Pies

I don’t mind a good pie – there just aren’t too many places where you can get a decent one these days. These I got from Thompson’s Bakery at Raymond Terrace – cheese and bacon cocktail pies, or party pies if you prefer. I know you can get good pies at both Bulahdelah and Gloucester (normal size), while these smaller ones are pretty good at the Terrace. Other than that I wouldn’t rave about any others nearby. I would also say the same for the sausage rolls by the way.

I suppose it’s a good thing as it prevents me from buying a lot of them and piling on the weight.

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Native Wildlife of the Area

It’s another wet and windy day in paradise, so not much to do but sit it out. It also means I haven’t got a lot to type about (as opposed to write about, given I’m using the keyboard). So I’m going back a little and posting about some photos I’ve taken in recent months here. In fact, what I’m posting about today is one of the great things about living here in Tea Gardens, which differs a great deal from other places I have lived down Newcastle and Lake Macquarie way and that is the abundance of wildlife around here. Sadly we have managed to kill of most of the wildlife down around Newcastle, or at the very least drove it all away. Here it abounds and I love it being so.

I’m not talking about just the smaller animal and bird species you might expect to find in a suburban area, but even the bigger examples of wildlife also. Kangaroos and Wallabies can be found all over the place in this area and it isn’t unusual to see them bounding down the main street in numbers. In fact, sadly, you often find them as road kill on the main road out to the highway. Where I work we have smaller wallabies and kangaroos actually living in and amongst the homes, with joeys in their pouches as well. The odd Dingo can also be seen from time to time. Koalas are known to live in healthy numbers around the area – not that I have spotted one here yet.

Reptiles abound here also, with large numbers of Red Belly Black Snakes, Diamond Pythons (pictured at above left) and Tree Snakes readily found in the warmer months, along with Blue-Tongued Lizards and Goannas. I have seen some Goannas that have been at least 1 metre long. Some of the Diamond Pythons have been closer to 2 metres in length.

It is the bird life that really thrives around here, especially the wetland varieties. The area is rich in bird life. At work you can see on a daily basis Wattle Birds, Blue Wrens, Finches, various Parrots and Rosellas, Black Cockatoos, Galahs, Water Fowl, Wood Ducks, Ibis, Egrets, Spoonbills, Herons, Black Swans and many, many more species of birds. There are the rarer sightings of birds also. A Tawny Frogmouth (pictured at below right) has made its home near where I live, trying its best to look like part of the tree in which it chooses to roost.

The area also abounds in sea life, of various types and sizes. It is not unusual to have Humpback Whales sighted of the coast here and Dolphins can be spotted almost every morning if you know where to look. The Sting Rays are also easy spot at the right time of the day.

You do get your not so welcome species of wildlife also, such as mosquitos and sand flies, but I guess these play their part in the general run of things, being food perhaps for the more welcome members of wildlife society.

One of the things I’m doing down here, tieing in my interest in web applications and social networks, is being involved with the Project Noah social network. This is a place to log wildlife spots with GPS markings using the iPhone application, along with the web application. I haven’t long been involved in it, but it is something I will be doing more and more. It will be good to build up a more complete picture of what species live in the area. Others can get involved in recording and mapping the wildlife of the area here by joining the ‘mission’ I have started at Project Noah.

The mission I have started for Tea Gardens can be found at:
http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/12346009

Crossing Over

This photo is another from the slides that I managed to salvage from my grandfather’s collection. I have simply called it ‘crossing over.’ Why? Because my cousin Michael and I are crossing over a bridge. Quite simple really.

I am not entirely sure where this photo was taken, but it does resemble an old bridge that once crossed a stream as you headed into the Barrington Tops from Gloucester, in New South Wales, Australia. Perhaps someone will recognise the location and either confirm or correct me on that.

I am the smaller of the two boys in the photo. My cousin Michael is on the left of the photo.

Gloucester River Falls: Another Shot

This is just another shot taken from the Gloucester River Falls area on the Gloucester River in the Gloucester Tops section of Barrington Tops National park.

This photo shows just one of the many numerous smaller falls along this section of the river.