Four years have past!

So much has happened in the last 4 years, I am 4 years older, being the most basic one, but these years have been good, and now over 60, I am getting a little slower I think. My RA is slowing me down and I finally have to admit it.
One of my beautiful little cats has gone, Marcus, had more trouble than he knew how to look after and at 15.5yrs sadly I needed to do the right thing and take him to the vet.....although now he has a beautiful bottle brush tree flowering above his head giving him shade.

Rain rain, you can stay as long as you like!

How wonderful it is to hear the rain we are having today. They say this is a welcome relief for lots of farmers across Qld. Over 200mls has falling in some western areas already. Spring will be good for so many! 

Came home from a quick shop and thought I would get my camera out to see what was dripping with water. Then I noticed the wonderful glorious MUD in the back yard. It has been so dry for a long time now and the grass is very thin in patches. We did go over it with the fork during the last week to try and get some holes for the water to sit in and penetrate into the ground.....but it was wonderful to see the mud!! 

I also found some lovely drops of rain hanging from flowers around the place. Looking like sparkling little crystals.

I was trying to get some rain drops hanging on some berries when suddenly a lorikeet fly in for his lunch

A night......the town!

When I heard there was another super moon coming, I thought I would try photographing it. Then I remembered my sons large camera lens. We went and picked it up two days early so I could get a little practise with it. I pretty much know the setting I need on my camera now to take a moon shot. So for practise, I thought maybe a trip to Mt Gravatt lookout to see some city lights, so a friend picked me up and away we went.

Well, do you think I could get anything except a black screen.......fiddled and fiddled with the settings and just kept getting black! My friend suggested we just use the camera on auto so we could at least get a city lights shot of some sort!

Yes, we had a couple of photos! But it really annoyed me that I couldn't get a correct setting on the manual mode. Ah ha!!!! I was previewing the auto photos and noticed the setting....inside.....down the bottom of the preview screen.......ISO 3200!!! Oh wow! That is the one that I just hadn't turned up enough. ISO.......Is the Sun Out!!!!????? 

Anyway, here is a pic of the city lights of Brisbane. I wasted so much time, now I will have to go back again!! 

I will try for the super moon tonight in preparation for tomorrow night, Sunday 10th. Hopefully the clouds will be gone by then.

And the Gateway Bridge from many miles away!!! :)

Photography

The things that have really taken my interest have changed as I have become older. I still have a passion for birds, and think I still would like to do some breeding again, but it would tie me down a little too much at this time of my life. 

I have bought myself a DSLR camera and decided I would like to try and get some really good shots of something!! My wish is that I would like to take a photo that I think is good enough to put on a canvas on my wall. 

Everyone takes close ups of something, sunsets are also a very popular shot, I would like to do something different but not altogether sure what. I enjoy getting those sunset pics and love getting close up shots of birds and flowers as well. Oh well, I will just have to continue using my camera until I see the perfect pic for my canvas.

Sawtell beach and headland

It is very pretty down here, I can understand why Lyn and her brother don't want to sell their late Mum and Dads home. 

I was always going to go for a swim in the rock pool, but when I actually went to the beach to have a swim, it had so much seaweed in it and smelt very much like algae.

So the day after our mountain trip, the morning was lovely and sunny, it was time for the water. It is such a beautiful beach.

The next day, Gretchen and Rachel had to leave to drive back to Brissy. We went down to Coffs and to the jetty we had seen the day we went for lunch. Again it was a rainy day and I've has a bit of fun with my photos since that day.

Underneath the jetty and out of the rain!

Urunga at dusk

So when we drove back to the coast, all very subdued, it was a very pleasant stop at Urunga. This boardwalk must go for at least a kilometre as it goes way out to the headland you see in the distance. 

It was the icing on the cake of the day for me..... A Beach Stone Curlew......an. Endangered species of curlew, especially in NSW. Couldn't believe what I was seeing!. After looking at the photos later that night, I noticed that it had been tagged also, like the curlews at home. There were three of them, probably parents and a young one. So blessed!!!!

The next day

The most horrifying day, when we found out what had happened!!!!!

Lyn took us for a drive to Bellingen and up the Waterfall Way into Dorrigo. Lovely drive in the country, beautiful scenery. The old Butter Factory at Bellingen,

Then we went to the Dangar Falls up at Dorrigo

 

Also stopped at a Sky Walk which looks out over the Ranges, fantastic view. But again, another cloudy day and photos not that good of the mountains behind.

As we drove back down the mountain, we stopped and had a look at the falls that come down under the road. A couple of bends further down the mountain we were stopped by the Police who were chasing cattle up the road, we had to detour into a side road and come out just a little further down the hill. It was then that we realised what had happened. 

Terrible!!!!, a cattle truck that we passed earlier when we were going up the range, it was coming down. It had rolled over! 

 

Sort of put a downer on the whole day! 

Anyway, on the way back, Rachel was impressed with the cattle who have birds following their every footsteps, the egrets