So, instead of rattling on about what we've been doing, I've decided to list all the crazy and cool wildlife that we're coming across on our travels. To be honest, we didn't see much in the first couple of weeks whilst in Hong Kong and China although I didn't really expect a safari in China - as someone joked, the only thing with four legs that the Chinese won't eat is a table. Since arriving in Thailand though, the situation has changed somewhat with a veritable Noah's ark of animals crossing our path.

We've seen red kites (large, eagle-like birds of prey) soaring between Hong Kong's skyscrapers, giant sea eagles gliding on thermals as we scuba dived off limestone towers in the Andaman sea and zillions of crabs swarming to attack me at night as we walk back home along the beach. Shown below, in all their glory, are some of the critters that we've managed to capture (with thanks to Mervin at Jolly Roger Dive Shop for the underwater pics).

Macaque Monkeys

Almost friendly macaque monkeys at Wat Tham Seua buddhist temple. These guys hang around in the trees where we climb - you've got to make sure that you keep everything locked up in your bag as they are notorious thieves.

Simon-Eating Spider

These ugly mugs live in the trees around our house. While they seem harmless, they're constantly building new webs and I'm paranoid that I'm going to walk into one at night.

Scorpion

We came across this guy on the way home one night. We stood, watched then tiptoed around it carefully before realising he was dead. Still not as scary as the beach crabs.

Frilled Lizard

These guys, some sort of frilled lizard, live in the trees around us. They seem pretty dumb. We're just about to walk past them because we haven't seen them, then they decide to suddenly move and draw attention to themselves. A definite animal Darwin award candidate, methinks.

Gecko

The ubiquitous gecko. Friend of every mosquito-hater and the second most common tattoo seen at Ton Sai beach. According to an elderly lady, the geckos around her house were whispering "F**k me, f**k me" all night long. She was quite embarrassed when we told her they actually say "Geck-o, geck-o".

We also seen some of the bigger monitor lizards around Ton Sai beach, but haven't managed to photograph them yet. They're about 1.5m with tail, and are pretty prehistoric looking. Very similar to the goannas that we've seen before in Australia.

Underwater

Moray Eel

Yer average moray eel. They live in rocky holes and sit there, looking creepy. Supposedly they also catch fish, but we've only ever seen them attacking cruiseships in Hollywood movies.

Squid

This little guy was beautiful to watch. He hovered past and under us flashing purple along his sides. He then appeared to get a little freaked out by our attention as he dropped down next to a reddy brown coral and changed colour to mimic the coral. Very cool.

Lionfish

Not one, not two, but three of these little guys were sleeping on a rock. Great to look at but those spines are toxic as hell.

Hermit Crab

I think that these crabs are about the only crabs I could ever call a friend. The exception to my rule that 'the only good crab is a dead crab'. Simone thinks it's because they move about as fast as a snail and don't pose much of a threat to my crab paranoia.

Boxfish

Boxfist come in a variety of sizes and colours. But there's no variety in shape - they're all, ahem, shaped like a box. Kind of.

Nudibranch

Nudibranchs. Ah, nudibranchs. I've been told heaps of times what they are but I've forgotten. Again. Maybe some sort of sea slug? Anyway, they look very cool. We like them.

Kangaroos

Ok, let's get them out of the way. Yes, we've seen kangaroos - you can't drive at night for fear of hitting one of the buggers. So here's some nice photos of roos for the kids among us...

Echidna

We came across this little echidna (above) by accident, after hearing a rustling in the bush (which Simone later admitted she thought was just a bird - unfortunately Simone didn't inherit Aboriginal bush tracking skills, like I did ). He's the Aussie version of an anteater - he curls up into a ball when threatened. We obviously weren't considered much of a threat.

'Freshie' - Freshwater Croc

We had to fight this croc off in a titanic struggle of life over death. Er, more like fight off the boredom? We were almost convinced that this was just a plastic croc put on a rock for tourists due to the croc's complete lack of interest in us.

Emu

This emu was spotted wandering among our camp one morning. He initially ran away from us, but soon overcame his fear and found Simone (holding the camera) very interesting. At which point Simone thought the emu was taking too much interest in her so she ran away!

Kea - Alpine Parrot

Another shot of the cheeky NZ kea. See his story over in the May 2006 entry.

Dingo

One of my favourites - Simone spotted the dingo wandering to a waterhole as we were driving through the Pilbara one hot afternoon (hmm, maybe she did pick up some tracking skills after all) so we stopped the van and I sneaked up on him.

I managed to snap a couple of quick pictures while hiding in the grass, but the dingo's radar picked me up in no time and then he was off like a shot. It was such a cool experience - it felt like sneaking up on a wolf.

Spotted Stingray

And now a few more photos from our diving trip to Exmouth and the Cape Range National Park. First up: be careful where you stand (look for the eyes).

This ray was snoozing under the sand (see photo to left) but took off when we got too interested. That tail packs a nasty sting though, but I've forgotten the cure... was it hot water, vinegar or your mate's urine?

Octopus

Every now and again we'd find an octopus hiding in a nook in the coral, with his tentacles bunched under him and his head poking out. If we were still enough, he'd make quick moves to the next hidey hole, changing colour like a pulsing neon light until he matched the coral, rock or sandy bottom.

Reef Shark

The harmless white tip reef shark - at least we think it was. The shark guide also listed another shark of similar size, colouring and habitat (but with an extra white flash on his tail) which was aggressive. Very creepy those eyes though, no matter which shark it was.