the week that was... foam fun

We've had constant rain, high winds, flood warnings and closed beaches round our region in the past week or so.
Although there were floods and roads closed north and south of us, all we had to deal with was copious amounts of foam on the beaches! No swimming last week or this as the waters in the river and ocean are dirty as. So we just got out and about in the foam!

beachin' it

Arh... just another cruisy evening at the beach chilling with the hubby. Yep. I'm cloud and scenery obsessed.  Will bring you some crafting and op shopping real soon...I promise!

fish-n-chip friday

Many couples have date nights... we call ours marriage night as a reminder to us both that this time is vital to our marriage - to our communication, to quality time and memories together, making sure we have one night each week where we have a chance to talk about more than just how our day went - to share some quality time away from distractions and make sure we're clearing the air, learning together and keeping on track with our marriage.

It has become 'fish-n-chip Friday'.  We grab some terribly unhealthy, salty, fatty goodness from our local and head down by the river to sit and take in the week that was. 

Seemed we were the only locals out this evening so we had all the seagulls to ourselves!

The start of a lovely day of rest on Saturday to revive and refresh our bodies, minds and souls before taking on another week. If you don't give yourself a day of rest each week or a marriage time with your spouse each week - I recommend it. Book it in sometime soon!

hello chinies my old friend

Haven't been to my favourite beach 'Chinamens' in many months. Sad how getting rid of our second car stopped me taking myself on adventures here. All that is stopping me is a large hill to walk up! I'll give myself that challenge for this week!

We had the beach to ourselves this evening. Amazing, since it was school holiday time and tourists have invaded every inch of our town!

See you again soon dear friend.

bundjalung

One of my favourite outdoor escapes is bushwalking. We finally, after living here for 18mths, checked out this bushwalk through Bundjalung National Park.  It's only 300m away from our house. Couldn't get over the changes in different sceneries/habitats during a walk of only a few kilometres.

The Marriage Tree - a gift from the Wahlubal tribe at Tabulam
gave this to the Bundjalung people when a wedding took place.
Such a presence this tree has on a lovely bend on the Evans River.

This hugely tall tree is hollow at its centre all the way to the top!
A few people could fit inside standing on each other's shoulders
 for sure! Sadly, I was pregnant at the time so couldn't try this out.
 I'm sure my hubby would be keen to prove this theory in the future!

The peace that comes from gettting out into nature still amazes me. There are all sorts of great walks hidden in nearby national parks all over our country.  Even lovely walks through parks can give you the peace that comes from a day out in nature.

Hope you all get a chance to escape into nature sometime soon. Be still. Stop, listen and breathe it all in!

just another day...

Everyday we can, my hubby and I walk to the break wall.  My favourite time of day. Stresses from the day drift away, breathing in deep the smell of the sea... and you just never know what you're going to see.

This was about 6pm... loving daylight savings and seeing people out enjoying the water till after 7pm!

This day we saw dolphins in the river (still struggling to capture a good piccy of dolphins! Looking forward to getting my mum-in-laws old cannon camera to play with!), police escorting a boat into the marina, full on large police patrol boat waiting for the little police boat out past the bar, old school plane doing laps over head (I think he was checking out the patrol boat too!) and someone's discarded bike that had been selvaged from either the river or the ocean.  What an outing! Surprising what can happen in our quiet piece of the world. :)

meet shane

i want you to meet a friend of mine and hear his story.
i hope this may inspire you to think more about the impact of humans on our waterways and beautiful creatures.

we found him on a walk round a headland in northern nsw. we thought he was dead at first but every minute or so he took a breath and lifted his head.

we thought he had been stranded on the rocks as the surf was pretty hectic over that weekend.

we thought we were doing the right thing by trying to help him get back out to sea but he was unable to get under the water - it looked like he had air in his shell that was making him unable to dive.

finally we got to the stage of realising we had to call for some advice so contacted WIRES who connected us with Australian Seabird Rescue. then travelled to us to come pick up the turtle and give him some assistance.

we learnt that when turtles are ashore and they're not there to lay eggs that they are sick. it's either a bacterial infection in their gut that makes them unable to dive but more commonly its because they have swallowed plastic. either of these cause the turtles to flot, unable to dive, so the swell brings them to shore. they are unable to swim back out so are stranded, unable to eat, eventually dying on the shore.

unfortunately shane was one the first of 3 turtles we've seen in past weeks. shane was about a foot and a half long. we met a grand old turtle on a secluded cove. unfortunately he had died. those pictures would not have been pretty. if you've ever snorkeled or skuba dived, you know how graceful and peacful these creatues are. it was a sad day seeing this over 1m long turtle left abandoned on the beach.  last week we came across a 2 foot long turtle on a beach people would be at daily nearby.  he also had died.  if only someone had checked on him and rang WIRES or Australian Seabird Rescue he could have been saved.  it breaks my heart.

i feel a sense of responsibility for all the plastic that gets left on the beach or washed in our waterways because someone simply abandoned a piece of rubbish without thought.

everytime we got to the beach now i pick up rubbish. from a couple of hundred metres of beach i'd pick up at least a bag of rubbish.  its bits of rope, plastic bottles, plastic bags, less than  a centremetre pieces of plastic from being broken down in the sun and surf.  after a long weekend or holidays i could pick up more than 3-4 buckets of rubbish left behind by the tourists. to see human created and discarded garbage mixed in the sand and natural shoreline gets to you. i now find it disgusting and it makes me angry. our inventions have lead to this damage.

so where does leave me and you?

please be responsible with where you discard rubbish.

please use less plastics as they do not break down easily and leaves a mark on our world for far too many years to come.

look after your environment - your parks, bushland and beaches.

connect with community services like Clean Up Australia Day (comming up next Sunday March 6), Landcare or other community groups.

teach your kids to develop these habits.

don't claim naivity. humans are leaving a negative footprint on our beautiful natural world.

live responsibly and think about what you use and where you put it.

look vs function

oh dear. the challenge of finding a helmet that suits the look of my electra. 

it seems helmets did not come into use until after the style era of my bike.

this is the best i have found so far:

only i can't find a large and i could even be 1cm off a large.
oh the curse of having a massive noggin. :)

any suggestions other retro/vintage lovers? it feels so foreign to have to sacrifice feeling like me and having a taste of retro in my helmet. have you seen the options of today? i feel like an alien when trying on the aerodynamic options in shops around our town. am i missing out on some fatastic option since i don't live in the city anymore?? how can i not ruin the feel of my bike and avoid fines??

oh dear. i need help!

my new best friend

my electra cruiser. the start of many new adventures round evans. can't wait.