Port Stephens (for Feb. 16)
We went downtown for a walk along the “Foreshore” this morning. The Foreshore is a redevelopment of the habour shoreline into parks and cafes.
Another stop was at a travel agent for our Japan Rail passes. We didn’t realize how these worked until just before leaving home. Then, we understood we had to get them out of Toronto or Vancouver and we thought it was too risky to try to pull it off over Christmas with us leaving on Jan. 5. They also have a three month time limit, which was a factor. So we planned to get them over here. Now we realize that you can get them through most travel agents, wholesaled through the larger agencies. Anyway, we ordered ours today and should have them tomorrow.
From Newcastle we drove to the nearby Port Stephens area. It is a resort area of communities on the shores of a long sea inlet. We took a 4 wheel drive tour of the 32 km long Stockton Sand Dunes area. It has a very wide and flat beach with low, vegetation covered dunes behind it and higher uncovered dunes behind them. The tour was in a 4WD bus through the dunes. It was like the opening scenes of the old Rat Patrol TV show with jeeps flying through the air. The driver warned everyone to do up their seat belts so they wouldn’t’ hit their heads on the ceiling. He immediately headed off the level track and through the hummocks of the dunes. We were near the front, so had only a moderately rough Disney ride, but the people at the back were shrieking with excitement as they were separated from their seats, only held in place by their belts.
We climbed to the top of one of the high dunes for a period of “tobogganing” down the dunes on a skid a little longer than a skateboard. It was very much like the tobogganing back home, except you get sand in your mouth instead of snow. OK, not much sand, but a little. And not just in your mouth, but other places you can imagine. And, just like at home, the exhilaration of the ride to the bottom was offset by the struggle of the climb to the top. Fortunately, it was another overcast day and not too hot – maybe mid 20’s – so it wasn’t too bad.
And all the while, we were entertained by 3 F18s doing circuits at the nearby RAAF base. We saw an F18 fly by low along the coast when we were touring the shore in Newcastle yesterday. It appears that they come up from Sydney for circuits and return.
As we left the bus for the tobogganing, I took my camera along for a couple of pictures. I then put it back for safe keeping. And it was stolen! No, the bus drove over it! No, a little voice told me that it would be safe in my pocket with the button down flap. Liar!! I should have listened to the other little voice that said I was bound to get some sand in it! Anyway, it got jammed with sand and the lens wouldn’t retract, then, even worse, one of the lens extensions broke. Ouch! We can’t very well do the rest of the trip without a camera, so I guess we will be doing some shopping tomorrow.
When we were all too pooped to climb the hill anymore, we bounced over some more dunes to the beach where we dug for pippis. These are little clam-like animals that live an inch or two under the sand and filter feed. When you dig them up, they spit out a little jet of water. When left on the sand for a few minutes, they open up enough to stick out a wide, thin tongue-like muscle and dig their way back into the sand. Pretty cool. I would have taken some pictures, but…
From the 4WD tour we went to our hotel and for a little walk. Although we have seen several kookaburras in captivity and in the wild, we heard two of them “laughing” for the first time today. They do sound a little like humans laughing. I have been meaning to comment on the wildlife here for some time. It is funny how, to us, it is all so exotic, but here it is normal. Here, kangaroos and wombats are road kill instead of deer and porcupines. And the birds here are so colourful compared to those at home. They all seem like they could only be found in a zoo instead of flying freely in the wild. Just today we saw kookaburras, bright green parrots with red flashes on the wings, a black and white magpie-like bird that perched on the railing of our balcony while I was eating (I might have given him something until he crapped on the railing.), a pigeon-like bird with more colour and a plume on the top of its head, an ibis, and some grey cockatoos with red heads and a red flash on their chests. Then, of course, there are the white cockatoos we saw the other day and the wild emus we saw in a field at Sunbury. It seems like the whole country is a zoo of exotic animals.
We have a beautiful view from our hotel room again tonight. In the evening there was a thunderstorm off the main coast. Although we are on the water, we are on an inlet from the sea a few miles from the actual coast. It was very interesting to be in a peaceful place watching the storm a few miles away. Then the sun burst through the clouds behind us, lighting up the shore across the bay. It was very beautiful. I would have taken a picture, but…
Another stop was at a travel agent for our Japan Rail passes. We didn’t realize how these worked until just before leaving home. Then, we understood we had to get them out of Toronto or Vancouver and we thought it was too risky to try to pull it off over Christmas with us leaving on Jan. 5. They also have a three month time limit, which was a factor. So we planned to get them over here. Now we realize that you can get them through most travel agents, wholesaled through the larger agencies. Anyway, we ordered ours today and should have them tomorrow.
From Newcastle we drove to the nearby Port Stephens area. It is a resort area of communities on the shores of a long sea inlet. We took a 4 wheel drive tour of the 32 km long Stockton Sand Dunes area. It has a very wide and flat beach with low, vegetation covered dunes behind it and higher uncovered dunes behind them. The tour was in a 4WD bus through the dunes. It was like the opening scenes of the old Rat Patrol TV show with jeeps flying through the air. The driver warned everyone to do up their seat belts so they wouldn’t’ hit their heads on the ceiling. He immediately headed off the level track and through the hummocks of the dunes. We were near the front, so had only a moderately rough Disney ride, but the people at the back were shrieking with excitement as they were separated from their seats, only held in place by their belts.
We climbed to the top of one of the high dunes for a period of “tobogganing” down the dunes on a skid a little longer than a skateboard. It was very much like the tobogganing back home, except you get sand in your mouth instead of snow. OK, not much sand, but a little. And not just in your mouth, but other places you can imagine. And, just like at home, the exhilaration of the ride to the bottom was offset by the struggle of the climb to the top. Fortunately, it was another overcast day and not too hot – maybe mid 20’s – so it wasn’t too bad.And all the while, we were entertained by 3 F18s doing circuits at the nearby RAAF base. We saw an F18 fly by low along the coast when we were touring the shore in Newcastle yesterday. It appears that they come up from Sydney for circuits and return.
As we left the bus for the tobogganing, I took my camera along for a couple of pictures. I then put it back for safe keeping. And it was stolen! No, the bus drove over it! No, a little voice told me that it would be safe in my pocket with the button down flap. Liar!! I should have listened to the other little voice that said I was bound to get some sand in it! Anyway, it got jammed with sand and the lens wouldn’t retract, then, even worse, one of the lens extensions broke. Ouch! We can’t very well do the rest of the trip without a camera, so I guess we will be doing some shopping tomorrow.
When we were all too pooped to climb the hill anymore, we bounced over some more dunes to the beach where we dug for pippis. These are little clam-like animals that live an inch or two under the sand and filter feed. When you dig them up, they spit out a little jet of water. When left on the sand for a few minutes, they open up enough to stick out a wide, thin tongue-like muscle and dig their way back into the sand. Pretty cool. I would have taken some pictures, but…
From the 4WD tour we went to our hotel and for a little walk. Although we have seen several kookaburras in captivity and in the wild, we heard two of them “laughing” for the first time today. They do sound a little like humans laughing. I have been meaning to comment on the wildlife here for some time. It is funny how, to us, it is all so exotic, but here it is normal. Here, kangaroos and wombats are road kill instead of deer and porcupines. And the birds here are so colourful compared to those at home. They all seem like they could only be found in a zoo instead of flying freely in the wild. Just today we saw kookaburras, bright green parrots with red flashes on the wings, a black and white magpie-like bird that perched on the railing of our balcony while I was eating (I might have given him something until he crapped on the railing.), a pigeon-like bird with more colour and a plume on the top of its head, an ibis, and some grey cockatoos with red heads and a red flash on their chests. Then, of course, there are the white cockatoos we saw the other day and the wild emus we saw in a field at Sunbury. It seems like the whole country is a zoo of exotic animals.
We have a beautiful view from our hotel room again tonight. In the evening there was a thunderstorm off the main coast. Although we are on the water, we are on an inlet from the sea a few miles from the actual coast. It was very interesting to be in a peaceful place watching the storm a few miles away. Then the sun burst through the clouds behind us, lighting up the shore across the bay. It was very beautiful. I would have taken a picture, but…
posted by Celeste at
4:59 p.m.
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