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

A Darwin day

This morning I took off on foot to explore a little of the Darwin in easy reach of the hotel. The hotel is not far from the waterfront so my walk was very pleasant. I followed the signs to the WW2 oil tunnels but instead of tunnels I stopped to take pictures of artwork that was on the way to them.

The neglected and damaged artworks were a challenge to capture under the very shady trees but two of them appealed enough for me to make the effort. The first was a semi-circle of concrete on which were placed moulded flowers – some of which were missing.

The other was again a semi-circle of concrete, this time decorated with mosaic tiles in the form of eucalyptus leaves. These I really liked.

At the end of the pathway I came across a fenced enclosure and got quite a surprise when I noticed a sign board and a peep hole in the fence.

Of course I had to approach the peep hole and take a picture of the screen and the deckchairs. How wonderful to have stars on the screen and stars up above!

Of course my eyes were drawn to the water - there are many ships calling in to this city

I found a set of steps up an escarpment and climbed them to discover yet another piece of artwork to commemorate all the travellers who had landed in Darwin from 1870 to more recent times. This plaque tells you “why”.

The shadows from the trees make seeing the whole of the mosaic a little difficult.

This small section of the mosaic shows how interesting it is and how under-rated it appeared to be – the path was blocked so I had to retrace my steps and I was the only person who was inconvenienced! Not another soul was there except for the young man keeping me back from where the huge crane was operating a little further along the path, and he wasn't interested in art!

Now that I have spent a little time sharing my pictures, it is time I went out and took a few more!

The “Tour”starts tomorrow but the rest of the passengers are arriving this afternoon.

AJ

Sunrise to sunset - From Home to Darwin

How exciting! This is day one of my trip to Darwin and the Kimberleys. A trip that has been a “dream”of mine for such a long time. The cameras (three of them) are primed and ready for action. Colin has been left at home to “keep the home fires burning” - he is not as keen about exploring as I am! However he did ferry us (son Steven and me) to the train station at sunrise.

The one and half hour train trip was quite uneventful, it was quite amusing to see how the travellers were seated so close to each other and yet managed to remain isolated from each other by either studying their smart phones or by staring blankly! Steven and I chatted to each other and stood out from the others because of it!

Once in the airport we checked in and I bought a very welcome cup of coffee. I was so ready for it!

Little Daffy bear posed for a few photographs along the way and was getting a bit weary by the time we sat in the transit lounge waiting for our plane to be called. It is tiring being so popular.

At last we were on our way. It was clear enough to take a shot out of the window as we left Brisbane – but we did not fly over the city so my photo is of the suburbs near the airport.

When we were approaching Darwin over the Gulf of Carpentaria we crossed over a few little islands, I couldn't resist taking another aerial shot because one of the islands was reminiscent of a manta ray, the row of little clouds formed the “tail”.

Once in the airport and the phones turned on I rang Colin to tell him we had arrived and Steven rang Lydia to tell her! At least we have our priorities right even if we both have left our partners at home!

We waited out the front of the airport for a friend (Susie) to collect us and I shot of yet another picture of the totems by the kerb.

I had heard so much about the Mindel Markets and this evening I eventually managed to see them. 

The sound of a didgeridoo player and drummer filled the air and we were drawn to the sound. A large crowd had surrounded them but I still managed to take a little video of them. What a wonderful sound. The “didge”player was using four different didgeridoos at the same time, each had a different tone. On the top of the sand dune behind the players were two little boys silhouetted against the evening sky, dancing to the rhythm. They were fun to watch. They were so unaware of being seen. Of course we had to go onto the beach to watch the sunset. 

It seems that all the tourists in Darwin had gathered on the beach to do just that! They made a wonderful shot too!

To draw my ramblings to a close, here is one of my sunset pictures. It was worth lugging the camera along!

AJ

Lakes and oceans

This is the last full day of our short break and we really made the most of the time we had. After a brief and quite light shower we packed the car with our lunch and my cameras and off we set – first to see the lake that is at the northern end of Lennox Head township. Lake Ainsworth is only a small lake but at the moment it looks beautiful. Apparently it is not always so attractive and judging by the odd bits of weed floating about it will not be all that long before the water hyacinth takes over once again and turns the clear waters green and lawn like.

Driving past the well located caravan (“tourist”) park along a gravel road I turned the car into a side track and we found ourselves at the ramp where four wheel drives can access the “Seven Mile Beach”. After watching a family of tiny quail (birds) scratching and feeding in the short grass just in front of the car we climbed out and over the dunes to see the beach. We hadn't been there very long when a couple of sea horses appeared!

You never know quite what you will find in this part of the world!

Our plan was to drive to Evans Head, however on the way we had to drive past Wardell – the little town we turned into yesterday on our drive to Thursday Plantation. I had read about this place being historic or having historic buildings so once again I turned the car to leave the highway and this time swung left to explore in a different direction. The road I took looped back under the highway and sure enough, led to the old part of the town.

The old pub has no name and doesn't even show the name of the proprietor over the door but judging by the cars out front it still operates as a pub. Across the road stands a beautiful old brick building that was once a branch of the National Bank of Australia – the faded gold letters are still above the door on the corner of the building. A sign board beside the structure shouts “Sold” so it will not crumble into disrepair as so many old buildings have. Behind where I was standing to take this photograph stands a huge Catholic Church. I would say that at one time Wardell must have been a sizeable town to warrant such large buildings and such a wide road.

The Pacific Highway that cuts across Wardell passes over a lifting bridge, further indication that this area was once busy both on the river and on the land.

I just had to stop the car after driving under the highway a second time, I hadn't seen it before but this time I spotted some amazing artwork on one side of the bridge.

Good, isn't it?

Evans Head proved to be another interesting place and although I took several photographs I will save them for another day – because I want to show you something different – we took a turn off the highway before we reached Ballina to take a drive along the narrow neck of land that lies between the river and sea. I did not expect it to be populated – it seems so out of the way from shops and amenities but there were plenty of expensive looking homes with a fair amount of garden around them as well as several farms planted with sugar cane. The road seemed to travel along the river for ages and ages and just as I was beginning to think I should turn around, we mush surely be at the tip, we came across a ferry.

So really the people who live on this side of the river do not have so very far to drive after all! They can tootle up the road and wait for the ferry to come back over for them and it saves them having to drive about 30 kilometres. The ferry is motorised but is guided by two cables. Maybe it pulls itself over by these cables, I don't know.

The prices of transport look a bit expensive – but petrol being as high as it is at the moment, I guess it does work out to be a saving.

Colin and I pack the car and leave Lennox Head tomorrow morning, We might call in to visit a couple of places on the way home though. Our dogs will be happy to see us again!

AJ

Adelaide City sights

After exploring the countryside around Adelaide over the weekend, today was spent in the city – not shopping but checking out the sights! After tucking the car away in a multi story car park (which cost us an arm and a leg) we sauntered across the road to the Museum. Since it was a few minutes too early for the doors to open we wandered around taking photos of the buildings and statues.

A water feature held our attention for a few minutes, the strange shapes, we found out, are supposed to represent segments of back bone of a whale.

The Adelaide Museum has a wonderful collection of Aboriginal artifacts; I was amazed at a small piece of almost decayed bent twig which was the oldest boomerang that had ever been found. It looked to be too small and light to have been of much use as a throwing stick and yet that is what it was. How the finder knew that it was an ancient tool and not just a very old piece of branch, I really do not know! A collection of decorated shields made for a good photograph – no flashes were permitted so this was the best I could do without a tripod.

Leaving the museum we walked down to see the river, on the way passing the Immigration Museum. We popped in for a very quick visit, I found the plaques on the wall that commemorated the movement of many different people from many different countries of far more interest than the stuff inside the rooms. The bronze statue of a family on the move was in the courtyard and of course fell victim to my camera!

Across the river was St Peter’s Cathedral. Since Adelaide is the city of churches I really wanted to visit at least on of the places of religion before we left.  It really is a beautiful building – and the inside is magnificent too. The organist was practicing some dramatic piece of music that shook the stone pillars with its deep and loud sounds! Colin had to leave because the sound was too much for him! There are some amazing stained glass windows too and I managed to take a couple of shots of them by resting the camera on the pews. This photograph of the Cathedral was taken as I walked from the river towards it.

Before returning to the car we had to take a walk through the Rundle Mall – the heart of the city where local shoppers and curious tourists mingle. We had refreshments in an island coffee shop (like a tent in the middle of the Mall) I had a mixed berry smoothie – I had never had a smoothie before and it was quite delicious!

My final photo for the day was taken in the Mall of one of the many street sculptures – there were four pigs but this one appealed to me the most!

Tomorrow we pack our cases and leave South Australia. We are taking my sister and her husband due east so they can see where we used to have our farm. We shall nor go into the farm – we haven’t made contact with the present owner and we don’t really have time to anyway. However we can give a reasonable idea of what the size of the land was just by driving around.

AJ

An unusual town

The little red car knew we had more passengers as it strained to climb the hills. I wasn’t able to fly today! Our day began in Hahndorf, a delightful little town that began as a home for German immigrants and was named after the captain of the ship that brought them to this fertile farming land. The town shed its German name, customs and language in the time of the first world war – there was so much ill feeling about the reliability of German Australians at that time. The name was restored many years later – but to learn about the fascinating history of the place you would need to do your own research!

We discovered a fascinating little place – actually, not as small as I expected, and every quaint building on the main street housed a shop that was worth walking into. There are lots of eating places too and there wasn’t a moment during the hours we spent there that we didn’t see a crowd of people eating and drinking!

Sue and Keith were tempted by a young lady offering free samples of strawberries. We bought a punnet of them to have for lunch.

 There was a sign for the Saturday Hahndoft market so we dropped in for a look.

It is always fun to look at the stalls – half of which were selling jewellery – and my eye was caught by the sight of a vegetable stall. Of course, vegetable stalls are a common sight at a market – but this one had multi-coloured carrots for sale! I was given a taste of them – four different coloured carrots had thin slices cut from them. I tasted the yellow and the purple and was so surprised to find that they tasted exactly the same and both of them tasted like . . . . carrot!

I just have to show you the fun that someone had with topiary. The sight of these two trees caught my eye! Aren’t they funny!

I wanted to kidnap these characters in the following photo. I think they would look terrific on my front lawn. Knowing the Gold Coast, I think I would have to anchor them to the ground or they would disappear one night! But they would look good!

The countryside around Hahndorf is a delight too. We had a wonderful drive around and even visited the Big Rocking Horse and toy factory. But that is another story!

AJ

A country Art Gallery

Not too far from the border between New South Wales and Queensland is a country town called Murwillumbah. I have visited the town many times in the past but had never been to see the art gallery. This week changed all that!

The Art gallery is a short distance out of the town itself and on the top of a rise. After parking the vehicle I dashed back down the drive to take a photo of the metal art that decorated the garden and caught my eye as we drove in.

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The entrance to the Art Gallery is very striking with its strong lines. Most people walk in without really noticing but when you have a camera in your hands it is difficult to walk past anything that catches your eye!

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Stepping through the doorway I was immediately struck by the dramatic window and the silhouettes of the people in the foyer. The view through the window is like a picture hanging on a wall – except that it is a constantly changing picture.

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Inside the gallery are so many wonderful things to linger near. There are paintings, big and small and some photographs that are quite thought provoking, I found a row of black Madonnas hanging in a long row on one of the walls, the shape of each was exactly the same but everyone was detailed quite differently in black and grey and they were adorned with feathers and beads and wire in different ways too. They were created by two aboriginal artists in WA.

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I could not resist stepping outside those windows in the foyer and taking a long look at the view from the Art Gallery. The Tweed River and the lush Tweed Valley was spread out in front of me. I would imagine that someone with a love of landscape painting would love to stand right here and try to capture the scene in water colours.

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For me the joy of photography gives me that same pleasure!

AJ