A bit of a walk around South Grafton

Jo’s Monday Walk

Not done a walk yet for Jo, but yesterday I did have a roam around South Grafton waiting for my car air-conditioning to be serviced. I guessed it was about time as I hadn’t had the cars air conditioner touched since I bought my ute in 2007. It does get a good work out in Summer living here.

I dropped the car off and headed off to a nearby cafe for a coffee and to think about where to go for the morning while waiting. The cafe I was in was one I used to part own many years ago. One event that we put on was a Music Cafe on a Friday night. Local musicians would put their name on a blackboard, younger readers can ask their parents, and the food was a set small menu so it was affordable and fun for us too. It is good to see the new owner bring the Music Cafe back.

I walked up the road to the river to see if there was any water action happening. Above me I could hear this bit of soft chatter. Looking up I saw two Little Corellas sitting very close, warming in the morning sun. It is a pity one turned around as they looked a sweet couple together in the tree. Little Corellas are typical parrots and will partner for life.

This is looking upstream at Susan Island in the middle of the Clarence River. I have been on Susan Island but only allowed a short distance from the end you can see, into the islands vegetation. Most of the island is a Womans Place. One thing I do know is there is a very old fig tree which is known as the Birthing Tree.

Heading to the bridge, I walked over the eastern side to see how the new bridge looks from this side. There wasn’t as much traffic as I would have thought for the time of day. The old bridge was a constant rumble over head.

I considered crossing the bridge but then decided that I haven’t really looked around this side of town. I headed down to the railway station. The Grafton Bridge is rather unique as it is a double deck bridge. The lower level is where the train line runs and the upper deck is the road. The walkways are level with the train line.

A sorry thing is that there has been a demise of rail networks throughout the whole of Australia. This is at the side of the station where busses park. These busses take passengers to where the track no longer is usable or has been removed. Some have become rail trails. The bus looks like it has taken a bit of a hit. Good on the repair shop having an almost matching colour duct tape.
While I was there I asked what time the next train was due. It was forty minutes and I didn’t feel like hanging around. The station has been modernised and no longer has that charm I remember.

I had to walk back the way I came as the road I would have to cross is very busy and is only for the very brave or foolish. Anyway there was a few things I spotted walking back that I didn’t really notice before. How could I miss a bit of my favourites – rust.

I can’t help myself getting a perspective photo when I am on the bridge

I had to walk under the bridge and there has been a bit of street art around. I liked this one

This one made me laugh

This more than a photo fetish – perspective and rust, there is a story. Remember that the train was going to be a long time coming. In order to get this I had to reach above my head and try to get it right. My camera has a flip screen that can rotate 360 degrees. The original photo was crooked I have straightened it as I could hear the train coming.

I had no chance but to just shoot without doing anything else. As you can see I had to lighten the photo otherwise the train was too dark. I am lucky I was at the start of the walkway and didn’t have any pillars in front of me
So here’s one for our resident trainspotter Martin at Images from Finchley.
I guess this is the 2014 from Casino to Sydney XPT

On the way back I went through a little kids park. That’s over at Terri’s Sunday Stills if you want to have a look. All looked quite in the fire station. They had a big training exercise on the weekend. That’s why the hoses are hanging out to dry.

Of course I spot the wildlife no matter where I am. I used to watch the Square-tailed Kites hunt around town. My office was on the riverbank in Grafton with a view over the river. That’s right, it was hard to take. They sometimes work in pairs and swoop the bridge, scattering the hundreds of pigeons that sit there all day and night, and then dive into the confused flock of pigeons.

This is one of the Councils garden beds they have on the roadside at the entrance to the bridge from the south side.

While I was taking photos tramping around in the garden bed, my phone ran to say my car was ready. Thanks for coming a long.

Old and New

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Industrial
Leannes Monochrome Madness
Brens Mid-Week Monochrome

Thought I would do a bit of double dipping with some industrial monochromes

These rivets have been in the Grafton Bridge for one hundred years

The cranes that were building the new Grafton Bridge a few years ago

This is May 2022

Well another wet and rainy month. Not as much rain as the previous three months but enough to keep the ground sodden. I didn’t take a lot of photos and some I did take just weren’t all that good as the light was quite poor.

Some of these photos have been enhanced using my photo editing program. Some people have asked what I use to edit my photos. I use Corel PaintShop Pro Ultimate 2022. I used to use Corel when I was working so it made sense to use the same program only a better version. I have used it since 2009 and upgraded every year as some of the function change and improve.

Trying to think of a May song for you to scroll to. Arcade Fire’s Month of May is a bit fast and you might get scrolling in a rapid fashion but I really like Arcade Fire. ACDC’s Stormy May Day seems appropriate being Aussie and the weather but not all enjoy ACDC. So I went for something a bit gentler and also a band who started their career in Australia with one of their lesser know songs which I love. Enjoy your scroll while having a listen.

I managed to get away for a few days to visit a mate at Port Stephens. I started my drive in rain and after a while the skies cleared and I was lucky enough to have a couple of days in sunshine.

This is sunrise from his place. So as the sun is up, lets go.

We went for a picnic and saw a White-bellied Sea Eagle cruising the shore line.

Meanwhile back at home the rains continued and again the Clarence Valley experienced a minor flood. Previous floods in March, the water went over the pylons but under the Grafton Bridge.

The Pacific Black Ducks didn’t seem to mind the high water.

I had fungi popping up around the place but not as much or as many as I thought. Possibly as it was wet and not much sunshine or heat in the soil.

I love the colour and frills on this little fungus

When I went to clean out the leaves from my water tank strainers, this big fat Green Tree Frog was sitting on the tank. It was not a good idea as a bird would have loved to make a meal of it. This photo was taken in my green house where I relocated the frog so it may have some insects to snack on as well be safe.

While in the shade house I took a few photos of the Begonias and the flowers. This is one is the better photos of Wax Begonia flowers with some water drops.

Water drops were everywhere and it was hard not to try and get a few photos despite the dismal overcast days. This orange Hibiscus has loved all the rain and has flowered better than ever.

I saw sparkles when one evening the sunset looked spectacular through the trees

This year the Zygote Cactus are flowering so well. I love this apricot coloured one which is a new one in the shade house getting started. Also has water drops all over.

I had this Zygote on the verandah and it wasn’t happy so I put the pot in the garden. It certainly enjoyed a change of scenery.

The Satin Bowerbird didn’t seem to mind when the rain started to fall. He was more intent on enjoying lunch.

Christine – Stine Writing – said she didn’t know that birds, other than parrots, could be green when I posted a photo of a Green Catbird Well here you go Christine here’s another one. A female Satin Bowerbird in the tree outside of my office.

The Satin Bowerbirds liked the fruit of the Benjamina Fig Tree

The Benjamina Fig Tree had a fantastic fruiting this year as well. The fruits are around 10mm and when they fall the Peaceful Doves walk around under the tree eating the fallen fruits

The little Silvereyes liked eating the figs too and then pop over to the Grevilleas for a bit of a sweet drink.

The bees enjoyed the sweet nectar too. Here a couple of bees shooting are the breeze over a few drinks.

The Chinese Lanterns looked good in May and continue to flower.

The Cats Whiskers are having a full on flowering too. After this flowering I will have to get some cuttings as I love Cats Whiskers as do insects. Unfortunately the Red-necked Wallabies like them as well so I have to fence the plants.

Through the bush the Egg and Bacon plants are flowering. Some are covered in these tiny 10-12mm flowers other plants have less numbers of flowers but are showy nevertheless.

At this time of year, the Eastern Spinebills turn up at my place. This Spinebill enjoyed the Pentas flowers in the garden.

One exciting thing to happen was that the Eastern Whipbirds that live in the gullies around my house have started to come into the garden. They are quite allusive and move rapidly through the undergrowth occasionally giving off their whip cracking call in the bushes. I managed to get this photo from my verandah.

The Golden Whistlers are in the garden too. This female was quite happy to pose for a few photos before flying off into the bush.

Sometimes the birds come to me. This Blue-faced Honeyeater flew onto the verandah to come to see what I was doing in my office.

What has been lacking for a lot of this year has been Red-necked Wallabies around the house. I was pleased to see a small mob turn up for a couple of days and one female had a joey. I grabbed a photo from the verandah down toward the end of the garden just as they were hopping away.

I was so glad that they turned up the next day and were in the garden for quite a while. The little Joey was quite adventurous and hopped away from Mum but not too far. Yes another verandah shot.

I did get out a couple of times and again I had a sunny day when I left the rain at my place and went to see a mate who was holidaying at Woolgoolga. On the way home I stopped at the lookout and there was a pair of Australasian Pipits hopping around the car park.

Another car park stroller. This time at the riverbank in Grafton while I was checking out the floodwaters a Crested Pigeon just walked past.

Another bit of excitement was when I was driving home from town one afternoon and I saw a Black-necked Stork in a flooded paddock that has turned into a quasi wetland. That is where I took the photos of the Black Swans recently. This time she was close to the road so I managed to get quite a number of good photos.

The Black-necked Stork is the only species of stork that occurs in Australia. Its name is a little misleading, as the bird’s neck is not black, but an iridescent green-and-blue sheen. I only just found out that the female has a yellow eye.

Another bit of excitement was hearing a sound in the garden late one afternoon and seeing a shape moving around the garden. I realised it wasn’t a Wallaby and saw a Northern Bandicoot looking for dinner in the garden. I rarely see Bandicoots but know they are around by the holes that are dug around the garden looking for worms and grubs.

The only other time I have taken a video of a Bandicoot in the chook house in 2014. You can see that this one is a female as there is movement in her pouch.

I think this could be a male but it moved quickly and I didn’t get a good look at it. When it stood on it’s back legs to see what it heard in the garden, it had its back to me. Males can weigh up to 3kg

As I mentioned before, one evening there was a spectacular sunset. I don’t get to see sunsets and sunrises living among the trees in the bush or forest, so when I do they are spectacular.

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly project where bloggers around the world share their thoughts and feelings about the month just gone. We all approach this slightly differently — though generally with an emphasis on the photos we’ve taken during the month.

For many of us, looking back over these photos provides the structure and narrative of our post, so each month is different. Some focus on documenting the changes in a particular project — such as a garden, an art or craft project, or a photographic diary of a familiar landscape.

But in the end, it is your changing season, and you should approach it however works for you.

There are no fixed rules around post length or photo number — just a request that you respect your readers’ time and engagement.

Tags and ping-backs

Tag your photos with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

Create a ping-back to Ju-lyn at Touring My Backyard or this post, so that we can update it with links to all of yours.

On the Grafton Bridge

Ragtag Daily Prompt Saturday: Bridge

The Grafton Bridge that links the city over the Clarence River is 90 years old this year. Its birthday, the 19th July is the day before mine and don’t even think of it you lot. I am not 90!!!!

Your favourite images from 2020

The Lens-artists Photo Challenge #129: Favourite Images of 2020

I have gone back through my stats to find what was your favourite post of the month and then get the image or pick one if there is a few photos in the post. It appears that people have taken to the Last on the Card Photo Challenge as it is the most popular post almost every month. Considering it was started as an impulse by me in January 2020 it is fitting that that image of the Sacred Kingfisher be the one for January.

JANUARY 2020

February the Last on the Card and the This is January were popular by you. These two posts, Last on the Card and the This is……. series, are the most popular for the est of the year so I am going with the next one down. This was a Six Word Saturday

FEBRUARY 2020

The favourite from March was a reflection photo part of a three photo challenge

MARCH 2020

April saw the return of an old favourite as part of a photo challenge Animals. This photo is a firm favourite every time it gets and airing.

APRIL 2020

Another photo that has fast become a favourite is the Satin Bowerbirds Bower with his collection of blue stuff. A bit of luck in finding the set up just right

MAY 2020

For June I decided to use a Last on the Card as the following posts had lots of photos and was too hard to pick one.

JUNE 2020

July was time for one of Becky’s Square photo challenges. The photo looking down my road was a favourite for Square Perspectives

July 2020

One of your favourite bridges is the Grafton Bridge. This photo is from an older post re-blogged which turned up a lot of new readers. A post in black and white is always a bit different. I picked an image that I like from this post.

AUGUST 2020

September bought Teddy into our lives and into your hearts too

SEPTEMBER 2020

October was a kindasquare month with so much kindness floating around there had to be one of the months kindas that was the most popular

OCTOBER 2020

I am lucky to have a garden and birds but sometimes they can be a bit demanding. This Little Friarbird was at the window squawking until I moved rooms. You liked his blue face and unruly feathers

NOVEMBER 2020

For December I took part in a 10 day travel photo challenge. It looks like of all of the travel photos, the Pont-Du-Gard aqueduct in France was a favourite

DECEMBER 2020

Pont du Gard

Here is a selection of some of my favourites

Also Ragtag Daily Prompt Saturday: Goodbye/Hello