The colony were coming out of a drain, and as it has been raining heavily lately their nest in the area near the drain must presumably have been disturbed by the large volume of water passing through.
They were already mostly done when i started observing at 6.45pm - the sun was setting at that time. They were carrying out huge amounts of brood, including several supermajor pupae and lavae. Then at about 7.35pm and dark, when the queen came out. Prior to that, many supermajors were crowding around the drain entrance. But funny thing was, they went ahead first before the queen. The queen took a lot of persuasion by the workers before she finally came out. When she finally came out she was surrounded by a huge warm of workers (as you can see in the picture). She took exactly 7 minutes to travel approximately 1 meter from the drain entrance to my flowerpot (very slow creature).
Pictures here:
http://www.antstore.net/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=240&image_id=2547
http://www.antstore.net/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=240&image_id=2544
http://www.antstore.net/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=240&image_id=2548
http://www.antstore.net/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=240&image_id=2549
http://www.antstore.net/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=240&image_id=2550
I apologise for the low quality pictures - used my phone camera
