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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    2

    Dangar Falls

    12 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Well we walked down to the falls to take more photos and decided we needed to have a swim across to the waterfall, I’ve never walked behind one, so must be done. Back up the hill to get changed. Arrived back down to the pool to find maybe 30 people there, very popular.

    Swam across and walked behind the waterfall. A great experience. No idea how deep it wa or what else was in the water with us. It was lovely laying on my back looking up at the steep cliffs around us.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs

    Waterfall Way and the Rainforest Centre

    13 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    After our dip under the waterfall, we drove into the small town of Dorrigo near the falls. The town serves the farming community and is not a tourist town. There are lots of old heritage buildings.

    We went to the information centre as we needed to decide whether to return to the coast or stay on the plateau and go along the waterfall way. The 185km Waterfall Way scenic drive links Coffs harbour and Armidale, passing rainforest, river valleys and waterfalls, including New England and Dorrigo national parks. The decision was made for us. While the road was open, the parks along the way were all shut, having been burnt out and all of the lookouts destroyed or made unusable by the fire.

    On the way back we visited the Rainforest Centre that is on the edge of the escarpment facing east toward the coast. It features a “skywalk” and 6-7km rainforest walk. The walk felt a lot further than the quoted distance, but was great fun and interesting plus included another waterfall to walk behind - twice in one day!

    After our walk around the rainforest we headed down the escarpment to the town of Uranga and found campsite next to the estuary. There is a 1km boardwalk along the estuary and mangrove swamp that we walked along to the beach and had a quick paddle.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs

    Strangler Fig

    13 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    We first came across these on Fraser Island, but met some lovely specimens in the rainforest.

    Strangler fig - named for their pattern of growth upon host trees, which often results in the host’s death. Although a strangler fig often smothers and outcompetes its host, there is some evidence that trees encased in strangler figs are more likely to survive tropical cyclones, suggesting that the relationship can be somewhat mutualistic. The plants are fully photosynthetic and do not rely on their hosts for nutrition.

    Beginning life as a sticky seed left on a high tree branch by an animal such as a bird, bat, or monkey, the young strangler lives as an epiphyte on the tree’s surface. As it grows, long roots develop and descend along the trunk of the host tree, eventually reaching the ground and entering the soil. Several roots usually do this, and they become grafted together, enclosing their host’s trunk in a strangling latticework, ultimately creating a nearly complete sheath around the trunk. The host tree’s canopy becomes shaded by the thick fig foliage, its trunk constricted by the surrounding root sheath, and its own root system forced to compete with that of the strangling fig. This process can kill the host. If it does not, the host tree, being much older than the strangler, still dies eventually and rots away and a magnificent fig "tree" is left behind whose apparent "trunk" is actually a gigantic cylinder of roots.

    The result is, that once the original tree has rotted away, what is left is a latticework of “roots” creating the trunk of the new tree.

    Well I found it fascinating.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs

    Uranga boardwalk and lizard rescue

    14 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    So we had thought of getting up early to watch the sun rise .... nah, let’s not. However, we did want to go and see the boardwalk at high tide.

    On our way, we came across a blue tongued lizard swimming in the sea. It looked very bloated. While quite buoyant, it swam towards shore, then out to sea, then along a bit then towards shore ... not sure it knows where he was going.

    Obviously Bun wanted to rescue it. I’d like to say that she stripped off, dived in and rescued the poor thing while being applauded by the people watching on, but no. We did secure the help of some young lads, but didn’t actually need them as the lizard swam close to a pontoon that Bun was on. By flapping her arms in the sea, Bun managed to get the lizard close enough to pick up. Bun took it to an area of trees where she hopes it will be very happy. Did we save a life or interfere with nature?    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Waiting for the sunsetA guest for dinnerSpectacular

    Nambucca Heads and South West Rocks

    14 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    After saving the lizard we travelled to Nambucca Heads, another river (creek). The attraction is known as the V-Wall Outdoor Gallery.

    “Leave your personal message on this outdoor breakwall gallery. Everyone is encouraged to paint a rock at the legendary V-Wall Nambucca Heads to leave their holiday messages, inspirational words, and memories. “. That’s it, a breakwater where the stones have been painted by members of the public. A few examples in the pictures below.

    On to South West Rocks that is a pretty area with a goal built on the headland. Trial Bay Gaol has a chequered history that is linked to the bay which is situated half way between Brisbane and Sydney. The bay was regarded as a safe haven for ships to go into during south-easterly gales, however, it offered no protection when the gale-force winds were easterly or north-easterly. To remedy this, they decided to build a breakwater and safe harbour at Trial Bay in 1861. However, the government didn’t fund it until 1877.

    At the time there was prison reform taking place and the gaol was built of stone, rather than cheap alternatives, all cells were individual and the gaol would take prisoners at the end of their sentence who wold be employed in the construction of public works ... a breakwater. They could learn skills useful for future employment and enjoy new privileges and freedoms as they approached the time of their release from prison.

    One delay was caused because the local rock used to build the gaol was granite, very tough and required a lot on man-hours to finish the blocks. These delays caused increased costs, that, in turn, required more funding. As a consequence, work constructing. the Breakwater began in 1889 - 28 years after the idea was raised. Again, local granite was used.

    Progress on the construction of the breakwater was constantly hampered over the years due to the work being washed away in storms. By 1903 the breakwater had reached less than 20% of its planned finished length. The cost plus other factors (including the silting of the harbour caused by the construction of the breakwater, the establishment of a serviceable overland system of transportation along the coast and the improvement in sea-going transport) led the Department of Public Works to abandon the breakwater project in 1903. Shortly after, the prison was closed. The houses and buildings were sold off and removed to various places around the district.

    The goal lay empty until it was used to house approx 600 internees during WW1. However, mid-1918 a German ship was seen off the coast. Believing this may be an attempt to release the (mainly) German internees, they were made to burn the wooden buildings and everything they couldn’t carry, the internees were taken somewhere else and the gaol was abandoned. It has remained abandoned ever since. Being built of granite, the structure is not going anywhere soon, unless it is dismantled.

    After all that culture, the BBQ on the beach, even with the uninvited guest, and the sunset were astounding.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Chillin' with a cuppa.Someone doesn't like having their photo taken ☹️

    Creek swim and Koala Hospital

    15 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    While making our morning cuppa, I looked through the fly-screen on the door to see a large male ‘roo lying nonchalantly outside Bertha. He wasn’t impressed with the ‘roo food we had left from a visit to somewhere we could feed them, so he made-do with some biscuits. He was very gentle but did get very close. They have claw as on their front and back legs that look as if they could easily disembowl someone they didn’t like.

    Set off to Hat Heads, another estuary. The Karoogoo Creek that flows into the sea was crystal clear and shallow. Many people we simply sat on inflatables drifting down with the river. Too good an opportunity for a swim to miss. We also joined in with the kids jumping off the bridge.

    After the swim we made a cuppa - easy enough to do with our whole home in Bertha, then set off to Port Macquarie.

    The Koala Hospital homes approx 60 koalas 🐨. Some are permanent residents, but most are recovering and will be sent back to the area they came from. Apparently, the name system is firstly the place it was found and then secondly a given name by the person who found it.

    A few weeks ago, most of their koalas were suffering from burns having come out of the bush fires, now there are some burns, some orphans but also a number with chlamydia. Chlamydia affects male and female koalas, and even the little ones called joeys - who pick it up suckling from their mothers in the pouch. It causes blindness and infertility in koalas - and can be fatal. Visible signs of infection include conjunctivitis, and a condition dubbed "dirty tail", caused by urinary tract infections and incontinence.

    One outcome of the recent fires is that money is pouring into places like the koala hospital who now have money to pass on to other related charities and also bring forward their koala natural breeding programme by approx five years.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    1This will do for the next family Christmas lunch dining table"Its meant to be, and you're meant for me".Oh dearNot smoke, but low cloud.1Someone doesn't like having their photo taken

    Rain and wind

    16 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    We looked around Port Macquarie, stopped at a couple of lookouts and consulted with the staff at the information centre to find if our planned journey was achievable? No, it wasn’t. There have been many fires in the area. While the park we were hoping to drive into hasn’t had a fire, there is only one road in/out and the park authorities are worried about evacuating the park if there is a fire. It’s raining and the fire risk is the lowest possible that can be shown on their fire risk dials. Never mind.

    We had lunch at the Beach Bum cafe and chose to sit under cover to keep away from the rain, but it was still very windy. As we drove further south the heavens opened and we pulled off the road, found a river-side car park and ... made a cuppa. We waited for the storm to subside before driving on to find a campsite which we found in the town of Bulahdelah at their Bowling Club “RV Stop”.

    There are many names given to “senior” people who travel around as we are doing, grey nomads, silver nomads, grey geris (geriatrics? ). During one news coverage of the fires where they were evacuating the tourists, one newscaster referred to RVs (recreational vehicles) as “retirement vehicles” and then had to quickly correct himself. I wonder if that is another perception?    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Not sure if Bertha could tow this one.
    Marina at Port StephensBeach next to marinaNot too crowdedFlat Head, some type of fishThe canoe made from barkYes it works

    Dull, overcast and raining.

    17 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    We spent the night at the Bulahdelah Bowling Club RV Stop. The clubhouse was open and we had dinner there. Bun was surprised to see a notice in the ladies toilets warning about drinks being spiked. Does that really go on in a bowling club?

    During the night we were serenaded by bullfrogs, (well frogs) and awoken by a kookaburra family. We set off to Nelson Bay on the Karuah River. Shortly after arriving we could see rain in the distance so decided to get to a snorkelling place in the marine park - we wouldn’t want to get wet while snorkelling!

    There were lots of fish, but the sky was dull and overcast so the colours weren’t bright. Without wetsuits we became cold and didn’t swim for more than 20 minutes. After the swim we went back to Bertha to get warm and have a hot drink.

    The largest moving sand dune site was a few miles away, but only accessible by 4x4 so thought we’d give that a miss, especially in the rain.

    Decided to carry on to Newcastle, the sixth largest city in Australia and visit their museum. The museum appeared to have been transformed into a children’s museum for the holiday. The two things I learnt about Newcastle is that it produced a lot of steel in the steel works and that there was an earthquake there in 1999. The earthquake and aftermath had been recorded by a film crew who had been filming the Newcastle bus dispute that was going on at the time. Had the buses been running, fatalities may have been greater as more people may have been able to get to the city and it was pedestrians who were killed when shop fronts fell on them. Newcastle is also a large port. There was also an interesting documentary on a canoe that was made from ark, in the traditional aborigine way, by a family with an aborigine background.

    We found a camp site at Wangi Point Caravan Park right next to Wangi Wangi Point. We overlook Awaba Lake that is looking rather dark at the moment. Fingers crossed for sunshine tomorrow.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Fish, hand, all tastes good to me!Fishing line around neck, hook is in the neck around the other sideYou lookin' at me?Who has the fish?

    Pelican Feeding

    18 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    The rain continues to fall so we plan to have a day to do chores, a bit of shopping, some repairs and a lot of washing, but also go and watch the daily pelican feeding at a town called The Entrance, being where the sea enters the lake complex in this area.

    We went shopping, bought repair materials and arrived at our new campsite at around 2pm. We usually scrape in just before the office shuts so being at a campground in the afternoon is a new experience for us. Still raining ☹️

    While Bun set about getting the washing on, I repaired the smoke alarm, I think I have the better deal. Then to watch the pelican feeding. http://theentrance.org.au/explore/pelican-feeding

    This started in 1976 when the local fish and chip shop fed their scraps to the local pelicans. This then developed into a way of monitoring the birds’ health. Some have fishing line/hooks tangled or embedded, injuries from collisions with motor boats etc. While all this good stuff happens, it’s also a spectacle for the public. Being such odd birds, they are great to watch .... unless you don’t like birds.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Cozy in Bertha while it rains outside
    Enterprising ice cream van comes to the campsiteThe day dawns greyForrester BeachMade me smileGoing up to the mountainsSafely parked in the drive, now time for a few days restWELCOME

    Terrigal and Blue Mountains

    19 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    We had arranged to be with Dom and Christine between 4-5. We spent yesterday doing laundry etc, today we simply had to get to the Blue Mountains on time.

    We met Dom & Christine in Greece last year on the island of Koufonisia. Our paths crossed as we walked around the islands and we spent an evening having dinner with them and then a drink in a bar afterwards. They said to look them up if we were in the area, so we did. The idea of dropping in for a cuppa has turned into spending as long as we like with them. In reality, they are petty much strangers, so it will be interesting spending time with them. Dom is a great source of information and together we have worked out an itinerary.

    We set off down the coast to Forresters Beach, drove through it and on to Terrigal for no reason other than it was on the way. I found a coffee shop, that had a musician playing, where we both had coffee and then Bun went to look around the town while I enjoyed the music, scenery and another coffee.

    We set off to the Blue Mountains, meeting lots of Sunday afternoon traffic and then a long haul up to mountains, did make Bertha puff a bit.

    Christine had very kindly made our bed up for us with Union Jack bedding.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Three Sisters behind us on our left
    The bridge to the first rock - looks gentle!The Three Sisters4Going down the stairsOh my GodJust a walk across the bridgeView back to the viewing platform1

    Blue Mountains - Three Sisters

    20 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    I could do many posts about our day in the Blue mountains, but won’t. They are awesome, bigger, deeper, higher and wider than I imagined. The geology is hard sandstone and I guess it is this that gives the near vertical drops of around 100m that makes the lookouts so good and some of the walks so petrifying for me as I don’t like some heights.

    We started at three sisters, probably the most famous of the lookouts. There are various stories about how they were formed, but the common theme is that they are three daughters (Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo) of a wizard. The daughters were in danger so he turned them into the three peaks, then something happened that either killed him or he turned himself into a Lyrebird and lost his wand; whatever happened, he couldn’t turn them back to humans. They look great from the lookout but Dom took us along the walk down to the first one. The path is fine until we reached metal ladders down to a wooden bridge and across to the rock. From the rock is a vertical drop to the canyon.

    As we left it started to thunder and lightening. On to Govette Leap lookout

    Later that day we learnt that two people were struck by lightening 30 minutes or so after we left. They both survived. We believe the steel ladder they were on was hit.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    New shoots coming through after the fireThe pizza (people) ovenLunch break2

    Govetts Leap and Evans Lookout

    20 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    From Govetts Leap Lookout we had more spectacular views across the canyons and also across to the Three Sisters. Thunder and lightening filled the skies.

    On the trip to Evans Lookout we drove through burnt forest and a “house” that had been burn down. The vegetation was starting to sprout back. The brick built picnic shelters looked like pizza ovens.

    These fires are not as they are shown on the news or YouTube. Some are very ferocious and leap through the canopy while others are slower and burn the forest litter that can be quite deep. It all looks like a lottery; we have been passed a line of houses where a house has been blackened but it’s neighbour appeared untouched. Parts of forest are untouched while other parts are blackened. It’s interesting to see.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    At the top of the falls that are to the left
    Above the fallsWell the path has lasted this longYou can make out the railings of the path belowThe bottom is somewhere down thereConcussed

    Wentworth Falls underpass walk

    20 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    OK, I admit I missed out the last 50m of this walk. I had banged my head on a rock overhang, went round the corner and saw the path disappeared into a 100m drop and decided to sit back and nurse my head.

    The falls were not as impressive as they would be if the place wasn’t in drought, but the drop is impressive as is the path down to the pool below the falls.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Coogee Beach
    On the first headlandHmmm.1I shouldnt laugh, he was badly scraped against the rocks

    Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach walk

    21 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    This is a 7km walk that takes in a number of other beaches and bays on the way. The sun was shining for the first time in a week.

    What a great walk with 3 or 4 swims ending with jumping in the surf and body surfing at Bondi Beach.

    Bondi was nothing I imagined it to be, a 1 km bay rather than a long beach.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    One of the old houses near the bridge
    An original toilet2Why allow a ship like that between Sydney's two iconic sights?Under the bridge

    Sydney City - Harbour Bridge

    22 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We drove down to Penrith and then took trains to Sydney. Dom and Christine live approx 80km (50 miles) from the city.

    Walking across the superstructure of the bridge “the bridge climb” was not really on the cards as it would cost $308 each and we can think of other ways to spend that. However, the museum and pylon lookout appeared much more sensible.

    The lookout is only in one of the four bridge pylons. “There are 200 stairs to the Pylon Lookout™, 87 metres above mean sea level, but on the way up there are 3 levels of exhibits where you will discover the history and construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the men who built it, and the vision of JJC Bradfield, chief engineer.” In contrast, the top of the bridge is 134m above mean sea level.

    The views were stunning and the exhibits really interesting    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Harbourside beach with shark netsManly BeachThe ferry we went on, should have realised it had identical ends!

    Ferry to Manly Beach

    22 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We’d planned to go to Manly Beach on the way to Sydney, but Dom suggested the ferry from Sydney to the beach as part of our day in Sydney.

    The ferry left from the harbour with the bridge on one side and the opera house on the other, so different views of both. The harbour appeared really busy, ferries, yachts, small sailing dingies and windsurfers. Not sure about windsurfing as there are sharks in the harbour. All the way around the harbour there are numerous small beaches, some with shark nets, some without.

    Manly has two beaches, the harbour and the sea beaches. The harbour has shark nets, the sea has lifeguards and many people surfing. Unfortunately the recent storms had piled a large amount of seaweed on the beach and in the sea. Playing in the surf I could feel things grappling my legs ... not pleasant.

    The ferry back rather fooled us. We knew we wanted to be at the front to get the views as we went between the bridge and opera house. The ferry to the beach had gone in front first so we headed to that end. As the ferry pulled back we waited for it to turn around, it didn’t. Damn thing goes in both directions without turning around, so we had to move to the other “front”.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    21There are always fireworks when we hug, but not always captured on film!

    Botanic Gardens, Sydney at night

    22 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    The last section of the day was a walk around the outside of the opera house to the botanic gardens and then wait for the sun to go down to see the bridge and opera house lit up. However, it will take 2 hours to get home, so a late night.

    While Christine did a great job as our personal photographer, Dom had secretly arranged some fireworks as we were having our photos taken 😀.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Carved many hundred years ago, a kangaroo with its joey behind it
    From a different angleDom dispairing in our lack of ability to recognise the art.Axe grinding marksThe dust in the air

    Aboriginal Rock Carvings

    23 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 36 °C

    These are called “the flight of the kangaroo”, can you spot them?

    The day was incredibly hot, the winds had swung around to be westerly, straight off the desert. There had recently been a dust storm to the west so the air was hot, dry and laden with dust that we could feel in our mouth. Visibility was pretty poor.Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Lurch with the three pugs, Betty, Ophra and Wilma
    TomMalleeSteveWilma2

    Getting the pets out

    24 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Christine and Dom have a Pug x Cavalier called Wilma. Their son, Paul, has a Kelpie called Mallee, he also has a carpet python called Steve and a green tree frog called Tom. Great therapy for us.

    Their daughter, Ruth, owns a Mastiff (Lurch) and two pugs (Betty and Ophra) and looks after another dog. Lurch has his own Instagram and has been used in some adverts.

    It’s a real shame we didn’t record the two dogs the first time that Paul got them to do their tricks as they did them perfectly that first time.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    3Next time you get into my car ... 🥰
    Dark sand and the market next to the waterPool in the rocksA windswept 7 mile beachThe unimpressive blow hole

    On the road again. Kiama

    25 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Not wishing to outstay our welcome we set off to go south. The only problem we came across was that this is the start of the Australia Day weekend and Monday is a bank holiday so all of the campsites are full. We almost thought of turning back to stay the weekend with Dom and Christine.

    Eventually we found a site in Berry, on their show ground.. Nothing special but safe but a bit further south than we’d planned.

    The show ground is next to the rail station, but the trains go through very quietly, we hardly hear them, apart from their quick “toot”.

    The next day we decided to backtrack and visit Kiama where there is a Saturday market and a blow hole we want to visit. The parking was near the station and we were surprised to see the sign for picking people up!

    The market was nothing special, the blowhole ... not quite the spectacle we had hoped for. The beach was almost black sand, yet the beaches either side were the usual yellow sand and I can’t find out why.

    On the way back to the campsite we decided to go to 7 mile beach for a quick swim. Australia was imperial measurements before it joined the EU and was then forced to go metric,any newly discovered places will have to be named in kilometres, kilos and grams 😊

    The beach is a long sandy beach that is used for surf schools due to the gentle surf conditions. Today it was windy, reminding me of Whitby with the sand blowing across the beach. The sea was not warm, the breeze was cool, we did not stay in for very long.

    We decided to take the scenic route home and missed a sign that said there was a low bridge ahead; we are 3.5m high, the bridge was 3.2m. There was no disaster but we had to go back several miles to get another route. On the way to the bridge we had to stop because a tree had partly fallen and branches were blocking the road. The police helped us to get past, 5 minutes later we retuned to be helped past again.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    A very elusive lyrebirdA BIG hole

    Australia Day b’fast, Jamberoo and walk

    26 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today is Australia Day, it celebrates the British first fleet arriving in Sydney. These days it’s supposed to be reflective of what makes Australia, Australia; and what it means to be Australian. There are celebrations, awards, honours, citizenships, music and ... breakfast.

    The town’s celebrations took place in the show ground next to where we are camped. At 7:30 the tested the PA. By 8:00 the band were playing Waltzing Matilda and by 9:45 we’d heard three renditions of it. 10:00 speeches and thanks to the rural fire service (RFS) for saving the place. All finished by 11:00.

    The most surprising thing I learnt was that the local chamber of commerce had bought the RFS some masks with smoke filters to help them combat the fire. It appears that they are not equipped with the best equipment unless the locals donate it.

    We then drove to Jamberoo who were holding their monthly market, but when we arrived there were very few stalls so we went and found an iced coffee before setting off to Minamurra Rainforest Centre.

    The centre has a couple of boardwalks, one circular and another, coming off the circular one, to the waterfall. Despite it being hot and sweaty 🥵 , we decided to do them both. The most exciting part being that we saw a few lyrebirds that we had never seen before.

    Back to Jamberoo to meet my cousin who drove down from Sydney to meet us.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    The latest telephone exchange at the museum
    3A Rosella4Seen on the beachFairy wren - male2Dissapointingly, Bun wouldnt lay down next to it to give an idea of the length.

    Berry and Booderee

    27 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Before leaving Berry, we thought we should have a look around the town. It’s full of cafes, expensive home furnishings shops and rather hippy crystals and tie-dyed clothes. There are a number of heritage buildings. The museum was very interesting.with lots of items from the last 250 years.

    The “donut van” was doing a roaring trade even with a bank holiday surcharge added to the prices and a 15 minute wait to get the order filled. What idiots would pay inflated prices and wait 15 minutes for a food that will kill them? They were delicious 😋

    We left there and drove south intending to go to Jarvis Bay. At the north end is honeymoon bay, this was to be our first stop and then we planned to work our way around the west side of the bay and end up on the south side . Unfortunately, the closest campsite we could find was the south end end of Jarvis Bay 😩. Oh well “all part of the adventure”.

    Bordered is a National Park, so we have to be self contained for camping. In the rainforest/bush. The campsite is 100m from the beach which is a long sandy beach with a rocky point before the next sand beach.

    We spent a few hours swimming and walking up to the next rocky point and back again before deciding that a cold beer on the rocks watching the sun go down was a good thing to do. We showered, changed, grabbed the beers and started walking down to the beach when we came across a 4ft snake on the path. The snake was absolutely motionless, so much so that we thought it might be dead. We also thought that “looking dead” may be a way of catching its prey, so we walked past and onto the beach.

    There was no sunset as dark clouds had rolled in obscuring the sun. We went back into the bush, photographed some birds and returned to find that the dead snake had moved and was slithering off into a bush. Lucky we didn’t poke him to see if he was dead. Two people have said that he was a “harmless” carpet python.

    We returned to Bertha, pulled together our dinner and went to one of the communal double BBQs to cook it. The BBQs are totally enclosed with gas heating a stainless steel plate. Both were being used so we sat and chatted to the people there. Bun gave two young girls (in their twenties) a tour of Bertha leaving their male partners to wonder where they’d gone to.

    After dinner we found the site literally crawling with possums. We are quite pleased that we dont have any trees over us otherwise they’d be on the roof. They are very confident, one walked up to Bun and went to bite Bun’s knee!    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs
    Honeymoon BeachHoneymoon BeachLong BeachOh dearRed Headed Honey Eater

    Jervis Bay Beaches day one

    28 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Bun decided to go on a photo outing first thing to try to photograph some birds. After this we packed up and set off to look at the numerous beautiful beaches found in Jervis Bay.

    The day was overcast, grey and a bit dull, a recent storm has left a lot of seaweed on the beaches that is smelling quite strongly, plus the recent fires have resulted in ash and bits of burnt tree being washed into the sea. None of the beaches looked very good at all except Honeymoon Beach. This is a small horseshoe shaped bay with course yellow sand protected by two small rocky outcrops. Camping is allowed on Fridays and Saturdays. Despite the close proximity of the camp site, the beach was very clean. Maybe the headlands stop the seaweed coming in? In caparison, Long Beach was several hundred metres of petrifying seaweed,

    We visited the Booderee Botanic Gardens that had great paths and lots of signs for plants that probably used to be there before the drought. It was a little disappointing and we didn’t stay long.

    Murrays beach
    Hole in the wall
    Botanic gardens
    Point Perpendicular Lighthouse
    Honeymoon Beach
    Long Beach

    This evening we are staying at Curragong, right at the north end of Jervis Bay. It’s a more traditional camping park, but not very full now that the school holidays have finished. Prices have ago returned to the pre-holiday and more affordable level.    Leia mais

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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia via KLAndy n Bunny Briggs

    Jervis Bay Beaches - day two

    29 de janeiro de 2020, Austrália ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    What a difference a day and a few miles makes. Today is sunny and warm, the sea is clear and blue, very little trace of seaweed in the sea.

    We decided to go on a walk to see a. Couple of bays and an aboriginal cave.

    We parked up near Abraham Bosoms Beach and walked to the “reefs pool” to find a natural pool in the rocks with steps down into the water. This wasn’t like other pools that are refreshed by the sea at high tide, this was the sea but with rocks around to break the waves and give a good swimming area. We decided to come back to that later.

    We set off along Abraham Bosoms Beach beach, paddled in the sea and then over a headland to Whale Point where there is the wreck of SS Merimbula. At the time of the wrecking she was a very advanced vessel, but not any more, just some rusty junk on the edge of some rocks. Happily no one was lost when the ship wrecked.

    We the. Walked around to Wilson’s Beach that is promoted as a great snorkelling beach. There was a spear fisherman there who hadn’t caught anything in the four hours he’d been in the sea. The swell was quite large and the current across the point was a bit uncertain. Having gone around the point the wind was quite strong.

    We scrambled up the rocks at the back of the beach, back onto the path again and walked on to Abraham’s Head and Mermaid’s Cove. The cove was beautiful, about 60m wide but protected by rocky headlands. The sand was course and the beach quite quickly shelved so that we were in 4ft within 15 ft of the beach. It was glorious.

    We continued our walk inland to find the aboriginal cave dwelling, not dissimilar to the one that Dom had shown us.

    After that we walked back to the “pool” and went for a swim and snorkel. The water was crystal clear but not an abundance of life other than an group of maybe 15-20 Australian Toad Fish, members of the puffer fish family. None bigger than 6” and many almost totally buried in the sand. We’ve only ever seen puffer fish swimming about and never in groups of as many as this.

    Back to Bertha, iced coffee and drove to Callahan au and then Callahan Beach, neither of which were remarkable. We carried on around the bay to Huskisson ... well not around the bay becuase there isn’t a road; we had to go inland, pick up the A1 for a few miles and then back down to the bay.

    Huskisson has a small port and a long promenade along to Vincentia and Plantation Point. We loose around the town, found a campsite, walked along the promenade and beach and then back into town to have dinner at “The World Famous Fish & Chips”. That’s what it is called, it doesn’t have anything to prove that is world famous other than what the owner says ie along the lines of .... you come from England and know about the fish and chips, other people come here from all around the world on holiday and eat at the shop, so it’s famous around the world! The food was extremely tasty.

    We then found a pub, had a beer, looked over the sea, contemplated life, well our version of it,went back to Bertha and went to bed.    Leia mais

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