196. Sunday 19th June 2011. A bit of work, a bit of leisure and Seaforth gets a visit…

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

LOTS AND LOTS OF PHOTOS THIS WEEK.

The sunset today was impressive in that it looked as though we would get a rogue storm. After giving a spectacular sunset, the storm clouds went away.

Monday 13^th June – Queens Birthday Holiday

I watched the sunrise from our dinette table before making breakfast.

Donnis had a workday starting in the afternoon.

I got a few chores done around WWWGO as today was a fine day – all day – although the temp did not get much above 21°.

Eric got on the road about 8.30. He planned to have a swim at Bowen then continue on up the highway to around Rollingstone, 60 klms north of Townsville.

Allan and Rae got on the road about 9am with their planned destination being Bowen for a week.

Caravan park entrance sign.

Late in the afternoon I took a walk along the beach at low tide to the mouth of Eimeo Creek and to photograph the sunset across the exposed sand flats.

This was the beach sunset.

Surprisingly there were many people on the beach and more arriving with fishing rods.

These guys timed their return to the Eimeo Boat Ramp a little late. They ran out of water a few hundred metres from the ramp. The water was so shallow they could not even push the boat to the ramp.

The incoming tide will bring Sand Whiting into the gutters and channels. (http://australianmuseum.net.au/Sand-Whiting-Sillago-ciliata-Cuvier-1829   and   http://www.google.com.au/search?q=whiting&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=5XE&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=KnH2Tdi9JY-nrAfOopH0Bg&ved=0CEAQsAQ&biw=1342&bih=581 )

As today was the only fine, sunny and warm day of the Queensland Day Long Weekend, groups of people were still picnicking or walking on the beach and even, gasp, shock, horror, sitting around a fire on the beach.

Enjoying a long weekend late afternoon beach fire.

Tuesday 14^th June

A workday for both of us. I started at 9am and on the way home got a haircut. Donnis had a late start.

Behind WWWGO is the boat ramp and associated carpark. This sign at the top of the boat ramp is a good reminder the creek has these prehistoric survivors living near us.

As I was eating dinner, Donnis son Peter called. He wants his ute back. I agreed to drive the ute to Andergrove, pick him up, drive back to Bucasia and he can drive home. As a reward he gave us two live mud crabs he caught that day.

Live Mud Crab as big as the mouth of a bucket.

I set some cable tidy clips in place to umm err, tidy the cables. Although we are on 240 volts there will come a day when I have the 300 watt pure sine wave inverter installed. That means when we are reliant on batteries and solar panels, some of our equipment can be run off the inverter.

Over many years in discussions with other people in my age group I believed I was a “Baby Boomer”.

The other morning a humorous email arrived. It was about traits of various generations. To my surprise, Baby Boomers generation was from 1946 to 1964 followed by the “X” generation from mid sixties to 1981.

Ummm. So where do I fit in?

The period 1925 to 1945 is known as the “Silent Generation”. Therefore, I am a member of the Silent Generation.

A few silent phrases spring to mind.

Suffer in silence.

Silence is golden

Silence is the loudest voice.

Silence is the source of great strength.

After gen X comes gen Y and currently gen Z. Who knows what the next generation after Z will be called!

There is also the Lost Generation and the Greatest Generation. It seems only the last century or so has labelled generations. Will the Y or Z generations decide on a new generational name for children born after 2010?

Wednesday 15^th June

It is a day off for both of us.

Donnis spent the day studying.

I cooked up the two mud crabs for our dinner.

Larger of the two mudcrabs. Note thae crab is larger than the dinner plate.

I spent the rest of the day reading and gasp, shock, horror…doing NUFFINK!

Actually it was not nothing. I did walk along the beach bathed in glorious sunshine and a gentle baby swell was lapping the shore and all the offshore islands were starkly presented as more than dark shadowy smudges on the horizon. I spoke with fishermen on the beach, socialised with new arrivals in the park and generally had a relaxing self- indulgent mentally satisfying day.

Oh! Did a couple of loads of washing and brought them in when they were dry.

Geez, I musta been busier than I thought.

Tonight we dined on mud crab and had cleared up the mess before State of Origin began.

Queensland lost. There is still a third game, which is now guaranteed a sell-out crowd to decide the winner for 2011. It is a fitting result for two evenly matched teams.

Thursday 16^th June.

There was an eclipse of the moon this morning. I was awake at 6am but the western skyline is lined with trees so I could not find the moon to obtain a photo.

The moon the afternoon before the eclipse.

The moon over WWWGO the evening before the eclipse.

Our neighbour Maria, told me she saw the red moon at 5am through a gap in the trees in front of her caravan.

She did not take photos.

Bummer!

We took a drive to Seaforth today to visit friends Joan H

Joan at home.

& George H.

George in the kitchen.

I took a back road to Habana then took the Habana Yakapari Road until it intersected the Yakapari Seaforth Road

Interesting rusting and rotting old shed along the Yakapari Seaforth Road.

then followed it through to Seaforth and chopped about 30 klms off the trip.

Along the road to Seaforth we pass Mt.Jukes. This monolith dwarfs the lonely farmhouse below.

The interesting gate to the Mt.Jukes property.

Across the road from the Mt.Jukes view is this vista overlooking the coast, Constant Creek, tiny village of Belmunda and Cape Hillsborough.

(Seaforth is a small coastal holiday and fishing town located 35km North-northwest of Mackay. In 1899 the Queensland Government bought Seaforth Estate from H.M. Finlayson as a settlement and named it Springcliff, however local residents always called it Seaforth and it was officially renamed in 1966.)

Looking across Seaforth Bay towards, Ball Bay, Halliday Bay and Cape Hillsborough.

Joan n George have a very nice house at the beach which they renovated themselves, George is 74 and Joan in her mid 60’s but they claim their renovating days are over. After a delicious lunch of home-made pumpkin soup by George we went for a walk to the point overlooking Rabbit, Newry and Outer Newry Islands. Then a walk to some closer islands connected to the shore by a causeway.

Redcliffe Island, one of several small islands, connected by a natural causeway, at the northern end of Seaforth Beach.

On our walk we saw a Pandanus…

It was decided to stay for dinner, courtesy of George. Before dinner we tried some home-made Cumquat Licquer made by George. After a dinner of Ox Cheeks and a few glasses of wine we stayed the night in their guest room in the downstairs section of the house.

Friday 17^th June

Another glorious sunny day albeit a little chilly in the early morning breeze. Fruit salad, home-made rye toast with home-made cumquat marmalade (made by George) and coffee rounded out our breakfast. We had another walk along the beach

… a Brahminy Kite…

…more driftwood art in the form of a baby crocodile…

…part of a Turtles rib section…

…and a collection of flotsam shoes.

and a drink before we headed home at midday and called in on another friend, Syd B, who also lives at Seaforth.

For dinner I used the left over crab to make a Crab and Sweet Corn Soup.

Saturday 18^th June.

This morning, after driving Donnis to work, eating breakfast and before washing up and getting dressed for work, I enjoyed a cup of tea. At the time it was cool, about 17°, and a steaming cup of tea was welcome.

I drifted into a reflective state of mind, which at times like this, when it is peaceful, it is easy to drift into reflectology. I thought about our travels to date, our last two days of visiting and seeing more of Oz as well as our ability to be able to do these things without planning. At least most of the time. Planning is needed to achieve a no planning state. Our life at present is quite enjoyable and I am pleased we can do these things…because we can. I am a planner by nature but yearn to experience without planning and let things happen and not worry about a load of washing which needs to be done or clothes brought in off the line or whatever we thought had to be done at a certain time.

And so it came to pass that as I finished pondering the imponderable it was time to go work.

Walked 11 klms today.

While walking I found a Cumquat Tree loaded with healthy ripe fruit. I asked the owner if I could have some. He grabbed a pair of secateurs and helped me to a bountiful harvest.

I have all next week without work so perhaps I can make some Cumquat liquor or Cumquat marmalade.

Sunday 19^th June

A cold morning when we woke at 5.30.

It was a workday for both of us.

Nuthin’ else to report for today.

C U next week.

Tags: Bucasia Beachfront Caravan Park, cumquat licquer, Eimeo Creek, Mud Crab, Seaforth, Yakapari