Author Archives: Joy Window

Pipefish and seahorses

Posted on Friday, 18 June 2021 by Joy Window

[Here is an article I wrote for the Richmond River Historical Society Bulletin. I write a regular, short column, ‘What’s in the Nature Room?’, about an object in that room. Thanks to the Queensland Museum for IDs of the specimens.] … Continue reading →

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Bush stone-curlews

Posted on Saturday, 29 May 2021 by Joy Window

I was astonished to see these bush stone-curlews (also know as bush thick-knees, Burhinus grallarius) in a park in an urban area about an hour and a half from home. They seemed quite used to people – even a car … Continue reading →

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When is a porcupine not a porcupine?

Posted on Thursday, 27 May 2021 by Joy Window

I do like a nice corpse. You can get up close to see intimate details and not worry about disturbing an animal. Of course, it’s sad to see something dead, but that’s life (or not). After a storm at Lighthouse … Continue reading →

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Tenterfield museums trip

Posted on Tuesday, 25 May 2021 by Joy Window

We volunteers at the Richmond River Historical Society and Lismore Museum have a sort of “busman’s holiday” – an expression first recorded in 1893 in the UK – once a year (but not last year for COVID reasons). Tenterfield is … Continue reading →

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Sing, cuckoo!

Posted on Tuesday, 11 May 2021 by Joy Window

The channel-billed cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) is a regular feature of life in summer around here. Each year the birds fly down from Indonesia and New Guinea to our eastern states between August and October, and leave generally in February or … Continue reading →

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Balestrand to Oslo

Posted on Thursday, 18 March 2021 by Joy Window

Day 20 Balestrand to Oslo Now we were on the home stretch, so to speak. The idea was to catch a local ferry from Balestrand to Flåm, go on the famously scenic Flåm railway to Myrdal, change trains there and … Continue reading →

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Ambling in Bergen (part 2)

Posted on Thursday, 18 February 2021 by Joy Window

Unfortunately, the National Museum was closed for a year for refurbishment, so I was disappointed to miss that. But the National Aquarium (Akvariet) was only about 30 minutes’ walk from the hotel and the weather was perfect for it. Bergen … Continue reading →

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Ambling in Bergen (part 1)

Posted on Saturday, 6 February 2021 by Joy Window

Day 16 To Bergen We flew south from Tromsø to Bergen. The flight itself is only a couple of hours, but it seems to take all day from leaving a hotel in one city to arriving at the next in … Continue reading →

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Tramping around Tromsø (part 2)

Posted on Sunday, 31 January 2021 by Joy Window

Our second tour for the day was hosted by Jørgen, a local guide, who took us on a walking tour. Luckily, Tromsø is fairly small (population 75,000, mostly made up of people in their 20s and 30s) and the historic … Continue reading →

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Tramping around Tromsø (part 1)

Posted on Tuesday, 6 October 2020 by Joy Window

Day 14 Tromsø arrival I skimmed over the days in Tromsø, so I want to go back and revisit them. On the ship at dock in Longyearbyen, we were up for a 6:30 a.m. breakfast, having got our suitcases ready … Continue reading →

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