Noosa amazing holiday in the sun with birds and reptiles.

Graham and I have just returned home from two incredible weeks in Noosa. 
We stayed at Ivory Palms in Noosaville in an apartment with a balcony that faced onto a pond and opposite the tennis courts.
It was a quiet time there, so it was really peaceful but also exciting.
Less humans, more animals.

Ivory Palms Noosaville, the perfect place to write on your own personal balcony facing onto a pond full of fish, eels and lilipads; my idea of natural luxury. 

This is the sixth time we have stayed there and already I want to go back.
 I would love to live over there for six months of the year during winter and paint, write and teach art and mosaics up and down the sunshine coast and in the country.

Breakfast on the balcony a daily occurance. 
Best to start off with bacon, tomatoes and eggs, especially if you are planning to do a lot of walking.
 The bacon over there is fantastic from Coles Supermarket.

 
 Eels like bacon too

   Other personalities who live in the area fly in for breakfast as well. 

                                                             Magpie lark has a shrill little call 

       And can be quite demanding at times, but still endearing

This bird turned up one day for some food and I don't know what it is. 
 Sometimes it's hard to keep visitors out
 
They are not allowed to do this.


But you can't blame them for having a go, especially when there is a slice of bread or two on offer. 
 Get those ducks out of here Graham would say to me.


Better to take your bread down to the Noosa River walk where  the wild life are free and hungry

White faced heron waiting for fish

There's time to read books and make art; luxury

I'd love to write a book as easy to read and follow as this one. 
It's called Brave, Intuitive Painting By Flora Bowley.
I bought it in a bookshop in Eumundi. 
 I have four huge canvases and I'm going to give this technique a go. Paint large, paint big from your imagination and let yourself soar.

I bought three other books while I was in Noosa.
It's always a great place to buy books in  and around Noosa. 
We do a lot of reading.  
I love the Noosa News and the magazines they have over there. 
I'd love to have a job writing a creativity column for them. 

 Walking along the Noosa River, under the fragrant Eucalyptus trees, feeding the wildlife, is one of my favourite things to do. 

                                It brings me and the birds so much joy 

Some people believe that feeding birds is like praying and if you feed them it will bring you prosperity and good luck. 

 Who could resist these little guys? They are Rainbow Lorikeets and when they take the seeds out of your hands they are so gentle and wise.

 They know exactly what seeds they prefer.

They adore bread

 There are thousands of them and they come into Noosa at dusk to roost and rest along the river in the gum trees.

They make a lot of noise but they really are worth it because they are so beautiful .
An old guy  with emphysema comes and feeds them in this special place,  just down the road from where we stay with lots of loaves of bread and seeds.
We saw him a couple of years ago as well. 
It is lovely to witness  such devotion and selflessness towards the birds. 
 
 Cockatoo feeding on seeds. 

 These guys have happy, smiley expressions. 


 They hang out in the trees during the day and make a lot of noise. Sometimes they lure you in and then poo on you. I don't know if this is intentional or not but they are very intelligent.



The Queenslanders are friendly, happy and helpful. 
 They are a group of people who love walking their well groomed, well behaved dogs.

Many of the cafes are dog friendly and the dogs are so well behaved. 
I was able to add to my collection of dogs and their owners shots.



I captured this lovely lady  and her  poodle Zoe at Sunshine beach



 They were so happy together

                                 She said that her dog was her life

                        I can see this, they adore each other

 If I had a dog, my choice would be a white West Highland Terrier, I'd teach her to fetch balls too. 

Noosa locals are so respectful, if you drop something, people bend down and pick it up for you; they radiate good will.

They also let you cross the road well ahead of time, I have never come across such considerate drivers with regard to pedestrians.
Everywhere feels safe, there are no dodgy characters lurking around 


  Unless you count the odd Carpet Cobra in the middle of Noosa  up a tree. 
This is the first time I've seen one in the wild, even though Graham and I are always looking for them. 

The Noosa beach is clean and the sand is pure with no litter anywhere. 

People come from all over Australia to swim and soak up the sun and to surf right into the evenings
 

Look at them all; even in the off season.

   The sunsets and dusk

  are brilliant times to photograph, silhouetted people on the beach. 

It's almost like a scene out of an Impressionist painting

There is a real surf culture which prevails. This is my impression of them.

The quality of the light makes the impressionist photography quite magical.

and dreamy  

Clouds formations with big skies.  

The sign of the cross in the sky was a good omen. 

The skies are like artist's water colour palettes

They make the water so deliciously teal

Like icecream or candifloss

You feel like licking everything..

                                   Back lit leaves

                                    And bokeh (the dots on the background) 

                      Make walks in rainforests

                           magical 

                                   enchanting

                                         spritual places

We went for lots of mini  walks in the bush


The quality of the light even made the reflections so different from home.

I had the flu while I was there so I didn't do as much walking as I normally do.
We walked to some waterfalls and did some easy bushwalks. 

The leaves look so  different to ours in their light.

            The light amongst the trees glitters

Even the epiphytes look different in this glorious light

             The Kookaboora's have lovely laughing cries. 
             This one just foew up into a branch above me.

If you're a greenie or a photographer you will be in Paradise in this area.

Wild life pops out, talks to you and follows you everywhere. 
Butcher bird on a seat near Noosa Gallery 

   did not want to leave me, even though I had no food. 
 I started to feel like an animal whisperer, wildlife was coming towards me and talking to me from all directions. 

                  It was very interested in being photographed

 This little Miner saw I had bread in a bag, he flew up to me and demanded some with a loud screech and hopped along just near me in the grass. So how could I not indulge him?

Even though it rained some days it was still wonderful

I was so happy to be there that I didn't mid if it wasn't blazing sun every day

But whern it was sunny  the reflections on the water are so golden and  they set off the silhouette magically.

 

I love photographing Pelicans and ducks on the Noosa River.

Pelicans are humorous and friendly and gather around anyone who is fishing. 

They hang out  in family groups  

They like bread and adore fish.

They don't seem scared of humans at all

They seem to love being photographed

And they don't move very fast so you have a good chance of capturing them

They sleep a lot and you are tempted to think of them as lazy

But I think they are quite clever because no recreational  fisherperson can ever resist feeding them the scraps

Even these common gulls are beautiful, look at the bright redness of those legs and beaks.

 Down along the Noosa River walk everyone is hungry and extremely friendly but sometimes not toward each other when it comes to bread.

Ducks much preferred me to be alone with them on the land.
They allowed me to become very close to them

If I had bread

I'm not normally into crows but this was a lucky shot, as the crow flies.

Look at those eyes, evil but are they really, just because they have a loud caw, why reject them? They are entitled to some bread too.

All the same they are one bird I am glad we don't have many of in NZ

I was lucky to get close to this Egret

At first I  wondered why it seemed so tame because these birds are usually hard to get close to. 

          But then I saw the giant dead fish in the water; his prize

               He wasn't going to give it up for anyone, even a nosey gull

 At the end of the day you really have to value and love yourself, especially on a full stomach of fish..

Lots of visitors of the animal kind came to see us at the apartment and I was able to get a lot of great shots. 

One star was a Bearded Dragon who turned up on our balcony and stayed for five days, sunning himself on rocks and eating chicken and steak. 

     I named him Draggie.  

 He seemed to like the attention

 He definitely liked the heat of the rocks. 
Out of everyone's balcony I wonder why he chose ours. 

 
 One day a crow got into a stand off with Draggie over a hunk of chicken.
 Even though Draggie was smaller, he stood his ground.
 But he gre bored with  crow after a while and came closer to me which is when I shut the ranch slider in case he was thinking of coming in.

 

This is as close as Graham got to Draggie. 

 I was still a bit scared although I did manage to point my camera quite near him at times. 

He was always looking at me, or so it seemed.  

Going for a walk in the Noosa National Park to Boiling Point and back. This was a monument to one of their beloved Koal's who had died recently
  Wonderful photograpy opportunities, especially before dusk, late afternoon with the shadows.

  Look at these beautiful colours.

 The contrast of the rock against the water

    The water is so clean and clear

 Textures are what I'm after often in my photography.

Golden light hitting the rocks and on top of the foam. 

 This sequence was taken on

 the way

  back, just as the sun was going down. 
They do not have a long twilight like us.
 It's sunset then rapidly pitch black.

Taking drives out into the country, high up into the mountains, past Maleny is wonderful, even the cattle are most attractive. 



  Rusty farm machiney on the Kenilworth Tourist Drive; absolutely stunning farmland set amongest rainforests

 Maroochy Botannical Gardens and Sculpture Park, do not miss this.
 It is fantastic in terms of the numbers and variety of sculptures, mostly depiciting Australian fauna and flora.

 The other  thing I love about Australian's is they support their artists. 
They appreciate art. They pay for mosaic projects. 
They believe that community art is important.
 I would love to be commissioned to do a project in Noosa with mosaics and with Noosa school children. 
It would be about Noosa birds.
 
  This and the cockatoo are two of my favourites.
 I think this means infinity

     I liked this idea for a Japanese lantern, I'd like to make one just like this.

Spring was starting already

Our next overseas trip will be to Tasmania.Its vedry like New Zealand and it's a foodies and bird lovers dream.
I can't wait.
 Please keep coming back to my blog to view more of my creative adventures.  
Drop me a note. I appreciate the feedback. 
 
  Noosa a destination that is my definition of perfection. 
 I will always love it. 


To be bathed in such light, and to breathe in such beautiful surroundings; I am so lucky.

Thank you to my wonderful husband Graham for taking us on such a fantastic holiday. 
We had the best time in the world.

 Creative quote of the week 
 I have had a holiday, and I'd like to take it up professionally.
Kylie Minogue


Turn your holiday shots into water colour paintings with classes from Janet Keen Mosaics and Painting School
374 Clayton Road, Rotorua
Phone 346-3435
Email jkeen@clear.net.nz