2015 so far

Finally I saw the photographer in time to pose for the picture! This is one of the best volunteer photographers parkrun gets - it's an excellent shot of Sydney Park, looking south. Under my left elbow you can see the Cooks River and to my right is a reasonable sample of the building that's going on around what used to be the purely industrial suburb of Alexandria. I'm pleased to announce that the guy behind me stayed there all the way to the finish line. Sadly, the park is under threat from roadworks.

Pebbly Beach

 Stayed with Jill and family at Bawley Point - the new definition is no mobile phone access - for a couple of days. This is the view from the balcony. Somehow I've missed fitting in any kangaroos, which seems almost impossible given that they were present in not quite plague proportions, Routinely they were present in groups of 10-20.

Slightly down the road at Pebble Beach we were attacked by killer parrots. Perhaps it was the pastel stripes. Check out the beady eye on that bird! Of course, despite the signs saying not to feed the birds, there was bird seed all over the

ground.

The shininess of the tap suggests that this beach shower is still working under the fine patina of rust. There's a rapid transition from bush to dune to sand, with an eye catching variety of vegetation.

I hadn't noticed this plant (a wort, I think) until about a month ago, when I first saw it at Curnell. I've never spotted it north of Botany Bay, maybe because the beaches around the inner city are so heavily used.

The star picket doesn't appear to have any function.

You should get some quite interesting information on the area from the link below.

http://www.morning.com.au/fod/part1a.htm#DUNE

Tourist heaven, but to be fair I never get sick of them either.






The panorama of the whole of Pebbly Beach - it's completely serendipitous, but I can't help admiring that arching cloud effect.

The opposite view - looking back from the dunes through this whatever it is into the scrub behind.

A

The rock formations along this part of the coast are special - if you are interested the link above can connect you to some quite detailed geological information as well. One of the features of interest is the richness of the fossil bearing rocks - you can hopefully make out some worms, molluscs and seaweed in these pictures.

On the right is a picture of a rock pool today.
It's not impossible to imagine how this is what the fossil record preserves; it's own kind of camera.

The strata in rock always fascinate me.

I don't know what the pole is doing. But in this picture there is biology, geology, technology and astronomy - if that can be used for the study of the day sky.

Week 47

 This guy has a lot of cheek - it's less than a metre from my phone lens to its eye, but the attraction of the nectar far outweighs any fear factor. These wattle birds - this is a baby - are actually a mixed blessing, because they are very aggressive and keep smaller native birds out of the garden. We've planted a few trees/shrubs to try to provide protection for the smaller birds, but as yet the surviving ones aren't big enough. Someone in the neighbourhood has spotted some fairy wrens, so there are smaller birds around, if you're lucky.

 Here we have the interior of the Nowra cinema. As with most cinemas, the original interior large scale cinema no longer exists, and has been subdivided into 5 smaller cinemas to provide a wider variety of viewing. These have been retained (I guess - somebody might have gone out and bought them, I suppose). It's a pity not to be able to find a way to display them more sympathetically.

Anyway, it's a perfectly adequate cinema, 15 minutes walk into town.

 More Nowra colour, somewhat obscured by the fact that it is technically night time. The phone does a pretty remarkable job of capturing anything at all, under the circumstances. The moon is not full - that's my hand shaking. There are a lot of these trees all over the Shoalhaven. Interesting note: people call it "The Shoalhaven" - a somewhat idiosyncratic use of the definite article. I was teaching the principles of this only last week. I would have made the analogy with "harbour", myself, thus no article, but it appears to have followed in the footsteps of "The Shire". Or maybe it's "the Shoalhaven district". I will have to update my lesson notes for next year.

Finally, a present from students on the final day of class. It's a rather elaborate and extremely rich cheesecake - enjoyed by all. I haven't tried to play the decoration yet.

It's one big big bonus of the job - not the cheesecake, so much, but the warmth of the student body. In the "closed classes" (5 or 12 week periodic entry only) everybody builds up very strong bonds. Well, more or less everybody.
First exam is today - fingers crossed!

Just around the corner...

Main road - of course the jacaranda is a weed.
This is the beginning of a 50+ ha stand of bush, 5 mins from the new place.
We did think abut buying the place on the corner here, but a.) bushfire, b.) it really needs to be demolished , c.) see that blue post in the midground? That's the edge of the official floodplain.
I've never seen a tree trunk quite like this before

this weeks minusculia

The cat has found a warm bed - it can take 10+ minutes to untangle the resultant computer chaos
Liz's new shoes are really really bright (mine are 13 years old, extraordinary value)
Local nightclub - very atmospheric

Marriott Park, Nowra

I don't think I've ever seen a variegated ficus before.

long shot, Shepherd St

It does give some idea, I'll see if I can find a "before" shot