A few weeks ago around a breakfast table in a B&B on the Tablelands chatting to a couple from Cook Town, who like me were hosting visiting parents, we discovered that Cassowaries can be seen near Innisfail. Now, there are only 2000 of these rainforest giants in existence and the reason they can be sighted in this area is because Cyclone Larry destroyed yet more of their already depleting habitat; forcing them to forage in the open and more populated areas. So, we made a trip and by virtue of a serendipitous detour we saw one.

This posting marks the beginning of my thread of personal anecdotes about birds, technology and a sense of place. Now, before disappointing any passing ornithologists i admit that i don’t know very much about bird species nor have i spent much time wielding binoculars. However, Australian birds being more garrulous and less reserved than their pommie cousins have over the past few years significantly contributed to my sense of belonging here.

Over the past three weeks my kitchen has evolved a slightly different personality on account of my new neighbours: the sunbird family who are waiting to hatch in a nest hanging from a branch outside the window (see picture). The new, little building development has made a different connection between the place that is my kitchen and the world outside the window. The connection in part resides in a change of tempo. There was a fairly frenzied phase when father and mother Sunbird’s nest construction made them, like any new neighbour, the topic of conversations with my mum and dad (who are currently staying with me) and made our washing up activities more leisurely. Now, presumably while the eggs are incubating, we have to wait quite a long time before mother Sunbird darts in or out, chaperoned to the door by father Sunbird. So, we find ourselves just sort of gazing, waiting to see one appear and listening hard for a signs of a new born tweet.

Went camping at Airlie Beach during the Harley Owners Group annual rally. I thought I'd count the number of bikers recording the Big Parade on video from their bikes. This was inspired by Esbjörnsson's Traffic encounters and Hocman: Associating motorcycle ethnography with design and Salovaara et al's On Space and Place in Mobile Settings. I was very struck by the transformative effect of the bikers and their entourage arriving in town, as Nic points out in her comment, the effect can be huge. I also thought about the place, Airlie Beach, existing for the bikers before their adoption of the spatial resources for the purposes of their rally. The transformation of the place occured as the bikers imposed a particular infrastructure, in part replacing the exisiting one. Perhaps 'replacing' is the wrong word. For a while their's outshone the usual insfrastructure, then waned, leaving a mark that will fade over time but never completely disappear. Both residents and visitors (including non-biker visitors) made quite an effort to capture some of the event, the spectacle. In so doing, they also were recording aspects of this malleable infrastructure.

some fabulous work, thoughts and insights here :  and the 2005 conference : 

Last Saturday i had the privilege of walking together with Nugal-warra Elder Willie Gordon and small group of Australian tourists in the country of the Nugal clan near Hope Vale, in the Far North. i have traveled the world extensively and do not readily swoon about tourist experiences. However, i cannot imagine how any person taking this home-grown Aboriginal tour could not experience a deep, uplifting and complete sense of connectedness. Connected to the beautiful landscape, from the smallest furry pod that Willie picks from a tree to play with, to the magnificent boulders we climbed through, over, under and around. Connected to the messages in the rock paintings and revealed through Willie’s stories about them. Connected through all of the senses, from discovering so many different lovely smells of plants and woods to the texture of my mum’s skin after Willie had shown her how to use used a particular plant as a moisturizing lotion. And, connected to a sense of joyful responsibility for the natural world and the way we as individuals engage with it; and, through our engagement with it, with each other.

I stumbled over this this interesting blog entry about mapping mainly but not exclusively military stuff - and, no, I was not looking for military stuff! There are numerous links to other blogs which are essentailly about mapping.