Posts for the Time Being

I thought I’d post a quick update on what is currently happening with me and posts to my Blog. It is a short story really. I live in a town which is a massive tourist destination during the holiday season – especially at this time of year. What this means for me – being reliant on wireless access to the Internet – is real difficulty gaining Internet access. There are so many people in the area, using so many gadgets and the like, that the Internet is locked into a constant traffic jam. It is practically impossible to get Internet access most of the time. You do get the odd time where you can get access, but it is so slow that it is pointless to try and use it. For example – it takes minutes and minutes just for one page of the Blog to load.

I’ll keep trying to access the Net every so often, but it is likely I’ll be unable to post much for the next couple of weeks. There is good news – the number of tourists in the shopping centre here have diminished, which probably means we are heading back to some form of normality.

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Poor Internet Availability

I have been struggling with some very poor Internet connectivity in the last week. I think it probably has to do with this being something of a holiday town – there is a huge increase in visitors during the holiday period and there is probably a major strain on the service availability. At times it slows right down and barely moves – with times of inability to connect at all. Hopefully it won’t continue too much longer.

Start Up: Origami

The link below is to a new web application that is all about keeping families together via the cloud/web. It is not yet operational but you can sign up for early access (which I have done). I have no more idea about this site than what can be read on the website at the moment – but I’m intrigued. I’m looking forward to seeing what the site has to offer.

To sign up for early access visit:
http://origami.com/

Myall Lakes National Park

It was my first official day of annual leave from work today and of course it had to start with a good sleep-in, which I might add I’m going to try and avoid doing for the entire period of my annual leave – just the first couple of days. I have been extremely tired, so a few sleep-ins will be helpful – for my health and well being you know. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about and agree with me entirely. I take your silence as tacit agreement. Thank you for that.

Once I was up I thought I should do something – so the day wouldn’t be viewed as an entire waste. So a drive to Bulahdelah was on the cards via the Myall Lakes National Park and the Bombah Point Ferry. So that’s what I decided to do, after I thought through a few more possible options for other things to do during my holidays. I have come up with a reasonable list I think – I just need to see them all through now. Hopefully that will happen – just need to keep myself from sleeping-in too often.

So I headed off for my drive through the park, which is only a very short drive from where I live, just on the other side of Hawks Nest.

One of the things you notice when driving through Myall Lakes National Park at the moment is all of the Wattle that is flowering. The Wattle (Acacia) is a native shrub – actually there are many species of Acacia, with the one pictured being Acacia longifolia. Everywhere you look in the national park along the road you see masses of Wattle in flower. With the growing conditions in recent times they all look magnificent.

Of course the Wattle isn’t the only wildflower currently flowering, but it is probably the most prolific of all of the wildflowers at the moment. The Banksia is another very noticeable wildflower that is flowering at the moment and there are several others also.

ABOVE: More Wattle

I spotted some more wildflowers when I stopped at the place known as the ‘Hole in the Wall.’ Hole in the Wall is a picnic area providing views of the coast and Pacific Ocean. It also provides access to the beach. I didn’t head down to the beach, but I did enjoy the view. It is a great spot on the coast here on the Myall Coast.

ABOVE: Banksia Flower BELOW: View from Hole in the Wall

So after Hole in the Wall it was pretty much straight to Bulahdelah, via the Bombah Point Ferry, but that can be tomorrow’s post as I won’t be doing a great deal tomorrow. So until then, enjoy looking at that panoramic shot above.

Website: Free Kindle Books and Tips

If you have an ebook reader (specifically a Kindle) and would like access to free books, the site have linked to in today’s post could be just what you want. ‘Free Kindle Books and Tips’ is a Kindle Blog. I have been visiting this site on a daily basis now for several weeks and discovered some great books (possibly great as I haven’t read them all to confirm that yet).

Visit the Site at:
http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/

Dorrigo National Park: Scene from Casuarina Falls

I am currently on leave and haven’t always had Internet access – hence the absence of a few posts recently. I have decided that for today I’ll post a photo taken today while bushwalking through the Dorrigo National Park in New South Wales, Australia. This shot is taken at Casuarina Falls on Sassafras Creek. More shots to come in coming days.

 

Delicious

Delicious is a bookmarking/favorite web application, in that it saves and archives the URLs that you like. Of course you can save your bookmarks/favorites in your browser, which I do with Google Chrome (Bookmarks). I use Google Bookmarks for mine, as well as Delicious (which I use for my public bookmark sharing web application). I also use Wonderpage (see https://onetoday.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/wonderpage/ ) to visually show my Delicious bookmarks as thumbnails of the page.

Why do I use both Google Bookmarks and Yahoo’s Delicious (currently owned by Yahoo anyhow). Well there are a number of reasons. Firstly I prefer to use the Cloud for most of my Internet tasks, which will generally always allow me access to my data no matter what computer I use and/or wherever I am. Using both also allows me to have a readily available backup – which is always wise I think. Of course I also like to allow visitors to my Blogs, websites and so on, to have access to sites that I think are fairly useful and valuable.

Anyhow, have a look at Delicious – it is in my opinion the best bookmarking application in the Cloud.

http://www.delicious.com/

Adobe Buzzword

The era of installed software appears to be coming to an end, with online or web based applications becoming more the norm these days. I will find it hard to go past Microsoft Word and Office, however, online office-like applications are getting better and better.

Adobe Buzzword is an online word processor that is free to use. Not only can the application be used by an individual, but documents can also be accessed and worked on by others you choose to share it with as well. You can also access your document on any Internet connected computer.

For more on Adobe Buzzword visit:

http://www.adobe.com/acom/buzzword/

While on the Adobe website, check out the other web applications available, including Presentations and Tables.

The Beaches of Newcastle

It has often been said that Newcastle has some of the world’s best beaches. I wouldn’t know about that – I haven’t visited all of them.

What I do know is that having travelled around a lot of Australia, Newcastle is certainly up there with the best that Australia has to offer.

It is hard, in my view, to define just what makes the best beach. I imagine that someone who surfs would have certain criteria that differs from someone like me, who likes the natural beauty of a place more than anything else when it comes to liking a beach.

I think the beaches around the West Australia town of Esperance are simply stunning and I currently rate these as the best beaches in Australia that I have seen. There may well be better beaches, but in my opinion, those of Esperance are better than Newcastle’s beaches. But that opinion includes criteria such as seclusion, natural beauty, etc. For recreational use, access, etc, Newcastle has some brilliant beaches that the locals adore. They are certainly good for a walk along when it isn’t too hot and they aren’t too crowded.