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Film Diary / 21.02.2013

Last night we went to MacDonald  National Park to see if we could film, in spite of the park being closed to the public following the passage of ex-cyclone Oswald. The gravel path near the entrance was washed away and debris littered the ground. The going was most unsteady, so we abandoned our quest after walking about 150 metres. We agreed to try Palm Grove, having already accessed The Knoll and Joalah after the storm. It too was closed, but we ducked under the tape and kept walking. There appeared to be no damage to the path. After a while we saw an exquisite green moth hanging from a twig. Hugh and I went back to the car to get my camera while Mark stayed with the moth, which I duly filmed on my return. We continued on our way, encountering several pademelons which were too elusive for me to film.

My worst premonition was confirmed when we saw the vast bulk of perhaps the mountain’s grandest tree, the leaning Moreton Bay Fig, blocking the path. Tragically it had been uprooted by Oswald. Today, I returned to film it and pay it homage. The tree had… Read Complete Text

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Website / 18.02.2013

During the past few days I have been able to confirm that Ben’s website set-up also extends to quick, operator-friendly generation of XML files for EOL. After having my computer serviced last week, I found that I could not create an underline space needed for 2 of the XML boxes. After a flurry of emails, the person who serviced my computer guided me to a solution. Today I sent 67 new files to EOL, the first in over 2 years.

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Film Diary / 13.02.2013

Tonight was our 80th shoot. It did not disappoint. Though I normally don’t film fungi at night, I filmed one with a large, dark grey cap, a cluster of 3 enormous Giant Panda Snails feasting on some orange fungi, a roosting Large-billed Scrubwren and a beetle. Note that on the previous week’s shoot we were joined by Jaap who is spending a couple of weeks in Canungra before resuming his bus travels around Australia. It was great seeing him again.

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Website / 09.02.2013

I accepted Henry Hardy’s quote for additional work on the website.

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Other / 06.02.2013

Sent the latest in an email exchange initiated by Kat Sawyer receiving a reply from Additions, a new gallery in Brisbane, to a query she made last October about staging an exhibition of her Vanessa’s and my work. I first heard about it via a phone call from Vanessa when I was driving home from the coast on the 16th of last month. We were intially offered a time in April, but agreed that we would prefer a date in October. Kat is presently under work pressure and Vanessa suggested that we try and meet over dinner to which I agreed, while pointing out our need to be productive when we do meet.

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Other / 29.01.2013

Between 25 and 29 January it was the Gold Coast hinterland’s turn to host ex-tropical cyclone Oswald. In my 26 years on the mountain I have never seen it so bashed up by the elements. This time it was the trees which were broken or uprooted everywhere. Property damage appears to have been restricted compared to the hailstorm on 16 November 2008, which resulted in hundreds of houses needing new roofs. Parts of the mountain had over 800 mm of rain. I was without power for 3 days, some poor people for 5 days or more.

Hard to fathom how a category 1 cyclone (the most severe is category 5) which formed in the Gulf of Carpentaria 1,600 km from here, could have been so destructive for so long, with record inundation further north only 2 years after once in a century floods, having tracked down the east coast before losing some of its intensity and petering out in NSW.

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Other / 14.01.2013

I delivered the report on our RADF grant project at my local Council offices. We had to wait for additional information from the grant giver and were cleared to meet today’s new deadline which we nearly missed due to having to abandon the optional audit, causing me to include a refund cheque.

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Film Diary / 13.01.2013

A friend phoned to tell me about a cereus cactus in her garden that only flowers on one night a year. All but one bloom had flowered. I filmed the plant in daylight to set the scene and returned after dark and filmed the remaining bloom in all its flowering magnificence. I also filmed a cricket, a katydid and a small moth on the spent blooms.

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Website / 08.01.2013

Ben suggested a while back that I contact some people he knew, about additional work to the website which I want doing but was not part of our original agreement. Today, I spoke on the phone to Henry Hardy who does work for the people Ben recommended to me, outlining my requirements.