took me up to the Black Mountain Tower so I could get an overview of Canberra. The view from the tower is incredible, and Canberra is a beautiful place. Lots of trees and an architectural aesthetic that works with the landscape.

Here are some pictures from the touristy things today:



Trevern and Anna Dawes at their house. I took their picture before I left this morning. They were kind enough to host me this past week and change.


An echidna grubbing for ants. (I had originally used the word "rooting" instead of "grubbing," but just found out that this term means something entirely different in Australia than in the USA. 3.11.05)


Les Fortescue trying to photograph the echidna after it went into a bush.


A mob of kangaroos.


A wallaby at the Black Mountain Tower.


The Black Mountain Tower. We went up onto the top deck to look around.



Views of Canberra from the tower.


A windswept me on the top deck of Black Mountain Tower.


The parliament building.