Stone the Beach Curlews!

Bird of the Day:  No-one gets near the Beach Stone-curlew.  Rare in NSW and the first time I have scored it here after about 5 attempts!

Plant of the Day:  Wallum plant community

Scene of the Day;  Red Rock Headland

Art of the day;  Grafton Anglican Cathedral – in its widest sense.  As an alternative - noting that art includes dancing - the comments by the folk from Bangarra about how they design their work in a landscape was fantastic.

Typically Australian thing of the day:  Surf lifesaving clubs

Maximum Temperature 21 Minimum temperature  10

Distance traveled with camper 0 without camper 160

An excellent night's sleep, lulled by the white noise of the very rough seas crashing on the beach a few metres away.  And what a great beach it is, running South for about 4km to Arrawatta and North for 6.5km to Red Rock.  It is all off leash area for dogs (although we were reluctant to let herself off).

I shall fix up the names of flowers when I have finished the first draft.  This is I think a Scaevola.

Definitely a Blue-faced Honeyeater!

Our first call was to Red Rock which is the next settlement to the North.  These are the red rocks in question.

We ducked over the headland and on to a small beach at the mouth of the Creek (which is actually bigger than any River in South Australia, except the Murray).  More nice rocks

The idea of coming here was to look for Beach Stone Curlews for which this is the best site in the area.  I'd tried for them several times and dipped, but this time as soon as she looked Frances commented on the 'funny looking waders'.  Bingo: two Stone-curlews.

I went a bit further up the Creek to get closer to the birds and while I was looking at them I heard youth-type noises from where Frances had stayed but there didn't seem to be any issues so took my snap.

On rejoining Frances there were a fair bunch of indigenous youth with an older bloke - Mark -talking to them.  Frances said to keep quiet and listen as it was very interesting.  Indeed it was: it seemed to be a formal education trip for them to learn about their history and culture in the area.  Mark stressed that it was up to these kids to learn the stories and what they mean.  He then told "what he could" about the history of this area including a massacre that happened on the headland in the 1880s. The linked page gives a fair summary of the story and the background to the project.

Mark introduced a couple of other folk who were from Bangarra Dance Company and they explained a bit about how they visit places and take films which the dance designers build into their performance.  Again they stressed the importance of learning the stories and passing them on.

I am often cycnical about such matters, but this was very interesting and the sincerity so obvious it was very moving.

Moving away from the mouth of the Creek we passed the surk life-saving club and walked though the canophobic campground.  (We would have stayed there if they allowed dogs, but I really think Corindi is better! So we got lucky!)

Behind Corindi is a nice heathland and some of it is not in the National Park so we could explore with Tam.  The most obvious flowers were these Phyllotus sp.

Epacris sp. were doing their stuff, well before those in the Canberra area perform.

Hakea sp.

I think this is a Callistemon sp. ...

.. and this is a Melaleuca sp. ...

.. but as the forces of evil have lumped them, to quote Buddy Holly "I guess it really doesn't matter anymore."

This one I can remember: although the flower looks a bit like a Kunzea parvifolia it is actually Melaleuca thymifolia!

A Fan-tailed Cuckoo was posing nicely and sending a message that Spring is on the way (at least it is, 700 km North of Carwoola)

Stackhousia sp?

I think the second line makes the fourth line redundant!

A Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo destroying a Banksia cone.

We then zipped on back up the road to Grafton, where a set of old bridges - the high is road and the lower rail -were interesting.

We then visited a Cathedral of Commerce (aka Dan Murphy's liquor store) to replenish essential groceries in the form of wine.  Next was a peek at and into the Cathedral

I rated the mural in a side chapel very highly.

This is the Court House: as usual one of the most imposing buildings in the town

The War Memorial was right beside the Clarnce River and had a most interesting set of memorials.  I have included this plaque because it commemorates a local boy who made good and because later in the day ....

... abut 5km out of town we came across this

at Swan Creek, commemorating the same guy.  I presume this was his family home.  More from the main Memorial Park.

A fairly common view about the RTA, expressed on the side of a large shed at Swan Creek.

I presume the shed is felt likely to be in the way of an RTA road widening project.

Outside the Cathedral these sculpted Magpie Geese adorned a fountain.

A bit North up the Highway these Magpie Geese adorned a small swamp.

We also explored some of the birding drives suggested for the area, but they were not very productive as it was still windy.  So returned to the camper.

A large group were having a party - of an exceptionally quiet nature, but still enjoying themselves - in the camp kitchen.  It turned out they members of Sutherland Shire Probus clubs who have a trip way every year which includes a Christmas in July event.  This was it.  Lovely people one and all!

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