Learnings about my Blog

I would like to share some of my learnings about my Blog and maybe you know already, or maybe you'll find something in the list to help you.

Photos;
the photo you see in the blog is a thumbnail image designed to reduce bandwith and download time. Click on any thumbnail and you'll link to the full sized photo and photo gallery.

Comments;
I'm sorry if you've commented and I've not responded. I'm unable to see your comment/s. Don't know why, but I've sent in my feedback. I am able to see a couple of comments from Kate, but I know of other friends who have commented and I'm not able to see it. If you'd like to comment, please email me kivaren.creek@gmail.com  -  it's always good to hear what you're up to and what's going on in your neighbourhood.

Friends / Followers;
I can see a couple of Friends following the blog, because I see their thumbnail pic. But I know I have more Friends following, but they don't show.  Don't know why and once again I've emailed my feedback.

Following;
You don't have to 'sign up' to the Blog or wait for me to email you the link to the latest update, if you keep an email, you can click the link any time and you'll see the latest story. Mind you, you don't have to read every word, you can just look at the pictures. Or not...


I think that there are better blog sites out there .. but this is where I started and I'm not changing, just learning.

Thursday 28th March ~ Everton, Vic

A lovely week in Canberra over and time to move on.

Our drive to Everton (near Wangaratta, Vic) was a little longer than we like to do, but manageable. We wanted to be in this vicinity because we have a 'pressing engagement' :) Meeting up with Kate, Adrian, James and Ben for our family Easter camp. YAY ..

And we knew, once we arrived in Everton, we could rest up.

I couldn't believe the lack of traffic on the Hume Highway. In the past, when we've travelled along this highway, the traffic has been quite heavy. Well a lot heavier than we experienced on Tuesday (remember this is a dual carriageway highway - no oncoming vehicles either, as you can see). Not complaining mind you!

We're in a built up part of the country (Australia, that is) now. The distance between towns is not as great as in Queensland (just as an example). I like to explore some of the history and basic facts of places we stay (or see along the way).

Everton is a small town located 20km from Wangaratta in north east Victoria, along the Great Alpine Road. At the 2006 census, Everton and the surrounding area had a population of 274.

Attractions of the town and area include the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail (a sealed off-road bicycle path offering 95km of cycling along former railway tracks), wineries, and the Victorian High Country. (awh, and we didn't bring the bikes !  ha ! )  Everton Post Office opened in 1876 and closed in 1965. Don't forget the pub ...

 

 

And the caravan park, where every site has an ensuite and car cover. Some have their own olive tree too. Might have to stay for harvest time.

 

 

Most of the customers at the park are permanent residents, who live in caravans that go nowhere. But then we saw this one. Somewhere in this creative construction is a caravan.

 

have a closer look at that dry stone wall, you have to admire the craftsmanship

 

another example of craftmanship we've found in Everton.

 

 

 

Thursday is rendevoux day. Guess what ?  It's raining !  Ahh well.

Happy Easter everyone. Stay safe whatever you're up to.

Monday, 25th March ~ Canberra

We have a 'very first' event .. it's the first time we've stayed long enough in one place to claim our free night! Last night, as the weekend was coming to an end, and both feeling tired and not quite ready to move on as planned, it dawned on us that we could stay another night and claim our 'freebie'. Done deal.

We enjoyed a lovely weekend with the added bonus of more time with Anna and Sarah. Sarah lives in Canberra and Anna makes the 3 hour (or so) journey from Nowra, to stay most weekends. The Old Bus Depot Markets are not to be missed and us three girls did them over pretty well. Ivor stayed with us for a bit, then flittered here and there, finally leaving us to it to enjoy some birdwatching in Telopea Park. We all enjoyed ourselves. Ivor luckily picked up a Gang-gang Cockatoo! Now that's special (but no camera with him).

After lots of sampling at the market with some yummy purchases made, it was time to head back to the van to fully relax and enjoy our market pickings. Followed by a sad good-bye to my girls. Ahh well, we might be back.

That was when we realised we were feeling a little tired and may not be quite ready to move on. And with the extra time, head back to Telopea Park, this time with the camera.

Ivor takes me to some pretty special places. Over breakfast we were making plans for smoko in the park, but then Ivor threw in a couple of extra birdwatching spots. Let's go to the 'poo ponds' (always good for birds you see) as the Freckled Duck and Blue-billed Duck (which we want to see) have been seen there recently. We dipped on the poo ponds as it is a construction site at the moment. Dam .. ? !  Across the road is the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, so we dragged our (disappointed) selves there again. We were trying to think like ducks and thought, well, lots of construction going on at poo ponds, just across the road (pretty close) is another nice area, maybe the ducks will be there. But obviously our duck thinking isn't like real duck thinking. No ducks to be seen (well, not the ones we wanted to see).

On to Telopea Park with a side trip to the bakery for some yummy treats for smoko. As we pulled into the car park, Ivor said, that's it, I just heard the Gang-gang. I couldn't, but maybe I'd become starving deaf. Once I'd had a half of a gorgeous, yummy spinach & cheese quiche, I could hear it. Amazing. There he is ...

there she is ...

Now, how happy would you like to be? happy with our yummy smoko; happy with our bird views; happy with our pictures snapped; we wandered around the park and soaked in the colours of a beautiful autumn day.

 

 

But there's more. We spotted this Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

And as we wandered back to the car, the Gang-gang showed up again and few down to the ground. WOW...

Pretty special.

Saturday, 23rd March ~ Cultural pursuits in Canberra

What a glorious, sunny day in Canberra today, one of those crisp, clear and fresh days; quite a contrast to the last few days that were heavily clouded with a storm thrown in. After hearing about the tornadoes in northern Victoria, our noisey, wild storm pales into insignificance. Poor things, it must have been very scarey and an event they won't forget.

On to more arty things .. 

National Art Gallery ~ we are here in perfect time for the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition - it's only in Canberra, not a travelling exhibition. This is my second photo .. I'm breaching copyright if I show you my first photo. I am well aware that no photography is allowed inside the exhibition, but I didn't know that that included the 'entrance hall'; so I got myself into trouble, not big trouble, but whoops! And the very nice lady let me keep my photo, only if I promised not to 'publish' it. It's on my phone, so when we next meet, I'll show you. I remember seeing the opening days of the exhibition on the tele, the long lines of people to view the exhibition, but our timing is lucky; no queues and plenty of room to see all of the collection.

 

 

National Portrait Gallery ~ another well-timed exhibition at the moment, the National Photographic Portrait Prize. As we'd been to the NPG in Old Parliament House on our last visit to Canberra (2006), we thought we knew where we were going this time. Just as well we double-checked as the new NPG opened in 2008. Over 1200 entries were received and 56 chosen for display. Using our 'judges eyes', we tried hard to see what they saw to select the winner and highly commended entries, but it's impossible to our untrained eye and we just can't agree with their decision. We lodged our 'peoples choice' vote - that wasn't easy either. I would like to have seen the full range of entries - we might have seen something more appealing to our judges eye. Over the last few years, I've contemplated entering, I'm definitely entering next year!  Here's a link to the NPG facebook page, where you'll see the winning entry  https://www.facebook.com/nationalportraitgallery.canberra#!/nationalportraitgallery.canberra

 

 

Another exhibition at the moment is First Ladies: Significant Australian Women 1913–2013.

 

 

Parliament House ~ always a treasure to visit. I think it's because I'm a lover of 'rock' and 'wood'. The most striking thing about Parliament House is the 81 metre high flagmast. It's one of the world's largest steel structures and is a central landmark of Canberra. In the Foyer, a eucalyptus forest of 48 marble-clad columns and two marble staircases and beautiful masonry and timber used throughout the building.

 

I think this pic is a hoot .. looks like some sort of monster, with the hands of the clock giving him a lop-sided grin.

 

the striking flagmast and the gloomy clouds

 

 

a surveyors dream; lining up the monumental buildings within the natural geography of Mount Ainslie

 

 

Time for time-out and off to the bushlands of Lake Ginninderra. It was a cold and gloomy twitch, and only 30 birds, with no 'stand outs' - probably sensible and keeping to their warm spots.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, 21st March ~ a taste

I've been hankering for a 'wood-fired pizza' for a few days now, it's been another timing issue; in Shoalhaven Heads - wrong day (they don't do wood-fired pizza everyday); and you can guess the rest. 

But, on researching 'things to do in Canberra', I came across a double page spread bragging about 'wood-fired pizza' ... imagine that !? drool, drool ... not just one pizza place, but how many ?? But pizza will have to wait a bit.

 



We decided to go birdwatching at the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, located very near to us. This is the top birding site, according to our birdwatching guide, but you have to remember that we live in one of the top birdwatching locations, so tone it down a bit. After lots of hard work, we recorded 31 species, no particular stand-out bird, but nice to see a Red-kneed Dotterel. On reading about the wetlands, someone commented about a White-faced Heron performing a showy circling flight around one of the bird hides. It must be his favourite 'trick' because he did it for us too. To be fair, it really is a great spot, with five bird hides dotted around the wetlands. Sadly, the wetlands were a bit dry, but 'the autumn rains will top it up'. (Not just yet I hoped.)

Then it was lunch time .. drool, drool. We happened to choose the 'poshest' place, linen napkins placed over your lap, no bottle of wine under $30 and $10 per glass, so the water (not sparkling) was lovely. But the pizza, OMG, crunchy base and delicious topping .. a simple prosciutto, rosemary and potato, fulfilled my wood-fired pizza dream. Come to think of it, a glass of wine would have spoiled and washed away the distinctive flavours. Afterall, I was there for the pizza.

Thursday, 21st March ~ a bit backwards

I was thinking about our lovely smoko spot in Ulladulla and realised that I hadn't mentioned many details about our drive from Shoalhaven Heads to Canberra.

Once again during our drive, we found it difficult to locate a rest area. There were a couple early on where we could have stopped with ease, but it was too early in the day. It's all about timing. And before we knew it, we were in Ulladulla with a very nice view of a little bay, sprinkled with a few boats, ahh, now this, is a nice smoko stop. On Easter Sunday, every year, there's the traditional 'Blessing of the Fleet' Festival.

Resuming our journey, we missed our turn to join the Kings Highway over the Clyde Mountain to Canberra, but instead, enjoyed a quickie tour of Bateman's Bay. (We were supposed to turn before we crossed the bridge into Bateman's Bay.) Anyway .. that's ok, it was a lovely brief tour.

Thankfully, since my last road trip over the Clyde, the road has been widened (mostly anyway). There's still a few hair pin bends, but going up those, doesn't seem as bad as coming down.

Our lunch stop was in Braidwood - mmm yummy pies at the bakery. Lots of travellers had the same idea. Caravans lined the side streets, no matter which side street you looked into.

 

 

Our camps book listed only two caravan parks (located on the highways) and mentioned the Exhibition Centre (back from the highway), so naturally, the location of the Exhibition Centre attracted us. However, on reading the fine print 'no camping at Easter, plus one week either side, and Christmas'. Timing .. again. Somehow, we then found another caravan park that we thought suited our needs. I know, flush with choices ! Our enquiry about a caravan site, was met with 'we're booked out'. Dam.  What now?  As we stood there thinking, the assistant tapped some keys on the computer and said, I could put you on the 'grassed camping area, there's no slab though'. We smiled, relieved and said 'yes thanks, we're not worried about a slab', and here it is, our lovely grassed area... I know, you were thinking 'green grass' weren't you ?

Tuesday, 19th March ~ Australia's Capital

We seem to be go, go, go. Or maybe that was just Sydney life. It must take time to adjust to living with the busy-ness of Sydney, especially after our couple of laid back beach-side stays at Urunga and Shoalhaven Heads.

On our return to Nowra / Shoalhaven Heads, Anna took us on a tour of her 'digs' on HMAS Albatross. And we were lucky to see the Sea Hawk - the breed she works on.

While in the area, we visited Jervis Bay, Huskisson and Booderee National Park. An stunning area - those cliffs - and such a beautiful sunny day for us.

 

 

As we entered the national park, we were surprised to see this sign. So our 'eagle eyes' were peeled in seach of the 'endangered Bristlebird'.

 

and guess what .. we saw lots of them.

At Shoalhaven Heads, the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service are doing a great job at 'trying' to educate people about shorebirds. They've added signage about keeping dogs out of nesting areas.

 

some colourful mosaics

 

 

and information about the incredible world journey of migratory birds

 

 

 

Back at Shoalhaven Heads caravan park, I just had to capture a few little memories;

 

who remembers the coin hot water system in the shower block?

(I nearly fell over when I saw this - but it's only decoration)

 

Sydney icons, right in the park

 

 

Today, we said bye bye to the coast for a while and headed to Canberra for a few days. We're keen for a cultural fix and see the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition plus more; there's lots on, as it's Canberra's 100th birthday. My head is spinning...

 

 



 

 

Sunday, 17th March ~ Sydney, NSW

YAY, we're all together. Here's a memory to treasure.

Here we are together overlooking 'Raoul's beach' (Little Bay), Sydney.

If you look between our feet,
you can see the ocean,
oh, and the BLUE sky,
gorgeous.

Leaving our 'mobile home' in Shoalhaven Heads, Anna and Sarah drove us up to Sydney - for us to overnight with Raoul - for Sarah and Anna to attend Sarah's Father's birthday bash.

Friday 15th March ~ Shoalhaven Heads, NSW

Hellooww, we're still here!

We survived our drive, white knuckles, grey hairs, big wide eyes, a few ooos and ahhhs, a few quick drawn-in breaths, shoulders up under our ears, but we're here now.

I took the first drive heading out of Clarence Town (after our bakery 'stock up' - mmm yummy finger buns). I love when you see in these special little places 'Bob's Seat of Knowledge' (made out of a log of tallow wood) out front of the pub ...

I said to my co-driver turned navigator, get the camera ready, I need to record the patch on patch on patch roads around here. But of course, the road towards Newcastle improved (not greatly, but not worth photographing). I really need that 'eye photography' working - you know, see it and photograph what I see (and how I see it). Before we knew it, we were on the Newcastle Expressway to Sydney.

I haven't mentioned our latest audio book we're listening to 'Ice Station'. Well, I must say, it might be a good book, just not in this situation - an all out war in an ice station with killer whales lurking - mmm the book was tense, the driving was tense, the occupants were tense. Fortunately, we had control of the on/off switch.

We were surprised at the lack of rest areas - rest area signage would be helpful too. Maybe we missed that.. but we did have our eyes wide open. Smoko time and driver changeover were fast approaching. Then a sign loomed, so we thought that has to be it. I took the exit and couldn't understand what we were driving into, my brain was trying to process the road, the area, where we should be going and as I checked my rear-view mirror and saw it filled with a truck, I thought ... SHIIITT!! make a decision. Everything happens so quickly sometimes, I rounded the round-a-bout and into a petrol station. I thought the truck wouldn't turn at the round-a-bout and I was right, he went straight on. Beauty. But still, we didn't know where we were and; where's our rest area / smoko stop dammit! Obviously the caffeine level was dropping. Ivor took his turn at the wheel, back across the round-a-bout and into a bushy narrow road, pulling up where we could and that was it, our smoko stop. Turns out, we were in Morriset. Yeah, well, now we know and you too, not much more than when we turned off. But, we should have waited, just 15 minutes down the road was the more familiar rest area / service area signage and facilities we were expecting to see, Petrol, KFC, Maccas, SPACE .. you name it, everything you need for your (more relaxed) break. Ahh well.

Ivor, back at the wheel (for his real time), took us into Sydney. It is rather a spectactular drive through some of the 'cut outs', you have to acknowledge the job of a road planner.

Anyway, as I'm the navigator, I'd better concentrate. I was looking for the pattern, you know, like a knitting / crochet pattern, just give me the instructions to get us through. Except, there are none. You have to look hard at the map and work a way through, enough so that you can give confident instructions to your driver, especially when he says 'this doesn't look right'. What!? 'I don't care if it doesn't look right, turn here, NOW!' Some people have a navman for this job.

On the other side (of Sydney), Ivor has been driving more than his allocated time (at more than his allocated stress) and we need a lunch spot. Same problem. Where are the ... signs?  Ahh, here it is, a lookout and information area. mmm nice view over Woolongong

but the cafe is closed :(

and yet again, not too far down the track, is everything we wanted; If only we knew.

First impressions of the caravan park in Nowra was, mmm, maybe it's alright, but a walk around changed our minds. As we want to be in the area for a week or so, we need a place to feel good and this wasn't it. The next option was to move out of Nowra, to Shoalhaven Heads (just 15 mins drive away). Tall Timbers has an interesting feel about it (maybe curious is a better description), but each of the van parks in this area is the same ... side by side, by side vans.

 

vans that don't go anywhere

 

this is the view from our little corner

 

but then the neighbours moved in

but just for one night!

They like polka music .. thankfully asked us 'is our music too loud?'

How would you answer ..??

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 13th March ~ Clarence Town, NSW

It's always a gamble to enjoy something (like fish n chips) one day and then go back for seconds. Well, winners are grinners .. we enjoyed the fish n chips again, this time for lunch. Sooo delicious.

After we'd fed our faces, there was more talk of food. What's for dinner tonight? and come to think of it, what food do we have for the next few days? We didn't fancy a trip back to Coffs, so instead headed south to Nambucca Heads and did bit of a pantry top-up.

Interesting drive along the Pacific Highway - I've never seen this much domination before .. THERE WILL BE NO OVERTAKING HERE ! the safety barrier shouted at us.

 

 

We didn't spend much time in Nambucca Heads, but didn't miss the gigantic (beautiful) mosaic monster in the main street, I don't know how long it is, but it's long ... here's a glimpse (but if you want to see more click on the link).

 

 

 

http://blackdiamondimages.zenfolio.com/nambuccaheadsstreetartmosaic2009/h14C2EEB9#h14c2eeb9

 

As the day drew to an end, we just had to venture out onto the Urunga boardwalk (or footbridge) again - such a brilliant asset to the little area. Loved watching the millions of busy, busy soldier crabs; and

 

other sea creatures

 

 

and of course, the bird life (White-faced Heron)

 

 

There's been a shower of rain every night in Urunga, but the morning brings sunshine. Except for today, it was still raining as the sun came up. Regardless, we kept to our plan of moving on. Didn't know where to, but just move on.

 

Kempsey came into view for our smoko stop. Poor Kempsey people - the evidence of flooding was still everywhere. Everywhere you look, flood debris lodged and at such high levels. Our camps book guided us to 'Riverside Park' and we wondered (worried) what might greet us ... yep, that's debris lodged right up (and over) the roof of the shelter!

 

 

Not ready to call it a day, we travelled on and Taree loomed for lunch. We weaved our way through the roadworks - they're heavily into getting the dual lanes of the freeway/motorway underway. Found the information centre with everything a traveller needs, space to park the big rig, toilets, information and a craft shop!

 

Heavily laden with information and full tummies, we set off for destination still unknown. My co-driver was sifting through the multitudes of info, but fell back to the trusty camps book and found an out-of-the-way park on the Williams River, just north of Newcastle. Well that sounds nice. Co-driver, turned navigator, says turn here and there and well on we go, and go .. up and down narrow (and very rough at times) hillside roads; came upon some roadworks where I think all of the workers thought "what the ... " but we wandered on by with a wave .. anyway, much, later we arrived at Clarence Town on the Williams River. First we had to cross the Williams River - deep breath.. the bridge is only 3 metres wide and is boasted as being the 'oldest surviving timber truss bridge in NSW'. And the sign says 'no passing or overtaking' ... phssst, umm how could you?

 

 

So tonight, we have our very nice, very quiet and out of the way camp. Blissfully resting and sleeping, before heading into the madness of navigating Sydney !!  Well, we looked at going around Sydney, but it's mind boggling, so this may well be my last update. Nah, we'll be right.

 

Tuesday 12 March ~ Urunga, NSW

The plan for staying at Glenreagh was so that we could leave the van for the day and drive up to Dorrigo. But after a chat with the caretaker of the Glenreagh Reserve, we learned that 'up that way there has been falling rocks and landslides due to the rain'. It was good to chat to the caretaker because overhead at least 12 Yellow-tailed Black Cockies were flying over. Very majestic.

Ok, next plan.

After studying the map, the next best place to leave the van for the day and drive up to Dorrigo is Urunga (if only my co-driver could remember the name .. Uralla, Umunga, U something .. you gotta laugh).

The drive to Urunga (just south of Coffs Harbour) was quiet and easy. Being Sunday, and off the main highway, there was little truck traffic, but loads of motorcycles. Urunga is 'the best kept secret on the mid north coast' so don't tell anyone. There's only two caravan parks, so we pulled into the first to be met with a sign 'back soon'. With some time up our sleeve, we thought we'd check out the township and other van park. As fate would have it, it was the better park. First park located on main road, second park located on Kalang River with boardwalk, next to a park and short walk to main street.

On our way to find the other caravan park, we noticed a fish n chip shop and immediately thought mmm that sounds good. Then I remembered we are in NSW and usually the fish is well, not as good as Townsville. But the taste buds won and do you know, it was the best fish n chips we've had in a long while. I know, I hate to say it, but it was, the best batter, the best fish (even though it had the skin on) and crispy chips.

The board walk connects the township to the main surf beach (looking back at the township).

 

 

 

What a fantastic place, the sun shines here.. (just ignor the threatening clouds)

 

 

We set off to Dorrigo (World Heritage) National Park in glorious sunshine, with a cool breeze, enough to want to cover the arms. It was a lovely relaxing scenic drive through lush green paddocks; followed by the scenic but less relaxing, winding road to the top of the mountain to Dorrigo township, where it is essential to visit the bakery that still uses a wood-fired oven.

 

Fueled by our smoko, we ventured into the NP visitors centre and received our instructions for the walk. There are various walks, ranging from the very easy and short, Sky Walk (just don't look down) to the 6.6km full circuit walk.

 

As you can see in the background, the weather was closing in, but we did the full circuit and it was spectacular (even the steep bits). All tracks are sealed with some boardwalks, a suspension bridge, a couple of waterfalls and lots of birds.

 

 

Lee-Anne (who checked us into our walk) commented to us on our return 'Gee, you've been gone for hours'. Our comment to her was 'yes, and we've experienced all the seasons'. As I was browsing over the 'nic nacs' I overheard her repeat our words to other returning walkers.

 

We're enjoying a rest day today and taking advantage of Urunga's stress-free atmosphere and looking forward to indulging in a feed of those fish n chips :)