Up close and personal with some kangaroos

After Sunday I was even more sunburned on the back of the neck and around the shoulders where my blouse hadn't covered the skin.  In fact it formed lots of blisters so I kept out of the sun for Monday except for a walk around the Village site.  The people who erect the big tents that we had our meetings in for Camp came and took down the vinyl coverings and we watched them take them down on the tent nearest us.  They are all 20 metres x 40 metres so it is quite a procedure and interesting to watch.

On Tuesday we drove to Cooma, where my Great Aunt used to live.  I wanted to have a look at her house, and to visit the lolly shop that is quite well renowned.  Sadly though the lolly shop closed down last week so no sweet treat for us.

However I wanted to buy some thread and called in at a fabric store - isn't it wonderful how these still exist in small towns?  They are a dying breed in big cities I'm afraid.  While getting the thread I also saw some pretty Christmas fabrics in fat quarters that I will use for a Christmas project sometime.

That afternoon we walked up to the outdoor chapel on the hill above the village.  This is a wonderful setting, not too strenuous a climb up the hill and with nice views.

Outdoor chapel on the hillside

Looking out from the chapel, Lake Eucambine in the distance on the left

Peter was experimenting with his macro lens 

Then we wandered around the chalets (there are 12 of these)

Some of the chalets overlooking the whole area

and came across part of the mob of kangaroos again - about 20 of them this time. This young one was really sweet.

On the way back to our van it started to rain, and that continued steadily all night and most of yesterday (Wednesday).   We had a lazy day while it was teeming but it stopped in late afternoon and we went for a wander around the main lodge, along all the dormitories the again around the chalets.  Then we went down on the large green where we had the Fair on Sunday and tried to get some photos of the kangaroos down there.  They kept scattering so we couldn't get them all together.

So what are you doing down here with us?

I'll just keep washing my face and pretend I can't see you.

The alpaccas came to the fence to visit in the afternoon, and at dusk Peter was sitting in a chair under our caravan awning, when a very large buck (male roo) decided that he wanted to chew on the nice green grass in front of the van.  He was about 6 feet away from Peter and quite unconcerned about his presence.  These are the Eastern grey kangaroos, not the big red ones we have in central Australia but this buck was large.  I certainly wouldn't want to tangle with him!  We had the door open and Marilyn and I watched him while he ate his fill.  During the night we had more roo visitors and they left their calling cards on the green mesh we have outside the van.  We love having the wildlife around us, and it is probably good news that the wombat that was recuperating in one of the storm water pipes is now well enough to move on, even if it is disappointing that we haven't seen him.  This is a lovely place to stay and I think we'll stay on again after next year's big camp.

Sunday and a visit to Charlotte's Pass

On Sunday we watched almost everyone pack up and leaver, and when we had the place almost to ourselves we moved the caravan up near our friends' van, putting it at right angles so we have a nice area to congregate.

Then after lunch we set off for Charlotte's Pass, another ski resort place in winter.  Our directions said to take the road through Perisher Valley, and at the end of the road is Charlotte's Pass.  So that's what we did and so did many other people - the parking area was full and lots of cars were parked up and down the road.  But there weren't many people in sight - most were hiking off along the long tracks to different places.  We just went a few hundred feet up the hill to the lookout.  From there we could see several mountains in the distance and we took several shots that I will eventually put together for a panoramic scene if I can.  For here I will show them individually and reduced in resolution.

From this distance the mountains don't look very big but the one  second from the left in the top photo is Australia's highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko.  At 2228 metres  (7,309 feet) it isn't Everest by any means but it's our highest.  Our mountain ranges are said to be very old and worn down.

The  snow gums are all twisted and gnarled with the pressure from wind and snow.  Their trunks have a lovely striated pattern on them, and when they are damp and the sun is shining on them they are beautiful.

On our way back down towards Jindabyne, we stopped at part of the Snowy River Scheme to look at a huge surge chimney.  It wasn't very attractive but the view itself was, with a good outlook over part of the huge Lake Eucambine formed when they flooded the area to form the catchment for the Scheme.

This is just a tiny bit of Lake Eucambene.  Whole villages were flooded to make this water catchment area

Pretty scene - glimpse of the lake through the snow gums.

There were two white-backed magpies singing away in part of one of the gums there.  Their song was beautiful as they carolled away.

Further on we stopped at this area to take more photos of the little streams that chuckle along and eventually form the mighty Snowy River.

This is part of the early section of the Snowy River- the sound it makes it so peaceful

There are hillsides covered with silver trees that shine brilliantly in the sunshine.  They are where a bushfire has obviously gone through and killed a lot of them, though many are showing signs of new green growth.

 Among the native plants and flowers was a fair bit of Patterson's Curse.  It is a pretty flower, brought out to Australia by early British settlers to remind them of home.  But it has become a noxious weed here in Australia.  Shame.

Patterson's Curse - a pretty flower but a noxious weed in Australia.  Brought out by early British settlers to remind them of home.

There were lots of these alpine daisies - can you see the tiny butterfly on the one on the right?  It is about the size of my thumbnail.

These pretty bell-shaped flowers are also tiny, about the size of a fingernail.

As we entered the Village again on our return a mob of around 40 kangaroos was grazing all along the road in.  They are used to people and just stood and looked at us as we passed, except for one little joey which hopped into its mother's pouch and hid.  It is always comical to see their little legs sticking out of the pouch and the rest of them hidden.   But eventually after a couple of tries this little one was able to get its legs inside too.  No photos of this particular one but I have lots of others because there are kangaroos everywhere here at the village and we see many of them every day.

More to tell you, later.

Holiday in the Snowy Mountains

Well here we are again at the Adventist Alpine Village at Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains.  Of course being in Australia it is summer at the moment and it hasn't got cold enough for snow - though it often can do so.  And the long-range weather prediction was for cold weather so, in the 41degC heat we were experiencing in Sydney before we left, I was trying to pack warm clothes - it nearly did my head in choosing winter clothing when I had perspiration running down my face and dripping off my nose whenever I moved!  As it has turned out, I haven't needed much in the way of warm clothes after all.

We came away to the South New South Wales Conference Big Camp - our church has divided Australia up into nine areas called Conferences for administrative purposes.  We live in the Greater Sydney area, but that conference doesn't hold Camps any more so this is the second time we've attended South New South Wales (SNSW) Camp.  It is quite a small camp, only about 700 attending this year so there is plenty of chance to meet people from other churches and get to know them or to catch up again with people we've met before.

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This is a view of part of the campground from Round Hill, which is the hill that some of the campground is set on.  Our friend Richard took this photo when they climbed to the top of the hill one morning.  I haven't climbed it yet because I haven't done much walking this year  - been really lazy since I had surgery in December 2014.  I hope to climb up there before we leave though and you will probably hear my shouts of triumph when I do - that's if I have any breath left at all.  The altitude is affecting my breathing a bit.

Here is an overview of one side of the camp.  The large tent on the left is where all the adult meetings were held, the one on the right is the teen tent.  Tents for youth,  juniors, primary, kindergarten and cradle roll were in other places.

Closer view, showing the tennis court - our friends were camped on the left corner of the tennis court and we are third to the right of the tennis court.

In the paddock behind the tennis court there are alpacas, and often several little ponies.  If you continue  to the right down the road above you come to another paddock with a pond on it, and the next paddock has some horses.

And of course there are kangaroos - they come around the camp at night and one night I saw one hopping along near the big tent even while there were still several hundred people in there.  He stopped and looked in through the door as though curious about what was going on.  I wished I had had my phone with me that night to take a photo but it was probably too dark.

It's quite a steep climb to the lodge where they have meals.  We bought lunch each day so I had some  good exercise climbing that hill each day.  Here is a view looking at the main lodge complex from the road (photos from the internet) and I've already showed you photos of inside that complex a couple of years ago.

Front of main lodge, central section

Lodge showing dining room and kitchen on left of main section

The lodge has three stories, with dining room, kitchen, office, lounge and a multi-purpose room on the ground floor, a large lounge/conference room on the first floor and a small prayer room on the third floor.  That's where the youth hang out during camp - it sounds good to say to their parents 'we're going to the prayer room' but it is really a hang-out spot for them ;)

To the right of the central area is a long line of dormitary-type rooms, and a camp kitchen at the end.  There are also some chalets on the rise overlooking the camp area in the photos above.  Here are some of them.

We arrived on Friday 15th January and set up in time for the evening meal and opening Sabbath meeting.  Sabbath was an enjoyable day with two Pastors being ordained in the afternoon, then a social evening that night.

On Sunday it was Village Fun Fair time and down on the village square as it is called, were numerous booths or tents set up with lots to do.  There was an especially long line at the place where you could throw tennis balls at a mark set on a wire background and if it hit hard enough a bucket of icy water was tipped onto the volunteer sitting on the chair below.  The long line was composed of people who wanted to be dunked as well as those who wanted to try and dunk them :)

Our son Nathan and I tried on some of the props at the photography tent and our friend took some photos of us, we didn't have the photographer take them because there was a line-up for that too, though the official photographer who was taking shots for the Conference news magazine took some too.

What about this hat Nathan?

The glasses add a nice touch

These glasses are hard to keep on your nose!

 We also had a couple of goes on the hay-ride, which was fun especially when the trailer went over the rocks on the side of the narrow track.

there was a tent there selling the most delicious ice-creams, milkshakes and spiders for a very low sum and huge slices of watermelon for a song too.  The watermelon was grown organically just down the road and it was one of the nicest I've had this season.

After the day of activities we all found we were sunburned despite putting on sunscreen.  The altitude here makes it much easier to get burned, apparently.

The week following was full of meetings, socializing and enjoyment.  We bought lunch each day and enjoyed the delicious food - so nice not to have to  cook your main meal for the day.  Then we just had something light for teatime.

We are staying on here after Camp finishes, to have a bit of a holiday.  I am hoping to do some walking around the area to see it in the summertime.  We've visited the snowfields during winter, years ago, but of course things look so different when they are bare of snow.

Epilogue - an eventful trip home!

Life is never boring for us at least.  Boring would be good.  Boring would be much, much less expensive!  As I said, boring would be good.

We set off from Stuart's point on Thursday and got as far as our younger daughter Kirstie's place.   It was a great evening with her and her family - her husband was home from work, and her four precious children were very excited to see us.  They had been waiting for our arrival.  Her family has our youngest and oldest grandsons and our only two granddaughters and they are growing up far, far too fast.  We had booked into a  caravan park for the night even though Kirstie thought we'd be able to park in the driveway of their new house.  She was correct, we could have but it would have been quite a hassle setting up electricity and water.  It is easier at the caravan park.  They had visitors too, a couple they have become friends with and the wife's parents who were over from Singapore.  The parents were very interested to see how people lived in a house, because they were used to apartment living in Singapore.  Kirstie put on a lovely dinner and we had a great evening then came back the next morning to spend more time with the family.

We wanted to also call in to see a friend on the way home.  She only lives a couple of hours from Kirstie, and we stopped at Cessnock which is quite near Cooranbong where she lives.  After spending Friday night and Saturday there we were ready to set off on Sunday morning, went to start the car and - nothing.  The starter motor wouldn't turn over.

We called the NRMA, the roadside assistance and while we were waiting for them we took some photos of these Eastern Rosellas, which were having a great time on the grass opposite us.

The NRMA mechanic arrived in fairly good time, and he just tapped the starter motor and it started fine.  Something loose, he said. So we figured that we'd still visit our friend and just give it another tap when the time came to start up again, if we had problems.  So off we went and had a great time with our friend Karen.

But poor thing, she got more than she bargained for when we came to visit!  Time to go, Peter said (at 2.30).  Okay, and off we went.  All settled in the car, turned the key - nothing.  Tapped the starter motor - nothing.  Tried again - nothing.  Called the NRMA again, the mechanic arrived and gave the verdict - the starter motor was dead.  Whatever was just loose before was now totally broken.   So they called for a tow truck - but because there are three of us it had to have a dual cab instead of just an ordinary towtruck, so that the three of us would fit into it.

Finally it arrived - at 6pm.  He lives at Stockton Beach, on the northern edge of  Newcastle, over 60 kms away but had come from another job in Newcastle proper.  He hoisted our car onto the rear of the truck and hooked the caravan behind and towed us all the way home to our place - 127kms.  We have a premium level of membership with the NRMA so it is free, thank goodness.  We just used our eTag for the tollway because that isn't covered by the NRMA.  This morning we called them again and another tow truck came and took our car to the autoelectrician.  A new starter motor is not an inexpensive item ;-(

So - as I said, boring would be great!  This trip we've had the awning and annexe damaged and now need a new starter motor.  So it has been quite eventful.   We are grateful however, that it didn't start at our friend's house then decide not to start when we stopped at the service station a few kilometres away to fill the car with diesel.  Imagine how popular we would have been if we'd broken down at the only diesel pump and blocked  the way through :-)

It was a slow trip home in lots of rain, a late night to bed and I woke up at 5am.  Thankfully it is fine and sunny today and I have been feeding our washing machine continuously all day.  Then I will tackle the pile of minis that my nephew has piled haphazardly onto the lounge 'so that he could do some housework' and see how many of them are damaged!  So far I've found two.    But the first thing I did last night was to open the five parcels waiting for me: some kits from Petite Properties, some furniture for the Fairfield, some fabrics and two absolutely gorgeous dolls that I had commissioned.  But you'll have to read the Fairfield blog to see all of those - when I get the energy ;-)
Blessings
Sandie

Last day at Stuarts Point - and something a bit different for you

The last day here at this lovely place and I feel really sad.  I wish it was the start of a big trip for us as it is for so many of the campers here.  The people opposite for example are heading off around Australia for a year or maybe two, depending on how they feel.  They are fortunate indeed.  But we have our Tasmanian trip next year to look forward to!

I have something a bit different for you this time - sorry it's so amateurish!  I wandered around this morning with my little camera taking a video of the bird calls.  It's not the best quality but it does give an idea of what I mean.  Please pardon the wobbly photography - I am not the steadiest of people when it comes to taking a video!  Just fast forward when it gets boring. I also call my son Nathan to say g'day, and Peter too and there's another short one later on where I say goodbye , although my grandson tells me that it's not what I really sound like :-)  Thank goodness for that, is all I can say lol!  I have since found out that 75 different varieties of birds have been identified on the campground, and 5 species of birds and animals that are 'at risk' are happily living there.  It has taken me several days to get blogger to accept this video - I shortened it and had to teach myself how to do that, then teach myself how to save it in a different format.  Finally, it took over an hour for it to upload, so I had to wait until I had time for it to do that.  Whew!

In case you happen to wonder about the 'stuff' around our caravan, we were drying things out ready to pack them away.

Peter and I also drove over to Stuart's Point and as we arrived a chap was cleaning some fish opposite a caravan park there.  As if by magic a whole group of pelicans arrived from the sandbank way downriver and I took heaps of video of them carrying on while waiting for him to throw them some scraps, as well as some still photos.  I love this shot of one of them coming in for a landing.

Some of them came quite close to us, eyeing us off to see whether we had anything tasty to offer.  One in particular came really close to me and he was a good 4 foot tall, edging closer and closer.  A bit too close for comfort in fact, considering that huge bill of his!

We then walked back to this footbridge and over it.  On the other side is a track to yet another beach, but by this time I was weary.

It's quite a long way over the bridge.  Before camp I could barely walk around the house, so I've made great progress.

We enjoyed having lunch with our friends back at the caravan.  We're the last two campers left in the park now and we watched the caretaker and his assistant move all the vans that were still here, with a forklift.  We were intrigued - they hook the fork under the A-frame at the front and drive off in reverse, towing the van.  Those that are stored there are put in a large area at the rear of the campground and those that are being picked up soon are placed in another area ready.

Later in the afternoon, Marilyn and I took a long walk around the campground.  There are 7 long avenues for caravans and the same for tents, plus a lot of unpowered sites as well.  So it was a long walk.  I was really tired by the time we got back!  But our walk gave us the opportunity to have a talk to Neil, the Caretaker and have some questions answered, especially about the caravans and wildlife.

Now to say farewell for this trip have have another very short video for you.  Really unglamourous too - well, I am still in holiday mode after all :-) but heartfelt nevertheless.  Even if I did have to guess where to aim the camera - not as easy as it is with a video camera.

Hope you'll visit next holiday - cheerio!
Blessings
Sandie

The birds have it!

 I keep thinking I must take a video with sound on my camera, and put it on the blog because all the birdsong is just lovely.  Our kookaburra friend still comes to visit each day, and several of them greet the morning at around 6am with lots of laughter.  One of them was sitting on an electrical pole today, where the vans connect their cords.  We said hello and he promptly turned his back - he does that a lot.

 There is also a pair of Tawny Frogmouths in a tree nearby and they have been there all camp.  They move around a little bit but not much.  You can hear them at night.

There are also a lot of fruit bats (also called flying foxes) in the trees, and their squeaks and sounds can be heard a lot at night because they are nocturnal.

Yesterday (Monday) one lot of our friends went home.  We took this group photo before they left.  From left to right it is Marilyn, her husband Rick behind, then moi  with Nathan beside me and Peter hidden behind Nathan, then Leona and Ian.  Leona is holding Pebbles, who is the dearest little dog - so placid and friendly.

After Leona and Ian (and Pebbles) left, Marilyn and I sat in the sun and I did a fair bit of stitching while she read.  After lunch we all came into our caravan and had a huge discussion about our Tasmanian trip. We've decided we'll try and book to leave on 2nd February from Melbourne and return on April 30th.  The list of places we want to see is growing minute by minute so both couples will do more research, consult another pair of friends who know heaps about Tassie (Laraine grew up there and they return frequently to visit her mother) and we'll gradually refine our itinerary.  Which will remain flexible anyway, apart from needing to be back in time to catch the ferry back to Melbourne at the end.  We've already decided that we'll probably have to go back another time because we'll not be there in time to see the wonderful lavender farms in December or the wildflowers in October.

Today we went to Scotts Head, which again is close by.  The headland is fringed by several beaches.  We stopped to have a look at Scotts Head beach and as we walked towards it we saw these lovely murals on the public toilets and showers at the top of the beach.  They have been there for 12 years and still look pristine.

This was the largest one, being about 8 ft long by 5 or 6 ft tall.  What do you see in the main figure?  A wave? A nautilus shell? A whale? A seal? A lizard? Or.......

These next ones were about 4 ft long by 3ft high, I think - we've had some discussion about measurements so I wouldn't swear in court about them :)

 And I think that this last one was about a metre on each side.

 The beach is a long one but again showed signs that it had suffered in the torrential rain last week.  It looked as though some of it had been washed away and there was debris on it.

Marilyn and I walked to the end (the opposite end to that shown in the photo above) and there was a lot of debris caught up against the rocks at that end.  Being me, I couldn't help taking my usual type of photos as I went:  I love shells, always take photos of shells and seagulls when we're at the beach (it's a signature of my scrapbooking pages)

 And I love taking photos of odd things - bits of driftwood like this

Or some of the flotsam that was caught up  like this section of quite a large fishing net that was mostly firmly buried in the sand

 In amongst the timber and other flotsam was this Old Man Banksia cone

 When I'm scrapbooking I often print out this sort of photo, crop it and use them as accent points on the page.  I like to sometimes have a frame border with a series of squares cut out and place such pictures in it.

We walked up onto a park above the beach and there was this unusual table, with even more mosaic work.  Note the 'tail' and the front 'fins' on the table that form the legs.

 Each of the seats had a different design

 And the design on the table was really attractive.  I had to take it in 3 sections and I don't know how to stitch photos together yet.

And of course now I can't get them to line up across the page either - and even if I did they wouldn't do so when I publish the page anyway!  So I hope it gives an idea of what it is like.

After I took lots of photos of the waves crashing on the rocks below at the edge of the headland, we walked up some quite steep steps to a lookout.  Apparently (we learned later) it is a great spot to watch dolphins.  Nathan didn't want to walk up the steep track to the top of the headland - fair enough, he would have needed a lot of support.  Peter walked up to the top then I did too, and took a photo of some of the tiny native violets snuggled in amongst the other growth.  They are only little but I really love them - I've bought a heap of them from the nursery and am trying hard to get them growing around my jacaranda tree at home but they are having a hard time because our grandchildren trample all over them when they climb the tree.  Here are some that were growing in areas with enough light to photograph them today.

And here are some that Peter picked for me to press for my scrapbook page (it isn't a National Park so it should have been okay to pick them - I hope!)

At the top of the headland, we looked out over Little Beach on the other side.  Again, damage from the rain was evident.  Some of the sand had just given away above the beach and the seating that had been there was upturned on the beach.

Returning to the car, we found a nice restaurant and had a delicious lunch: A stack with kumara, pumpkin, capsicum, baby spinach, tomato, beetroot, carrot and reduced balsamic dressing.  Yum-meee! Followed by freshly squeezed juice: beetroot, orange, celery, apple, carrot and ginger, served over ice.  Very tasty - I'm going to try and reproduce it at home.

In the carpark I had to take another of my 'texture' photos.  This time it was of a paperbark tree.  You can see why it is called a paperbark.  The bark consists of fine, almost translucent layers.  I held the camera up to the hole and took photos into it to see if anything was living in there but no-one was home at the time.

 Driving back into Macksville we did some shopping then on the way back to the caravan park we stopped to take a photo of this Queenslander house.

It's quite low-set as Queenslanders go, but a nice example of one nevertheless.  If you've read my blogs a bit you'll know that I have a fondness for this type of architecture, found in north New South Wales and as the name suggests, in Queensland.

Traditionally they are set high, to allow air to circulate underneath for coolness.  Today, with the widespread use of air conditioners, many are closed in downstairs to double the living space.  Previously they provided a cool place below, a place to dry the washing in the wet tropical weather, and somewhere for the children to play plus a myriad of other functions.

The wide verandahs - often as much as 12 feet- provided shade from the harsh tropical sun and a cool place to sit or to sleep at night.  Typically a hallway goes from the front door straight through to the back door to allow a through breeze, with rooms going off each side.  These rooms often have french doors allowing access to the verandahs.

All in all this style of architecture is not only practical but attractive.  And one day I will make one of these houses in miniature.  Quarter scale of course.

Tomorrow is our last day.  I might just try and capture that bird song to cheer me when I'm back in the bustle of the traffic outside our house.
Blessings
Sandie