Having a butchers

Back to a COVID lockdown in Sydney this week. So back to daily walks in the local parks, takeaway coffee in the car, and today a nice big slice of banana bread that was on special with the coffee.

Butcherbirds are supposed to be carnivorous, but this one got very interested in my banana bread. Or maybe he was hoping to take my eye out. I kept the window shut.

He's a grey butcher bird (Cracticus torquatus).

Whale Rock

 

On a walk the other day in the upper Lane Cove National Park, we called in on Whale Rock for our lunch break. A fabulously whale-like rock it is too.

 

 

(Photo courtesy Richard Milnes)

 

 

While one of my bushwalkers posed beneath the whale's watchful eye, another went exploring, with a view to climbing into the belly of the beast!

And there she is. That's a new trick to me!

Du Faur Creek from Mount Wilson

 

 

I did Mount Wilson to Du Faur Creek last week with my Thursday adventure group. All new territory for me.

 

 

Carnivorous sundew flowers

 

 

A bit tangled up going down to the creek

 

 

 

 

We're over the other side!

 

Awaiting their return

Solitary Islands Coastal Walk - Korora to Sawtell

 

 

Day 3 was the shortest section, and we cruised in to Sawtell in time for an early afternoon tea. 

 

As well as Coffs Harbour jetty area, we encountered the following beaches: Diggers Beach, Charlesworth Bay Beach, Park Beach, North Wall Beach, Jetty Beach, Gallows Beach, Boambee Beach, Murrays Beach, and Sawtell Beach.

Here's one of those whales we were seeing a lot of. They're awfully hard to photograph.

 

Boambee Beach is a bit of a challenge. It's long, and you have to share it with cars, and with racehorses. There's also the airport right next door.

Solitary Islands Coastal Walk - Woolgoolga to Korora

 

Day two of our big walk last week covered another 12 beaches, would you believe? 

Namely: Woolgoolga Back Beach, Hearnes Lake Beach, Sandys Beach, Fiddamans Beach, Emerald Beach, Shelly Beach, Moonee Beach, Sapphire Beach, Campbells Beach, Hills Beach, Opal Cove Beach, and Korora Beach.

 

 

We also had close encounters with several of those solitary islands, and with a Brahminy kite. 

 

 

 

 

 With a surfer needing help getting dressed too!

Solitary Islands Coastal Walk - Red Rock to Woolgoolga

It's 60km of largely beach walking, with scenic headlands, little bits of rainforest, and the odd street section. We walked it from north to south, Red Rock to Sawtell, over three days, basing ourselves in Coffs Harbour. 

It's named for the string of lonely looking islands just off the coast. The scenery is great, specially if you like beaches. Or wildlife. We saw lots of whales, dolphins, eagles, kites, ospreys. Plus kangaroos and surfers galore.

 

We used a minibus taxi based in Woolgoolga to assist with our start from Red Rock.

 

Then it's off along our first beach: Red Rock Beach.

 

Other beaches today: Corindi, Arrawarra, Ocean View, Mullaway, Cabins, Darkum, Safety, and Woolgoolga.

 

 

 

 

A pair of White-bellied sea eagles

Remains of a shipwreck here. The Buster sank in 1893, and unexpectedly re-emerged out of the beach a few months ago.

Mass vaccination - an inside view

This somewhat reluctant vaccinee was one of several thousand to turn up today at NSW Health's mass COVID-19 vaccination centre at Olympic Park. We followed her progress through the system. And it was all rather smooth and impressive.

You make your online booking and turn up somewhere near the selected time. It's a short walk from either the train station or Car Park 3. You negotiate a small maze and a check-in stage.

Then there's perhaps 5 minutes before your number comes up.

 

 

 

A very pleasant nurse then runs through a whole lot of health questions, before running a needle into your arm. So maybe 5 minutes there.

And of course there's the obligatory 15 minute post-jab sit-down, so you can solve the Herald's Target puzzle.

All quite impressive really. Well done Gladys. If the federal government had been in charge of this place, they'd still be holding meetings about what colour direction signs they should put up, and which donor company should be given a few billion to run it.

For the record, you can get either AstraZeneca or Pfizer there, and the eligibility rules are rather more flexible than publicly stated, if you have a cooperative GP and knowledge of the 'special' booking site.

The Great North Walk part 4: Berowra to Cowan

 

The intrepid bushwalkers are progressing gradually on their march to Newcastle. Yesterday it was the good old Berowra to Cowan bit. Some great scenery and some very fine views.

The view from Clive Park

 

It's Seaforth Bluff, and I'm standing in Clive Park, Northbridge. To my left are Peach Tree Bay and Sailors Bay. To the right is The Spit

Illawarra walking (Thirroul to Wollongong)

 

A new one for me the other day: the coastal cycleway linking Thirroul and Wollongong. Our walk also took in the suburbs of Bulli, Woonona, Corrimal, Towradgi, Fairy Meadow, and North Wollongong. Some of these I'd only known as train stations and places on the map.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it's all rather scenic.

Last laugh for Aldi's toy telescope!

 

Checking out last week's Aldi specials, I came across their $40 'spotting scope'. Surely just a toy, I thought, at that price. But I needed a new toy, so I gave it a go and bought one. 

And you get to see owls and kookaburras, going by the pictures on the box!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No owls or koalas so far, but when I tried it out at Crosslands Reserve, a convenient kookaburra was lurking. And the pictures I got, just holding my phone camera up to the eyepiece aren't that bad at all!