Look at me in a tree! I hang out just outside Alma’s place eating seeds! I’m a cute cockatoo!
Fernleigh Trail
I am posting this from Dad’s new laptop! It’s a spiffy model, bigger and faster and all-around better than my little guy, so I’ll be using it for the rest of the Newcastle portion of this trip. Furthermore, I’m using Dad’s new wireless network as well, and posting this from the living room while everyone else sleeps!
Today, Bernard, Dad and I walked the Fernleigh Trail from Whitebridge to Redhead.
The trail is a repurposed old rail line, now converted into a beautiful walk through the Australian bush. It took us about an hour each way, through sweltering heat, but accompanied by the most intense cacophany of cicada-song intersperced with the trademark warbles of various species of Australian birds.
For instance, in this video you can hear the distinctive call of the bellbird.
On the walk, we found a quaint site – someone had decorated a tree in the ‘middle of nowhere’ with christmas decorations!
A bit further down the way, I found another surprising (but welcome) thing – a $20 note!
It was just to the side of the path by the fence. My beady eyes spotted it in an instant 🙂
I also spotted another orb weaver like yesterdays monster. These spiders are outdoor only, and don’t really bother humans. But due to their great size they are particularly scary, and to this day I can remember awful moments walking through their webs as a child.
The walk lasted a couple of hours all told, and we lunched afterwards at a local sports club. We were hot, tired and hungry men at that point and would have eaten anything. But the chicken and fish and hamburger we ordered was just perfect at that moment!
According to the thermometer in the car, it got to 33 C today at the hottest point. It certainly felt that way; I was sweating like a dog after an only 1 hour walk earlier in the day. But I like (and treasure) this heat, and hope it keeps up!
I drank a *lot* of Lift today. At least 5 cans and a 450 mL bottle. Perhaps 6 cans. Hrm… I’ll continue the tally tomorrow!
Nostalgia Is A Powerful Thing
Met with Sue and Juliet today and sat for many hours in a restaurant by the harbour just chatting. It was wonderful; just great. Lots and lots of old memories resurfaced. I wish I could do stuff like this more often…
Then Sue and I drove over to my ‘first university’. Here’s the building in which I spent so much time almost twenty years ago:
Note to AW: I went into a computer room just down the hall from our infamous haunt. Whilst the computers were (of course) updated… the room smelled exactly the same!
Here’s a shot of an orb weaver spider spotted just outside mum and dad’s place early this morning. It’s bulbous body had a radius of about 2cm. I could actually see his mandibles working to consume the unlucky insect he had coccooned.
And here’s something for Adam!
They’re not as good as I recall. I think they have been changed 🙁
3 cans of Lift today, and 2 glasses at the restaurant. At this point, I doubt there is much point in continuing the tally :V