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Rocky Crossing – Enjoying a Dip

This photo was taken at Rocky Crossing near the New South Wales town of Gloucester, in Australia. I’m cooling down after a hot day one Australian summer on a causeway.

At Rocky Crossing

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60 Sessions to Go

Work and sessions. Sessions are the periods of work in a given day. There are three. Start to morning tea, morning tea to lunch and lunch to knock-off. That’s three sessions a day.

It is now the weekend, which means I now have 60 sessions to go before I am on holidays again. I give the lads at work a daily reminder and often a session by session reminder of how many more sessions I have to go.

I have 60 sessions to go.

Slow Day, or Lazy Day

Today was another largely wet and miserable day here, along with the winds. So there wasn’t a lot to do, just a bit of this and a bit of that. I watched the last Jason Bourne movie, as well as read some more of the first Bourne novel. I got a lot done in Blogosphere, so that was pretty good too.

Hair CutI did get out for a short time and managed to get my hair cut. I get it cut where I work, which is pretty good. Not there is a whole lot of cutting going on these days lol. There are all the usual jokes about it being over in a matter of seconds, charging a searcher’s fee and so on. I sometimes harass the clients a bit and threaten them with cutting their hair instead of the usual hairdresser – I’m in training to take over the business, that sort of thing.

So the picture shows the haircut – maybe you can make it out. Certainly not my best picture that’s for sure. lol.

Yacaaba Headland Walk

I ran out of time yesterday to post about my walk up Yacaaba Headland and how I only just avoided being in a storm that was moving in. So today (it’s actually the 27th July 2012 as I type away) I must get two days of posts done, even if I slip this one in back in time, so to speak (as you can with the post time when posting).

BrunchSo I decided to do the Yacaaba Headland walk just before lunch and had lunch in the carpark, while reading the paper. Nothing too healthy – I tend to eat far too much junk when I’m on holidays. So it was a bacon & egg roll, as well as a couple of potato scallops and some chips (and coke of course) See Picture at Left. It was really brunch and I needed the energy boost to accomplish the walk. Sounds like a fair excuse anyhow. You do burn a bit bushwalking and climbing mountains.

So after lunch I set out on the walk. It was a beautiful day, spring like, which was quite strange given it was the middle of winter. It was really quite warm and a great day for a walk along the beach and for being in the great outdoors. The walk to the top of Yacaaba Headland from where I set off was a good 1km along the beach, then a further 1.5km from the beach to the top of the headland. So not a great distance really, though the same ground would have to be covered again on the return, so something like 5km all up. I had plenty of time to cover that distance and I knew that from having done this walk before. So of I went.

First up though was a picture of the scene before me as I got through the sand dunes and onto the beach.

Beach & Yacaaba

ABOVE: The Beach and Yacaaba Headland in the Distance

There were very few people out and about, just a couple of people fishing along the beach and a few walkers as I approached Yacaaba. I could see what appeared like a storm brewing back towards the north and out west. Nothing to worry about at this stage though. Plenty of time.

SpongeOne of the things I noticed along the beach was the amount of debris from the sea. There was a fair bit of what I would call natural debris, such as timber, weed of various types, sponges (See Picture at Right), heaps of shell fragments and even a small fish. However, there was a bit of human debris (rubbish) also, which was a shame. Got me to thinking if anything from Japan would end up here in the long run – from the tsunami. Most of it is heading to the US and west coast of North America, but it wouldn’t be at all surprising if a bit made its way to the Australian east coast.

After a bit more than 1km I reached the headland and began my ascent up Yacaaba. The track to the the top of Yacaaba is easily followed and not too difficult in my opinion. There are some steeper sections and the track can be a bit rocky, loose and a bit unstable underfoot, but not too bad overall.

There aren’t a lot of wildflowers to see there at the moment, variety wise I mean. There are plenty of Wattles in flower of course and the usual Banksias, as well as one or two other flowering plant species to be seen.

Wattle

ABOVE: Wattle BELOW: More Wildflowers

wildflowers  wildflowers

As you walk towards the top you begin to get some fantastic views over Port Stephens and in particular Hawks Nest, Tea Gardens and Winda Woppa. The further up you go the greater the views of course and as you near the top there are views up and down the Pacific Coast. It really is a great place on a clear day for fantastic coastal vistas.

View Towards Tea Gardens

ABOVE: View towards Tea Gardens BELOW: View over the Pacific Ocean

Pacific View

Having enjoyed the views for a while, I decided I had better start the trip back and try and beat the storm that was now rapidly heading my way. It was very dark out to the west and north, thunder could be heard rumbling along and flashes of lightning in the clearly heavy rain off in the distance. So down I went. The trip back down was fairly quick, having observed plenty on the way up and knowing the storm was rapidly approaching the descent was somewhat quicker than the ascent had been. No surprises there really.

Bottom of Yacaaba View

ABOVE: The View up the Coast from the Bottom of Yacaaba – Shows the Approaching Storm.

The view up the coast (as seen in the above picture) was marked by the approaching storm, which became increasingly menacing as it adavanced and I got closer to the car. It doesn’t look too bad in the photo above, but as I neared the car It was fairly severe in its appearance and I just got into the car as the first drops of rain began to drop. It was pouring by the time I got back home (just 5 minutes or so away). Yet the storm was gone as fast as it hit.

One Day To Go

It isn’t quite euphoria, given that I still have one day to go, but still it is only one day to go before I’m on holidays from work. Two weeks away from work and really looking forward to the break. I need the rest – exhausted. I’m nodding off as I try to post Blog articles and the like here tonight. One more day and annual leave – it’s a good feeling.

What do I plan to do with the two weeks? A good question that there isn’t really an answer for. I usually like to travel somewhere in Australia, but this time round it is likely to be just a rest period punctuated by a day trip here and there along the way.

I do hope to continue Blogging through my annual leave, so some interesting posts to come I hope.

Browser-based Nation Simulation Game: Nation States

Nation States is another free browser-based nation simulation game I have been playing which is quite different to Cyber Nations. In Nation States you create your nation and decide in which region of the world it will be located. The nation is developed and advanced through answering a question or two each day, so it doesn’t take a lot of time to play. You are able to interact with other nations through various aspects of the game.

Play the Game at:
http://www.nationstates.net/

Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) Browser Game: Land of Destiny

And I’m back (again – I know). For the next couple of days I’ll be posting links to various browser games that I’ve been indulging in (or perhaps, wasting time in). I’m not so much into the shoot-em up type games and/or the SciFi/Fantasy type games that are so popular these days. For some reason I’m not big on all of the Facebook games either – probably because my news feed is full of them (which I block by the way). Anyhow, there will be a few games that I have started to play a bit over the next couple of days.

Land of Destiny is a Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) browser game. It is a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game in which you are up against thousands of other players building online villages at various levels of development. The game is set in Roman Times and your objective is to quickly build a village and then participate in defensive/offensive strategy/battles. Not only is it necessary to be aware of potential attackers, you also need to contend with the weather (the season changes on a weekly basis and each day the weather can be different). Of course there is a lot more detail to the game than that.

The current online world is coming to an end in early July 2011, so a fresh start is just around the corner. I am using the remaining time to learn the game and develop my strategies for the new gaming world when it arrives.

Play the Game at:
http://www.landofdestiny.com/

 

Missing You Greatly

Relaxing beside the Gloucester River at Gloucester River Falls

It was two years ago today that my dear friend Rebecca died, far too young. This photo is of a special day we spent together in the Barrington Tops National Park (Gloucester Tops). I will always remember it, as I will always remember Rebecca. Thinking of you today and missing you all the more. I miss you Bec.