Patty, I photographed fairy penguins on Kangaroo island at night, and flying foxes during the day somewhere around Atherton Tablelands (not to far from Granite Gorge)

And yes - I was SO happy to joeys

I had read that the KI penguin population had been decimated by fur seals so was unsure of the likelihood of seeing them. The last time we were in Sydney, I tried to look for flying foxes at the botanic garden but I think they had been relocated. Again, some fantastic images you captured!

Hi Helen,

so glad you had a good trip and that the time with Alan worked out - I was pretty sure it would, but you never know what other people's interests really are.

Patti, on Kangaroo island, there is a person who research local penguins and I think he is an artist as well. So, we were walking around with him at night, and he was looking for penguins with his smal red flash light. We would never see any of them without him. As for flying foxes, I wanted to see them as well. I've heard that they used to be in Cairns, but I guess were relocated as well. I told Alan about my desire to see them, and he stopped us somewhere, so it was great. I was suprised to see them active during the day, as in the past, I saw them, but they would not move before night comes and too dark to photograph.

Annhig, we are not birdwatchers, so I was worried as well if this was going to work out for us. However, it worked out great! We both (my husband and me) really enjoyed spending time with Alan...
We were not so lucky with weather (somewhat rainy on both of the days), but Alan made the most of it. Really great experience, and I really apreciate the recommendation.

When we saw flying foxes back when the Sydney botanic garden had a large population, they were active during the day there as well. I even got pooped on. Luckily it landed on me and not my camera

Everything in Australia works opposite way - penguins show up at night, but flying foxes are active during the day
I photographed flying fox mother with a baby, but need to search for this image (hundreds and hundreds of images to sort thru);

Normally, I am protecting my camera better than myself.