Month: August 2018

South West Rocks

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Eastern Osprey
Eastern Osprey

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Well we had another fantastic day down here on the coast. We drove for an hour down to South West Rocks. We stopped at a lagoon at Jerseyville, a great spot, didn’t see too many critters though. We met a guy there who after chatting for a while, invited us down the road to his property on the river. He has built a pole with a flat top to entice ospreys to nest there. It’s taken six years and at last they are nesting. It was fantastic to watch them flying in and out, what a great spot, we also saw a Sea eagle and Brahminy kite there but no photos. There were other dams and wetlands just up the road too and there are quite a few stilts and herons around, and it was great to see a couple of brolgas too though a fair distance away.

South West Rocks
South West Rocks
Little Bay
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We then continued on to South west rocks. Another great little town on the coast. A beautiful setting there with a nice beach and estuary. The rocks here are fantastic colours and came up really well in the photos. We walked our socks off around here, but there is so many walks, we will have to go back another day as we really ran out of time. Also saw some humpback whales travelling up the coast. And look at the size of the skippies here….enormous. I don’t think I have ever seen such big kangaroos.
Well it’s been great fun checking out all these new places and we have a few new places picked out for tomorrow so catch you then.
Bye for now, Steph and Anthony.
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South West Rocks
A Grevillea for Stephanie
A Grevillea for Stephanie

Stunning Sawtell

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Boambee Inlet
Boambee Creek Inlet at Sawtell

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Wow what a great day. We drove north today up to Sawtell which is only around 20 minutes on the highway. The coastline and eastuaries here are also spectacular. The weather was fantastic and the colours of the ocean and clear waters of the estuaries made fantastic photos. We are just loving how clean the coast is here, there must be a lot of dedicated people keeping it clean or very nice concentious people living here because we haven’t seen any rubbish in the waterways at all. Absolutely fantastic. There’s so many birds of prey here but it’s been really hard to get really good videos or photos so far but we are trying.

 

Pied Oystercatcher, Bonville Creek
Pied Oystercatcher, Bonville Creek

 

Immature Brahminy Kite, being terrorised

 

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Spectacular Coastline around Sawtell

 

Sawtell is also a great town with up market shops and great cafes, we are looking forward to visiting there again. We thought we would do more today but it’s very time consuming walking around these coastal paths which are everywhere and some are also a bit hidden, some pass through rainforest so you never know where you will pop out. Tomorrow will be another great day weather wise so will maybe head south for a look.
Cheers Steph and Anthony.
So I left the camera with Stephanie
So I left the camera with Stephanie

 

Forests & Coasts

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Never Never River, The Promis Land
Never Never River – The Promised Land.

 

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The Promised Land

 

Well how time flies, we are really settled here in Urunga and getting into quite a lazy lifestyle at the moment. The mornings are cold so we are not getting out till after 10 am so we will have to get a wriggle on a bit earlier as by that time of day it’s hard to go too far. We did go for a drive to a road out the back of Bellingen called “the promised land” wow what a beautiful neck of the woods. It’s a really nice country drive through forests and you cross the Never Never river a couple of times where there’s nice camping spots and beautiful trees and crystal clear water . Very picturesque. Today we visited friends in  Nambucca heads, another beautiful place on the coast. Theres also have a lot of boardwalks and fantastic view points, stunning beaches, estuary etc. we have seen quite a few birds of prey but always too late so we will have to look up more to get good photos. We also visited Urunga boardwalk this morning and the tide was coming in and wow, it was so different after being there at low tide. The herons were wading and fishing through the mangrove trees and the light coming through the trees and with the clear water was just fantastic for some photos. We couldn’t linger too long as we had to meet our friends but will definitely go back there around the same time in the next few days. We just love this beautiful picturesque part of Australia and are looking forward to exploring more tomorrow.

Cheers for now, Steph & Ant

 

View South from Nambucca Heads
Nambucca coastline and Estuaries

 

 

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Artwork at the ‘V Wall’ Breakwater – Nambucca Heads

 

White-faced Heron - Up close
White-faced Heron – Up close and personal

 

 

Some Coastal Birds

 

 

An update on our Chloe

 

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Chloe settling in well

 

Just a quick update on our rescued cat Chloe. She is doing well now,  we were getting very stressed as she wouldn’t eat the food we were given when we picked her up and she was in a lot of discomfort, we thought it was maybe kidney problems. We found some broths that she did nibble at and I started adding dissolved spirulina with more water and after a few days she has really improved, even started playing and has so much more energy and is eating really well now and filling out again. She hasn’t taken much interest in the cat enclosure yet but then we have taken her outside for some sun everyday which she really likes. I made a little video of her if your interested, we can’t believe she is the same cat we picked up a week ago. She is a beautiful cat with heaps of personality and a joy to have.

Cheers Steph.

Urunga and Valla Beaches & Estuaries

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Urunga estuaries and boardwalk

 

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Beautiful Urunga beach & estuaries 

 

Common residents of Urunga

 

More critters

 

Another fantastic day in paradise. We went for a short drive into the town of Urunga, only about 5 minutes away, it’s a nice village type town, quite small and you can walk from there to the boardwalk down by the estuary. The boardwalk is 1 km long and goes out to the headland and beach, so nice and peaceful walking along there, lots of banksias along the way so we could hear a few honeyeaters in them, but couldn’t get a photo. There’s another off shoot from  the boardwalk that goes down further into the estuary and we saw 2 Brahminy kites flying around. Also missed out on good photos as we didn’t see them till too late but we will get our canoe  out soon and go for a paddle, to see if we can get better photos. We think they are building a nest there.

 

Boardwalk over Deepwater creek to Valla Beach

 

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Just a couple of birds
Murals in progress – Urunga
We drove from there to Valla beach, another perk spot in paradise, another estuary and short boardwalk going over the  creek there. We certainly picked a nice day for it, hardly any wind and warm and sunny. It looks like it will be raining over the weekend, we can’t remember the last time we were in rain so it will be a change, we might have to go shopping instead of exploring…..
Cheers, Steph and Anthony.
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The beauty of Urunga and Valla Beaches & Estuaries