A change of scenery

After walking one path (of several bushwalking tracks) at Bouddi National Park on the Central Coast yesterday, this section, I (and my camera), get to indulge in beautiful scenery, with rocks as an added bonus.

the little stream was running well too

..and I think of walruses languishing on the beach

native flannel-flowers streaming down the hillside, and some deep ochre-coloured rocks showing at the base

Nature's bounty; a mixed bag

 Black-shouldered Kites seen quite often, here ...

...and there

 

Australian Hobby (Little Falcon) .. I think

Intermediate Egret

Remember the swallows mud-nests seen in this post?   Down to one side of a bridge much further along now, some puddles of water, and look, see, there's some Welcome Swallows; very industrous aren't they, collecting their building material. 

not sure what kind of lizard but it didn't stick around for long enough to get any closer.  It didn't matter though, there was another further up the road.

I think this one is a Frilled Neck Lizard (without the frill up).  Taken through the windscreen.

 seen several times over, wedge-tailed eagles in flight, but not easy to line them up (capture them).

Fencing in the canola

What's not to like about yellow?! And lots of it injected into the landscape and horizons as you drive the Golden Highway right now. Such a pick-me-up, such a delight.  Rains are predicted inland for this long-weekend; I do hope it isn't untimely or damaging to these crops.

Sharing with Fridays Fences

Birding Lookout - Macquarie Marshes

on one side of the road

...and on the other

This signage reads in part: The Macquarie Marshes is a significant wetland situated at the lower end of the Macquarie River in central N.S.W.  It is one of the largest remaining inland semi-permanent wetlands in south-eastern Australia.  The Marsh is approximately 200,000 hectares, 100 km long and 25-30 km wide, of which 18,192 ha is managed by the N.S.W. National Parks and Wildlife Service as Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve.  The remaining 90% is mainly freehold land managed for agricultural purposes.

 Eurasian Coot

and pelicans

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Hi-ho, hi-ho .. it's off to the marshes we go

Uh-oh..and some of them are right here, in the middle of the road, en-route to the birding lookout.  Go through 40 cm, according to the post (almost 16") of water in the middle, or turn back and add another 70 klms to our journey.  We'd been advised to just stick to one side, don't drive through the middle because of deeper pot-holes. 

distracted for a moment with the pelicans out there, and such a pretty sky

someone comes by, stops and checks if we're o.k., and on their way again.  We'll watch them!

Our turn, taking the plunge

some further along the road, lush reedbeds

...and some ominous looking clouds

and further along ...way in the distance, what's that scurrying around the edge of the road?  Binoculars out..

for heavens sake, they're wild pigs!

It was some further along though that we decided on a nice spot under the trees, to stop for a cuppa break, and then continued on again.

 Sharing with Outdoors Wednesday

From previous post.

Four bird types

A few random birding photographs taken last week while travelling inland.  My recent blog posts (label, Away from Home), have been covering this journey, and I wanted to save some bird snaps for Wild Bird Wednesday posts. 

two's company, three's a crowd?

White-plumed Honey-eaters

The Kookaburra and Willie-Wagtail..

you come anywhere near my nest and I'll .....

...I'll get nasty!

did you HEAR me?    ...   Shove-OFF!  (bird lingo')

Black-shouldered Kite

Sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday

Back to our retreat then ....

You were last reading this post if you've been following my recent journey out west.

On our way back in .. then a walk around, before drink and nibblies outdoors, under the trees.

According to the brochure, there are five man-made islands constructed over many years here, struggling with long drought periods in between progress and with assistance from many acknowledged, environmental conscious people.  

It took a while to find 'an island' but it was hiding there in the middle of all this dry, and as the light was fading fast, my chances of getting any decent photographs of the ducks swimming in the reeds was thwarted.  The sun-setting in the direction from which we'd came/wetlands, was spectacular, in the way, way distance -- such vibrant deep, dark pinks, amazing.  It was also hiding behind trees, so again, no chance to photograph.

However!   I did get to photograph this treasure by a little channel alongside the path we were walking; lucky us?!

Carpet or Diamond Python; can't say it thrilled us especially, but I was pleased to see a pattern indicating a python over any of our venemous varieties (brown or black snake).  I just haven't gotten attached to this part of nature's bounty and it was just a tad too close for comfort.  Yes, that drink back at the campsite went down well.

After quite a sting-in-the-sun kind of day, it culminated in a storm that evening once all tucked up in our bunks.  A tree branch tried to keep us awake by scraping across the top of the van in the winds while it rained some too. 

All gone next morning and our plan was to leave straight after breakfast; outdoors with our cereal bowls in the crisp morning air to greet a new day.  Then the obligatory black coffee for a kick start and we were to head up then to the owner's place. to pay our way.  One gateway to drive through, and then hers to walk through....this is it coming up next.

 with a welcoming sign

 Prickly Pear

Peacocks

And as we hopped back in the ute, there was the owners pet emu, day-dreaming, outside the house-yard.

penny for your thoughts?

Next post, we'll make it to the marshes!