Definitely a beach day

I learned today why that group of school children were learning about Aboriginal culture in the park near Iluka. Today is Naidoc Day – a day of reconciliation for Aboriginal,Torres Strait Islanders and non indigenous people. (Do a Google search to learn more!) Festivals with demonstrations, stalls and activities were held all over the country to bring people together.

But it wasn't until the day was almost over that I learned about this. So we visited the town of Ballina and wandered around, me with a camera and Colin with patience! I was enjoying the public art along the foreshore.

Here are a few that I managed to “shoot”.

It is appropriate that fish and pelicans are topics for art. This town must have the most recreational fishermen in Australia! Of course, where fish are to be cleaned there are pelicans to clean up the mess! There are real pelicans on every patch of water.

Later in the afternoon Colin and I sat under trees at another little seaside resort called Lennox Heads and while we sat and chatted we were visited by a few different birds.

This is a scrub turkey. Unlike domestic turkeys, this one is not good to eat – an old joke is that you pluck it and put it in a pan with water and a large stone. After two hours cooking, you throw out the bird and eat the stone.

The Mickey Miner is a fun bird that is quite cheeky. It can often be found around picnic tables hoping for a handout! It is a common native bird that can be found almost everywhere around Australia.

The Butcher Bird is just fractionally larger than Mickey Miner (these are the “common” names) and it too loves to beg for treats around picnic tables. This one treated us to a beautiful little song as it tried to tell us that it was absolutely starving, hungry!

Now to share two pictures of the beach at Lennox Heads.

The first camera shot is looking towards the headland and the township.

The second is aimed in the opposite direction. We are into winter (with snow down south) so it would be unusual to see swimmers in the water – mind you the water temperature is actually warmer than the outside air temperature. It is 23 degrees C! Look at all that beautiful sand – the beaches down this way are gorgeous!

Tomorrow Colina and I will head inland away from the beaches. I love the countryside around here. It is very attractive with hills, trees, waterfalls, rainforests, cattle grazing on lush green fields and winding roads.

AJ

Beaches and forests

Staying so close to a beach I just had to make the effort to get at least one sunrise over the sea. Back home I am surrounded by tall trees so although I do see colour in the sky it is short lived and unsuited to a photograph. This was my opportunity!

It was cold! Further south they are having snow and blizzards and the chill reached up to us this morning! Brrr! However I resisted the urge to snuggle down into the bedclothes and dressed in warm fleece and waterproof jacket to sheild from the wind I lugged my heavy tripod and my trusty Nikon across the sand dunes to the beach. The dune ground cover didn't offer an interesting foreground interest so I had to let the sky take centre stage. What looked as though it would be a spectacular display turned out to be a disappointment with clouds racing in and denying me a sight of the sun rising. However I did get quite a few pretty shots, thanks to my 200mm lens.

It was great to return to a hot shower and breakfast! An invigorating start to the day!

On the way out for our day's exploration, we stopped briefly to take a couple of pictures of the smallest Post Office in NSW. It looks as if one of the veranda railings has been broken and temporary plastic fencing put up to stop customers falling off !

This is the Empire Vale post Office on the Richmond River a few kilometers from Wardell. Empire Vale is a tiny little town – a “blink and you'll miss it” town. Colin and I drive through Empire Vale every day either on the way out or on the way back to the caravan park when we choose not to use the ferry across the river.

Our car trip took us first to Evans Head where we first visited a small sandy bay that even on this cool morning attracted a couple of young boys who, when we were leaving, were splashing happily in the waters edge.

Driving up the hill above this beach we were able to look down on the attractive coastline. Evans Head is a very popular (quiet) holiday destination. I can see why.

On the way to see another holiday destination I took a turn into what was signed as Shark Bay Picnic Grounds and when we left the car we were surprised to hear the sound of many young children. We did not intrude on the groups of children and their teachers but it appeared that an entire school was being conducted here in on the lawns of the picnic area or on the beach and the subject was evidently Aboriginal culture. One group was playing rhythm sticks and chanting and another group were busy painting on sheets of paper spread on the ground using sticks and fingers, The Aboriginal flag was suspended between the branches of one of the low trees.

When we arrived in Iluka, Colin and I walked into the Heritage Listed Rainforest which is right against the beach. Voluteers have spent many hours removing domestic plants from the rainforest that had threatened to smother everything. Asparagus fern is one of those plants – it spreads rapidly and has wicked thorns on it too.

As we drove in to the town of Iluka we drove through patches of rainforest, eucalypt forest and maleluca forest, it was amazing how the pattern of trees kept changing. I could not understand why the little patch of rainforest that was in the township should have been heritage listed and not the forest on the drive in to the town (that did not appear to be filled with feral plants). There must be a reason.

Iluka has a fishing fleet of trawlers and after taking a couple of pictures I amused myself by trying to catch a shot of the terns as they dived for fish in the adjacent yacht harbour. I only caught the splash!

AJ

To the woods!

When we first arrived in Ballina township we called into the Information Office – most large towns have such a place, it is where travellers can get information about the town and district and even learn where to stay, where to eat and any special events that might be happening during the time of their stay. The helpful young lady who rushed to our assistance gave us quite a lot of help and insisted that we should visit Victoria Park. Apparantly, before the timbermen, who were chasing the red cedar, had destroyed most of the natural rainforest, a tiny parcel of 8 hectares had been secured from devastation as a reminder of what the country once was. Both Colin and I are nature lovers so this was definitely on our “to visit” list. Actually, it was not just the timbermen who destroyed the natural bush, the government did too – they sold much of the tree covered land where the cedar had been taken, for people to farm - on condition that they cleared it of bush.

We had Victoria Park to ourselves. A timber boardwalk has been created to take you through the small patch of rainforest without touching the ground.

The reserve is actually larger than the 8 hectares of rainforest, and regeneration in the area surrounding that remnant of forest will increase its size in time. Large rainforest trees often have what is known as “buttress roots” They are very shallow penetrating which means that in ultra strong winds the massive trees will topple over and cause a domino effect with their fall, forcing over other trees.

At last I managed to get a photograph of myself! I had to set the camera up and work out how to get into the shot and persuaded Colin to press the button. For some reason we had to have three tries before he actually managed to press the button firmly enough for the shot to be taken! No, I was not inside the rainforest where we were asked to stay on the boardwalk, this tree was on the very edge beside the carpark! The rest of the rainforest is behind it.

Another place that our helpful Information Ofice girl told us about was Summerland House. Actually my tour guide son had told us about it only a week earlier and recommended that we try to visit. Anyway, we did visit. This is a farm that is worked by handicapped people and is obviously a very productive and successful farm. Avocados, macadamia nuts and hydrophonic tomatoes are the main crops grown and a tractor tour of the farm was a real eye opener to the success of the place.

As well as the farm there are shops where gifts can be bought, farm grown groceries can be bought and a nursery where plants can be bought.

I would have loved to have bought a few of the plants that were here – they looked so strong and were not expensive either. Maybe we could call in again on the way home. Its four days before we pack up to leave this caravan park (which is deserted now the weekend is over!)

The evening light was beautiful when I looked out of the window of our cabin back at the caravan park so we hastily jumped into the car to get to where we could see the sun setting over the water. It was dazzling bright and not good for photography so I waited until the sun dropped out of sight. The clouds were beautiful so I contented myself with a shot of them. Driving back to the camp again the tiny clouds overhead and in the East were reds and yellows. It makes you feel good to see the beauty that nature can provide!

We intend to head South tomorrow. Fingers crossed that the weather stays as good as this!

AJ

A holiday for Colin

I'm on the move again! This time my trip is to a caravan park only a half day's drive from home. I felt so guilty about having a trip without my husband that I organised a week where we could holiday together. The trouble is, I enjoy going away and seeing and doing new things but hubby would far rather stay home and “potter”!

So we are at South Balina but before we picked up the key to our “superior cabin” we called in to the town of Ballina and walked along a path beside the sea.

At this stage Colin looked happy – he had spotted whales spouting way out to sea and the sun was warm on this mid winter day.

New concrete boulders had been added to the sea wall – we learned this when Colin stopped a local and asked about the white things that we could see out there.

I was busy taking photos of the banksia flowers, the blossoms are at their best at this time of the year, A noisy miner was enjoying the nectar from one of the heads of flowers (each of those thin whiskers is an individual flower) so I just had to include his picture!

We had seen a sign post to the lighthouse and our beach-side walk took us right to it. What a little lighthouse! With all the trees on the beach front and around the lawns of the lighthouse, it s a wonder that the light can be seen by any ships! My photo shows the only clear view of the sea that the lighthouse has.

To reach the place where we are staying tonight and for the next few days, we could either drive a long way before we could reach a bridge over the Richmond River or we could put the car on the ferry. Since I was the driver, I chose the ferry!

Here it is coming in to the Ballina side of the river.

And here is my smart little red road racer, enjoying a cruise on the river!

Once we had unpacked the car and boiled the kettle for a “cuppa” Colin was ready to sit down and relax – but I wanted to go for a walk. That worked! I took my camera and off I went!

I wont bore you with the pictures I took – I like them but they are just plants and trees and river and trawlers sailing out at sunset and that sort of thing. But I will show you This one.

I spotted these tiny flowers and they seemed to have little faces on them. They even look as if they two of them are blowing bubbles!

I was hoping that I would be treated to a spectacular sunset and sat myself down on the river bank and waited – but the clouds fizzled out and it was becoming very evident that all that would happen would be a glow. Realising that I might end up having to walk back along a gravel road in the dark I gave up waiting for the sunset and headed back towards the caravan park. Passing a boat ramp I was thrilled to realise I would get my photograph after all. This is what I captured.

Colin was just beginning to be concerned about my whereabouts when I walked through the door. Then it was time to prepare the evening meal – and the time when I realised that I had forgotten to bring a few essential things that we really needed for cooking! Sigh! Looks like we go shopping tomorrow before we go exploring – or maybe we can do it the other way around!

A Sweep of Broome

The town in which we were staying yesterday (Sorry I was far too tired to write about the day last night), grew around the harvesting of pearl shell. When I showed the picture of the Prison Tree I told of the blackbirding of Aborigines to dive for pearl, well here is the place it all happened. Broome. To begin with the shell was found close to the shore in a few feet of water and diving was done simply by holding breath. No diving equipment was needed. Never the less hundreds of aborigines would have drowned as a result of being made to spend so much time beneath the surface. Then divers came from Japan – maybe they had done a similar job before they came here? Anyway, the shell was by this time in deeper water and the Japanese divers had to go much further down and so they had to endure the problems associated with deep diving. Hundreds of Japanese died (men, women and even children) and their sad resting place in the Japanese Cemetery is a lasting reminder of those dangerous times

There is no such reminder of the hundreds of aborigines that perished. In those early (bad) times, the native people were not valued very highly. Just outside the Japanese Cemetery we watched a trail of caterpillars marching along and maybe the little creatures are all the reminder we need.

There are some very scenic places close to Broome and Gantheaume Point is one of them. The rock formations are shaped by the weather and are a perfect subject for a camera. Our little group did not spend too long there but they managed to take enough photographs to fill a photo album!

My own camera was working over time too. When you are there each turn of the head give a new and entiving image of thes rocks and the aqua sea behind them. However when clicking through the photos to see what I had collected, so many of them looked identical! I will be hiding many of them!

You cannot come to Broome and not learn something about the pearling industry. Our next group activity was to attend what is known as “pearling tour” which was in truth, a lecture on the story of the pearling industry while we all sat on wooden church pews in a little tin and timber shed. It wasn't oyster pearls that was harvested but mother of pearl fot buttons.

After the second world war the market had about dried up for pearl shell because of the cheaper option, plastic buttons. So the pearling direction was changed to seeding the pearl shells and growing pearls for jewelry.

This is still done today and the magnificen Paspaley Pearls come from Broome.

In the afternoon, along with seven others from our group of 17, I clambered aboard a little 'plane and flew up the coast to see the wonderful phenomenum known as the “Horizontal Waterfalls” and then on to Cape Leveque where we were given afternoon tea and time to walk around the sand dunes.

But I want to show you a photograph (only one!) of the wonderful waterfall that happens each time the tide changes and the water levels on either side of a promontory of land try to equalise. The small plane - I was in one that carried five passengers – circled the falls several times, going first clockwise and then anti-clockwise so we all had a chance to see the falls and take photographs.

Sunday, Firie (my son and our coach driver) and I spent the entire day driving from Broome to Kunanurra – 1060 kilometers. We are at this moment relaxing in readiness for another big drive from here to Darwin – 830klm - where we shall board a 'plane after midnight that will take us to Brisbane. The trains will be running when we arrive so we shall then travel by train the one and half hours to Nerang where hopefully we shall be met and driven home! The end of a fabulous holiday.

AJ

Outback riders

The day started at Fitzroy Crossing where we had breakfast and a walk to the bridge over the river before our next adventures began. I am not sure if the bridge is actually the “Fitzroy Crossing”but I couldn't resist taking a shot of it!

It was a fairly long drive before our first stop so I was able to make good use of my 7” tablet, feading an ebook and playing games to pass the time. The scenery was pretty much the same for two hours of driving, so looking out of the window would have put me to sleep! When we did pull over it was to see something quite amazing. A tree!

Mind you there is something really special about this tree! It has a very unpleasant history of inhumanity. Fortuately the behaviour that happened is well in the past and certainly belongs there. Aboriginal men and boys were kidnapped and put in chains and walked to the coast where they were forced to be divers in the pearling industry. On their way to the coast the men were stopped at this tree and the chains were attached to it to prevent these helpless black captives from escaping. Aboriginal people were treated like animals in the early days of Australia. Something we are not proud of.

Only a very short distance from the Boab that is known as “The Prison Tree” is the most incredible water trough I have ever seen, It was used in the days of droving when cattle were moved to the sale yards under their own steam (leg power) driven by stockmen on horseback over huge distances. We were told that this was the largest water trough in the world at 120 meters.

Daffy, the little bear who travels for all sick people who are too unwell to leave home, posed prettily on the trough for a photograph. My second picture of the trough shows our intrepid coach driver and guide, Firie, and our super chariot which has taken us from one magic location to another.

I just can't keep this little bear from showing off! He climbed a termite nest to show how large it was!

Lunch as a little different today. We made our way to Derby where we stopped right on the edge of the water and bought fish and chips to eat under a shelter on the sea side! It was fun!

Our final destination for today was Broome. Before we went to our hotel accommodation we were taken to the beach where two thirds of thegroup took a chance with a beast of burden that has become a pest in the outback. We had fun taking a camel ride!

So here we are, happy, fed and sleepy after another fabulous day. We may not be able to stand upright or walk tomorrow but we shall all laugh about our aches!

AJ