Extra Oz shots

Just a few additional pics from Oz. I stayed at a rental house near Forster, a tidy beach town about 300 km N of Sydney. The house was on Wallis Lake, a couple km inland from the ocean. The lake was fine for swimming, and as this pic shows, the sunsets were superb. The house had a fine barbie for cooking chook, snags, and steaks!

This is North Smoky Beach, just N of Smoky Cape, on the New South Wales coast about half way between Brisbane and Sydney. I hiked down to this beach in 2005 and it's a fine spot for sunbaking and swimming. There are many, many beaches like this on the east coast of Australia; as I've said before, it's the best place in the world if you're a beachlover!

Majestic Kauris

The Old Sloat has an announcement. Are you sitting down?? I am finally tired...at least a little tired...of traveling!! I did the math and, having been retired exactly 15 months as of today...December 15...I have spent 275 nights away from home and 180 at home in Monterey, meaning I have been on the road 61 percent of the time! I have enjoyed it thoroughly and look forward to many future trips, but for the next several months I reckon I won't be venturing too far afield. I'll visit friends and probably take a few short jaunts, but I reckon I'll spend at least 61 percent of the time at home thru at least February. I'll probably start wandering again next spring.

The largest native trees in New Zealand are the Kauris. These majestic trees are similar to the Sequoia in California in being more massive than tall. This is Tane Mahuta, the Lord of the Forest. It's the tallest Kauri in NZ, at 51 metres (about 160 feet) high. The trunk is over 40 feet in circumference. The tree is at least 1200 years old. Kauris live to at least 2000 if conditions are favorable. Unfortunately for them, their wood is beautiful; hard, strong, and finely grained. Thus, 97 percent of the old growth Kauris in NZ have been logged, mostly between 1840 and 1940. They're protected now and young Kauri are regenerating in some areas, but they're slow growing. Tane Mahuta is in the Waipoua forest, NW of Auckland. This area has the largest concentration of old growth Kauri remaining in NZ. Kauri grow on the northern part of the North Island, from a little south of Auckland N.

Kauri bark is unlike North American big trees. It's hard and not furrowed like fir, pine, or redwood. Up close, it's a little surrealistic.

This is Te Matua Ngahere, Father of the Forest. This massive Kauri is not very tall, only about 100 feet at present. This is because the upper part of the tree has been snapped off, either by wind, lightning, or simple old age; the tree is about 2000 years old. It's over 50 feet in circumference. It's undoubtedly near the end of its life. Kauri can die of old age; the trunk becomes hollow, and the tree eventually rots away. Farther off the road than Tane Mahuta, Te Matua Ngahere is in a quiet setting that feels primeval. When I was there, late in the afternoon, there were no other sounds than the birds chirping. Very nice.

Quiet New Zealand

Except for rush hour in Auckland, New Zealand is a laid back place. It's quieter than Australia, which is quieter than the US...you get the idea. Here's the view from the Mangonui Motel, where I stayed for three nights in the town of the same name, in Northland, which is the far north of the North Island of NZ. It's a little fishing/tourist town with a moist, mild climate. Latitude is similar to San Luis Obispo. Everything grows here, where the temperature is almost always between 80 and 50. The locals call it subtropical, but that seems to me to be stretching it a little, though palms are common. I guess you could compare the climate to Maui's upcountry, or to the town of Kamuela on the Big Island of Hawaii. There are a few nice restaurants and shops, and things move at a slow pace. People are friendly, the fishing's good. It's a somewhat cloudy place; the sun shines only about half the time and 50-60 inches of rain fall each year.

This is Matauri Bay, in Northland. Beautiful beach, only a little developed; there's a caravan park at one end of the bay and a few houses about, though...more are a-building. The weather was starting to improve when I took this picture, but for most of the week I was in Northland the conditions were cool, windy, and wet. The locals advised me to return in February and March, when the weather tends to be more settled. In a couple years I'll take their advice.

At times on the rural roads, you run into cow (or sheep) delays. No worries! The bloke running these cows was on horseback; sometimes the cowboys use motorcycles. At any rate, you just drive slowly thru the herd and they'll let you by; and you get a chance to hang with the cows for awhile.

Hangin' in Kiwiland

The Old Sloat is home! He arrived yesterday at about 2 PM, which was 5 1/2 hours before...yes before...he left Auckland on Air New Zealand. When you fly west to east across the dateline, time does strange things. The bottom line is that Friday, December 14, was a long day! I started by leaving Opononi, on the west coast of New Zealand, about 8 AM; drove to Auckland, checked in for my flight, hung out at the airport for a few hours, flew 12 hours to LAX; went thru customs; flew to Monterey; and finally went to bed early. Except for dozing on the plane, I was basically up 36 hours, just on Friday! This is a shot of a beach in Auckland, with a pohutakawa tree on the left. This fine, gnarly tree grows in coastal areas of northern NZ, and blooms with bright red flowers in December. Thus, it's known as New Zealand's Christmas tree.

New Zealand is about the size of Oregon, and with four million people has a similar population. (There are also 45 million sheep, give or take a few mil. This is down from 60-odd mil 20 years ago). This is a shot of Auckland, NZ's largest city. It's a cosmopolitan place of a little over a million people, similar in size to Brisbane or Adelaide in Australia...or Portland in Oregon, for that matter. The city is surrounded by water and has a very mild climate...the temperature has never been above 90 degrees or below freezing! Actually it's about at the same latitude as Santa Cruz and has a similar climate, except that it rains occasionally in the summer.

The forests of NZ are lush and diverse. One of the most common plants is the silver fern, which can grow at least 50 feet tall. These tree ferns are exotic and beautiful. By the way, they do grow here in Cali; you can find them in Golden Gate Park. But in NZ they're natural.

The Lizard Does the Outback

Here's a fine picture. The Lizard is hangin' in the Outback, with a bottle of VB, the iconic Australian beer. Beaut, I reckon!

This is the Balonne River running thru St George, Queensland, about 500 km W of Brisbane. St George is a nice, friendly town, very quiet with a nice waterfront park along the river. Small, but just big enough to have the modcons. I liked it there.

Vee Wall

At Nambucca Heads, there is a jetty called the Vee Wall; it's shape is obvious on an aerial picture of the site. Try Google Earth. For decades, people have inscribed messages on the vee wall rocks. I first visited in 2001; the messages seem to have become more artsy and detailed since then. Some people visit here almost every year from other places in Australia, updating their rocks each time; others come from all corners of the world.

I liked this one.

Magical Myall

A week or so ago, I explored Myall Lakes National Park, south of Forster. I found a coastal wilderness with massive sand dunes opening onto a vast beach. There were a few people around, but the whole scene was beautiful and tranquil. The dunes were quite large and, as dunes usually are, surreal.

The sea was a deep aquamarine, with offshore islands containing Aboriginal archaeological sites. The color contrast was very fine. Australia is filled with beaches like this; elemental, vast, gorgeous, and virtually deserted. While I enjoy exploring the rainforest, going out bush, and enjoying the city lifestyle, Oz for me is really all about the beaches. I realized that more on this trip than on previous visits. If you're a beach person, Australia is easily the best place in the world!!

It's rounding into summer down under, and almost every day clouds build up over the Great Dividing Range to the west of the New South Wales coast. Some days they stay over the mountains; on others, they move toward the ocean and we get thunderstorms at the beach. Either way, they add drama to the scene.

Smoky Cape Roos

Finding kangaroos in Australia is more problematical than many people might think. You can drive for days without seeing any; they're primarily nocturnal animals, coming out at dawn and dusk and darting across the highways at night; out bush you see lots of dead ones beside the road. They do hang out during the day in some areas, but they're rather selective. I've seen lots of them at a couple coastal caravan parks, and in a couple neighborhoods. Here, they're at Smoky Cape on the New South Wales coast, about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, right by a beach in a national park. But you kinda have to know where to look to see 'roos. This group, in the park, are not really tame; they're watching me as I slowly approach them in their picnic ground hangout. Now in the caravan parks it's a different story. I've had them come up and bludge for food and have hand fed them in that setting.

More Bunyas

The rental house I had in the Bunyas was in a subdivision that, during the week, was home to more wallabies than people! The critters hung out on my lawn all day, but especially around brekky and dinner. The largest number emerged when I played Coldplay on the CD player. I reckon they have good taste in music!







The wallabies like to take their leisure in Roman fashion, reclining and dining on grass. Do I detect sloatlike tendencies in these critters??

The Bunya Pine is a primeval tree that has been around for tens of millions of years. They have a distinctive cone shape from a distance. They were more widespread in prehistoric eras, but are now confined mostly to the Bunya mountains and a few other areas in eastern Australia. To me, the trees were coolly surreal.

An Australian Icon

And here it is...the quintessential Australian Big Thing; a paragon of antipodean architecture; an inspirational landmark to tourists throughout the Ozzie East Coast...THE BIG PRAWN!! Notice the intricate design; the pincers faithfully reproduced, the probing antennae; the massive, all seeing eyes. Fair dinkum, a thing of beauty!

Another view of this formidable crustacean. It's located in Ballina, a river/beach town about 200 km S of Brisbane. The coast between Sydney and Brisbane has several versatile resort towns that are located at the mouths of large rivers. Thus you can do all the freshwater and saltwater ocean sports. Go surfing and water skiing in the same afternoon? No problem.

And here's The Lizard posing with The Prawn. I think Lizard was impressed...the Prawn is even larger than the gators he saw in Florida!

Angourie Pools

I paused yesterday at Angourie, a surfing town near Yamba. In addition to fine beaches and surfing, Angourie has two splendid swimming holes, named the Blue and Green Pools. These are abandoned rock quarries that have filled with fresh spring water. Yesterday was perfect swimming; the water and air temp was around 80 F. A splendid break from the road! I visited this spot in 2001, but it was a chilly, rainy day so I didn't go for a swim. This time I took long dips in both pools. This is the blue one.

This is the green pool. The pools are aptly named, as you can see. They both have diving rocks, but The Old Sloat's high diving days are long gone. A 38 year old bloke did execute a couple successful jumps from 7 or 8 metres up into this pool, though; he had to jump out over two metres from the rocks to carry into the water but made it easily...fortunately!

Look who's ready to take the plunge! Well, actually the Lizard is terrestrial...he doesn't swim. He sinks...rapidly. So he just enjoyed the view from a handy warm rock.

Fab Beaches

I rented a house for a week near Forster, a resort/retirement town about 300 km N of Sydney. This area has fabulous beaches, lush rainforests, and several large lakes just inland. My house was on a lake, but very close to the beach, and I lucked out with the weather...it was good to great for the entire week. After a couple weeks in the bush, I spent most of the week on the beach. And, there were hardly any flies! This was one of my neighborhood sands, Shelly Beach. Gorgeous! Protected from the surf, this is a good swimming beach. The water was about 70 F, a little chilly at first but nice on a hot sunny day.

Here's a better shot of Shelly Beach...not a shabby place to spend some time. And, if a sloat wanted to bare all his or her flippers, this beach is sanctioned for that.

This is the closest beach to my rental house, Seven Mile. Despite it being only about 10 km from a town of 20 thousand, it was almost always virtually deserted, especially on the north end closest to Forster. Even on a beautiful weekend there was almost no one around. I spent a lot of time roaming the sand, playing in the surf, and sloating out. Australia is really the best beach country in the world...there are dozens and dozens of beaches like this on the east coast, and more elsewhere. The towns are neat and tidy with all amenities, the weather's good, and the water is reasonably warm. I'm currently in Lennox Head, another 500 km north of Forster, and the water's about 75 F here.

Bunya Mountains

I stayed a week in the Bunya Mountains in mid November. This is a rather isolated mountain range in Queensland, about 250 km NW of Brisbane. It's cool and misty, with peaks rising over 3000 feet. I rented a house with nice views over a valley. The weather appeared to be somewhat like coastal California; fog each morning, followed by a sunny afternoon. The fog could be mystical at times. The house had a really cool stained glass window, depicting king parrots at the left, and a crimson rosella at the right. Sure enough, when I went out on the deck these birds would come up and bludge for handouts.

Here's a neat fog shot looking over the valley from my rental house. Very cool.

Traditional Aussie Hotels

Before WW II, before chain hotels and motels, there was nonetheless reliable accomodation in every Australian town. This took the form of a hotel, with rooms upstairs and a pub/restaurant on the ground floor...also a bottle shop in most cases. These places are institutions and are still widespread, especially in country towns. I have never stayed in one myself; in most cases the rooms have shared baths, and I'm a little spoilt on that case, and the bars can be a little rough; if you encounter a bloke who's been on the turps and has gotten pissed, he could go a-hooning and give you a knuckle sandwich. This is an art deco hotel in St George, Queensland.

Here's the Hotel Cunnamulla, about 300 km W of St George and 250 km N of Bourke. Nowadays, you can do electronic betting on the horses and play the pokies (poker machines) in many of these old hotels as well as skull a few tinnies of the amber fluid and hang out with your mates.

This is an old hotel on the main street in Bourke, a couple blocks from the Riverside Motel where I stayed.

Hangin' in Bourke

I stayed two nights in Bourke, a legendary town on the Darling River about 500 miles NW of Sydney, and esteemed as the gateway to the true outback. You can reach Bourke on sealed (paved) road, but if you go any farther west, you're off the bitumen and subject to the whims of the weather. Believe it or not, Bourke used to be a port, with steamers coming all the way up the Darling to take on wool and other agricultural commodities. It's a nice town, but bloody hot at times. It was 40 degrees C one day when I was there...that's 104 F. It has been as hot as 125! I stayed at the Bourke Riverside Motel, a historic building originally built in the 1870s. The rooms were all suites and very spacious and comfy, with old furnishings but modern aircon. The place had a nice pool and was right by the river, only a block or two from the historic downtown. Friendly managers too, and fine rose gardens, that are maintained by drip irrigation.

There were, as far as I could tell, three resident dogs and one cat at the motel. Here's a shot of one of the dawgs in his typical position, which he appeared to maintain for about 20 hours a day...sensible in the heat. Now we who follow this blog can all detect a connection with this critter...that's right, he's really a sloat! He's engaged in fine slotation here, obviously. And when you go up to him, he Assumes The Position and you give him a belly rub.

Here's a typical outback highway west of Bourke. They call the outback the Red Centre, for obvious reasons. It's very quiet out here and the air is crystalline...there is virtually no habitation for several thousand miles to the west so the skies are really clear. But...BUT...there are flies. Lots of flies. Legions of flies. Gazillions of flies. I had some Off, but it seemed to work better against mozzies than flies. The lady running the motel cued me in on the best fly repellent, after I went out bush; so I'll buy some next time.

Out Bush Headin' for Bourke

I'm finally blogging again! I've tended to stay in out of the way, non conventional places during my trip to Oz, and none of these spots have WiFi! I've just discovered that my spot here in a Big 4 caravan park does...this is my third night here. Anyway, I will gradually catch up on my blog over the next few weeks as the wireless connections permit. A couple weeks ago I went out bush...500 km and more to the west of Brisbane into the outback. Here's a road sign in St George, a friendly, tidy town in the Queensland bush. Many of the place names are aboriginal, and they kind of roll off the tongue. Settlements are far apart...on a 550 km journey from St George to Bourke I went thru two bonafide towns and a couple other wide spots in the road.

Here's a shot of the Balonne Highway, heading west of St George, which itself is 500 km west of Brisbane. We're heading toward Cunnamulla. There are quite a few stations (ranches) off the highway, but almost no real towns...one in the 300 km between St George and Cunnamulla. Just out of curiosity, I did a survey and in 100 km...62 miles...I encountered 18 cars going in the opposite direction, while being passed once and passing one other car. It's quite relaxing to drive without the traffic hassles.

There are certain rules of the road out bush. Emus have the right of way! Here mum and her five chicks were crossing, so I stopped...with no traffic, no worries. Another courtesy is that whenever you pass another vehicle going in the opposite direction, you raise your index finger off the steering wheel as a greeting. Folks are scarce hereabouts, so we all like to bond a little.