Autumn on the island

The autumn days on Kangaroo Island have been gorgeous, and it has also been one of the more interesting periods of my life. I launched my basket weaving business BASKETBOY at the islands Penneshaw community market, and actually sold a few baskets and rattles. It had been a long standing dream of mine to have a market stall, it was a really fun day and I met lots of great people from my new community.

With Ky Alecto, the BASKETBOY launch at Penneshaw Community Market.

With Ky Alecto, the BASKETBOY launch at Penneshaw Community Market.

At the same market I pulled off my first solo busking show, also under the name BASKETBOY. My circus show, featuring  uni cycling, juggling and free-standing ladder tricks, was well received by a small but enthusiastic crowd of locals tourists and dogs. Training hard in the lead up to this show, I finally achieved a 5 ball juggle, a serious challenge that had taken me almost a year of daily practice.

French Circus Ladder on grass at the community market in Penneshaw.

French Circus Ladder on grass at the community market in Penneshaw.

I was asked to play music at my favorite local restaurant, Yellow Ash and Chili in Kingscote, during the islands FEASTIVAL food event. It was my first solo gig as a piano player,  I enjoyed playing my songs for a couple hours, and my family and I were well fed. Definitely in no need of any further ego stroking, I then won first prize in the Kangaroo Island Bird Photography Competition, and even had my photo in The Islander newspaper. This beautiful place has been so good to me.

The-islander

Kangaroo Island supports a small endangered population of Glossy Black Cockatoos. In the 1990’s it was estimated that less than 200 birds existed, since then sustained monitoring and protection programs have seen this number increase to around 300. It is a slow process, the Glossies, that mate for life, only lay one egg that is always under threat by hungry possums or other birds competing for the nest hollow. With one of the better jobs that I have come a cross, Mike Barth monitors over a hundred nest sites around the island and records all the data. I joined him for a beautiful evening of nest watching.

Mike Barth in the field with female (left) and male Glossy Black Cockatoos.

Mike Barth in the field with female (left) and male Glossy Black Cockatoos.

It was exciting to have two films that I worked on selected to compete at this years Cannes Film Festival.The Rover and Charlies Country both got the nod and went quickly into publicity mode. It was interesting to see both films go with one my close up portraits as their poster, two of my favorites of recent years. The Rover has continued to drip release some beautiful stills in a very classy social media build up to the premiere.

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