Rubbish

Well my sister and brother-in-law should have flown into Sydney on Friday and we should all be packing our bags for Hamilton Island round about now. As it is these days, they're stuck in Scotland and there's no tropical getaway for anyone until next year. Rubbish!

 

 

First warm weekend for a long while this week and so I expect the spiders to emerge from their winter hidey holes over the next couple of days.

Striated Heron

Still no plans to do anything in the near future although we did get out for a stroll by the harbour today where I came across a Striated Heron. They're not seen too often and usually to be found skulking in the mangroves so it was nice to see one out in the open in the middle of town.

Dip

Another swamp at dawn - Jerrabomberra Wetlands, Canberra

Although the fishing was successfully resurrected up in Port Macquarie, the birding has been very slow. That was until last weekend when a Northern Shoveler turned up in Canberra. Not just any Northern Shoveler but I'd wager the exact same bird that I dipped on down in Leeton last year and likely the same bird that turned up at the same wetland in Canberra while my parents were visiting a few weeks after my Leeton failure.

Bedraggled Straw-necked Ibis

Reports put the bird at the Jerrabomberra Wetlands at dusk on the Saturday as I was driving down to Canberra. I was there a mere 14 hours later at dawn on Sunday but the shoveler was not. And the shoveler was still not there when I was forced to give up, cold and wet, at dusk. Perhaps the relentless rain did the job. At least there were plenty of nice kangaroos and native water rats to entertain me a little.

Bedraggled kangaroo

Bedraggled fox

That's twice now that this guy has given me the runaround. He's beginning to take on some sort of nemesis status.

Kanimbla on a sunnier weekend

Not much else in the way of news I'm afraid. A couple of trips up the hill to the in-laws and a bit of rubbish fishing in the harbour.

Cute ant cache

Macabre skull cache 

More lockdown likely coming up soon so not many plans for the near future. As long as the Northern Shoveler doesn't reappear while we're confined to barracks. That would be just my luck!

 Aptly named Toadfish

  

Port Macquarie and some fishing

Port Macquarie

I mentioned last time that restrictions were lifting and indeed we were able to get away up the coast for a very welcome break a few weeks back. Port Macquarie is a 4 hour drive north and is a top spot for a weekend of fishing, bush-walking, whale-watching and, of course, geocaching.

Emily's cracking Bream

Another Bream 

The trusty little fishing rods and supermarket prawns were once again employed to devastating effect off the Port Macquarie breakwall and once again Emily came up with the big fish. It was good to land a few different species as we fished into the night but Emily's monster Bream was clearly the catch of the day.

Tarwhine

Evening Bream

Yellowtail Scad

Eastern Kelpfish 

There was a full moon out as well which not only aided the fishing but made it easier to pick up a couple of night-time caches from places likely over-run by people during the day. One was memorably disguised as a piece of discarded chewing gum stuck to the underside of some street furniture. Disgusting. Brilliant!

Little frog

The whales are still passing through and so there was also loads of action out to sea with dolphins and Humpbacks aplenty. A thoroughly pleasant getaway after a while stuck in Sydney.