The way home

We meandered down the coast road on our way to the airport. First a look over Noosa from its highest point.

 We also stopped at Peregian Beach, which seems to continue for some kilometers. A fitting farewell to Noosa.

The Sunday drive

We revived the traditional custom of a Sunday drive to explore the surroundings. The selected road trip passed through Doonan, Eumundi, Cooroy, Lake Macdonald and Mount Tinbeerwah. 

Not much found  to see in Doonan, so we passed through. Eumundi makes much of its Wednesday and Saturday markets, but this was Sunday. It had a selection of tourist shops (Specialty honey, Leather) and a BerkelouW  bookshop as well as quaint Imperial Hotel (1911). 

Cooroy and its environs offered the most interest. The town had an arts precinct including a small art gallery currently showing an exhibition of artworks in various media from Bundaberg artists for purchase. Nearby an area was set aside to celebrate the town’s early sawmill days. Part of the old mill has been retained

There is also a clever reproduction of timber types rendered in coloured concrete.

Nearby, my eye was drawn to a tree, genus unknown about to burst into a fountain of  golden flower clusters

We explored Lake Macdonald, which now hosts some suburban large homes. At a picnic spot a music group which included a didgeridoo was practising.

I saw a bean vine which was rampant at the Everglades: whether good for bush tucker I know not, and was not inclined to experiment

The Noosa Botanic Gardens were nearby on the shore of Lake Macdonald, and worth passing a pleasant hour or so strolling.

 Finally we drove up Mount Tinbeerwah to survey greater Noosa before returning to home base

Friday 9 August

This record is for a time before the previous entry

To mark the inauguration of my 80th year we enjoyed a good breakfast at The Deck on Sunshine Beach. 

 https://www.thedecksunshinebeach.com.au/ We then took another walk along the beach; I tried to locate some pippies without success , but W grabbed one- it was a bit small so we restored to its ocean bed.

Later in the day, which was Queensland perfect we actually had a shortish surf swim. Not so short that a large rogue wave couldn’t take me by surprise with a whump on the back and a dumpful of seawater mouthwash.

For dinner we went to Quamby Place, which has a selection of up-market restaurants. Our pick was Rock Salt, which is  byo.

https://rocksaltnoosa.com.au/

We recommend both eateries,  and have returned to The Deck.

More walking

We set out bright and early for Hastings St side of the Park entrance and secured a rare car park.  Our mission was to cover most of the Coastal Walk from that side. Apart from being as crowded as an Everest conga line with walkers joggers and fisherfolk, it is in stark contrast to the Sunshine beach side - a cake walk, concreted for the benefit of any pushers or other wheelchairs as far as Dolphin Point. An easy gravel path continues to Hell’s Gate. Between those two points we were rewarded with a sight in the distance of whales, seemingly mother and calf- spouting, and a couple of times jumping. From Hell’s Gate it is 500m to Alexandria Bay, which we have already visited twice, so did not need the walk down and back up. Perhaps about 6k easy walking round trip.

View at Hells’ gate

On the way

View.of Alexandria Bay from Hell’s Gate

The Everglades

Noosa claims to have one of only two Everglades in the world. So we had to see this thing. In Noosa’s case it is a narrow section of river running parallel to the coast. 

We drove up to Boreen Point, had lunch at an “ecotourism” place and went on a boat trip up river, entered by crossing a wide and shallow (1.5m) Lake Cootharaba, Queensland's biggest natural saltwater lake. The lake is 10km long and 5km wide .

In the salty section there were black swans, pelicans, cormorants, and probably other bird varieties unseen. 

But in the fresh water the banks were lined with tea trees, giving the water a brownish colour, and excluding much fish insect, or  avian habitation. The river had a glassy surface making for excellent reflections.

It was dark when returned to our Seaview flat.

Walking

We have spent plenty of time walking over the last few days.

We have sauntered along most of Sunshine Beach below the surf boundary, allowing ourselves to get wet up to the knees. The water feels warm enough for a full dip and we will aim for a fully sunny day for that. Sunshine Beach has a quite different terroir to Main Beach, dog home at our house end, lots of friendly surfing at the flags, real waves, only a small group of shops, surf club being rebuilt to open in December. The last is a pity because we hoped to dine there more than once. Just out of the flag area a young chap was catching pippies as they popped up their noses in the waves, bringing back childhood memories for me. I asked him what he was going to do with the two handfuls he had-“eat them” he replied,  “but how are they done?”  I was glad to let him know that boiling for a short period is appropriate. 

Realising that the Coastal Walk starting at the Hastings St end is much easier than the steep climb at Sunshine beach, we drove hoping to do the Coastal walk  from that end to Dolphin Point, but parking is a frustration - none left  at the Park entrance. We found a 2 hour spot 1.5km away among the houses, so chose the walk up Noosa Hill- quite energetic enough for me.

Another day an early start let us grab  a short park in the hub of Hastings, and partake of the upmarket ice cream. 

 A pleasant stroll is available up the riverside .

An  easy trek through the Park to Alexandria Bay starts near our house. I took the opportunity to examine the flora, which had several distinct zones. Bird calls are heard continuously and in great variety, but no visibility.

Getting organised in Noosa

Noosa is a widely strung out cluster of villages.  Having safely arrived and settled into our accommodation near the northern end of Sunshine Beach  (precisely, a few metres steep walk up from entrance 27, which is also the boundary line between dog and no-dog beach territory), we had to forage for groceries for the first days. Too late to buy fancy bread, we found a Bakers Delight in one village. Also in the cluster an excellent fish shop where the daily offering is cut into fillets, along with various crustaceans. All self select and carry to the cash register to be weighed and paid, which I have not encountered in a fresh fish shop before.  Standing and mulling some unfamiliar names, one of the managers explained the choices, and on his telling us that the coral trout was rarely available, it was a natural choice. Coles,  Woolworths, and Aldi give each other wide berth, not in easy walking distance between each, but we visited all of them to acquire fair trade coffee, Norwegian smoked salmon,  quality raw muesli, blueberries, and European cheese. I was expecting tropical fruit but it’s not in season . We got bananas (well they are tropical ) and a not quite fully ripe section of pineapple from a small fruiterer. The next day we found a place offering baguettes to French standards .

The holiday laze began.We took an exploratory walk along our end of the beach up to the bathing flags. The next day we made a supposedly modest beginning of the recommended coastal walk around the headland which stretches from Sunshine Beach to Main beach 5.4 km  one way; we went 1km going as far as Alexandria Bay  (it was 2 hours tough going return). The beach had rough surf ; it is reputedly nudist, though there were no such sightings by us, nor of dolphins or whales. The bush turkeys are prevalent, but they also stroll through the shopping precincts.. Below is the rising path from our end of the beach. Entrance 27 is the scoop into the bush in the middle distance showing houses above.

Our first meal out was the very lyrically reviewed Pasta Pronto, diners competing to find higher superlatives. The pasta, home made,  and sauces were indeed of excellent standard, portions sufficient to feed a platoon , and since I am trained to eat everything and W was defeated by her serve, we found ourselves unable to order the equally revered tiramisu. Perhaps this is a mild dampener on Acolytes of TripAdvisor.

However the chap on the next table opened a conversation by asking whether I was Sir Ninian Stephen

I

I’ll take that question as a compliment, even though my doppelgänger is no longer with us. On receiving my denial he said I had some QC look about me. How to make a friend!

Alexandria Bay

Flying North for Winter and car insurance excess reflections

We have joined the tribe of Southerners rumoured to migrate to Queensland in the cool climate season of Melbourne.

We chose to maximise travel comfort by flying business class, which means a stopover each way in Sydney, and admission to 2 business lounges in each direction. We were grateful for the extra comfort, but were surprised that the QLink Sydney-Maroochydore trip in a smaller aircraft had better designed seats than the 737 on the Melbourne flight.

Because risk of cancellation was high, domestic insurance was taken out with a seniors friendly company. We also hired a car from Budget, now a subsidiary of Avis. Cheaper nominal rate, but like all cheap travel, profit recovery is on ancillaries. The car has included cover with an excess of $4060 for most damage, but no cover for single car  accident or underbody damage. Excess reduction to $600 costs $30 per day , and to nil costs $40 per day, still no cover at all for single car crash or underbody. There is a group trading asVroom-Vroom that offers insurance for all the uncovered items, at about $18 per day. Our domestic travel policy has a $2000 cover for car damage, so we decided to bet on driver skill and luck, and self insure for the $2060 remainder single car risk. Next, Budget offered to fill our tank from assumed empty for $1.13 per litre; we decided to accept, but I think Budget will win here too: the car estimated it already had enough fuel for 575 km (included in basic hire charge). Over 14 days we may strive to cover so much road territory. Hiring a car is a serious business management undertaking.

Our Airbnb flat is ideal for us. Close (150m)  to Sunshine beach and the National Park, i.e., far from the madding crowd of Hastings St, appointed for all we  want in bedroom, lounge, kitchen,  laundry etc by the friendly owner who even provided first breakfast makings . View from the balcony where we can eat lunch or have an evening drink:

Wildflowers of Ulladulla

We were very impressed by the Ulladulla wildflower reserve. Even in the off-season when we came  there was plenty to admire -particularly the fungi. These are some Nikon  camera close-ups to conclude this trip blog:

Hoarding Boards in Sydney

The City of Sydney says "Historic images are required to be used on temporary structures surrounding heritage building developments or located in heritage conservation areas of significance. To help you meet this requirement, we have prepared a hoarding design template you may use, available as an InDesign file. This template can be populated with historic images, either from preselected images curated by the City or your own images of the relevant building or streetscape."

This requirement certainly adds museum value to a walk along any city street with all the activity going on .

 



We also visited the street photo exhibition at the  Museum of Sydney on the site of the original Government House at Bridge & Phillip St.

This is the site of part of the Public Works Department in which I worked 1963-1966 (in the imposing colonial building opposite- this site was used by the Maintenance Branch and had a fibro building used as a services comfort area in World War II.)
Street photography was endemic when I was a boy. ( A photographer would bail you up and give a card to collect his snap. It was claimed that everyone in Sydney had got snapped. Here is mine (taken around 1943? I hope I stopped wearing dresses soon after that.)

On to Sydney

Our Friday journey involved a drive to Kiama for morning coffee with my brother. From there to North Wollongong to drop off the car and take the train was 35 minutes drive, just missed the train so 55 minutes wait, fortunately, because 20 minutes later at the station  Budget called to tell me I had left my camera in the car. 

The journey from NW  to St James (transfer at Central) was efficient but with waiting time added up to a little over two hours. Since the train fare is a mere $2.50 and Opal cards are now permanent (my long lost balance from a previous card was transferred and further reduced the fare to $0.70) this is a commendable way to reach the NSW capital. The new carriages are also a pleasure to ride, as is the new signage and location voice messages  (at least the first time, but after that they pall: but never underestimate the inattention of travellers). All this is vastly superior to PTV, whose internal location signage is mostly two stops incorrect on my Northern lines: could be very frustrating for someone who needs the information.

The new Metro plans are impressive, with driverless trains already in operation in the outer North West, and a major new line to bisect the city and suburbs. Light rail lines are laid in part of George St.

The combination of plane-car-train worked very well for our planned meet people and enjoy the coast itinerary .

We chose modern Japanese for our first Sydney dinner, Kid Kyoto, and asked for omakase (chef’s choice). Loud noise, trendy people, and definitely not traditional food. A fun experience good introduction to the changing of the vibe in  Sydney.  Youth, Asian rather than European, lots of young women who would look distinctly underdressed in Melbourne.

“Meet Kid Kyoto, Sydney's Rebellious Japanese Izakaya.”

 The hotel breakfast price forced a forage. I found something splendiferous at TheWalrus

Our day was spent with relatives and friends. Train and a borrowed car got us around the suburbs.

In the evening we dined in Barangaroo , which is now looking finished and very much with vibe.

Environs of Ulladulla

A short exploration of our hotel indicated that we are not the sit around a plunge pool in deck chair with drink type. We used our room balcony to relax and investigate dinner. 

Our choice fell to The Italian Guild in Milton, a town a few minutes drive up the highway. It was offering sittings, not our favourite thing, but when we got there the place was large and buzzing- it clearly has a reputation that brings people from further than our drive. A friendly crew of what appeared to be backpacker girls were extremely busy as was the kitchen , owned by a youngish chap making conversation about his Milanese origin, and the supplies, including truffle derivatives he imports from home. We ate a simple shared bruschetta and pasta, 2 glasses each of  Italian wine therewith; all very high standard - we could have been in North Italy, even though there was an offering of Bolognese sauce for spaghetti, never done in Bologna. We were surprised to settle at the counter with no suggestion of a tip - yet all the girls and the owner cheerily farewelled us.

https://italianguild.com/fresh-summer-truffle-milano-to-milton/
Our morning was filled with a leisurely walk through the Ulladulla wildflower Reserve. 36 hectares of bush with short tracks.  It has been dry and so most of the special autumn flowers the Reserve info suggested we look out for did not show up for us, but we found plenty to snap, both large and tiny.

Identification is quite another thing. Those below are from phone; later additions from the camera may follow.

After lunch on the harbour lawn in Ulladulla we followed a path displaying and explaining  rock samples from all known geological periods affecting what is now known as Australia. The accompanying climate information expanded my understanding of climate change, as it seems the several warm and cool changes over the past millennia with varying oxygen, carbon dioxide levels and sea level rise and fall over up 180 metres,  dwarf the change the world is currently fussing about.

“The 500 million year Geological Time Walk on the north side of the harbour in Brodie Park, officially opened in December 2015. This Gondwana Coast Geological Time Walk is one of only seven time walks to be found in the world. (Click here to view the Walk Brochure PDF” This was for me new and useful.

Afterwards we descended to the small beach at the foot of the park which is currently claimed by a flock of pelicans.

Below : three we approached - others near road at the beach end too numerous to count and possibly being fed by humans above.

Meandering to Mollymook

After breakfast we explored the attractive no-wave beach at the northern side of the Clyde estuary. We had seen it from our hotel room, but after crossing the bridge it is fortified from overuse by a no-right turn and the next road a long winding avenue of (probably) holiday houses and finally a fenced caravan park hugging the shore.

We decided to move northwards, and turned off next on the South Durras road, which wends back to the coast through the beautifully treed Murramarang   National Park. A gravel off road headed to beckoned to North Head lookout, but we bypassed this way because of respect for the potential limits of car hire and then a 300 metre track. Nevertheless NSW Parks says those more intrepid than us will be rewarded : “The spectacular cliffs along the Murramarang coastline are on fine display from North Head lookout. After following a well-formed track for 300 metres over gently undulating hills, you’ll arrive at a safe vantage spot with excellent views of the coastal headland and the wide blue sea. Bring the kids and a pair of binoculars – whales migrate past in winter, making this a perfect spot for whale watching. Pods of dolphins are often visible.”

NSW Parks photo

We touched coast at the magnificent Durras beach, which must be among the best on the south coast, continuing almost completely as created. We began to stroll along, but soon realised that our entry point was unmarked, and we were in danger of becoming lost! We literally retraced our footsteps in the sand to regain our car. 

Around a bend or two in the road we reached Durras Lake, and spent an idle time watching two or three fisherpeople fruitlessly casting rod lines.

 When the time was ripe we got back onto the highway and Ulladulla for lunch. It has matured into another busy town since I was last here. We made a fortunate pick for lunch café “Native” with an outside view of the small harbour and an attractive seawall.

We were also fortunate to see a large black ray sporting about very close to shore as we walked around the bay. I think we were the sole witnesses.

We arrived at Mollymook early afternoon and prepared for our two day stay. Our room has a good view from the first floor balcony.

Autumn Break

April 2019. 

Post Easter we have planned to catch up with some old friends and seldom seen relations on the paternal line. We have combined this project with a sybaritic sojourn on the South NSW Coast.

This morning we set out for the Airport via Uber, but we had scarcely joined Citilink when a neon sign warned of closed lanes due to a collision, and within a few metres traffic came to a gridlock. Praise be to Google Drive that advised escape by the nearby next exit, and we continued our journey under instructions through a web of northern suburbia. Google then advised rejoining Citilink at Bell St, and we arrived at the airport with only 2 minutes lost from original ETA.

Our first stop was Canberra, where we picked up a hire car and proceeded to Parliament House, where we were greeted by a friend on Senator Payne’s staff and his wife , and took a light lunch in the Parliamentary Staff Café. We only realised the full extent of the benefit of entry by sponsor when we saw the queues at the main entrance going only to public areas, whereas our friend had conducted us through all Members’ corridors with peeks into currently unoccupied Members and Ministers offices, and the extensive portraiture and other art not usually accessible.

View at the entrance

Ming we know, but his portrait is placed in the pre-war order; on his left is Earle Page using the conceit of an academic hood.

I was surprised by the portrait of Julia Gillard, the most recent, a photographic like crispness , head only.


View of a garden from one of the Senate corridors

We continued our journey with a two hour drive to Bateman’s Bay, where we adjourned to the appropriately named Esplanade Hotel, with an excellent spacious room and delightful water view.

Two late afternoon snaps from our balcony on arrival: I am looking forward to the same scene in morning’s light:

Bateman’s Bay is not noted for gastronomic highlife. After judicious consideration we settled for dinner at the Soldiers Club to which our hotel assigned us temporary membership, free coke and keno concession (pass). The food was of course cheap efficient and cheerful, though I ventured 6 local (Clyde River) oysters which on arrival at the table I thought by size had been harvested when too young to be taken from their mother.

The Club had a small but impressive display of memorabilia of local heroes, including an avenue of honour on the way into the restaurant, and one set of Albert Jacka, and 

Alan Stretton, who it claimed has been the only General officer to rise from the ranks.

General Stretton’s uniform is on the right, Albert Jacka’s medals are on the far left.