October 20th, 2013
I know I've mentioned the bird life more than once in this journal but it deserves another mention. Every morning one of the first bird sounds I hear in Bomaderry are the kookaburras. Following their wake-up call a myriad of other voices join the chorus - whoops, tweets, whistles, coo-coos, squawks and chirps. It really is quite extraordinary!
The smokey haze has dissipated somewhat today although fires are still burning all over the state. Over 200 homes have been lost so far.
The morning news reported that today marks the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Opera House. The Opera House took 16 years to build and was in the final stages of building when I lived in Sydney in 1972. I remember the controversy about the high cost of the structure and perceived waste of tax dollars - its cost to build was just over $100 million and is now valued at $4.6 billion. By the time it opened, I had already moved on to Hobart where I lived 6 months and then on to Cairns where I was 40 years ago today. I still haven't visited the Opera House and won't get there this year either.
After breakfast we headed out for a day of hiking and swimming. Our intended hiking destination was the area around Perpendicular Point lighthouse but when we arrived at the gate we were denied permission to the peninsula due to the fire ban. Too bad! It was at the top of Rob's list of sights he wanted us to experience this week. So we went, instead, to Currawong where we walked the beaches until we found hiking trails. We'd heard about the mysterious washing onto local beaches of thousands of mutton birds this week and there they were - hundreds of them - scattered over the beaches we visited today.
Tina and I had a great botany lesson as we took pictures of various plants. We've heard about, and seen, a lot of Banksia on this trip - first introduced to us by Kathy in Coffs Harbour. It seems to be in all stages of flowering and seeding at this time of year. The jacaranda we enjoyed so much in Queensland is now beginning to bloom down here and we've observed all colours of wattle where the lorikeets like to hang out. The pink flower is called Peg Face - a ground cover here that also can have white flowers.
The winds picked up again by early afternoon and we were disinclined to swim so we toured the area for a time before deciding on a late lunch of fish and chips in the seaside community of Greenwell Point.
I'm really happy to be able to enjoy Bundaberg ginger beer again!! Yummy.
After lunch it was back to town for a bit of shopping and home again for a nice late afternoon of relaxation, cocktails and dinner before watching a movie.
It was another wonderful day with the Watchorn family!
You are doing a great job at blogging every day! I've caught up to every post now - you are a great writer, mom, I especially love reading about what you're eating and all the animals you've seen :)
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