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Today it's raining again and I've finally gotten my photos from Australia downloaded onto my home computer. It's lovely to look through them, remember the warmth, the fun times, the places we've visited, and remind myself of the paintings I could/might/will paint over the next little while. And the animals that we saw--and that I captured. I think you'll remember the photo of the Red-bellied Black snake from Sydney--see my previous posts--now here's a few more creatures!

This emu (the native emblem of Australia, just to remind you!) walks around the subdivision of my cousins' place in Queensland! You can hear him/her sometimes--they make a noise a little like a drum--and it stands outside people's doors who feed it in the morning and makes it. Who's trained who, I wonder??

Next is a yabbie, kind of like a little fresh-water crayfish, that came out of a dam (for North Americans that's a man-made pond that rural Aussies make to collect water for their properties). This one was captured in a trap & waiting in a net in the dam until it had enough food to grow bigger and get eaten. My friend cooks them and slightly pickles them--how he gets the shells off I'm not sure but they were really delicious appetizers beside the barbie!

I took the photo because someone wanted me to do another painting similar to the mermaid only for boys--she thought crabs might be a good idea too.

This is a bigger (much bigger, in fact 2 kilos worth bigger!) version of the yabbie--it's a crayfish that was big enough to feed five of us one gorgeous evening in Bichenot, near Tasmania's Freycinet National Park. The company was great, the wine matched perfectly, and the sunset over the bay was drop-dead. I have some photos of that to paint too!

This is the oldest Catholic church in Australia, in Richmond, Tasmania. I had thought of doing another watercolour and ink with the image--and I still might. The buildings in Richmond have been so well preserved, and it was one of the original farming and town settlement areas, being in a very strategic spot between Hobart and Port Arthur. We did all 3 places in one day and moved on to the East Coast--but in the pioneer days it was a day's travel from Hobart to Richmond. It's amazing how fast we get around the world to see things in this day and age--I count myself very fortunate to live in these times of wealth, choice, technology--at least in the first world countries that I frequent. Some others are not so fortunate, and two centuries ago the people who colonized North America and Australia, or who were sent there as punishment, faced very harsh circumstances.

This is a not-so-good photo of the convict church at Port Arthur, the original penal colony in Tasmania. It was a massive building, but just the walls remain. In its time it served a population of up to 2000 including soldiers and convicts who were chained on Sundays and marched up to the church in irons, only being allowed to enter the side doors while the rest of the settlement watched from their pews. The whippings were held afterwards, apparently, for those who had committed further infractions.

The world was very cruel in those days--even children as young as 7 were transported half way around the world and incarcerated, some for minor crimes.

And, speaking of transportation--this is our new baby! We've joined the RV world, a little prematurely, but the opportunity came up to get this 21 foot travel trailer and we've made arrangements to put it on Quadra Island for the next year. We have so many travel plans until July 2012 that I suspect we'll hardly make use of the lovely spot our new beastie will be setting in. After that we might have to live in it a while if we haven't found an Okanagan property to move to.

In 2013 we're already planning to drive across Canada with it. More painting away in the world to come! It's so funny how a relatively small purchase like this opens up a whole new world of opportunities!

Well, that's the news for now--next time I'll put up some of my newer paintings! Ciao!