Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Wet and Windy at Warden Head
Here's one of my favourite lighthouses, Warden Head light near Ulladulla. It was built in 1873 and originally put on the breakwater at the harbour. This turned out to be the wrong location as ships kept hitting the reefs outside Warden Head, 1.5 km south of the harbour, so the lighthouse was moved to the headland in 1879. It is a twin of the lighthouse at Wollongong harbour. These are the only lighthouses in NSW made from riveted iron plates. There is a good sealed road to the lighthouse, so we visit it any time we are in that part of the coast. Our last visit was on a wet, wild day in December and you can see the waves breaking on the shallow reefs. There are deeper reefs further out and these are where ships came to grief. The area is a great whale-watching spot and is packed with people in the season. The cliffs of the headland are full of marine fossils and you can pick samples up where parts of the cliff face have collapsed. Of course you need low tide on a calm day to walk around the rock shelf, not a day like this one.
Labels: lighthouse, New South Wales, south coast
Friday, January 15, 2021
A (brief) Tale Of Two Bridges
They're building a new bridge at Bateman's Bay ("the bay" to us Canberrans). Bateman's Bay is on the Princes Highway, the coastal highway between Sydney and Melbourne. Before the first bridge was built in 1956 the only way for traffic to cross the Clyde river was by ferry. The river is over a kilometer wide at the crossing and the ferry trip took over a quarter of an hour. Peak-time traffic had long waits to cross. The first bridge was built with 5 fixed steel trusses and a lifting span in the middle. The lift span could be raised 75 feet above water level so that coastal shipping could pass up-river. It took about 5 minutes to raise or lower the span, so there were still occasional traffic holdups. Since commercial shipping died away, over the last years the bridge has been raised to let yachts and pleasure craft through. I never saw the bridge raised but Mum has had to wait for ships to pass through several times; she has also been on some cruise boats as they passed through the bridge. The bridge has only 2 lanes for traffic, has strict load limits and requires continuous maintenance, so work on a new bridge started in 2019. The new bridge is built of pre-cast concrete spans. It has 4 traffic lanes and a shared path for cyclists and pedestrians. The bridge structure is 12m above water level so most boats can pass under it. It may be open for traffic in the later months of this year. The Oldies took these pictures in December and they show the differences of the structures pretty well. I can't wait to try the new bridge, but I am sad that the old one will be removed.
Labels: Bateman's Bay, New South Wales, south coast
Sunday, December 20, 2020
The Trees Are Recovering
A year ago most of the east coast forests and ranges of New South Wales were burning. The roads that we use to travel to our favourite places on the south coast were impassable with fires raging all around them and the towns we most visit. Then COVID hit and travel was forbidden or unwise. So last week we finally had the chance to spend 2 days driving down to Batemans Bay and Mollymook (and back home of course). The forests along the roads are still recovering. Australian trees have evolved to cope with bushfires. Some of them actually need fire to germinate their seeds, so after bushfires you see a burst of these plants, mostly shrubs and wattles. Eucalypts have a different strategy. Under their bark they have loads of what the botanists call epicormic buds. These sprout as soon as growing conditions are right and the burnt tree is covered with what looks like a fuzz of leaves. Eventually normal growth of branches resumes. Most of the trees near the roads we travelled were still in this "fuzzy" stage. Some of the taller trees were almost back to normal. The small, dark plants in the clearer undergrowth are examples of some of the oldest plants on Earth; they are Buddawangs, cycads that date back to dinosaur times. Workmen are still clearing dead trees and repairing damaged roadwork. Let's hope that we now have many summers free of bushfires.
Labels: Bateman's Bay, Mollymook, New South Wales, south coast, trees
Friday, May 24, 2019
Beachbears
Whenever we are traveling near the coast, we try to check out as many beaches as time allows. Here are some from our trip down to see Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki. The first photo is across the mouth of Bateman's Bay. Canberrans just call it "The Bay". It is just 1.5 hours drive from Canberra. There are lots of beaches around the bay, some shallow and calm, just great for kids. The second photo is Wimbie beach. The islands in the background are the Tollgates. These mark the entry to the bay, and have colonies of Little Penguins, shearwaters and petrels living on them. Third is the lagoon at the southern end of Narooma Surf Beach. This beach has good surf and spectacular rock formations at each end. The lagoon usually has lots of seabirds in it, but they mush have known I was coming and flew away. We stayed at the Seahorse Inn in Boydtown. This inn was built in the 1840s to service whalers, but was abandoned when the owner went bankrupt. It was renovated in the 1930s and the 50s and is a great place to stay. It is right on the beachfront and the beach is long and wide. Milkshake, Scruffy and I spent hours on this beach. We found a small shrub where we could hide and watch for whales and birds. We also hunted along the tide line for pretty shells and any interesting flotsam that the waves had bought in. A sharp lookout for monster crabs was kept, but none were sighted. I love our beaches, they are bigger and better than any I have seen during my travels around the Pacific islands.
Labels: beach, Eden, New South Wales, south coast
Thursday, May 16, 2019
Backyard Roos
Last week we headed down to the coast for a break away from the Canberra weather. Guess what? The weather down there was colder than the weather at home. Sometimes the Oldies get the timing wrong. One of the reasons for the trip was to call in on Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki to see the new house that they have built on their forest block, just a few kilometres inland from the coast near Eden. You can see photos of how this place looked earlier on in my posts from March 28,2013 and July 10, 2014. Their house is fine, much better than the caravan and tents they were using back then. The best thing, in my opinion, is that their mown grass is a lure for the kangaroos and wallabies that live in the forest behind their block. There were "visitors" all the time we were there, nibbling the grass or sunning themselves in the open areas. The top two are wallabies; I am not sure what sort. They are quite tame because Unka Mark leaves some extra food out for them and you can get quite close to them provided you are quiet and make no sudden moves. The next photos are of Eastern Grey Kangaroos. They are a bit more nervous than the wallabies. If you look closely you can see one of them scratching an itch, a mother with a joey in her pouch and a couple of very young roos. The big male leader of this mob was sunning himself back near the forest edge. You leave big male roos alone as they can get nasty when annoyed. One of the young ones was very curious about what was inside the house and came right up to the door. It is a really special place when native animals share your lawn.
Labels: animals, New South Wales, south coast
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Bateman's Bay Boats
It is miserable weather in Canberra. Mid-winter. Cold, cloudy, foggy and frosty mornings, icy winds blowing straight from Antarctica. Actually there are a few days every so often that are sunny, but the rest of the time I wish I was somewhere warmer. No chance of a holiday trip to warmer climes for months, until the Oldies recover from their health troubles. So here are a couple of photos from last summer, taken at Bateman's Bay, the closest coastal town to Canberra. Boats and water are some of my favourite things. On a clear, calm day like the one in the images boating is absolute pleasure. Mind you, I rather like a bit of rough sea as well; quite a few of my earlier posts show that. So, a fishing trawler and a river tour boat in the top photo and catamaran yachts moored in the lower one. Next trip to the bay I will talk the Oldies into taking me on the river cruise.
Labels: Bateman's Bay, boats, New South Wales, south coast
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Climbs at the Bay
Put a small bear next to an interesting tall object and the bear will inevitably try to climb it. It is even better when the objects are not ones that have been climbed by the bear before. Here are three of the things that I, along with my cobbers Scruffy and Milkshake, found to climb during our weekend at Bateman's Bay. Just outside our cabin there was a palm tree. It looked tall to me but Dad could reach up to the base of the fronds. This was a fairly easy climb, but it had one potential problem. The ease of the climb was due to the fact that the old fronds had been cut off and that left stubs of stem that were almost like steps. Scruff and I could almost walk up like on stairs, but Milky's short legs made it harder for her. The problem was that the cut ends of the fronds had split into hundreds of sharp splinters. That wasn't a problem for us critters, but Dad got lots of jabs and scratches when he found us and hauled us back inside. In the park by the river was a strange seat. It was a plank that was set into a rock that looked like some strange bird's head. Not a difficult climb for our experienced crew. The other climb, that only I was game to try, was up the side of a highway patrol car. I always wanted to have my photo taken on one of these, and I am sure the policeman wouldn't mind. And the best thing about climbing things at the coast; they put you well out of reach of those pesky crabs.
Labels: Bateman's Bay, climbing, crabs, New South Wales, south coast
Friday, February 13, 2015
Beaches Near "The Bay"
Here are three of the beaches we visited during our weekend at Bateman's Bay. They are quite different from each other. The top left photo shows Tomakin Bay in the foreground and the long sweep of Broulee beach and Broulee Island in the background. These beaches are good for kids, the waves are usually fairly calm because the rock reef protects Tomakin beach and the island protects Broulee. For big surfing waves, visit the beach in the top right photo. This is Barling's Beach, just to the north of Tomakin. In fact, the top pictures were taken from the lookout at Melville Point; one to the south, one to the north. The bottom pictures are of Guerilla Bay. This is one of the best places for snorkeling on the south coast. As you can see, it is totally protected by headlands; safe for beginners and even the Oldies can enter and leave the water without much trouble. I thought the signpost at the road junction had a spelling mistake and I was looking for large apes in the forest. Dad explained what a guerilla was and I looked for terrorists but the only fighting I saw was an argument about who got to the last car park spot first.
Labels: Bateman's Bay, beach, New South Wales, south coast
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Cabin at the Bay
Last weekend we headed off for a break away from Canberra. We went to the closest bit of coast, Bateman's Bay. It is only a 2 hour drive from home. We stayed in a large cabin at the Coach House Marina Resort. It was a good spot to stay because the small critters, i.e. Scruffy, Milkshake and me, had places where we could just sit and watch the boats. Our cabin was right next to the exit from the boat ramp pool, so we could see lots of boats from the veranda rail. For a closer look we could just move to the concrete block fence. I tried to take photos of some interesting boats, but they moved too fast and trees got in the road. No crabs got anywhere near us this time; just as well for them as Scruff and I are now experienced small crab wranglers. Mind you, some fuss was caused by a couple of large Bush Cockroaches that came in one night and barely escaped the Wrath-of-Mum (that means that Dad was too slow to catch and dispatch them). We had brilliant weather and visited many beaches. The south coast beaches are among the best in the world and I will post some photos of some of them tomorrow.
Labels: Bateman's Bay, beach, boats, crabs, New South Wales, south coast
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Weekend With Unka Mark & Aunty Vicki
Wondering where I've been for the last couple of weeks? Well, winter has hit Canberra in a big way. It's sub-zero Celcius when we get up to take Mum to work and it hasn't got above 10 degrees C for weeks. What do bears do when the temperature drops that far? Big bears hibernate and that's what I've been trying to do too. However, when the Oldies decided to visit Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki ( M and V) to see how work on their block down near Eden was progressing I had to go too. No small bear would ever pass up the chance of a road trip. You can see that there has been a bulldozer at work, getting the foundation for a big shed ready. Actually, the concrete floor was poured on Tuesday so there should be a barn there when we next visit. The night sky is really dark there because the nearest towns are around 30 kilometers away. We tried out our new telescope and it worked fine. On Saturday Unka Mark drove us all out to Green Cape lighthouse, one of my favourites. The last time the Oldies drove there the road was an absolute nightmare but this time M and V's big 4-wheel drive had no problem with it. We spent some time looking for seals and whales but they were somewhere else. And it was almost as cold down there as it is here. I'm not sure that I like winter.
Labels: Eden, family, lighthouse, south coast
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Watching For Wildlife
When I am at the beach I like to see all of the critters that live there. Most of them are much smaller than me, so I feel safe looking for them. Any big ones I leave for the Oldies to deal with. Here are photos of me stalking the (small) denizens of Mollymook beach, just like my wildlife hero Sir David Attenbearough. You can find lots of small critters living in and under seaweed. My favourites are sand fleas. These aren't bitey fleas, they are called fleas because they can jump huge distances for such tiny things. They live in the sand and eat the washed up seaweed and dead things. Of course, it is wise to have a large rock nearby so that you can quickly climb up out of the way of bigger waves. My long-time readers will remember that I don't like crabs. Well, I have reached the stage where small ones don't worry me so much. After all, I am bigger than they are and can run faster. I find that the best way to get them to come out of their hole so that you can see them is to poke a stick down the hole and sometimes they will grab it and you can haul them out. It is kind of like crab-fishing. The little ones at Mollymook are almost the same colour as the sand and are much more scared of me than I am of them. You can spend hours investigating beach and rock pool critters.
Labels: beach, climbing, crabs, south coast
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Back to the Beach !!
We spent the weekend at Mollymook, down on the south coast. The Oldies needed a mini-break and the beach is always the best for that. Now, just look at the beach. It is high tide and at low tide the sand is over twice as wide between the grass and the water. The sand is fine and deep. Makes Waikiki look a bit second-rate doesn't it ? The beach here is over 2 Km long and has rocky headlands at each end. There is a large rock platform at the southern end and it has lots of pretty rock pools full of sea life. Unfortunately it is under those waves you can see breaking at the end of the beach and you can only get there at low tide so I didn't make it this trip. Next time I will check the tide tables before the Oldies book accommodation. However, Mum actually let me get almost wet. She carried me down to just past the edge of the area where the waves were coming to and let me bounce over the waves. Maybe next trip she will let me go in on my own, or maybe she might drop me. I really would like to swim in the surf like Dad does.
Labels: beach, New South Wales, south coast
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Old Vehicles at Oaklands
Last weekend we went down to Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki's bush block near Pambula to help them mow the long grass. There is a great cafe and garden centre called "Oaklands" in Pambula and we called in there for lunch on the way home. While the Oldies were having lunch I wandered off to inspect the collection of old vehicles. The first thing you see is a big sign that says kids have to be kept under control. It didn't say anything about small bears, so I didn't worry about it and had a ball climbing over everything. The car is a Rugby. Dad knew about that brand, but nobody else did; I guess his age shows. The sign on the windscreen forbids people from sitting or climbing on the car but, again, small bears were not mentioned. They weren't mentioned on the sign on the old stagecoach either. Actually, the sign on the coach looks like it may have been written by a small bear. Click on the image to make it bigger and take a look at the spelling :) As for the wagon near the windmill, I just say that climbing on it was a real barrel of fun (or maybe bearall of fun). I love old vehicles, especially when nobody is around to stop me investigating them.
Labels: climbing, family, New South Wales, south coast
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Going Bush With Mark & Vicki
We are just back from a few days at Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki's new place down the south coast. They have bought a block of bushland a few kilometers inland from the coast near Eden and they intend to live there when they retire. At present they take a caravan down when they stay there. It is a very pretty spot with a big clear area on a ridge where they can build a house, a big shed, a garden and a chook pen, and there is lots of forest too. In fact their block is bounded by a State Forest, so there are lots of animals and birds around. We took one special animal down with us. Any "farm" needs a cow, so we took my friend Gracita (pronounced Grass-Eater) down to christen the block. You can see Grassy and I "hanging around" on Aunty Vicki's clothesline; it was fun until somebody spun it. Of course Dad and Unka Mark had to go one better, so they strung a long rope from a tree branch and used a shoe bag and a clamp to make a flying-fox that we could zoom down. That experiment came to a halt when Dad pointed out some spider holes in the ground where they were standing. We think they were wolf spider tunnels. The Old Guys then wandered off into the bush to see what else they could find. I love the block and hope we go down there often.
Labels: family, New South Wales, south coast
Friday, October 26, 2012
I'm 10 !!!
I have just had the bestest birthday a small bear could possibly have. I turned 10 years old on Monday, but the party was not until Wednesday. A bit mean of the Oldies to keep me waiting, but they did it in style for me. The Oldies, Scruffy, Milkshake, Blu, Darcy and I all went down to a great place called Bannisters at Mollymook, on the south coast. We had a beaut room with a balcony looking out to sea. You could actually see whales swimming past on their way south for the summer. I saw a mother whale and her calf just off the edge of the cliff. But birthdays are all about presents and there were two parcels there with my name on them. A joint effort by all us small critters quickly ripped the wrappings away and guess what we found? A camo tent big enough for us all fit into and a kit of the 15th century Da Vinci catapult! The tent was placed out on the balcony and we spent the rest of the 2-day break watching for whales. Dad and I are building the catapult right now. Birthdays are fantastic for kids and small bears.
Labels: family, New South Wales, south coast
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The Cave Of Homeless Bears
We went down to Mogo today to stock up on craft gear from our favourite shop, Amanda's. The road from Canberra to the coast has a fairly steep section called Clyde Mountain and near the top of this hill is the cave of homeless bears. Near one of the sharp corners is a small cave. Years ago, around 40 of them according to Dad, somebody painted the name "Pooh Corner" above the cave. The name comes from the stories about that well-known bear, Pooh. Over the years people going down to the coast have left the occasional teddy bear in the cave. The name has been made official and there is a permanent metal sign there now. It even shows on Mum's iPhone. I thought it would be kind of romantic to be living free in a cave with other runaway bears, so I stopped in to visit them. You can see me sitting with Piglet just to the top left of the cave. There were dozens of small bears in the cave and climbing the rocks near the entrance. But most of them were in sorry condition; damp, slightly mouldy, smelly, and some of them had even been nibbled by foxes and rodents. I feel really sorry for these poor relatives and am really glad to be living in a nice warm house with Oldies that look after me.
Labels: Canberra, New South Wales, south coast
Friday, July 27, 2012
Wild and Windy Wollongong
We are just back from a short trip to Kiama and Wollongong. The weather was not what we always hope it will be when we travel. In fact, it was wild. The wind was strong and it rained most of the time. The trip was not a waste of time though. Wild weather at the coast means rough seas and that makes for spectacular pictures. Here's one of the harbour at Wollongong. You can see waves coming in between the two breakwalls, and a big wave crashing over the one nearest to us. I could watch wild waves for hours.
Labels: New South Wales, south coast
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Island Dwellers
Montague Island is home to lots of different birds and animals. The day I was there I saw gulls, terns, penguins, seals and lizards. The birds in this photo are crested terns. These birds can be found all around the warmer parts of the southern oceans. They nest on Montague Island in the summer and raise their chicks. Some stay there all year round. The chick in the picture is almost ready to leave home and do his own thing. You can see he is nearly as big as the parent and has his adult feathers. This is one of the last times he will have a fish bough back for him; it's time he learned to catch his own.
The seals in the bottom photo are expert fishermen. While I was trying to catch fish they swam around the boat and if I wasn't quick enough they would snatch my fish off the line. Of course they usually hunt and catch their own, but they go for easy pickings as well. You can see that they like their rest. Between feeds they just lie around on the rocks and soak up sun. If you have ever been in a bird colony and think the smell was bad, just wait until you are downwind of a seal colony and you will know what really stinks. We had seals swimming all around the boat as well and they are really the most superb swimmers. Someday I want to swim with them.
Labels: animals, birds, New South Wales, south coast
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Upmarket Penguin Lodgings
Not all of the penguins on Montague Island live in burrows or small caves. The rangers have an ongoing battle with kikuyu grass which has been choking the island vegetation and making it difficult for penguins to burrow through it. They are slowly managing to eradicate the grass. One thing that they tried to make it easier for the penguins was to place nesting boxes around the island to see if the penguins would use them instead of trying to dig through the tough grass. Well, some did and lots didn't. One of the ones that did has claimed the top real estate deal on the island. Not just a box. This penguin apartment seems to have central heating and TV, if the structures on the roof are to be believed. His apartment is just to the side of the track between the jetty and the lighthouse so he gets lots of visitors. Lucky Ralph.
Labels: birds, lighthouse, New South Wales, south coast
Montague Island Quarry
All of the rock needed to build the Montague Island lighthouse came from this one big granite outcrop at the top of the island, just over 100 metres from the tower site. You can see the drill marks in the face of the rock where explosives were set to split the rock. Near the main rock there are small piles of roughly squared rock left over from the material needed for the tower. If you look carefully around and under these left-over rocks you can find some interesting things. When I was there a mother crested tern was watching us and making a great noise. The reason was that she had a nest and a chick on one of the rocks. Underneath another rock a little penguin was nesting. Normally penguins nest in burrows in the soil down among the vegetation. This one obviously prefers the security of a good solid roof and walls. There are no cats, dogs or rats on the island so she is quite safe in her stone house.
Labels: birds, lighthouse, New South Wales, south coast
Montague Island is home to lots of different birds and animals. The day I was there I saw gulls, terns, penguins, seals and lizards. The birds in this photo are crested terns. These birds can be found all around the warmer parts of the southern oceans. They nest on Montague Island in the summer and raise their chicks. Some stay there all year round. The chick in the picture is almost ready to leave home and do his own thing. You can see he is nearly as big as the parent and has his adult feathers. This is one of the last times he will have a fish bough back for him; it's time he learned to catch his own.
Not all of the penguins on Montague Island live in burrows or small caves. The rangers have an ongoing battle with kikuyu grass which has been choking the island vegetation and making it difficult for penguins to burrow through it. They are slowly managing to eradicate the grass. One thing that they tried to make it easier for the penguins was to place nesting boxes around the island to see if the penguins would use them instead of trying to dig through the tough grass. Well, some did and lots didn't. One of the ones that did has claimed the top real estate deal on the island. Not just a box. This penguin apartment seems to have central heating and TV, if the structures on the roof are to be believed. His apartment is just to the side of the track between the jetty and the lighthouse so he gets lots of visitors. Lucky Ralph.
All of the rock needed to build the Montague Island lighthouse came from this one big granite outcrop at the top of the island, just over 100 metres from the tower site. You can see the drill marks in the face of the rock where explosives were set to split the rock. Near the main rock there are small piles of roughly squared rock left over from the material needed for the tower. If you look carefully around and under these left-over rocks you can find some interesting things. When I was there a mother crested tern was watching us and making a great noise. The reason was that she had a nest and a chick on one of the rocks. Underneath another rock a little penguin was nesting. Normally penguins nest in burrows in the soil down among the vegetation. This one obviously prefers the security of a good solid roof and walls. There are no cats, dogs or rats on the island so she is quite safe in her stone house.