More recent Travel

 Molly (after Molly Sugden, Mrs Slocum in "Are you being served?") This finishes off the trip with a drive in the new car from Bunda St to Mallacoota.  I was now getting used to the vehicle and even though the weather was ungood - basically 8/8ths cloud and drizzling - set off happily.  The traffic as far as Cooma was quite heavy and judging by what we saw Sanitarium was including driver's licences in packets of Weetbix. A novelty with the car was that it announces road hazards such as speed cameras.  There are also a couple of other, slightly puzzling things which get a mention: High accident zone: this only appeared for one stretch near Williamstown but was repeated several times over a 2km length of road.  Presumably the ACT Roads people have tagged several small segments. Entering a town.  This only happened in NSW from memory at Bredbo and Nimmitabel (not Cooma or Bombala.  Very strange.  We had been advised not to use cruise control for an extended period on trip as

It was a pretty cloudy day with Black Mountain Tower barely visible. The sunrise was quite impressive ... ... especially when zoomed in to Mount Ainslie. Black Mountain Tower was even more hidden! We did our walk through Reid this morning with lots of colourful leaves and several Camellia hedges. King Parrots and Rock Doves feeding on fallen acorns. Later in the morning we went to the Fyshwick Markets for some essential supplies.  This beer was an add-on, in memory of buying some of this at the brewery when we passed through Bury St Edmunds in about 2010.  I am fairly sure what we got on site was real IPA - on looking at the can it turns out this is 3.3% ABV so would barely have made it past Lands End let alone to India.  Love in a canoe! This is what I went to Plonk to acquire.  Apparently Mr the Boatman is making another batch in view of Albo getting across the line.  A much more enjoyable drop. We then went to the Jerrabomberra Wetlands which were very disappointing.  Few birds and

 An interesting Autumn day in Canberra.  It began as we walked out the front door past the cladding workers removing stuff from the entryway behind the plants ... ..and out towards Bunda St. As I intended to walk through Reid later in the morning we first headed for Commonwealth Park.  As expected fencing was endemic as the garden beds for Floriade are reconstructed. Later in the walk we passed a large bed near Stage 88 where bulbs were being planted. In the past there have been worries about people stealing bulbs.  In (I think) 1990 it was suggested it would be more amusing to add a few bulbs to spell out a message.  At that time it was felt that a message suggesting Craig Duby went forth and multiplied was good.  Here's a suggested placement, in 2022,  of a few daffodils amongst the tulips. Nearby some King Parrots were attending to some fallen acorns.  And were surprising camouflaged ib the tan bark and oak leaves. The wood ducks were less well hidden, but also scoffing acorns.

 We took a stroll around the centre of Leeton to start our day.  The built environment of Leeton is interesting as the town was designed by Walter Burly Griffin the planner of Canberra.  Also the centre was built in the 1920s so has a lot of art deco buildings. The first image ia clump of palm trees, of which there are a lot. The War Memorial is art deco in style. Probably the best example of the architecture is the Roxy Theatre at the centre of the town. Here are some other bits and pieces along Pine St. This is the local newspaper which is still going! These water storage tanks were designed by WBG. This is possibly the most impressive building and houses the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission. Next door is the rather more modest Shire Office with some nice art deco elements. We went back to the Wetlands and scored an early contender for BAD with 2 Juvenile Blue-faced Honeyeaters in a tree in the car park.  This is the Glossy Ibis Shelter in the NW of the area, and the map

The sunrise at Robinvale was rather good! So I went out for a stroll around the clubhouse of the golf course.  Quite a few birds around including a couple of contenders for BAD.  This is a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater. Although not obvious at this end, this is a Yellow-plumed Honeyeater.  Also a contender. Before leaving the town we went for a walk along the banks of the Murray.  Wood Ducks were inspecting tree hollows above the river. This is a memorial to a guy killed in a water-ski race in the River. An area behind the walk is now operated as an Aboriginal Community Group.  I liked the design on the name board as the tree could also represent part of the river, with the dark shape being an island as well as a canoe scar.  (I must look up the Census stats for Robinvale as the cultural diversity is rather surprising.) A view of the river which includes a large fork as one arm goes around the oddly named Bum-Bang Island.  That is the Aboriginal name for the place so probably means somethin