In recent weeks beaches around Sydney have been inundated with bluebottles. You will see them either on the sand or in the water.

So what is a bluebottle.

A good place to start in defining a blue bottle is to say what it is not. Although related the bluebottle is not a jellyfish. It is known as a siphonophore.

The most common bluebottle found in the waters around Sydney is Physalia utriculus.

The discussion becomes more interesting when you realise that the bluebottle is not one animal but a grouping of four different colonies of polyps. The word collective comes to mind.

The colonies rely on each other to survive.

One of the colonies is the gas filled sac that floats on the surface of the water. You may see a grouping of bluebottles on the sand as they are often left stranded on the beach waiting for the tide to rise and take them back into the ocean.

The three other colonies in the arrangement are ones for catching prey by stinging it, one for digesting the prey and of course one for the continuation of the species, reproduction.

The bluebottle does not mate but instead reproduces asexually.

Bluebottles are carnivorous feeding on larval fish, small crustaceans and molluscs (snails and clams).

These creatures come to their earthly end when the bluebottle zaps them with venom located in the long tentacles that trail the sac, resulting in the creature being paralysed. The prey is then drawn to the mouth of the bluebottle by the tentacles and consumed.

In Spring and Summer strong winds are responsible for bringing bluebottles to Australian shores. In the other months of the year they exist offshore.

The bluebottles that appear in Australia are sometimes called Pacific Man o’ War. They are less venomous than the Portuguese Man o’ War which is found in the Atlantic.

The name Portuguese man o’ war originates from the resemblance of this siphonophore to 18th-century Portuguese warships when those warships were at full sail.

There you have it a floating warship that can declare war on you whilst swimming or surfing at the beach.

50 shades of blue

just lying around

stranded but not disbanded

waiting for the tide

a floating armada

Sydney Nimble had its first encounter yesterday with a wallaby joey, Olaf, at Symbio Wildlife Park.

Olaf is an albino and is indeed a rarity, with the chances of being born an albino estimated at 1 in a 100 00. He is the offspring of two proud red-necked wallaby parents!

Olaf was born seven months back but it took a while for zoo staff to recognise his albinism.

No they weren’t sleeping on the job, it just takes a while to pick out albino features as wallabies are on the tiny side at birth, around the size of half of your thumb.

This small joey is named after a character in the Disney film series franchise, Frozen.

We look forward to seeing Olaf becoming a full grown albino wallaby in the months and years ahead.

Whilst on the topic of joeys we couldn’t help but take a photo of a koala joey who was happily sleeping just before the 3pm koala exhibition. The arrival of fresh eucalyptus branches did however get the joey alert and moving.

Whilst at Symbio we came across a member of the Honeyeater family, an Eastern Spinebill. Note the long curved beak and warm colours.

These small pretty birds are not easy to photograph and move quickly so it was nice to see one first hand!

A staff member of Symbio made the task of taking a photograph easy as she was holding the Eastern Spinebill in the palm of her hand after the bird collided with a glass window at Symbio.

The bird was stunned and it was anticipated that the small bird would recover after a short period of rest, and fly off.

Fly birdie fly!

We wish the Eastern Spinebill a speedy recovery!

The final photograph from yesterday is of two dingoes who came unusually close to the fence. Its the closest I have been to a dingo!

a media star - announcement by Symbio was picked up local newstations and by several international media outlets

mum and son enjoying a grassy munch

so cute!

audience or no audience, happily dozing

a rare chance to see an Eastern Spinebill up close

another rare event - the dingoes do not generally come this close to the fencing at Symbio

Glow worms

Glow worms are the larvae of a small fly (fungal gnat). The larvae is bioluminescent, meaning the larvae can naturally produce light from an organ in their body.

The attractive light of the glow worm draws in insects such as midges, mosquitoes and flies for the purpose of capturing those insects in nearby mucus lined silk webs.

Attract, trap and eat!

The blue green glow of the larvae is created through a chemical reaction between an enzyme and chemicals in the larvae and oxygen.

The light is emitted through the transparent skin in the abdomens of the larvae.

The journey

The Blue Mountains glow worm tunnel takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to drive to from Mt Victoria, possibly longer depending upon your vehicle.

The road is bumpy and a four wheel drive will reduce the drive time. If you do the odd pullover to see things allow for up to 1hr 15 minutes.

On the way in you will drive through a one way tunnel – glad there were no cars heading the other way.

Once in the car park it takes around 15-20 minutes to walk to the tunnel entrance.

In the tunnel

We were initially greeted by pitch darkness and little signs of glow worms.

We stopped and waited and as our eyes adjusted we began to see a few small glowing dots.

As the number of people walking through the tunnel dropped off we began to see a lot more glow worms.

Both times I have been to the tunnel the best result has been achieved by quietly standing next to the wall and forgetting about time.

Turn your phone light or torch off and be quiet.

The melodic sound of water created a sense of peacefulness and we enjoyed our time in this strange world of darkness.

After being in the tunnel for around 15-20 minutes we headed back to the car park, glowing!

Returning

We left in the middle of the afternoon and were delighted to see two Australian wood ducks in the grass off the road and wallabies in the bush on three occasions. They took off fairly quickly so sorry no photos – next time.

The glow worm tunnel is definitely worth a visit and provides a nice contrast to many of the other spectacular features of the blue mountains. You will also see some nice stone pagodas on the way in.

pagodas near the glow worm tunnel

more sandstone formations

a one way road has to be navigated near the tunnel car park

leaving the tunnel

Australian wood ducks

thar she glows

Why

Sydney Nimble recently went beyond day tour range and visited Muswellbrook, Aussie Ark and Burning Mountain.

The plan is to identify new places for a two or three day tour.  

Only the best will do!

Aussie Ark was identified as a ‘place of interest’. It is located in Barrington Tops.

Muswellbrook was chosen as a staging post from which to visit Aussie Ark as access is not currently available from Gloucester due to a landslide.

Burning Mountain came onto the radar after extensive researching of potential walks in Muswellbrook and nearby areas, that do not exceed 2 hours duration.

Muswellbrook wildlife of the flying kind

The spectacle that most captured our attention in Muswellbrook was the incredible number of flying foxes that had chosen to reside in the trees at the rear of our accommodation (The Remington).

It was hard to estimate their numbers but it is likely there were at least a thousand bats, maybe a lot more. A number of the trees were saturated with bats (see first photo).

Although bats generally make sounds that are too higher a pitch for humans to hear, the bats in the morning were making audible eerie high pitched calls, possibly indicating it was time to fly out.

Aussie Ark

It takes around two hours to drive to Aussie Ark from Muswellbrook but it could easily take longer if you stopped to enjoy some of the wonderful scenery.

On the drive through you will also come across the small country towns of Gundy and Moonan Flat, whilst there is a never ending parade of green hills and mountains, and the occasional volcanic cone.

For a Sunday morning the local pub in Gundy was busy on the outside lawns. Five stars for the name, Linga Longa Inn Hotel.

Having arrived at Aussie Ark we were ready for a two and a half hour Devils in the Wild Tour.

Aussie Ark’s vision is to create a long term future for threatened Australian species and it does this by providing secure sanctuaries for native wildlife.

As expected the stars of the show were the Tasmanian Devils and they become even more amazing when they gather as a group. This usually only occurs around feeding or mating time.  

Watching them devour a kangaroo is something not easily forgotten.

Various grunts and other noises are made by the devils when they literally tear the kangaroo apart. Flesh, organs, bone, muscle and fur are all eaten – nothing is left.

Another animal that is also a delight to see is the Eastern Quoll with its long tail and inquisitive look. These marsupials have a dark thick coat marked with roundish white spots.

A Potoroo encounter was also enjoyed with the Potoroo showing a lot of interest in the shoes of all visitors.

At the end of the tour we had the pleasure of meeting Rufous the Bettong. Initially he was a little reluctant to meet the group finding the nearby kitchen a more amenable place to hang out.

However he did warm to us and once in the mood was happy to be picked up and loved by adoring Bettong groupies.  

Aussie Ark is thoroughly worth the time and effort to visit. Highly recommended.

Burning Mountain

Burning Mountain (Mt Wingen) is located between Scone and Murrurundi.

A 30 metre underground coal seam is slowly burning, which according to estimates was lighted at least 5500 years ago.  

Once at the location you are likely to smell sulphurous smoke and see rocks bleached white from the heat.

On our visit we did not however see a lot of smoke just a few small wisps were observed from one or two rocks near the crest of the hill.

On the way to Burning Mountain a kangaroo bounded past at speed and we did see a few other kangaroos in nearby bush.

All in all an interesting walk with district views and a very unusual natural phenomena at the end.

New Tour

A visit to Aussie Ark will provide much joy If you like native animals and attractive scenery.

We combined it with a walk to Burning Mountain and a short visit to the Hunter Valley on the way.

A three day tour to this region is still being considered.

Alternatively take yourself on a mini driving holiday from Sydney. Allow around three days.

how many flying foxes can hang on a tree - a lot!

black and brown and never a frown

grand countryside

friend or foe - neither, the yawn is a sign of uncertainty or fear

making a meal of it

Shameless

Eastern quoll

how scorched is my earth

An option on our Royal National Park private day tour is a visit to Symbio Wildlife Park where visitors can see a number of unique Aussie animals.

One of our favourites is the Tasmanian Devil, one of Australia's most well known native animals.

It is a marsupial, which is basically a mammal whose young are incompletely developed at birth and typically carried in a pouch.

They are only found in the wild in Tasmania, becoming extinct on the mainland around 3000 years ago.

When you look at the Tasmanian Devil’s head and face there are no devilish horns and the standout features include a moist black nose, many whiskers, dark deep eyes, two fang teeth near the corners of the mouth and large flappy ears.

The devil’s body has an attractive colouring of black fur with a white band running across the chest.

Their front legs are larger than their back legs which helps with climbing.

This difference in the front and back leg sizes can result in devils looking like they are galloping or skipping when they run.

A keen sense of smell allows devils to find fresh carcasses at night and they may travel many kilometres seeking out the recently deceased.

A great Australian scavenger story!

Devils are inquisitive and may look you directly in the eye, or just stand and sniff the air.

Tasmanian Devils have extremely strong jaws allowing them to eat all parts of an animal – fur, muscles, organs and bones. Nothing gets wasted.

Their dietary requirements do not go beyond the living or recently living and include wombats, kangaroos, rabbits, possums, birds and even insects. Plants need not apply.

The animals ears are unusual being pink in colour that will turn to purple colour if the devil is agitated.

So why then are these creatures called devils at all?

The answer lies in the noises they usually make at night, being primarily nocturnal.

Devils will ferociously fight each other over food or finding and keeping a mate, making growling, blood curdling noises in the process.

This behaviour explains their naming as a devil, but I would suggest a very likeable one. 

standing tall

Why does Sydney Nimble keep visiting me?

born to sniff at Symbio Wildlife Park

cute brute

You know you are fortunate when you drive down the street and not only are the Eucalyptus trees blooming but you also have Rainbow Lorikeets gorging themselves on the nectar loaded flowers. Rainbow Lorikeets are equipped with a hairy tongue which enables the extraction of sweet sticky nectar and pollen from native flowers.

The Rainbow Lorikeet is a species of parrot found in northern and eastern Australia and more lately in Western Australia (from 1960s) and is one of the most beautiful birds found in Australia.

The explosion of colour provided by a combination of this bird’s plumage and the bright red flower of a gum tree is extraordinary.

The trick to taking a photo is to get reasonably close to the birds without panicking a flight to safety. If successful you will be well rewarded. Both of the bird species below were photographed on the route of Sydney Nimble Tours’ Harbour, Northern Beaches and National Park day out https://www.sydneynimbletours.com.au/sydney-harbour-and-northern-beaches-tour/.

Another iconic parrot flocking around Sydney lately is the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. These guys make a raucous screech if they are in the mood.

In the second photo even the other Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are impressed by the precision of their friend’s landing. Three screeches for all!

explosion of colour

loud proud and great landing technique

a bird banquet of sweet sticky nectar

an item? - probably Rainbow Lorikeets commonly travel in pairs