Holidays and Return

The last few weeks my wife and I have been holidaying in the northern coastal region of New South Wales, although we did head inland for a few days; to Armidale and Tamworth. Autumn had truly started in these towns, and much of the autumn leaves had fallen. Not so the coast, especially around Yamba where we spent most of our time with friends. The first week reached 28-29ºC and the water was very warm, much to our surprise. At Byron Bay there were many many people on the beach and the town was packed, as I assume every Sunday is in the warm season.This was suprising as I had come from the cold and dry south. Our second week had rain and the southerly winds cooled both the air and water however it still was not cold on the coast. We went walking every morning, had breakfast that morphed into lunch, after which we read or snoozed. The trip down to Tamworth included a side trip to Nundle, which was initially to visit the woollen mill (the mill was not working unfortunately, although I bought a nice woollen winter jumper), but since we learnt the Great Nundle Dog Races were on, we planned the trip on that day. The weather was perfect, sunny and 28ºC. The event was a community affair at the local school, with every type of dog imaginable present. The dog events were a laugh a minute as some dogs refused to race, other ran off the field and still others ran for their lives to the send of the field. Fun was had by everyone.

Dog doing its thing at Nundle Dog Races - this dog jumped some incredable height over the jump onto the back of a ute parked behind the jump

We also visited to power museum in Tamworth, being the first town with electricity in Australia - well worthwhile visiting. Yamba is a small town on the coast, off the main highway, nearly empty of people in the between seasons.  

Yamba beach looking south west.

Now back home I’m in the garden. At long last we had some good rain – the best since August - >50mm rain, a good opening for winter. The broccoli is doing well and I transplanted another 12 into the garden, so now I have 3 lots of 12, each a fortnight apart. As I had merely sprinkled the broccoli seeds into the hydroponic perlite, I have many more I can plant out. I use soil for broccoli, as I find the troughs used in the hydroponics get too cold in winter. The other gardening matter on the agenda, other than a massive clean-up of dead scrub in the back of our property is to fix the front taps. We only have one in the front of the property (which is 1¼ acres) which is usually tied to a dripper system. Furthermore, my daughter attempted to run it down on the first day she was on her P plates, a few years ago, so it’s rather bent. So I’ve been learning to silver solder copper again – which takes practice, but these days there are many Youtube videos available that can help.