Weather still in the khazi

Before getting to the weather, or indeed the khazi, here are today's awards:
Bird of the day:  Brahminy Kite.  Big flock is in fact quite a small flock of about 6 Australasian Gannets 
Flower of the day: Gymea Lily flowering in bush between Shoal and Fingal's Bays

Garden of the day: A garden with a very spiffy succulent flower

Geological feature of the day: Sand dunes at Anna Bay.

They are subject to commercialism with 4WD bus tours and sandboarding but I think dunes are very tolerant of humanity.
Outstanding Weather feature of the day; Wind must get the award with strong gusts all night and most of the following day.  Generally the overall weather gets a rating of syphilitic and I am reluctant to give it any sort of award. 
Council behaviour of the day: They started with a bouquet for showers in the beach dunnies but got a brickbat for cutting off the power to the camp kitchen while they demolished something in the park.

On thr subject of the Council here is one of their banning signs.

This swamp was between Fingals and Shoal Bays.  There is a lot of Melaleuca around here so I think rain is common.  Another indicator of this was the sail-roof over the bowling green at Soldiers Point!

Tasteful development at Shoal Bay.  

The fish shop is labelled Aussie Bobs, and we wondered if it was run by a guy from Vietnam.  Then we found it was a chain of shops, which increased the probability.'

An impressive Angophora sp.

 An orchid!

 Acacia longifolia

A pretty flower on Fingal Head

 Kennedia rubicunda

 Another pretty flower, possibly a Pimelia?

The Nelson Bay War Memorial.  Judging by the extent of empty black marble they have a pessimistic view about peace in our time!

All the (4) veterans at Soldiers Point were WW2 suggesting that is when the area was developed.

 Some rocky headlands: first at Boat Harbour (where we saw a Brahminy Kite, and a couple of cetacean blows out to sea)

and then one from Fingal Head.

A couple of side thoughts about Port Stephens: 

• Frances noticed a lot of skin-cancer removal places which probably says a bit about the demography and lifestyle of the area; 
• Just about everywhere not built on has been taken by the National Park.  Not good for a small dog.

return to index page.

Hopefully leaving the naff weather behind

Having borrowed a Polari term from The Princess Royal here are some words from the BoM:

Wet weather isn't expected to let up this weekend and Canberra meteorologist Sean Carson said what he consider to be "rubbish" weather on Friday would turn "feral" on Sunday. 

Friday was certainly rubbish, and Saturday wasn't much better.  In fact, Saturday achieved a status of at least rotten, with 15mm of rain in the evening.  At least there wasn't any snow.

Indeed Sunday turned feral, with snow starting about 7:30.  Here is the veg garden.

 As we drove out, Widgiewa Rd was appalling with about 5cm of snow settled.  I was not looking forward to the next 200km.  However when we got to the Plain there was no snow.  Getting in to Bungendore the hills of Kowen were well white.

 Right.  Having got that out of the way let us get back to the usual extrema of "XXX of the day".

Bird of the day:  Blue faced honeyeater, scavenging in a litter bin.  The big flock goes to Australian White Ibis.
Flower of the day: Acacia dealbata along the Hume Highway
Garden of the day: One at Fingal Bay with layers of Pandanus, cordyline etc.
Geological feature of the day: Cuttings in the sandstone going down to the Hawkesbury.
Outstanding Weather feature of the day; Snow!
Council behaviour of the day: This is a new category and could be a bouquet or a brickbat.  As I have said "Council", the latter is more likely.  Today the award goes to Port Stephens Council for banning dogs from most everywhere but not emptying litter bins so that rubbish is all over the place.

The drive to Sydney was fine.  There were few trucks but more cars than usual.  An annoyance in Sydney was the servo we heading for being shut, leading us to go to another which didn't offer a discount.  Then we found others which did, but didn't seem to be listed on the 'net.  Also the place we chose had a pump that cut out too soon, so we left about 10 litres early.

Whatever: we got outtathere and across the Hawkesbury.

After some farnarkling through Newcastle we got to the Port Stephens area.  The first thing seen here was a sign at Williamtown saying there was an "incident"and we should divert back to the Pacific Highway.  As this diversion was about 50km I decided to ignore the sign and see what the incident was.  I suspect it was a sign getting caught by a gust of wind as nothing else was evident.

On on towards Nelson Bay.  At Bobs Farm we spotted Murrays Brewery which had go some big wraps in a book on Australian beers.  One of their brews is called Moon Boy - I don't think Fred is a brew!

 It seemed very popular - including with Oriental tourists.  They were doing a US beer-style promo which explains the design on the pallet.

I ended getting 4 Dark Knight Porter (a good example of the style - lighter than a stout but tastier than a lager) and 4 Whale Ales (a very pleasant US style Pale Ale).

The camp seems good - the operators are very efficient and helpful and the scenery is great (seawards).

It is less great landwards, looking more like Gungahlin than anywhere nice.

As noted in the awards section above the Council seem good at banning things such as dogs,all spelt out on a sign, but less good at environmental stewardship, such as emptying bins.

The wind is very strong and it isn't hot: but at least it isn't snowing.

return to index page.

A Bona Troll to the Sandy (Straights) and back

This report will deal with our Winter escape in 2015 with an aim of getting to the Fraser Coast of Queensland which includes the Great Sandy Straits.  I cannot let a name like that go by without referencing Julian and Sandy from Round the Horne; even though Julian would reject the word 'straights' with a passion.

In celebration of the work of Kenneth Williams (Julian) and Hugh Paddick (Sandy) in the nominated roles I will try to drop a little of their chat - using the language Polari - into the title of each day's post.  This overall post translates as "A good trip to ....."

Here is the basic route as planned (travelling anti-clockwise).

According to Google Maps the route is 3,096km and we plan to take about 25 days.

In fact this got seriously truncated due to grotty weather.  We turned back at Port Macquarie so the trip is just 6 days!

Here are links to daily posts
July 12 Hopefully leaving the naff weather behind
July 13 Weather still in the khazi
July 14 Bona tempus -finally
July 15 Memorials all over and Old Bottlebutt
July 16 Vada Heads of the Mid-North Coast
July 17 Where is El Nino when you need him?

As an overall summary of the trip I'd rate it as bona in parts (mainly Port Macquarie and environs) and naff in others (weather and Port Stephens).  Birding was acceptable and beer acquisition was very good.

Appendix 5 Campground Summary

Let me start with the good news:  my overall reaction to the owners/managers of caravan parks we encountered on this trip was strongly positive.  They were as helpful as possible and the problems we had in a couple of places were due to other visitors who seemed to need some help in understanding the concept of sociability

Given the negative views I have encountered in some (admittedly special interest) situations that is a tad surprising, but I call 'em as I find 'em.

Location of camp: Dubbo
Number of nights: 2
Comment on Location: Adjacent to Highway and thus not quiet, but convenient for access.
Comment on Operator: very helpful and pleasant
Comment on facilities: All that we needed.
View on other guests: Friendly traveler types.

Location of camp: Cobar
Number of nights: 1
Comment on Location: Adjacent to Highway but not heavy traffic and convenient for access.
Comment on Operator: very helpful and pleasant
Comment on facilities: All that we needed.
View on other guests: Friendly traveler types.

Location of camp: Trilby Station
Number of nights: 3
Comment on Location: Excellent noting that it is a remote area so weather can be an issue.  Only noise at our site was the grunting of pelicans in the River.
Comment on Operator: Excellent.  She has put in a lot of effort to make this a great place.
Comment on facilities: We had an unpowered site, but the way the site had been set up was great and the amenities block at the homestead was excellent.
View on other guests:  We had little contact with them, but basically friendly traveler types.

Location of camp: Bourke
Number of nights: 1
Comment on Location: Adjacent to Highway but not unduly heavy traffic.  The major problem was the incredible noise of the town dogs.  It was convenient for town facilities.
Comment on Operator: very helpful and pleasant
Comment on facilities: All that we needed.
View on other guests: Friendly traveler types albeit with noisy heaters
Overall comment. The place was basically a good operation in a very crappy town.  But they did allow dogs unlike the place about 5km out of town.

Location of camp: Lorne Station, Lightning Ridge
Number of nights: 2
Comment on Location: A reasonable distance out of town and a lot of area to explore
Comment on Operator: very helpful and pleasant
Comment on facilities: All that we needed.
View on other guests: Mainly friendly traveler types with one lot not aware of the noise from their TV and one family of gooses on the second night.

Location of camp: Inverell
Number of nights: 1
Comment on Location: Adjacent to Highway but no traffic and convenient for access.  Also abutted the walking track along the river.  Very good
Comment on Operator: very helpful and pleasant
Comment on facilities: All that we needed.
View on other guests: No real contact: certainly no problems.

Location of camp: Tenterfield
Number of nights: 1
Comment on Location: 2km off the Highway and quiet
Comment on Operator: very helpful and pleasant
Comment on facilities: All that we needed.
View on other guests: Very friendly traveler types.

Location of camp: Hosanna Farmstay Stokers Siding
Number of nights: 5
Comment on Location: Beside a country road and - in terms of ambient noise - very peaceful.
Comment on Operator: They have done a lot of work building entertainment stuff for their core clientele - family funsters - but I suspect don't really know (and probably don't care) what people in other demographics need
Comment on facilities: Poor.  Female showers didn't work - and would take 10 days to repair - and the area was noisy when others showered or used the dunnies.
View on other guests: Some of them were arrogant bogans with no consideration for anyone else.  It only takes a few like that to totally wreck the place.
Overall Comment: Avoid this place like the plague.

Location of camp: Corindi Beach
Number of nights: 1
Comment on Location: On the highway but traffic noise not a problem.  Beside Peel River and well treed made it pleasant.
Comment on Operator: Brief dealings but very cooperative.
Comment on facilities: Entirely adequate for our needs.
View on other guests: Friendly traveler types.

Location of camp: Nulkaba (Cessnock)
Number of nights: 2
Comment on Location: On man road so a bit of traffic noise but not a great problem
Comment on Operator: very helpful and pleasant.  Spotted a potential issue with a slope on our site and provided some wood to level it out.
Comment on facilities: Entirely adequate.  A unique feature was that a small off-leash dog run had been created - possibly to meet the needs of a few long-term residents' dogs but the important bit is the owners were aware of their clients needs.
View on other guests: Quite a few long term residents, but very friendly.  One couple, unfortunately close to us,seemed to feel that we needed to hear their TV, which they played from mid-day onwards.
Overall comment:   The only negative was the noisy neighbours.  The attitude of the owners was great and it was very close to the wineries.

Appendix 6 Field Guides for Plants.

I was asked by one A. Nonny Mouse through a comment on the first tangible post what field guides we used.  here is their comment.

Thank you for sharing the details of your trips. As someone new to Australia and who intends to be able to take trips like these at some point this is very informative.
Could you let me know what fieldguide(s?) you use to identify the plants?

I was going to put up a substantive comment in response but it was getting long so I am creating this instead.

That is a very good question to which there is no simple answer, primarily because of the number of species one can encounter.  For birds there are about 800 species in all of Australia.  For plants, my local group based around Canberra has identified 1100 species within a 150km radius.  My guess would be that in a trip such as we took there could easily be 5,000 species (especially including some of the rainforests.

• For the North Coast of NSW we have used with some success "From Mangroves to Mountains" by Leiper et al.  It's about SE Queensland but the plants don't bother about State borders.It includes 2200 species!
• For the inland there is somewhat lower diversity and we try to sort things out with "Plants of Inland Australia" By Moore P.This covers all the 'big sandy dry bit' in the middle of Australia so there are quite a few species not found in NSW.  It lists about 1100 species.
• For the SE of the State "Native Plants of the Sydney region" by Fairley and Moore is very useful.  It lists something like 700sp (estimating from the common names in the Index).

I'd hope that between those three, with a bit of luck and a lot of prayer you should be able to get most anything you see to at least family, and perhaps genus.

If you have time you might get lucky at a Visitor Information Centre if there is a plant group active in the local area.  By was of example there is a very good guide put out by a group in Narranderra which would help with many of the species in the upper Murrumbidgee and the Catchment Management Authorities used to put out good stuff.  (Of course the NSW Government has completely gutted the CMAs - apparently they were concerned about the environment and were getting in the way of stuff that benefited the big end of town.  Perhaps Local land Services will continue the work, but don't hold your breath.

For a reference the "Flora of New South Wales" Harden G editor is the best around in hard copy.  Apart from being 4 huge volumes (and the one dealing with monocots including lilies and orchids is very hard to find - we haven't managed it yet) it is quite expensive and getting a bit long in the tooth.

As an online resource PlantNet is more or less the electronic equivalent of the foregoing.  It isn't really a field as you need to have a fair idea of what you're dealing with before hooking in.  It is also driven by the ideology - or possibly politics - of the Botanic Gardens in Sydney who reject (inter alia) the nomenclature of orchids proposed by Jones D.  However its about the best around.

Appendix 4 Weather summary

Basically the weather on the trip was quite acceptable!  The third day at Trilby, and the day we arrived at Corindi were a tad windy.  We had a couple of showers but nothing at all dramatic (sorry guys on the North Coast who need rain).

One of the reasons for going away in July is to get away from the cold of Canberra.  The next two charts consider that:\

 While some of the early minima were a little cool they were generally better than recorded at home.  Once we got to the North Coast the situation was a lot better!

The maxima tell the story.  Mission accomplished.

Appendix 3 Motoring summary

I will cover two points in this post: distance covered per day and fuel consumption by fill up.

Distance per day.

The chart below is based on distances I recorded each evening, and comes up with a somewhat different total to the difference in odometer readings from starting out to returning home.  I can't explain this, but as no-one is going to die as a result of the confusion I have decided to ignore it.

The average distance covered per day works out to 179km.  One of my objectives was to avoid mega distances in a day so it was pleasing that the most we did in a day was 450km. On 5 days we did less than 50km.

Fuel consumption 

Overall we achieved 11.56 l/100km - or in old money 24.2mpg.  This varied quite a bit between fill-ups!

Causes of the variation can include:

• whether towing the camper or not;
• road surfaces (the major highways have much lower rolling-resistance bitumen than 'ordinary' country roads);
• terrain (the flat country out West uses far less fuel per distance than the hilly and twisty country in the ranges of New England);
• the click-off settings at a bowser (ie one bowser doesn't completely fill the tank whereas the next one does, giving an exceptionally high fuel consumption at the second fill up); and
• headwinds.