Planet Ruby Starrs

This post is way overdue... in my jet lagged... senior moments... whatever I forgot to post it and as it is written I am posting it several weeks after the event!!!! Well - we are home from the southern hemisphere safe and dry... its taken some readjustment ha ha - but the weather has picked up and while the tan faded really quick its good to be home.   The holiday feels a distant dream now but we are about to sort the extensive snaps - a lot of rock - sea - sand and various random other things... flowers,birds, endless bush.... a different world to where we are now!! I'm finding it hard to sum up the trip - it was so varied and the highlights were also quite different - the dolphins at Shelley beach took my breath away - as did in a completely different way - the snorkeling - both amazing experiences.  The land based wildlife - especially the kangaroos at Kalbarri were special and some of the views were just so vast and fabulous.....  We stayed in some brilliant cam...

Exmouth at last....After a lot of planning and exploring we finally settled on where we would watch the eclipse from... and it turned out to be a winner!  We got up even before the crack of sparrows loaded everything we thought we might need into the cruise mobile and headed around the very tip of the peninsula to Yardie Creek. This was right in the centre of totality giving us the full 62 secs this amazing phenomena was going to last.  There was alot of traffic heading the same way and we were concerned because the park officials were restricting access to all the parks to crowd manage and protect wildlife... hence the early start... It paid off by the time we got to the park we were waved through and when we got to Yardie Creek it was already pretty busy.  Its a big area so plenty of room for all takers and most people were heading either for the shaded picnic area or walking up the gorge but we headed for the dunes.  Its really useful havin...

I am aware that I am being less reliable about posting on the blog - after 5 years the novelty is wearing off a bit and also it started as a vehicle to document my uni degree work - now finished... in the first instance this twice weekly recording was a requirement to fulfil a module and then it became quite a good way to evidence my work progress and share life in general - something I've never been shy of - its gained a few faithful followers and quite a few unexpected readers from time to time - and I will continue to add to it but maybe as my life has become a little bit more mundane and I don't really expect my exploits to entertain as many people - well to be honest I never did - it wont be quite so enthralling and as often 😂😂but its been a good way to keep in touch with quite a few distant folk who I miss having in my everyday life.....  This week we shared another partial solar eclipse - the weather was just kind enough to allow us a reasonable view of the sun slowly ...

I've a lot to catch up on from the last week.  Internet access has been poor so I haven't been able to post - I have however written quite  few but I'm going to stagger posting them and be a little bit out of sync as lots of messages are coming through about the Eclipse so I thought I had better start there!! we had scoped some good places for viewing - high up with 360 panoramic views and we had a couple of places in mind.  So by 7.30 Monday morning we were up and armed with biscuits and gravy - which incidentally are not nice cold... we headed out to the grasslands of Wyoming.  we stopped at out preferred place and started to make camp so to speak, we were on a wide verge off a gravel road and it was nice spot - if you squinted you could imagine the nearby cows were bison and there were real eagles flying about.  only 2 and half hours to wait.... then.... a large pickup truck drew alongside and wound the window down, Dr Fred moved over '' you are are on p...