Coffs Sunrise

A quick trip to Coffs Harbour this weekend. We stayed at a really nice AirBnB on a hill, overlooking the town and down to the ocean. The sunrise this morning was really beautiful; before I decided to grab the camera the sun was coming through clouds that were just above the harbour, very atmospheric It was to be a really hot day and even at 6:30am the sun was blazing!

Stopping for roadworks on the way home.

Sundog on Donnelly Street.

Native Bees

High clouds and low clouds from the back yard.

I thought the clouds were really beautiful today and wanted to get a photo of the sky without any trees, powerlines or roofs in the way, so I took a quick walk to the nearby playing fields.  On my way I noticed the sound of many bees buzzing about; at first I thought there must be a really popular spring flowering tree or shrub in the vicinity, but upon closer inspection I saw it was actually a hive swarm of Australian bees!  I was very excited since I have never seen anything like this before.

It was quite the sight!  I took a short twenty-second video which I will plan on posting tomorrow.

On my way down to the playing field, after I'd had enough of bees buzzing around my head, I noticed the eucalyptus trees were still flowering.  There are at least two types of eucalyptus trees in this stand of trees, with the low-hanging branches I could see both white and pink flowers.  Other than that, however, I don't know what kind of gum trees they are.

Flowers and gum nuts

The uninterrupted clouds, viewed from the open playing fields.

Coffs Activities

Dunes at the beach south of the jetty

Our stay in Coffs Harbour was quite leisurely and we enjoyed the Sunday jetty markets, walked out along the jetty toward Muttonbird Island, went to the Big Banana, walked along the beach and drove up to the Sealy Lookout that overlooks the city.  The best part about driving up to the lookout is the honesty boxes along the road: we passed avocados and brought home bananas, both fresh and frozen, covered in chocolate!

You can take a camel ride along the beach.  This might be fun someday.

The beach south of Coffs Harbour has vehicle access and is dog-friendly.

Now that I know what they are, I realize that we see a lot of Brahminy Kites

The view from Sealy Lookout, looking south.  Looks like rain!

From the lookout, looking over Coffs Harbour

Looking down over the tops of the trees.

Rain from earlier in the afternoon.  We were lucky to never get rained on,
but we had some close calls.

Autumn colors and autumn skies

It's hard to believe that autumn is fast approaching.  Again, already (albeit much earlier than last year.)  I'm about a month late in this observation, as these photos were actually taken on February 11th.

It's also been a couple good weeks for clouds - though, you know me, I always think it's a good day for sky and clouds.  As the sun continues to rise later and later, and we get up earlier and earlier before it, we've started to notice a few remarkable sunrises.

It's Friday the 13th again!  Funny how that works out.  It's going to be a spectacular week. ( ･ิϖ･ิ)

Gloucester to Walcha

Barrington Tops outside Gloucester.  We're thinking of visiting for our next long weekend.

I'm not quite sure where the Hunter Valley ends and the New England Tablelands begin

Oxley Highway / Thunderbolt's Way / New England Highway

It's a beautiful drive over the Great Dividing Range towards Port Macquarie and back again.  It was a sunny drive there, but a cloudy (and then rainy) return.  The highway takes you through Cotton-Bimbang National Park, where the trees are charred from fire in several areas.

The most surprising thing for us was seeing a field full of deer outside of Walcha ... I think we were even more amazed to see them than when we saw any kangaroo or wallaby.  It was very unexpected!