Firstly a fishy photo- well nearly.

One of the staples of many marine aquariums these days is "live rock." Live rock is rock removed from reef environments and carefully transported so as to keep alive the plethora of organisms in it. It is often quite porous which then provides an environment for the growth of the bacteria which break down nitrates dissolved in the water- if left nitrate acts like a fertiliser encouraging the growth of algae.

About a year ago, I bought a load of live rock which unfortunately arrived in very poor condition having been left over the weekend in a Post Office before coming to Narrabri. The box was leaking water and parts of the rock had dried out. Over the last few months with my ongoing algae problem much of the live rock became blanketed in algae. There has been just about no sign of life in the old rock until a couple of weeks ago, this appeared- the white object in the middle.

It looks like some kind of anemone. It has roughly doubled in size since we first spotted it. I am going to submit the photo to some aquarium forums to get it identified and find out if it is a good thing or a pest.

Incidentally it is very difficult to take good photos of fish tanks. The light conditions are relatively dim, despite the overhead lighting. If you use a flash the light bounces off the glass. Automatic focussing gets tricked by all sorts of things so manual focus is essential. Because I was trying to focus in on a very small object, I had to get about a metre back from it and zoom in- but that then magnifies and tremble in the camera. Of six photos only one gave me a good sharp picture.

Today's subject was less difficult involving people working outdoors on a bright sunny day.

We live on a highway at a fairly busy intersection. A roundabout keeps the traffic flowing well. On the roundabout is a mast with three bright lights which light up the roadway and our bedroom. Well over a year ago one of the lights came loose and seemed to hang by a thread. And prior to that there always seemed to be only one or maybe two of the lights working at any time. But nobody ever came to repair them.

We found out that there was a dispute between Essential Energy and the Shire Council about letting their trucks get onto the roundabout to do the repairs. The Council was worried about damage to plants, irrigation system and I guess the roundabout structure.

Apparently the dispute was resolved as the workers fixed it today.

I was initially intrigued by the traffic director who seemed to be holding a Stop sign to prevent motorists from getting onto the roundabout. Actually it was to warn people coming the other way to go slow.