The Pilbara, Australia

The Pilbara is a desert area in the Northwest of Western Australia, predominated by mining communities and "fly in fly out" workers. However, the area is beautiful in it's own right and has many attractions other than it's mining prospects.

That'll teach the boys for angling - out of 5 fish caught, 100% were snatched by swarming sharks before we could land them! It was quite entertaining. This one was huge! 

Note the limp fishing line. I hope he doesn't choke on the hook ;-)

Dared to put my camera and hand under the water...

On the same day, we had a pod of Humpbacks put on a magnificent show for us

The entire coastline is rich with coral reefs and associated tropical fish

Sea snake - he had been happily sunbaking on the surface until we rudely poked him into consciousness, assuming he was dead!

Reefwalking at low tide with turtles at a "secret" Pilbara location - you need a 4 wheel drive, local knowledge and good luck to find the place and avoid being blockaded from entering by the road's owners! 

A turtle and a tiny baby moray eel - Jackpot

There were about 20 turtles just floating in the mangrove shallows at this location

"The Jump Up", an inconvenient obstacle standing between one and the stunning Burrup Peninsula. Taken on only by those who have great faith or little love for their vehicles, and even then only if they have a very high wheel base.

The Reward: Land-accessible isolated white sand beaches with crystal clear water

Mudskipper! These gobies can breathe air through their skin so long as they stay wet, and can use their fins for mobility on land. They can even jump 60cm into the air. 

Pools at Marble Bar, the hottest town in Australia

The Marble Bar tourist centre is about as modern as it's sign, hehe

An Olive python found by some friends in their chicken coop. He was fairly friendly, we all had a cuddle before I drove him to a nearby stream and released him back into the wild

The Staircase to the Moon - a phenomenon only visible at certain times of the year at Hearson's Cove. At low tide, the light reflecting onto the water from the moon resembles a staircase. Locals and tourists gather on the beach to watch the event, and the colours and morphology change by the second.

For every human killed by a shark, two million sharks are killed by humans. Please help. Educate and spread awareness to everyone you know. We need our sharks..we need our oceans.

Bali

High tide at the main beachfront on Nusa Lembongan - an island renowned for it's adventure water sports.

Mola Mola!!! Tick that one off the bucket list - it's hard to tell (unless you look at the diver for comparison) but this fish is a TWO METRE diameter flat disc, with a couple of fins strategically placed for movement. This is one of the weirdest and most wonderful things I have ever seen. We were incredibly fortunate to come across this relaxed fish at Nusa Penida, and I spent 15 minutes just floating and observing.

Low tide viewed from a day bed at the Indiana Kenanga Restaurant - the dog belongs to the French owner and chef (3 Michelin stars, mind!).

Indiana Kenanga restaurant

Our "room" with our own pool

Ubud markets

Women worshipping at a temple in Ubud. These temples are open for tourists to come in and take photographs of everything - it feels rather invasive

Offerings to the gods - these are made fresh every day, and placed in the thousands all through the temples and at the shopfronts. They contain plants, fruits and money.

Gelato in Ubud...

 

Asian Palm Civets - used to make Kopi Luwak (Civet Coffee). The Civets eat coffee berries for their flesh, and the seeds pass through them and are collected and made into coffee. The digestive enzymes in the digestive tract reduce the bitterness of the coffee beans, yielding a very smooth, highly valuable coffee.

Holy Water - Balinese come every day and line up to bathe in the Holy water.

Ubud's Veterinary Clinic

Drinking Cocktails at The Royal Seminyak and looking out over the beach - security prowls to prevent the hawkers from coming onto hotel property to sell us their wares

Traditional Dancing Show on the beach in Seminyak

The Villain rests on a tree before coming to sit on my lap! 

Fish Spa in Ubud

Some Favourite Pilbara Patients

A green sea turtle was found looking a bit off colour by a local and brought into the clinic by fisheries officers. We spoke to the turtle experts and arranged for him to be shipped up to Broome, but he had to stay with us for a few days first. So we put him in our bathroom, apparently the best way to get fluid therapy into a salt water turtle is to put him in a fresh water bath and let osmosis do the work for you! It was a bit random taking a shower and brushing your teeth with a sea turtle watching you from the bathtub.

Turtles can't regulate their body temperature so they rely on the outer environment to maintain the right body temp. So, we had to refill the bath every 2 hours-ish to keep it warm enough for him.

I assumed turtles would breathe normally when they were above water... but he actually held his breath all the time, very rarely you'd hear him gasp as he changed breaths.

 

 The fluid therapy worked wonders.When he arrived on Monday, he was super flat and could barely lift his head. By Wednesday when he left, he put up a huge fight as the boys lifted him into the makeshift crate for his trip to Broome.

This female Eclectus parrot randomly landed on a guy's shoulder. He brought her into the clinic, we kept her until she was claimed. She was very tame. 

A goanna with a taste for Jack Daniels - I had to cut him out of his can as he was well and truly stuck! He is shedding too, you can see the colour change halfway down his body.

Arthur, the Olive Python: Some workers had noticed this snake sitting under a tree, not moving for a week. They notified the Department of Environment and Conservation, and the snake was brought into the vet clinic.
Olive pythons are harmless snakes (they could bite you if you really annoyed them) and are often discovered in chicken coops stealing eggs!

Arthur was severely dehydrated. We administered subcutaneous fluids in multiple places along his underside to rehydrate him over two days.

Last I heard, he was doing much better, and living in a terrarium at the Pilbara DEC office