Whale Action

I have been sorting through some of the video from last week.  I have captured some whale action. The original idea was to set up the tripod and let the camera roll for 30 minutes then examine the results in detail.  This did not work.  The film was there but it needed to be zoomed out to a clear patch of water. All I got was a lot of unfocused then refocused shore break with a few white crests in the distance. Also don't have foliage blowing in the foreground.  But I did get two instances of whale breaching in just a five minute hand held film.  I zoomed to get a passing yacht on the horizon but I did not notice any whales then.  During the editing they showed up. Go full screen for best view.

Whale Tales

Peeled and Scraped

I have made points previously about the sun burn issue.  But yet again I have had two scrapings and a cut and sew job done on my back.  It seems my immune system holds these Basal Cells in the skin surface layer itself and does not allow them to go deeper.  This is a good thing but still requires the area  to be cut out and removed, otherwise this surface issue spreads outwards and I could end up like Jorah Mormont with a dose of Greyscale.  With this in mind there is a new cream that I may qualify for that prods the immune system to go after the basal cells in the skin layer.  The scrapings will tell.

Ouch

Creperie

We have a change of strategy for bike rides. There are many eateries nearby which requires that the stop off be towards the end of the ride rather than the middle or the most distant point.  Hence Puckle St becomes an option or this time the "Cravin Crepes" at Edgewater.  The last time I had a Crepe was in Los Angeles 10 yar ago because we couldn't find anything else.  They are a deceptively large meal. We had a Popeye featuring spinach.

Fire Truck outside the Creperie 2007. This was about the third photo I took.

Edgewater

Popeyes for Two

Dragons

Boats that is!  Years ago Melbourne Water (or was it BOW)  ran a dragon boat.  I went down to a trial day just to observe but I never actually got in the boat.  It was more of a team building thing and Melbourne Water looked after the waterways so it was a good fit.  These guys and gals today are all serious about these races and they were head down and all sprayed paddles.  There was a guy trying to recruit us, yes there are seniors races, its only a 200 metre course.  But it's a summer season and you travel all over Victoria to compete.

Just beat it

Where late the sweet birds sang

Not sure how this title fits a book about the end of the world and how cloning of humans kept the population going until there was a breakaway group who got back to nature.  This won the Hugo in 1977 but I bet the author Kate Wilhelm would never have thought the first animal cloning of sheep would happen for real just 19 years later. 

Well Hello Dolly

Shakespeare Revisited

We are making much ado about these pop up shows but the two we have been to are funny.  I think the first one  (As You Like It) was funnier but they are both worth going to.  This one had proper females and plenty more of that slapstick humour and this time the keystone cops were here.  The food vans were different so they must also be on a rotation. This time we had squids and chips for lunch.  Tip: go to the main bar for a drink not the "bar in a van".  The NZ influence could be seen with various dance hakas going on not normally seen on the island of Messina.

The nights watch training with the Keystone cops

Vigilance in the Gardens

Bateau Bay Kookas

I have been sorting through some beach photos and thought I would practice my drawing.

All the Light we cannot see

This was a birthday book I bought myself.  But how is it that after I just get back from St Malo that I wander along a row of books and get drawn to this one featuring St Malo.  This is a WWII story involving young people, so young as to still be alive to talk about it when the book is published in 2014.  I was standing where Anthony Doerr was standing in front of those pill boxes and thinking exactly the same thing about the Germans inside.  There is a deja vu moment in this book just like the Titanic movie.

Like melted chocolate

Fort National - Daniel LeBlanc died here?

4 Rue Vauborel

IceBergers

Nothing else to do except sit on the beach and watch the Icebergers deal with thumping waves. There is also the ship spotting activity aided by the ship navigation app which included various navies that I wasn't sure would be identified but it did tell us that HMNZ Endeavour went out through Sydney Heads this morning.  We also saw some Aussie navy ships as well.  We had Brunch in Bill's. This is a pricey spot but all the beautiful people are seen there.  I cannot imagine why yuppies with 3 week old babies are trying to have coffee with pooy nappies getting changed at the same time.

TamaRama Sculptic Walk

We timed this day to perfection according to weather trends.  We walked down to Bondi on a bright sunny Sunday morning. There were thousands of Nippers nipping here and nipping there.  We walked to the North end away from the sculpture at first then doubled back via our hotel room to pick up a champagne bottle.  We went past yesterdays viewing quickly and made our way to Tamarama. There is a good two hours in it if you stop at most of the exhibits.  The case of the disappearing surfers was interesting and takes my new no1 vote.  The kiosk was busy where we ate lunch two years ago so we had some SLSC sausage in bread roll with our champagne.  The shore break was tough but manageable so we went in for a dip without getting knocked around much. It was sunny until 3:00pm then the rain came but we got back by then.  This is a good activity but be prepared for crowds. Midweek is OK but then it is school excursion time.

Surfers I

The only Whale we saw

Surfers II

Bondi Again

A longish day saw us walk to the Crackneck and back about 4 or 5km.  This area was burnt just the weekend before we arrived and it smelt that way too.  Then we drove to Sydney taking around 90 min to get to the Adina apartments (parking around the back).  I booked this place twice without realising it!  We had pizza for a late lunch then sat on the beach for an hour. The clouds and wind started to lessen so we started on the Sculpture walk around 4:30. This was good timing as the sun was hitting the hilltop sculptures perfectly.  In the end we walked half of the displays and did not get  back til 6:00pm.  So far I think the DragonFly is the winner but we have not been around to Tamarama yet.

Ice burgers

Robot Fly issuing laser beam

Blue Lagoon

The caravan park is well placed. It has its own beach and some rocky platforms for watching the waves spray up.  Also good for spotting whales but you have to get used to looking beyond the breaking waves.  There is a 2km run to Crackneck point, this is the preferred spot for whale watching.  The Kookaburras are plentiful here and will eat anything that moves in the grass except maybe the blue tongue I saw. 

Kooka

Bluey

Snapper Point

We ventured back to the Munmorah Park where we went to Wybung Head last year. This time we went a bit further to Snapper point. There is a good view of Bongon Cave from here as well as Bongon beach.  Also there is a 2km track to the next beach further north so this is a note to self.  The lagoon at Birdie beach is tannic meanng the contrast from brown to white to blue is photogenic.

No easy way down

Layers

Little Beach

We went to a different area of Bouddi Park, this time to Little Beach.  Swimming here is easier at high tide.  Access is gained via Grahame Dr with a 500 metre walk down.  This area is well maintained with an under cover gas barbecue but the camp sites are manicured even with fake grass for your sleeping comfort.  Cars used to drive here because there is still one parked in the water about 100 metres around the bottom of the cliff.

Barbecue camping

Car Park

Dudley DoMore

On Dudley beach you can do little or you can do more. We walked to an area where there were waves hitting a rock wall and spraying high into the air. Some where up above was a petrified forest but we had no shoes on so didn't venture that far up.  We travelled over to cave beach as it was still low tide.  The caves here have connecting passages accessible at low tide.  If you set up your easel for  painting session then you re on the clock.

artitiste

What a Bouddi

It was 17 yar ago during the Olympics that 5 of us set out to climb up to Bouddi lookout.  I remember when we were up there looking down on a beach and saying one day I will have to get back and check it out. So today we walked to Maitland Beach about a 4km return trip.  The gnarled trees and rock formations along the way are spectacular.  We bought a focaccia for lunch and ate it on Avoca beach along with a four pack which you were no supposed to drink.  The rock shelves and wave action here is entertaining. The SS Maitland ran aground off these cliffs on 5th may 1898.

Maitland Bay

Natural Rock Art

Tree of Ages

Bateau Bay revisited

We are in the same cabin as last year. There are some improvements including foxtel to a new TV. Also the spa pools have been repaired so that their are more people sharing the spa areas.  We did a short walk along the rock pool section and noticed some ochre hand prints so we got busy trying to do some hand prints of our own. Crushing the stone into powder and adding some sea water creates a kind of paint that can be pressed onto the rocks.  How aboriginal.



Bateau Bay ochre

Powder maker

Paringa Winery

This is wine country deep in the Mornington Peninsula. A good place for an 80th birthday luncheon. Joan is the birthday girl but we are supposed to be paying for her not the other way around so we need to thank her for a wine tasting lunch.  I recommend the carrots.  There were many geese in the area but I only noticed duck on the menu.  It was an all day affair for us to have lunch there but for the locals it is nearby.

No geese were cooked

Fruity aromas but with woody notes and other bulls***

by the barrel

Much ado about Nothing

This sounds a bit like a Seinfeld episode although Shakespeare did get in first.  My reading of this play in the original Shakespearean seems to be getting better as I got the gist fairly well.  I did  not pick up any well known lines that get quoted through the ages though.  This play is another one of these love sit coms that gets twisted and then unravelled.  Basically two suave soldiers are in love with two daughters of well healed gentlemen.  The fathers are in full agreement but the brother of one of them is a villain and wants to disrupt these merry plans, so he uses bribery and contrives various devices to trick the lovers that their partner is unfaithful. The main impostor is over heard in a drunken state bragging about his role and how he was paid.  So in the end it comes out that the nuptualists are all innocent and everyone lives happily ever after, except the bastard brother who is apprehended while on the run. To be continued at the pop Up.

London Globe

Rusty Duck

I have been to the Purple Duck  (now defunct) in Ocean Grove so now we tried the Rusty Duck in Moonee Ponds.  Before that we rode to South Melbourne to check out some bike track sections that we had not previously used including the Jim Stynes Bridge.  The ride was 29km and in fairly mild conditions.  The Rusty Duck served up a Duck Mushroom Nest and a Duck Bacon Nest.  The nests were actually potatoe style rosti. 

Not sure if Jimmy was a bike rider

The Rusty Duck

World of Ice and Fire

There is over 300 pages of small print information about George RR Martin's World of Ice and Fire.  It is a reference work where you can go if you don't know where Dragonstone is, if you want to know more about the First Men or just about anything else.  For instance, the First Men came from Essos to Westeros via a land bridge which has now disintegrated into the sea.  They started fighting with the Children of the Forest cutting down their Weirwoods but eventually teamed up to fight the White Walkers during the Long Night.  This lead to the creation of the Wall.
Thousands of years later came the Andals (Vikings), in long ships who in turn were fleeing from the Valyrians and their dragons.  Much later Valyria was wiped out by the Doom, a cataclysmic volcanic event but not before one family group, the Targaryens, made it to the Valyrian outpost of Dragonstone.

A4 folio style with illustrations

Records Restarted

I have resumed the ripping and rapping of the original records that I acquired over the years. Before I went OS I managed to get through two thirds of the pile by doing one LP per day.  Today I uncovered a classic in Quadrophenia by The Who one of the best in my collection. There was an old photocopy of a signed Allans Music Store voucher inside the cover, probably dating around 1974.

One of my best Albums ever

I can remember everyone here except "Jenny"

Jane Austen's high tea

This is an appropriate place for a 90th Birthday high tea.  We have been here previously and this time Auntie Patty did well with the cucumber sandwiches. It is a bit pricey but you only turn 90 once. And we took a doggy bag of leftover cakes home.

Three tiers for Patty

Olly Olly Ostenried

Union Hotel

How many Union Hotels are there?  I have never been to this one.  The hotels that survive these days have had the same renovation with the big screen TVs for the sports room.  Parking is a bit tight as well.  The food was good pub grub so don't expect the cheese trolley.  A good birthday venue with space for long tables.

Happy Days