High Seas

This is an interesting video from our ABC. Note the mention of tide height. I've never seen the presenter before but he does a well enough job.

At 12 metres/49' I thought we had the highest tides in the world but no. For that you must visit the east coast of Canada, to the Bay of Fundy (thanks Jackie) with its shores being in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick provinces where tides can be up to 17 metres/56'.

Check out this video with commentary and time lapse video.

Or this purely visual and luscious video. 

I don't know if I should continue to occasionally publish posts like this. They take time to get things right, and find the right clips, let alone that I am using the work others.  

What a drone

Drone bees are male used for sex and then discarded. Not that unlike some humans really. 

Is there a parallel with drones of the skies?

In the noughties Ray and I were on a grassed area at St Kilda Beach, Melbourne, when I heard a noise and looked up and saw a drone aircraft, and it descended to land right next to us. This is a public safety issue, said the State Government and banned them in some areas.

Skip to the teen years of the 21st century and I thought from my balcony I could see a hovering bird over the streets of South Yarra. We don't have large hovering birds. I realised it was a drone. I watched for a very short time and went inside to get my camera to take a photo, but it had gone by the time I returned. The drone operator was certainly in breach of laws.

Now, they have become skilled surveillance cameras, weapons that can hunt down and kill people with precision, can be armed to attack sites and suicide bombing devices.

Their abilities are quite scary, but they can be used in very useful areas too, for surveying and mapping, to check inaccessible areas and to fight against crime. 

They are topical here because they are used at Sydney beaches as shark spotters. Sadly at Coogee Beach a female swimmer was recently attacked by a shark. The beach is one of the popular few that doesn't have drone coverage because of Sydney Airport flight restrictions. Duh, how high do drones fly compared to planes? The authority has now temporarily allowed shark spotting drones to fly over the sea at Coogee Beach.

Over the summer periods, Sydney beaches are often netted to stop sharks coming close to shores, but this has a huge impact on sea wildlife, with many creatures getting caught in nets, including dolphins, whales, stingrays and turtles. Drones are a far more effective way to prevent shark attacks and don't have the impact on creatures of the seas. 

After all, aren't the seas the province of sea creatures. Humans enter at risk.

There is a natural predator for drones, as this Australian wedge tailed eagle shows. (PS. If this post seems very unedited in someway, that's because crazy things are happening around me) 

Marysville 3

The Taggerty River flowing over the Keppel Falls has this interesting mini falls. I noticed on the Google map, the head of the river, with me assuming the rivers in the area flow south to eventually join the Yarra River. How ignorant. The Black Spur is a watershed and rivers flow north to eventually join the Murray River and not south as I assumed. 

It was time to leave Marysville and I drove the Black Spur, in misty rain. It was rather atmospheric. While I drove faster than Phyllis, still I accumulated cars behind me wanting to travel faster, so I pulled over once to let them pass. 

We stopped off at Maroondah Dam and after parking, we walked to the dam base. Under a shelter, I guess it was a family group together having a barbeque early lunch. While I have a couple of umbrellas in my car boot, there was no indication of rain, but down the rain came. We took shelter under a tree. "Kosov, there is no point in all of us getting wet. Just you run to the car to bring back umbrellas". By the time he returned, the rain had stopped. Someone among the family group was playing a guitar and singing an Asian song. It was nice to hear. I would have liked to visit the top of the dam wall and walk across, but rain had dampened our enthusiasm. 

While we sheltered under a tree, I noticed these interesting fungi. 

The next stop was a small shopping centre on the approach to Healesville for food and coffee, with a surprisingly good double espresso from a terrific bakery. The misty mountain was where we had driven.

While petrol was generally selling for about $2.15 a litre (AU$8.14 a US gallon), in Lilydale there was a self service unstaffed outlet selling for under $1.60. We filled up going and returning. 

Here we go, artwork at the other end of the Mullum Mullum tunnel. We are approaching home. It was a lovely time away and I could have stayed longer. 

So, two nights away with Phyllis and Kosov went very well. While I have spoken strongly to them a couple of times when I was unhappy with things around my home, we've never had an argument. No one has sulked or gone no speakies. I do bite my tongue at times over minor things, thinking this is really not so important. 

Marysville 2

The night before Phyllis cobbled together a nice meal with what he found at the local supermarket. 

For them, Phyllis and Kosov arose the next day at a reasonable hour. Alone the evening before they went out for a little drive, and were excited to show me something they had found, the Gould Memorial Drive. I am not sure whether it is a war memorial planting or not, but lush with fresh green leaves, it was stunning.

Along the way.

Gorgeous. 

As a test, I left it to them to plan the day. The first fail was learning that the local historical museum wasn't open this day. I would have really liked to visit. A lack of planning also led to not being able to find the Keppel Falls Lookout, after a half hour drive along little better than a bush track. We turned around. Eucalyptus, gum trees, have evolved to cope with bushfires, and normally recover. The fire was so intense in places during the 2009 fires, the trees were killed, and are strong reminders of the day. This is not normal in Australia, but of course it is nothing to do with climate change. 

We backtracked and decided to take the 2km/1.2ml return walk to see the Keppel waterfalls. 

I walked over 2 k/m return, admittedly on flat ground, with neighbour HH to have lunch, so I know how far a kilometre is, and it was further. There were steep hills a times and we did reach a point where there were rocks and flowing water, but not the falls. I called the return to the car, as I worried about the strain on my not quite right heart. We returned to the car, and I can't remember why I drove back to Marysville, but I was a bit faster than Phyllis. My country gravel road driving skills hadn't been forgotten.

Back in Marysville, it was time to eat, and there wasn't a shortage of places to choose from. We lunched at  Marysville Country Bakery and the food was fine, and surprisingly, the double espresso was excellent. 

We took a wander around the nearby Gallipoli Park.

It's a representation of a lizard, if you can't work it out. 

The lads had mentioned going to Bruno's Sculpture Garden, which Ray and I visited in the past but we missed the turn as we headed to Steavenson Falls. We continued on.

The falls are a short walk from the carpark, past a small hydro electric power station. There is plenty  of old people seating. 

There is a path to the top of the falls, and I even remember Mother walking to the top with us in the 90s, but it would be too much for me now. The lads weren't interested to explore further. I checked the entry fees at Bruno's Garden, and they decided that was a no as well.

Meanwhile back at our digs, this cockatoo photo bombed my photo of a currawong. 

I did get to snap the currawong. 

My knee and Kosov's foot. It is illegal to feed native birds in Australia, so there wasn't a need for a 'no feeding the birds' in the caravan park, but of course we did, with seed in the car boot that has been there since before Ray died. We planned to use it the day after he died when we were to take our friend Victor, from Sydney, to the Dandenong Ranges. The best laid plans..... 

Dudes, find us somewhere nice to eat tonight! The golf club, Andrew. A dinner suit required lads? No Andrew. It was quiet but not dead. Rather nice, actually. Phyllis hasn't stop raving about the 12 hour slow cooked lamb. He is going to get the slow cooker down from the storage above the fridge and make it himself. I took my cap off and forgot it.

Onndrewwww, give me your phone. From the middle of the restaurant, Kosov zoomed into 100 times something to capture a kookaburra in the failing light. I was gobsmacked at the photo taken from so far away. By the guano, it is clear that kookas sit there often, ready to swoop down to steal a tasty steak from an outdoor diner. 

The big waters in the centre

I can't guarantee the accuracy of this but I've heard that soon one sixth of Australia is soon to be underwater as South Australia's Lake Eyre fills with water from flooding rains in Queensland. If you combine the land area of France, Germany and Italy, you will have the approximate size of the Lake Eyre Basin. Or for you less European types, five times the size of the UK.

Australia is a large country and it is hard to imagine 1/6th of the area underwater.

The lake receives water once in how ever many years or even decades and only after large and often destructive flooding.  

On average the lake fills completely only three times a century, so it is quite a remarkable event. The last filling of the lake was in 1974, although it has received quite a bit more than usual water this century. Meanwhile in my state of Victoria and much of South Australia, parts are close to drought conditions.  

The main tributaries are the innocuously named Cooper Creek, the Diamantina River, the Georgina River, the Bulloo River and the Paroo River, all flowing from the north east and turning the normally dry salt flats into a green oasis. Along the way it fills many natural water reservoirs and helps to replenish Australia's underground Great Artesian Basin.

This map by ABC Australia shows the extent of Lake Eyre Basin.

Don't think of the water as fast flowing rivers, rather wide expanses of flooding water creeping slowly along and downhill to the lake sitting 17 metres below sea level. This photo clearly shows how the water progresses from Queensland to the lake over a number of months. The rains that fell in Queensland in March are just reaching the lake bed now, in late June.

Over spring the waters will begin to evaporate and will almost disappear in summer with temperatures up to 50/122 degrees.

The creatures hidden away in dried mud for years come alive and birds locally and from overseas somehow know the lake is full of water and visit. And you know what happens when conditions are so good and food aplenty for creatures great and small? Yes, breeding. Some birds fly in from as far away as Siberia. How do they know it is flooded? I don't know. Get your Google busy.

It is a truly remarkable event in Australia, but certainly not a new one.

Royal Botanic Gardens

A month or so I met up with my friend Wombat after she had taken a tree tour of our Royal Botanic Gardens. The park is huge and so good, but it is built on the side of a hill, and as I no longer stride along, a bus conveniently dropped me at the lower part of the gardens near the cafe where we ate and drank coffee. 

We walked through the lower part of the gardens and then Alexandra Avenue to St Kilda Road but I did ask for a break along the way. It was further than I thought. 

It was a great catch up and here are a few photos. This is the Anderson Street Bridge over the Yarra River, with its now widened footpaths, blocked to vehicles aside from bicycles. I can remember driving across the bridge more than once in my car a few  decades ago.

Across the lake, once teaming with eels but where have they gone? You can boat on the lake in a punt propelled by someone in Edwardian costume. I think Ray and I did so many years ago.

A little romance in the gardens.

Birds in the shade.

Lilies and duckweed dominating the waters here.

We took a break here, at what I think were horse troughs. We worked out what all these pillars were for, but I can't remember. Horse tethering posts, I think. 

We had propped ourselves up on a rock or horse trough, and it was a slow dawning to me that we were sitting opposite two dykes, one of them breastfeeding a baby. 

After all that energy expended, my meal prepared by Phyllis was most welcome to replenish my fat reserves. 

I bought a new range hood today. It will be delivered and installed next week and the old one taken away. It is just a simple electrical fault with the old one, but it would be visit by a tradesperson, then the wait for the part, then the repair, to what I think is a 15 year old range hood. The original range hood went out with a very sparkly bang, rather like Boud's microwave has just done. I try to remember Ray's words, 'it's only money'. 

Travelling East, Part II

The lakes are very extensive and singing in my mind, 'a three hour cruise' alarmed me a little. Yes, most of you will get that. 

Before so, my host drove me around a newly developed area, which I thought was terrific but underused, for now. It won't always be, and just wait for the summer tourist influx.

The cruise with the commentary was terrific. We paid with cash and the lovely attendant did not have change and said she would deliver it to us later on boat. We said, don't bother. She offered us a Mel Bag Tag instead. I took up the freebie offer and paid $10 for another to give to Phyllis and Kosov. I had also bought them chocolate in the morning when we had coffee. I correctly guessed they would really like a souvenir. 

There was free instant coffee available, and tea bags, along with a bubbling hot water urn. At some point a huge hot scone with jam and lashings of cream was served.  (I've always wanted to insert lashings of something into a post and never had the chance since I last read a Famous Five book)

We were informed about many things involving the waterways and surrounding land and one fact among most I've forgotten was the area had the highest Aboriginal population in the state before the white invasion. 

We arrived back home around 4.30 and took a rest until we later went out for dinner to the local RSL club. The meal was ok although there was some bother about me wearing my hat indoors. I explained why and I was allowed to keep it. I was annoyed at about the way I was told and once back in Melbourne I sent a message to the club and received an apology. If you've forgotten, I had a melanoma removed from my scalp and there is a bare patch. Slowly its appearance is improving but I am not ready to expose it to the world yet.

The next morning we both set off in our respective cars to Paynesville and after meeting, travelled as foot passengers less than 200 metres across the water by a chain pulled ferry to Raymond Island. We walked the two kilometre koala trail walk and while I was hopeless at koala spotting, my friend was excellent. I couldn't even see some as she was pointing to them.

It took quite some time to walk the two kilometres because of the wildlife distractions. It was a terrific outing to Raymond Island.

We had coffee from a caravan near the ferry and I fortified myself for the journey home with a toasted sandwich and I took a break from driving at a service area at Officer South.

So, the day before:

There are a number of these timber carved sculptures along the foreshore, all war related. They are very well done.

A dredge can be seen in the distance. A lot of money has been spent in the main street along the foreshore and in a kind of marina area. This is to cater for the huge number of tourists who arrive during holiday periods and it seems there is space for numbers to increase. 

Here comes another dredge that I guess had been out dredging. No surprise there. 

A couple of young lads were crabbing near here.

The man made entrance has to be dredged to keep clear of sand. There was once another natural opening that often closed over, so fishing boats could not get out to sea. 

You can see the turbulence at the entrance. 

There were many seals next to the ferry, jumping out of the water but of the dozen or more photos I took, I did not get one of  a seal jumping from the water. A few were sitting on rocks.

The seal fin sits out of the water as the seal tries to warm or cool itself. 

 

Human made concrete point, that was in less than stellar condition but the cormorants liked it.

This sea eagle was sitting in the tree as I snapped, but it had taken flight, which made a much better photo.

The next day at Raymond Island.

The callistemon was past its prime, aren't we all, but what a great shape. 

A tawny frog mouth in its excellent disguise. 

Nein mein herr. I have a headache. I've never seen anything like this, although I've heard the sounds. Make sure you have yours on.

We were nearly back to the ferry terminal when a passing motorist indicated to us to look to the left, and a few metres away was an echidna, or a spiny ant eater. We would have missed it. It had no fear of humans, which they normally do and wandered around the feet of the rapidly gathering throng of tourists. Note its rear paws with claws that face backwards that enables it to quickly burrow straight down underground if threatened. Just wow!

I am again away for a few days where I will stay on my own in a quite posh hotel that I picked up for a good deal. Later babes...