SupaWallace escapades
blackers wrote:Just looked up Wallace's Standardwing, a standout-looking unit. Put on some red-tinted frogskins and Alf's your uncle. Just sayin.
Wow, what an amazing looking bird.
Going through old albums and picked out a few blasts from the past. L to R , A young Gordo the Great , myself , our Ubud host , Irish . 
The old Tarci Bungalows 1988 Myself & Stevo
no power no running water , no cold beer , no problem.
Captain Bobby’s family and some of Tarci family, Bobby’s jukung , 2 hours to sanur with the current. 6 hours if you went at the wrong time . 
Great memories there Supa.
When’s the Mr Wallace getting back for your trip?
seeds wrote:Great memories there Supa.
When’s the Mr Wallace getting back for your trip?
He arrives on the 11th & we fly out on 20th .
Anything happening at your end @AW? @Supa's been holding down the fort on this thread.
Don't make us have to make a 'StUnder exploits' thread!
basesix wrote:Anything happening at your end @AW? @Supa's been holding down the fort on this thread.
Don't make us have to make a 'StUnder exploits' thread!
Nothing. AW
Don't believe you Alf.
Basesix. Hi mate. Joking.
Hope all is well with you and the other clowns we normally engage with.
Pretty exhausted after the bird trip, long days and nights, some time spent at 2000m searching for rare montane bird species, ticks, leeches and mites (jiggers) did their best to annoy the fuck out of you despite having cutting edge attire, but totally worth it, something I’ll never forget in a hurry.
I’ve a couple hundred photos of the experience which I will start uploading shortly.
The bird photos will be a short while, my colleague was the one taking photos of the birds.
Have been welcomed by Supa and his daughter Angelina, I fully understand why he lives here.
Surfed Shipwrecks today, plenty of size, got four great waves with a bit of size amongst a heavy maelstrom of all type of surf craft and their operators.
Supafreak was clearly the stand out surfer by a country mile.
A good surfer and an even better guy. All the best. AW
ha! Good stuff, @AW,
did you run across a mate of mine, Cutler Canns.. he is an entomologist who was in the mountains of W Sumatra last week looking for rare ticks, leeches and mites.. said, and I quote, 'the fucking trogon, pheasant, frogmouth, pitta, and god knows what else were in plague proportions.. the very sunlight at times blocked out by a sky full of cursed feathers'.
Look forward to this thread's impending Cambrian explosion.
Glad you're all safe and well : )
Good to hear that you’re back from the wilderness @AW … that surf today must have been pretty sweet!
Yep good to hear you are alive and well. AW, even if you call us clowns. Plague proportions of pitas? Sounds like humus is needed to me.
Good to have you back Mr Ventura. ;)
blackers wrote:Yep good to hear you are alive and well. AW, even if you call us clowns. Plague proportions of pitas? Sounds like humus is needed to me.
Blackers and Co. it’s nice to be back, Supa and I have been laughing our heads off at some of the comments. Apologies for calling everyone clowns, I’m one of them as you know.
Feeling pretty laconic hence the loose lips.
Have missed you all, I really mean that.
Edit. Well, we saw some of the rarest Pittas on earth, on some occasion about 1m from them.. Watch this space. AW
GuySmiley wrote:Good to hear that you’re back from the wilderness @AW … that surf today must have been pretty sweet!
GuySmiley. Hi mate. Hope ya well. Yes it was great to surf Shipwrecks , looking at pumping surf as I punch the keys, plenty of energy in the water, big sets, glaring sunshine. Nothing to complain about. Off for Japanese tucker at 6pm. Origato. AW
tubeshooter wrote:Good to have you back Mr Ventura. ;)
Tubeshooter, thanks pal, it’s all ‘Ace’ at my end. AW
Safe travels lads, look forward to hearing bout your upcoming mission
- & AW, enjoy those supa sunsets while on the bongan ;)
basesix wrote:ha! Good stuff, @AW,
did you run across a mate of mine, Cutler Canns.. he is an entomologist who was in the mountains of W Sumatra last week looking for rare ticks, leeches and mites.. said, and I quote, 'the fucking trogon, pheasant, frogmouth, pitta, and god knows what else were in plague proportions.. the very sunlight at times blocked out by a sky full of cursed feathers'.
Look forward to this thread's impending Cambrian explosion.
Glad you're all safe and well : )
hahaha, very good.
basesix wrote:ha! Good stuff, @AW,
did you run across a mate of mine, Cutler Canns.. he is an entomologist who was in the mountains of W Sumatra last week looking for rare ticks, leeches and mites.. said, and I quote, 'the fucking trogon, pheasant, frogmouth, pitta, and god knows what else were in plague proportions.. the very sunlight at times blocked out by a sky full of cursed feathers'.
Look forward to this thread's impending Cambrian explosion.
Glad you're all safe and well : )
Basesix. You are the best. Words come out of your mouth like profanities from a Collingwood supporter in the crowd at the ‘G’.
Cambrian explosion it may not be but I remember all about the Burgess Shale (500mya) in the Canadian Rockies. Another of Stephen J Goulds great books.
Remember it’s about animals not fitting previously discovered conventions.
For example;
Animals with 7 pairs of legs and other peculiarities.
Hallucinogenia sp. , Anomalacaris sp. , Opabinia sp., Wiwaxia sp., Sidneyia sp. etc.
Very strange looking creatures.
A great read.
Fortunately I didn’t meet Cutler Canns, sounds like an illegal bird trapper of which we did meet a few on Halmahera. AW
tearymasseuse wrote:Safe travels lads, look forward to hearing bout your upcoming mission
- & AW, enjoy those supa sunsets while on the bongan ;)
Tearymasseuse. Hi mate. Hope you’re digging it, we are.
Supafreak is a great host. Surf pumped today, sunset looked great. Full as a state school hat rack after a Japanese feed. I’m cooked. AW
The day before meeting new folks for our birding expedition departing Jakarta my mate and I hooked up with a local bird guide who subsequently was part of our team for the 16 days.
Privately we hired him and a fine boat with two guys and ventured down two rivers that ended up in Jakarta Bay.
Disgusting is all I can say , pollution like I’ve never seen in my life.
The waterways and the bay were a putrid and rancid cesspit representing the lack f education and appreciation for the biological world.
We had to stop every 10 minutes to remove plastic fouling the propellers, it felt like we were driving through some primordial soup. In the photos you can see the filth on the waters surface.
Despite all of the aforementioned, birds did abound in certain places.
We lucked upon a great congregation of Frigate birds, comprising Great, Lesser and the very special sighting Christmas Island types.
Such huge majestic powerful fishers.
Same day on Jakarta Bay, left for a huge mangrove swamp.
Great plant and bird life and a small water monitor.
We did see what we thought was a crocodile cruising past us but subsequently it was a massive water monitor at 3m in length with a stomach girth of 500mm, when it made its way to the embankment, it looked like an amphibious boat coming out of the water, I’d never swim in any Indonesia river, these things eats goats and the like.
Water monitor and a cheese plant Morinda sp., we have them in Northern Australia
Yellow -vented Bulbils were smashing the fruits.
Flew 3 and a half hours from Jakarta to the stratovolcanic island of Ternate up in the NE of Indo, the Maluku Islands (aka Moluccas). An island with an airport and a serious population. The island last blew its top in 2011 killing four people and smothering the entire island in ash.
This photo of the neighbouring island Tidore typifies the visual geology of this incredible region. The boats are for inter island transport of people which we took to the enormous island Halmahera to commence our bird trip.
Alas we did go birding half way up the cone of Ternate and were very fortunate to see the Moluccan Pitta and the Dwarf Mollucan Kingfisher.
The stratocone volcanic peak still had steam coming out of its apex.
A couple of trailing plants that may possibly arouse male Swellnetters were seen in many locations. It’s been awhile and I honestly studied them a little longer than I normally would have. But beautiful in their own right.
The purple one is Clitoria ternatea
The pink one is Centrosema pubescens
Good morning @AW, what an amazing adventure you are on, coming from Vicco I’m not sure how you coped with the jungle humidity and all the critters that would want to bite you crazy, your vaccination chart must be pretty full, that pollution story … I hate that, keep the tales coming Indiana!
GuySmiley wrote:Good morning @AW, what an amazing adventure you are on, coming from Vicco I’m not sure how you coped with the jungle humidity and all the critters that would want to bite you crazy, your vaccination chart must be pretty full, that pollution story … I hate that, keep the tales coming Indiana!
GuySmiley. Morning mate. Always great to chat with you.
Humidity was way off the charts , I had appropriate clothing that dissipates heat and kept me cool regardless, but being slim and carrying no extra kegs than normal really helped. A certain fitness level was definitely a prerequisite.
I love humidity it frees me up , no aches and pains whatsoever.
Yep, the insect world was constantly trying to cut you up into edible pieces, let alone vegetation that’s clawing, tearing , grabbing and spiking you regularly, but it was all good, appropriate synthetic clothing does the job.
One birder had a full cotton kit, bad choice, he sweated like Pharlap on Melbourne Cup Day. Cotton is a shit fabric, poor insulator in Winter and a poor cooler in Summer, it’s all to do with its fibre arrangement.
Australians have historically been hooked on cotton but it’s a shit product.
I’m no regular ‘Jones’ but I will keep the stories coming, I’ve got plenty of them, as usual.
Definitely fully vaccinated and taking a Doxycycline tablet daily for malaria prevention. Good stuff Guy. AW
Awesome stuff.
Hey @AW, your posts are giving me flashbacks to conversations I had with my father who spent the last three years of WW2 in the tropics before being medically evacuated off Emirau Island in the Bismarck Sea with a host of life threatening diseases.
Emirau is just tiniest of specks in the middle of nowhere. Like so many he rarely talked about his service such was the sadness and loss.
Supafreak and I send a warm welcome from a beautiful evening on Nusa Lembongan.
Strong swell incoming next few days, maxing Saturday .
GuySmiley wrote:Hey @AW, your posts are giving me flashbacks to conversations I had with my father who spent the last three years of WW2 in the tropics before being medically evacuated off Emirau Island in the Bismarck Sea with a host of life threatening diseases.
Emirau is just tiniest of specks in the middle of nowhere. Like so many he rarely talked about his service such was the sadness and loss.
GuySmiley. Hi mate. Great post about your father.
A very big posthumous thanks to him for all he did for his country.
A scenario played out by many men and women upon returning from war zones in that area.
It was common to bury your thoughts and experiences be it traumatic or joyous for both sides fighting, we know there’s no winners in war, just heartbreak for individuals and families on both sides of the fence.
In his days, they spoke little about their experiences, sadly, to their own mental detriment and an inwardly thinking way.
Thankfully it’s encouraged today to open up about your thoughts when grief knocks on the door, too many suffocated under their own mental disabilities.
It’s people like your father who paved the way to a more saner world. All the best mate. AW
Indoor plants in Australia, outdoor plants in natural conditions in Indonesia
cos, y'know.. we're curious.
PB & J, or 'the original odd couple'.
either way, stay social boys.