More wildlife

We were on a country road, Warren had gone off into the bush, this time on his own. We usually went together but my phone was charging and it was only only to be a short stop. I was checking the next stop and J got a sense of coming coming up to the window. I thought at first it was a person but no it was these cattle looming up to see what was happening.

The local Wildlife

We set up the caravan at the showgrounds and after dinner, decided to visit the local maccas for dessert. It is just at the top of the road about 600  metres away so we walked.

The top road is very busy but the road to the showgrounds runs out there and tbere is only one house along the road.

These were out in the paddock, seems to be good pickings for them, a  mob of about six or seven.

This little one was much closer and interested to see what we were doing. The big buck to the left, I would guess that he would stand about six foot or 180cms or so.

Ayers Rock

Its great to see familar things at times. We were looking for a service centre to fuel up and I was surprised that there were very few. Could take a byroad into a township but we didnt really want to do that unless we had to.

Finally we see the familar blue sign with the fuel pump sign and toilets and crossed knife and fork in 2 kms. Good, fuel and eats bonus.

Oh no, we have been there before many years ago and we remember that it wasnt very clean and there were lots of flies.  We pulled in anyway as it would only be a short stop.

Yay, it had improved! There were a few shops inside and a subway plus burger abd chips.
This was to have been a theme park many years ago when two brothers who had travelled with their families and made docos for TV about places they went.

This was the first and only thing that they had built and due to mismanagement and downturn of ecomony they went broke. The brothers also never spoke to each other for many years, they did reconcile just before one of them died.

It is called Little Rock and takes the shape of Ayers Rock just much smaller.

Green!

Now into New South Wales and it is so green!

This was at our caravan park at the end of the road about 20 metres from our van. There was a river over the hill, lots of vans also had a boat parked alongside.

Gumtrees up close and personal.

Little mushroom, looked cute but def not an eating one

A Pub Lunch

We stopped for lunch yesterday while on our way South. With thee caravan on, we needed to find a place to park. Many streets in NSW are the back in ones,  so usually its the side streets for us.

Walking back to main street and came past a pub,  but it was too early for lunch by seven minutes. We went for a quick walk as Surprise surprise I had forgotton to pack an item so we went to find a store and buy that item. The few minutes and a couple of dollars spent, we returned to go back across to the pub.

A local guy said gidday to us, it was a smallish country town, Warren told him we were off to the park and asked what the meals were like. The guy said they were good but the one that was just across the road from us was as good but cheaper.

We thought well, cant go past a recommendation so we went there.

This was my lunch, two lunches and two drinks was $22.

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Walking the railway tracks

Saturday morning we went for a drive to a nearby township, they had a country market but as we were going on holidays starting Monday we didnt buy anything but good to know it is on every month.

We evenually found the walking trail, it started at the back of the "Naso park" as we were told by a helpful sole. Luckily we knew that naso stood for National Service or in other words the Soldiers Park.
The tracks didnt last every long before we were walking on a dirt track, we werent very far off a main highway, we could hear the traffic but couldnt see it because of the foliage.
Once we got into bushland Warren let Lucy off her lead and she jumped around like a loon! She doesnt go far away from us, always keeping us in sight.

Home for lunch and someone (me) hadnt bought any salad stuff so had to think outside the box.
This was lunch.

Last of the lettuce, some cheese, red pickled capsicum, half a tin of tuna and half a sweet potato. For a scratch lunch, it was pretty good.

A new letterbox

This is a new letterbox that I was given, its a little cutie, wouldnt hold a great deal of mail but then we dont get much these days.

Here it is out in the wild, waiting to be found, as yes, it is being used as a geo cache.

The letterbox is about eight inches high on a stand. Looking forward to people findi g it and making comments on it.

Been waiting all year!

Yep, football is starting tonight. Kick off was 6 pm. The reining premiers are up first and although it's early,  they seemed to be asleep Carlton kicked five goals to their one point.

At least they did come out fighting in the second quarter but still behind. Neither team are those that we follow so it doesnt matter to us who wins but do prefer that it is a good game to watch.

Serious Training

Yes, we started serious training hesterday for Hadrians wall walk. I did 3.17kms with Lucy and then we had to go out. It was around lunchtime so we did half of what we needed to do then Warren declared lunch.

As I knew a nice coffee shop where I had been before, I directed him to drive there.

This was what he ordered

  Although it felt too hot for coffee.
Our meal which we shared took considerably longer and one of the staff left and went to the supermarket  and came back with avos. Good we thought, wont be long now but I think they had to cook the chicken as well! The place wasnt busy either so I was surprised that it took so long. Probably a good fifteen minutes to get this.

We went for a short walk later. More walking required methinks.

Signal boxes

After kayaking in the morning Sheridan and I went to find some painted signal boxes. These are at each stop lights and as a community beautifying the streets, they are using them as art work. What a neat idea. I remember Darwin was doing the same thing when we were there but it was bus shelters they were painting.

Besides finding these we had to get information from them.

This one we needed to count the frogs and the lily pads plus we needed the contact number.

We needed windows and sunrays at this one, once we had the info we were then able to go and find the cache which was not var away from the signal boxes. Neat way to get people to drive around and appreciate the artwork. Three more smilies for us. 

Kayaking

Our kayaking trip that was postponed from last week, happened today. We loaded up the yaks al, three as Sheridan was coming too. Well, it was her idea and we wouldnt wouldnt have gone if it wasnt for her.

The plan was to travel north to a river? more like a creek and paddle up to get some caches.

Sheri launched first and getting into a kayak when its in water is not an easy thing to do and she got a bit wet. Warren pulled mine up to the shore and held it while I got in, again not pretty but I was dry. No one was there to help Warren get in but he managed to get in without a drop of water on him.

My inner thighs started hurting not far into the paddle, I couldnt seem to get comfortable. If my legs were bent, each stroke hurt but if I straighten my legs, it seemed to hurt my back.

Ended up I didnt go as far as they did and I slowly made my way back to the launch spot. As I kept drifting down, I decided to see if I could get my kayak out of the water. That s did mean I had to step into the water, it was nice and cool. Once I got up on the bank it was no hassle to pull the kayak up.

Warren and Sheridan going past to grab a other cache down the other way. Got five smi,ies for the day on the creek.

The purple one is mine, Warren,s is blue and Sheridan's is green. Sheri and I were a little annoyed as Warren was able to get out of his again without getting wet At all! I was wet up to both knees, Sheri got wet up to one thigh I think and not a drop on him!

Pasties

Pies are the Aussie thing but give me a pastie any day over a pie. Some however do not have enough vegetables, some have too much pepper in them. Some bakeries dont even sell them! They dont seem to be as popular as the good old pie.
One place that sells a good pastie is Dayboro bakery cum coffee shop. I/we havent been out there for awhile, it is a bit of a drive from home, but we were close the other day so as it was around lunch time, we dropped in. The pastie was too nice that I didnt take a photo of it but it is not just just who thinks this

place is pretty good.

Clown Doctors

Monday is apparently the day that the clown doctors visit. Thry spent an interesting ten minutes or so with Aidan discussing farts, right up a ten year boy's interest.
The week before I gather the male doctor had an attachment on his back to make his backside look bigger hence the conversation got around to it (his bum) being full of farts! How he could get rid of them etc etc.

It was Aidans last day of confinment in this room. The hospital does have quite a lot of people to visit and play games, there had been three young girls playing cards with him when I arrived. Then the teacher from the hospital school came for about twenty minutes. Lunch, the clown doctors and then he was being taken down to play soccer, an hour of physio.

Mountain walking

I did say mountain! What was I thinking? Well, I agree no 1 daughter wanted to go and wanted company. It wasnt far she said, you'll enjoy it she said, it will be fun she said.

The views were good. I only took one photo going up. Two days later the fronts of my thighs are a little sore, not helped by stairs that I went down yesterday.

This is the start, it got steeper and our rests breaks got shorter in between. Yep, it was only 400 metres but it took awhile. At one time a 4wd went passed slowly and then got stuck in a puddle of water, had to roll down and go again. 

 This is going down after we had completed the walk.

Scenery was good

Trains, what a nightmare!

To be fair it wasn't the train that was the problem, it was the fact of getting there and on to the train.

My morning started off okay, had breakfast and a chat to Lucy, Warren had left for tennis already so I had no one to hold me up. If I am going to the hospital for the day, the best train to catch is the 8.38 am, I plan to leave around 8.15, give or take a couple of minutes. Not a lot of time but I checked that I had my bus pass, as I tend to change bags depending on what I am taking into his nibs, sometimes I need a bigger bag. I did get the bed made, picked up someones clothes and placed/threw them into the dirty clothes bin. Folded yesterdays washing and got some put away before thinking, well its time to go.

Made sure doors were locked, Lucy had a bone to chew, she knew she was being left at home. Drove out the garage and was two or three hundred metres away before I suddenly thought, my phone! Pulled over at next possible spot and rummaged through my bag, no, as I thought no phone. If it was just the phone then I could do without the entertainment on the trip, the time keeping etc but both my cards were in the phone which makes it very convenient to pick up my phone and keys and I dont need anything else.

Drat! I cant go without it. Tried to do a Uie but too much traffic both ways and a road just off where cars were trying to break in. Nothing for it but to continue on and pull into a side street which I did and then into the local childcare where I used their car park to turn around and go home. Time is ticking away by the time I arrived home I realised that I wouldn't be able to get the 8.38 oh well there was another at 9.08.

Sat down at home and checked emails until it was 8.45am giving me plenty of time to drive to the station park at the club and walk across the tracks and around to the station. All going well, until I got out of the car and started to walk to the station, a guy in black clothes approached me and asked if I was catching a train, yes I replied, noting by then that he had Security written above his left pocket. He then informed me that I couldn't park there as it was private property and said that the car could be towed if left there.

I have felt guilty about parking there but we are members and there always seems to be ample parking but I wasn't going to argue as I knew it would be fruitless. Got back in the car and drove next door to the station parking, hoping that there was one just one parking spot for me.

Of course there wasnt, I did the next best thing, drove to the big shopping centre three blocks away and parked there towards the back. Thankfully it wasnt three blocks back to walk but it was a fair walk. I checked my phone as i stepped on the pathway, ten minutes til the train, I stepped it up a bit as I didnt know how long it would take. The pathway last week had been under water! Its a flat walk and there was a north bound train which stopped traffic both ways so I was able to get across the road without waiting and the boom gates had gone up when I needed to walk around the tracks. Only a couple of hundred metres now to go and no sign of the train yet. Swiped my card, sat down checked the time 9.06, woohoo, three minutes to spare. It was nice to be able to sit on the train and relax for the forty five minute journey. 

On the sidewalk

Had to wait til this fellow moved, which took forever.

He

He was on the path, Lucy would have liked to have given him a sniff but I kept her lead short so she couldnt get too close

A bit further on and we saw a small waterfall which is not usually a waterfall.

The rain brings the wildlife out to play

Lucy and I went for a walk yesterday at the local park around the lakes. It has been flooded several times since we have lived here to the extent that water over the road had cut off the two shopping areas. One positive of that, is that it does drain away quickly with a few hours.

One pathway around the lake was closed but we were able to take the higher path and go that way. Very few people were there and I guess that was one of the reasons why we saw lots of birds and ducks.

I was able to get reasonably  close to this fellow before he decided to fly off.

This guy was busying flapping his wings to get dry, it had sprinkled just a few minutes before. He was also quite noisy, Lucy did not want to go that way at all. We did have to go left and over rhe bridge to get back. Water was over the path in a couple of spots which Lucy tiptoed through. 

Rats to you!

I was out driving this morning, I get bored taking Lucy on the same walks around home so I often drive to a different park and we walk there. I did a quick stop off on the way as I had stuff to drop off to the op shop which just needs the car backed up to their bins, open the back and transfer the bags. Lucy is in the back seat and only a couple of metres from the action.

Driving out again and waiting to turn obto the main road, I saw a rat running/hopping up the middle of the road. There were no cars just then but a stream of cars were on their way as the lights had just changed 100 metres away. I know it was a rat because of the size and length of its tail I have only seen two or three in the wild before.

Couldnt work out where it had come from or where it thought it was going. I watched it for a couple of seconds before the cars were on it, it didnt deviate just stayed in the middle and of course the first 4wd bowled it over and the next one finished it off. I doubt if they would have even seen it as they were travelling the same way and would have been looking down and the rat would have blended into the road.

I am not a lover of rats but still didnt like to see it come to an end like that but thats life.




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Perfume (a sad day)

Several years ago I stumbled across a perfume that I really liked. Its reasonably expensive so its birthday or Christmas presents or bought when travelling to get the tax free.

Of course it is not my every day perfume. I have had two bottles for ages, one large and one small.

Yesterday I used the larger one and oh no, it expired!

Looks like I will need to replace it when we go to the UK later this year.

Luckily I did find some small bottles of perfume in my decluttering last week, not the same as these but they were some bought taxfree on our last cruise.

Perfume is something that I use regularly unlike make up.

Roma Street Station

I have been seeing quite a bit of this lately. It is a great looking building.

Very easy to get in, about an hour on the train, walk out through the gates, turn left up the stairs or lift and then on the bus station. Three buses at least to choose from and they seem to come every few minutes, five stops and I am there. Finally a short walk maybe 400 metres and enter into the hospital, so easy.

Blue Skies

Lucy and I were out walking the other morning, it was about 8.15 and I looked up at the skies. There were no clouds that I could see at all.
Photos are taken from one side of me and then the other, it was a perfect morning, I think the top temperature for the day was 27 or 28.