Life's a Beach !

Where   : Nobby's Beach, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
When    : 1-35 pm, Monday, 25th June 2007
Weapon : Sony Cybershot P72

I am away at the moment, down in Wagga Wagga - to pick up my daughter from Charles Sturt University and bring her home for Christmas.  Great - I get 5 hours with her in the Honda - time for a long chat.  Dad and Favourite Daughter - I only have one. 

Wagga is 500 Kilometres from Sydney and this is too far for me to drive there and back in one day.  So, I am in my usual motel, where the wireless internet is not too foul, so I have been looking at some older photographs.  This one made me smile.

SWMBO {She Who Must Be Obeyed}, yes that's her, mother of fave, rave daughter, is wondering why the Captain of the Pasha Bulker ignored the red "NO STOPPING" sign.

Very strange, as the Captain seemed to understand the sign on top of the post, "PARK ONLY IN THE BAYS", plonking his vessel in this nice bay at Nobby's Beach, well right on the beach actually, well 100 metres up the beach to be honest, high and dry.

This bulk coal carrier ran aground in June and was right up on the sand at the bow and on a rock reef under the stern. Mind you, horrendous seas and gale force winds didn't help - but if he had stood further out to sea as he was advised to do by the Australian Meteorological Bureau and Coastguard, this would not have happened.  Some very skilled, very brave and highly organised salvage experts boarded the ship after the crew had been winched and helicoptered off and they dragged her out and floated her on a high tide a few days later, fortunately.

Ah well, he will just have to pay a rather hefty parking fine and pay the tow-away fee - two ocean going tugs and all the divers who had to check out the hull, plus all of the other costs including the very hefty payment to the salvage company and the Port of Newcastle.  He won't do it again.

LA Galaxy Down Under

Where   : Telstra Stadium, Homebush Olympic Park, Sydney
When    : 10-00 pm, Tuesday, 27th November 2007
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

Last night, I went with my son and a few of his larrikin pals, to watch Sydney FC play LA Galaxy, the USA football {soccer} team. It was held at the biggest stadium in Sydney, which holds 80,000 people - in fact this was the 2000 Olympics Stadium, which has now been downsized by rearranging seating from >100,000 down to ~80,000. So, great seating, lots of space and view.

The star attraction was David Beckham {"Becks"}, ex-Manchester United, Real Madrid and Captain of England - who as most will know, is married to Victoria, "Posh" Spice of "The Spice Girls" fame. "Becks" earns US$1million a week, owns seven cars and wears clothes designed by close friend Giorgio Armani. Don't get me wrong, "Becks" is a nice guy, with a fruity London accent and squeaky voice, a simple but immensely talented lad who has had fame thrust upon him.

He was to be marked in this game by local Sydney player, 17 year old Nikolas Tsattalios, who earns less than $600 a week, and just collected his P-plates and last Thursday hired a suit for his Year 12 formal. Wow - what an experience !

I would say that maybe 20% of the crowd last night were young girls in the teens, some with their mothers, both generations turning up to perv on "Becks" in the hope that he might take his shirt off. Tarts.

Nevertheless, it was not a bad game for a "friendly", we even got a bit of "biff", with several yellow cards and one "sent off".  As you can see above from the scoreboard, the result was Sydney 5 - LA Galaxy 3.  "YES !"

The best part was that "Becks" took one of his famous free-kicks and banana'd the ball right into the top left hand corner of the net.  In this picture, here he is taking a corner. Unbelieveable. He also played the whole 90 minutes and was a classic to watch, as much as I am brain-washed to hate anything to do with Man Utd (being born in Liverpool myself).

For the girls, at the end, off came the shirt ... didn't do much for me but then it wouldn't. My hope for a few enthusiastic, young, female, amateur streakers also came to nought, but a great night out was enjoyed by all. Wouldn't have missed it for quids.

Rip Off !

Where   : Pacific Highway, Turramurra
When    : 2-20 pm, Tuesday, 27th November 2007
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

I hate this scam so much.

In Sydney, the deal is that if you spend $30 plus at a Woolworths Supermarket, you get 4 cents a litre discount voucher that expires after 30 days. There is another chain of Supermarkets (Coles) that has a the same scam running at Shell service stations. It's a rip off !

What I hate is that those who do not drive as much as others or maybe the people who do not even own a car, subsidise the motorists. I happen to be a motorist too, but this is just not right.

Sometimes I end up with the shopper dockets which have expired - therefore, I feel robbed.

I avoid these gas stations like the plague, and buy fuel at the garages that just want you to spend $5 in their shop to get the same deal. I buy a newspaper and a bag of sweets, and still get the 4 cents a litre off. Cheaper than spending $30 in the Woolworths supermarkets.  Trouble is that for weekly shopping, the big supermarkets are so much cheaper than the local store. We are all being ripped off no matter which way you try and skin the cat.

Phily the Possum

Where   : Home, Turramurra
When    : 9-00pm, Monday, 26th November 2007
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

Here's a shot of our unwelcome house guest, Phily the Possum.

The trichosurus vulpecula possum is native to Australia, a marsupial.

This lady lives in our roof, but pays no rent. Every night, it sounds like a herd of elephants stampeding above our heads at dusk and dawn.

Possums are very hard to get rid of from the attic, they seem to be able to lift tiles, squeeze through amazingly small holes and just get in no matter how we try to stop them. I caught one once and took it away into the bush, in a cage in the boot of my car. I couldn't get the stink out of months !

So these days, we just put up with her ... in the knowledge that they are fiercely territorial, and while Phily is at home, other will not move in. She's eating a piece of apple here, noisily.

Jacaranda Wars

Where   : Eastern Road, Turramurra, Ku-ring-gai
When    : 3-00pm, Friday, 23rd November 2007
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

Over the last few weeks, there have been many photographs of Jacarandas in flower from the southern latitudes. All of them beautiful.

The challenge is on .. here's my shot !

LFB "Australia Star"

Where   : Brooklyn, Hawksbury River
When    : 5-10pm, Thursday, 22nd November 2007
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

Here she is LFB 11305.  Licensed Fishing Boat 11305 ... "Australia Star".  Isn't she a beauty ! Not quite the "African Queen", but in there with a chance.

There are a few prawn trawlers operating on the Hawksbury, fishing for school prawns, broad and bottle squid. Their operations are confined to specific times and a specific area around 50% of the tidal space. The majority of prawn catches are landed at night during the 'dark side of the moon' (between the last and first quarter), on either run out or 'slack' tides.

A single net is used, connected to a pair of otter boards to spread the net which is towed behind the boat. At the completion of a shot (i.e. setting, towing and retrieval of the net) the net is pulled back onto the boat by hand or a small winch.

The Magnificent Native Elk Horn

Where   : Bobbin Head, New South Wales
When    : 1-20pm, Wednesday, 21st November 2007
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

This is an elk horn, platycerium bifurcatum. . I found this magnificent specimen at Bobbin Head, in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. To give you some idea, this doozie measures about 3 metres in diameter - say about 11 feet or so in old money.

These ferns are epiphytic, which means that they grow on another plant but don't get food, minerals or water from the host. They occur naturally in New Guinea, and along Australian coasts of Queensland and New South Wales.

The elkhorn has also now been cultivated in many countries, and spread into the wild in Florida. It's been listed as an environmentally invasive species in Hawaii. Each plant is composed of a mass of plantlets and can be divided. It can also be propagated from its spores.

P. bifurcatum plants require a shady but damp area to flourish. Rain forest is ideal. They are not prone to attack from many pests and insects, but may be preyed upon by scale bugs and mealy bugs.  Although these can be scraped off, the most delightful fix, is for Ladybirds to eat these pests.

Galston Gorge

Where   : Galston, New South Wales
When    : 10-20am, Tuesday 20th November 2007
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

This bridge is some 112 years old, and located at the bottom of the Galston Gorge and is sometimes referred to as Tunk's or Pearce's Creek Bridge. This is wild and rugged, steep and heavily timbered mountainous country, with the typical local topography featured with challenging vertical bands of Hawksbury Sandstone outcrops.

The bridge is as originally designed and constructed, a single lane, all-timber bridge without any steel or iron supports, planking or metal components other than nails and bolts.

It's known as a "McDonald timber truss road bridge", used extensively in New South Wales because of the high quality of local hardwoods and the shortage of steel during the early decades of settlement.

This crossing over Tunk's (Pearce's) Creek is a rare example of a 65' 19.96m truss span. It was designed and built by John McDonald for the NSW Public Works Department in 1893 - 1894 at a cost of 295 Pounds, and consists of a single span supported at each end on timber abutments which also retain the road earthworks. The bridge width is 4.57m (15ft) between kerbs and at both ends the approach road turns sharply at right angles.

Brooklyn Fishing Fleet

Where   : Brooklyn, Hawksbury River
When    : Sunday, 4th November 2007, 6-00pm
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3

This is Brooklyn, on the Hawksbury River, about 20 minutes from my home. This is a top spot, with a small marina ... not a lot of tourists here, but a few ferals, bikies and day-trippers. Locally, there are lots of market gardens up river on the flats and lots of mangrove stands (more than 10 sq kms) and important prawn, oyster and other molluscs in the lower reaches. This is NSW's third largest oyster producer.

Brooklyn still has its awkward, rather primitive, run-down Australian charm.

Today, there were 3 or 4 fishing boats tied up, with their nets out to dry, slung over the rails of the jetty. I think these must be estuary fishermen, as is it's a fair way out to sea from here. Fishing is good here on the river for bream, snapper, whiting or flathead.

It is very bright and yes, the water really is that blue in this sunshine.

South Pacific Cruising

Where   : Darling Harbour, Sydney
When    : Saturday, 3rd November 2007, 3-00pm
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3

Here's the Pacific Sun, tied up and waiting to get on with its Summer cruising program.

This is a reasonably big ship, some 46,000 tonnes, built in 1986.  She carries 1900 passengers and has 9 decks. The Pacific Sun is a modern, luxury liner of the P&O Line.

I came to Australia on the SS Britanis.  She was built at Massachusetts as the Monterey in 1932, for the Matson Navigation Company and was 17,000 tonnes.  She later became the Matsonia and later the Lurline.  Finally, the ship was sold to Chandos Lines and became SS Britanis, making many trips to Australia full of assisted migrants, like me.

We sailed to Australia the long way round, via the Cape of Good Hope, as the Suez Canal was closed due to the Gulf War. Departing on July 4th 1971, the journey took us from Southampton to Las Palmas, Dakar, Capetown, Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne and then up to Sydney. We arrived at about 7-00am.

I will never forget that feeling - sailing into Sydney Harbour on that cold, sunny Winter's morning, 4th August 1971, with just 50 quid in my pocket.

Yes, sailing into the most beautiful harbour in the world, and then disembarking at the International Terminal opposite the Opera House, under the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, right slap-bang in the middle of this fantastic city really is still I guess a most wonderful experience, BUT after 5 weeks at sea all those years ago ...

... I never want to go on board another cruise ship. It is soooooooooooooooo boring !

Post Mortem

The SS Britanis sank off Capetown in October 2000.

Banksia Serrata

Where   : Bobbin Head, Cowan Creek
When    : Wednesday, 31st October 2007, 7-55am
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3

Banksia Serrata (after Sir Joseph Banks and the Latin meaning "saw edged"), also known as "Old Man Banksia" for unknown reasons, may reach 15 metres in height in favourable conditions.

Prolific in suburban Sydney, it is often only 5 metres or so, forming a gnarled and stunted small tree with blackened rough bark as a result of surviving many bush fires.

The wood is a beautiful red colour and the thick rough bark allows it to regenerate by sending out epicormic shoots from beneath the bark a week or so after the fire has passed. In exposed coastal areas the plants may develop a prostrate habit of growth and these forms generally retain that habit in cultivation away from the coast (eg Banksia serrata "Austraflora Pygmy Possum", a form from the south coast of New South Wales).