Eat lerp – twenty million Silvereyes can’t be wrong

Waking up to a view of Mt Warning is a very good way to start the day.  Frances commented that it could be the most photographed mountain ever.  I’m not sure about that, unless she was forecasting the number of images taken over the next week, but it is certainly one of the most spectacular views in Australia.

 I referred above, with a small amount of contempt, to us being close to Queensland.  I think that, rather than anything to do with electronics, is to blame for us getting ABC Kids programming rather than ABC News Breakfast from 6am to 9am.  Looking – very briefly - at the program on offer I could see that it had been designed to be very politically correct: about 6 kids of all sorts of races (possibly even one gringo).   A more hopeful note is that the CGI characters all floated off with big eyes and silly grins, although neither Timothy Leary nor Ken Keasey were given credit for the script!  Bleccch!

I spent some time on the deck watching Mt Warning change colour as the sun came up and noting down the few birds who either came into view or whose calls I could recognise.  There are a lot of Whipbirds in this area.

Our main aim of the day was to visit a Market or two.  The first of these was intended to be Nimbin, not because I particularly wished to go to those markets but I did feel the village had an important role in Australia society (from the Aquarius Festival) and I wanted to see what it was like now. 

As we headed off towards Murwillumbah a strange looking bird flew into a tree.  It was sufficiently odd looking for me to back up for a good look.  What an excellent  idea: this was only the second Pacific Baza I had ever seen!

Once we turned off the Kyogle road towards Nimbin the quality of road declined dramatically.  (Taking another trip down memory lane, on our previous visit to the area I attributed the state of the Kyogle road to the Shire being unwilling to put money into a road serving a bunch of goddam hippies.)  I suspect the same still applies to Blue Knob Rd, plus the boundary between Tweed and Lismore Shires is about halfway along the road so there would also be a reluctance for one Shire to do up a road to somewhere else.

We found the market which was not exactly a hive of activity. 

Frances wandered in and acquired some bromeliads while I stayed out with Tammy and acted as referee in her discussions with a large Border Collie type beast.  The funniest bit was the BC keeping trying to pat her on the head.  It didn’t know that it was likely to lose a foot if it persevered in that approach.

The village was very interesting in a strange way.  The whole place seemed to be set up as a tourist trap but there did seem to be an underlying philosophy being marketed.

 I referred above to a couple of writers who would certainly approve of the emphasis given to certain hemp products around the town.  

This topic rears its head again in about 5 days time: it may also explain why there was a 4x4 full of NSW finest wandering around the town (it is unclear whether they had come to hassle the local entrepreneurs or to get a sack of goodies for inhalatory purposes).

The message on a door about stopping coal seam gas

 was reflected in signs in a number of spots around the area opposing fracking.  (Apart from the many problems with this nasty technology which can be supported by logical facts, the observation that it was invented by Halliburton should be enough to condemn it on emotional grounds!)  Later in the week I read that 3,000 people had attended a recent Lock The Gate rally in Murrwillumbah: well done Tweed folk!

I have since come a cross a copy of the Nimbin Good Times (describing itself as the Alternative Journal of the Rainbow Region) which has a front page story about a proposed development of a Zorbing site in the village.  The proponent thereof seems to be associated with the YHA and has all sorts of “good ideas” about making the YHA independent (from what, is not specified) plus planting 500,000 trees over 150 acres (what metric system?).  It will get tourists to spend more time in the village (current visitor stay is 4 hours).  The opponent as quoted lives next door and talks about the dam into which the Zorbas get deposited having some rushes that ducks breed in and having filmed swans there.  He also mentions “commercial venture” as though it is an obscenity (probably a fair call) and talks a lot about destroying the peace and quiet.  He is probably getting into NIMBinYism – and in his circumstances so would I: ban the Zorb!

As well as all the hippie stuff Nimbin had the usual facilities of a small country town.  The work on the outside of the bowling club was rather innovative

as was the attire of the bowlers (and the rock music being played to accompany the game.

Of course with all the tokes being took around the town there was the possibility of a roach ending up in somewhere combustible so they had a Bushfire Brigade.  The signage on the outside of the shed is again innovative.

We have got a guide to birding spots in the Tweed Valley which included the Clarrie Hall Dam.  As we were passing I thought we’d drop in for a look.  The biographical material about Clarrie started off with several words about him being hard working lad on his Dad’s selection: this had me wondering why a cow cockie got a Dam named after him.  Then it emerged that he had been Shire President for some 17 years which explained everything!  There were not a great number of birds around, but we had a great walk through the forest beside the dam and spotted a Jacana trotting across the lilies on the far side of the dam.

As we headed back we found that the Uki market was still in operation.  They had a very good musical duo doing their work, which I listened to while overseeing Tammie’s interaction with a Pomeranian.  Astonishingly the Pom seemed to be faster than she was!  Frances acquired some olive products from one of the stalls.

After getting home I spent more time on the deck looking at the hordes of Silvereyes flitting through the treetops.  I have no idea how many there were but an awful lot.  I’m not even sure they were eating lerps (ie scale insects) but I did like the reference back to a famous Australian saying about blowflies.   On continuing to watch them they seemed to be eating berries (or possibly bugs that were eating the berries).

The other notable thing about the Sunday afternoon was the number of motorbikes thundering up or down Tomewin Rd.  Obviously it is seen as a challenging road to ride hard so the lads were out and getting into it on all sorts of bikes: from the exhaust notes both Harleys and Ducatis were popular.  Presumably the cops don’t fuss about this unless the death toll gets out of order.  (Another interesting memory is that this time last year we saw the same sort of behaviour on a road across the North York Moors.)

Putting the fang on a vet

The night was a little disturbed with Tammie being very restless.  And that was before a herd of possums stampeded across the roof at 2am!  When we got up she kept shaking her ears in a half-hearted fashion and was not interested in food.  I thought I could see an arthropod well down her ear so it was off to the vet.

The vet was very thorough and said that he couldn’t see a tick in the ear but she did have a lot of wax down there which was sufficiently impacted to have started a little bit of inflammation.  So he gave (in the sense of ‘provided’ not ‘donated’) me a bottle of stuff to put in her ears for the next couple of mornings.  In the course of this he probed her ears quite deeply and she repaid his professional with a lightning snap.   When I apologised he said something like ‘It was just a warning shot.” and she didn’t break skin at all, but I was very embarrassed.

On getting home the first set of drops were administered with some difficulty, but ultimate success.  As herself seemed to be feeling better we thought we’d take her for a stroll along the other dog beach to the North of the town centre (after checking out the lighthouse). 

The lighthouse is on the most Easterly point in Australia.  As such it is one of Byron’s claims to fame.  Of course this makes it very popular and the jobsworths have to step in to control matters.  So when we got to the road going up there we were greeted by: a sign saying we had to pay $7 to go in there; another sign saying “no dogs”; and, when got to the lighthouse - a dweet in a NPWS uniform about to enforce both those rules and tell us there was nowhere to park anyway.  (It is nicely ironic that they wear brown shirts: now, if NSW trains ran on time….).  This is the first encounter we have had with such officialdom on this trip.  It would be a lot better if they devoted their energy to defending the Parks against real threats: did anyone mention coal-seam gas?

So we headed off to Belongil Beach and had a very pleasant walk of about 3km.  At one point I counted 13 dogs visible in the 1.5km exercise area, ranging in size from Tammie up to large Labrador.  All having a lovely time, as were the owners.  We didn’t see any whales or dolphins but a large school of fish were evident just off shore, providing food for the seagulls and interest for the humans.

The next part of the plan was to drive around the Arts and Industrial area to check the place out and possibly to get a burger at the Big Top Café. 

Many of the places were shut but the BTC was open and a burger was acquired.  It was OK: I’d rate it about 0.6 Yass Road Takeaway points (a Big Mac comes in at around 0.1 YRT). 

Frances checked a few places out and many were shut.  Eco Furniture wasn’t, and earnt points by welcoming Tammie inside.  They sold us a cheeseboard and some wood conditioner!

On the way back we swung by the BBBGTT (Byron Bay Brewery and General Tourist Trap).  It does have a small brewery as well as a day spa ( blleccch- this term made me vomit in New York), a cinema and the Budda restaurant.  I suspect the later is more to do with Chris Handy than Gautama.  They don’t sell bottles but they can be acquired at bottle shops around town!  This was done the next afternoon and the brew - only one of their products appears to be bottled, which is a nuisance - rated as very acceptable.

I then went for a run along Tallow Beach. About 7km (very honest kms as well).  Even without a dog it was nice to see the hordes enjoying themselves.

Going to the Heads

It wasn’t unduly cool overnight but it did seem to rain most of the time and certainly is doing so right now (7:15).

With the grotty weather I chose to spend a little time reading the latest edition of the Byron Shire Echo.  There were several interesting points in this.  

The previous edition had been their 25^th Anniversary and they had duly had an awards night, featuring Julian Morrow (from The Chaser) as guest speaker.  This edition included the text of his remarks.  Apparently he has been lodging a classified ad in the Echo seeking work, but as it was positioned between “Deep Masculine Honouring“ and “Best Body Rub Anywhere” he wasn’t getting  much action.   He thought the headline for the ad – Non-Tantric Wanker – was a fair description.

There were several letters about new restrictions on dog walking.  It seemed that the main idiots in this business are the jobsworths of the NPWS (see entry about the lighthouse).  They also seem to be responsible for the restrictions in Great Lakes and Eurobodalla.  I repeat my question as to why they are not fighting the coal seam gas interests instead of tourists or pensioners walking their small dogs.

On the subject of gas, there was also a comment from a media relations factotum at Origin Energy saying how folk have got it wrong about coal seam gas.  Apparently they are not using potable quality water so it is OK.  This dude is such a goose he doesn’t realise that such an obviously misleading statement reduces everything he says to the level of bullshit (as that substance is also accompanied by methane it seems a particularly apt analogy).

After a short visit to the Pacific Highway to Brunswick Heads we went for a walk along the banks of the Brunswick River, where the most interesting birdlife were some very lairy chooks.  I couldn’t bring myself to claim them as lifers (and since they were all roosters could hardly claim they were a self-sustaining population). 

 We then went for a walk in the Dog Exercise Area at Brunswick Heads (just North of Byron Bay.  This was such a short area as to be pointless: the main reason for stopping seemed to be a Nature Reserve immediately behind the beach.  In the hours we have spent on these beaches I have not seen a dog leave the beach to go into the dunes: the ones that are likely to do so are going to be strayers, and they will not be stopped by the signs.

In one community we drove through we saw a young woman exercising two ferrets,  on leads.  Since the livestock subject to bans appear to be dogs, horses goats and pigs we presume she can take her ferrets wherever she pleases.  As can the owners of alpacas, llamas and cows!

A better walk followed at Ocean Shores.  By this time the wind was really howling (the rain had stopped) and the blowing sand was probably unpleasant for a small dog.  She didn’t complain however.  At the entrance to the beach there was a notice about Pied Oystercatchers breeding in the area, and asking folk not to let their dogs chase them.  As far as I could see this was put up by the community rather than NPWS.  It does offer some rationalisation for restrictions on dogs near suitable habitat, but in this season I doubt if there is an Oystercatcher of any species breeding nearer to this beach than Kamchatka.  And if the restriction was for the dogs to be on leads in the breeding season then they shouldn’t chase anything.

 By the end of this we had had enough hopping in and out of the car so went home.  I gave my legs a bit of work riding the bike around various parts of the area near our house, but couldn’t bring myself to ride up to the lighthouse.