A Sandy Beach Almanac



You've landed at Sandy Beach, NSW, Australia: Lat. -30.15331, Long. 153.19960, UT +10:00 – local map & zoom Google map. I live in a cabin on this beach, 25 kilometres north of the traffic and shops of Coffs Harbour, 600 km north of Sydney. My intention is to post observations of Nature and life within 1 km (1,000 paces) of my South Pacific home.

 

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Saturday, July 30, 2005


Greetings to our readers from my grandchildren Bailey, Jayden and Briar who have been my guests this weekend.
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Monday, July 25, 2005

Willie sunning himself

For three days at least we've been enjoying days like Spring, during the supposedly coldest part of Winter. It's 21 degrees now and I'm in T-shirt and jeans.

Yon Willie wagtail spends part of every day, it seems, on or around this rail just 50 paces from my desk and he's enjoying the sunny day as much as the rest of us.

The dinner-suited Willie wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) is one of Australia's most familiar and widespread birds and a very popular one.

Friday, July 22, 2005

'Lake on hold': SHAG wins reprive for Sandy

Yesterday's Coff's Coast Advocate has a full front-page story on the latest at Sandy Beach, with a photo of local resident-activists Wayne Evans and actor Jack Thompson. 'LAKE ON HOLD' roars the headline.

According to the the Advocate, the NSW Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, Craig Knowles, has "refused development applications for two subdivisions involving 140 lots, both on the northern side of Hearns Lake Road.

"The announcement was a complete surprise to the developer, BBK Development Corporation ...

"Members of the Sandy Hearns Action Group (SHAG), which has lobbied hard for better environmental protection for Hearns Lake, were more pleased than surprised ...

"SHAG spokesman Jack Thompson ... said SHAG was not opposed to all development, but the Minister's decision showed the new philosophy of sustainable coastal development in action."

Well done, SHAG! Click thumb to see what we are struggling to save, and if you want more info, we covered it in our February posts.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Winter Moon

Just a shot of the Moon over the island tonight, seeing it's Moon Day.

I'm still getting the hang of taking night pictures with my Olympus C-370.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Inka Marka: Beautiful music

Inka Marka played today in Coffs Harbour (I know it's not within 1,000 paces of the Ponderosa but I ask your indulgence today). They're all Aussies from many lands and play great South American music. They very graciously permitted me to take their photo and I told them I would put it on my site and recommend that people get hold of their CDs.

One of the group's songs is about Inti Raymi, the Incan Winter Solstice Festival of the Sun, Peru (Jun 24 - Jul 2) where I believe these guys, or some of them, have played. I hope you get a chance to hear them someday.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Miabella Sunshine Wilson


New baby Miabella Sunshine Wilson and a few more of the clan. Julia is my daughter and Remy is my 2nd son, and the others are all Julia's children.
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Monday, July 11, 2005


Some of the wildlife at Sandy Beach today. My grandson Jayden and son Remy on the dune at the south end.
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Saturday, July 09, 2005

The honeyeater and the sailor boy



In 1789, when the colony of New South Wales at Sydney Town, the first European settlement on the continent of Australia, was only a year old, one of the First Fleeters on HMS Sirius, 20-year-old Midshipman George Raper (b. September 19, 1769), painted a charming picture which he simply called 'Bird & Flower of Port Jackson', Port Jackson being the original name of Sydney Harbour. No British people had been there long enough to do much of the classification of flora and fauna, so the title itself gives a hint of the state of things in that year.

My third-rate photo shows the same bird here at Sandy Beach, in the backyard, ten paces from Esmeralda the Computer. I was alerted to the presence of several of them in the tree by their distinctive "Queet!" call.

What the indigenous people called this pretty bird I do not know, but today it is known as the Blue-faced honeyeater, or Entomyzon cyanotis. It was first described by Latham twelve years after the artist Raper executed his beautiful painting.

Wikipedia's useful article on honeyeaters tells us: "The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family of small to medium sized birds most common in Australia and New Guinea, but also found in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Hawaii, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacia. Bali, on the other side of the Wallace Line, has a single species.

"Honeyeaters and the closely related Australian chats make up the family Meliphagidae. In total there are 182 species in 42 genera, roughly half of them native to Australia, many of the remainder occupying New Guinea."
The Blue-faced is a very adaptive bird, as it is found round here and way over in Western Australia, and many other parts of the country besides.

Zambia has a stamp of this pretty bird in its series of birds of the world, as does Australia (view), and this site has a short video.

George Raper had joined the Royal Navy when he was just 13, as a servant, and rose through the ranks, learning much about illustration, cartography, navigation, astronomy and seamanship in general. In 1791 he was one of the officers and men rescued by HMS Supply (another First Fleet vessel) after eleven months shipwrecked on a reef near Norfolk Island (he painted the rescue too), for which the officers were court-martialled but honourably acquitted in Britain in 1792.

After his adventures in the South Seas he returned to Britain no doubt with many tales and wonders to tell the disbelieving friends and family, and was placed in charge of a cutter, the Expedition on July 20, 1796. Lieutenant Raper died in 1797, only about 28 years of age. In his will, he asked for all his papers to be put "in my Painting Case and delivered to my dearest and beloved mother".

Thursday, July 07, 2005


This was just a lucky shot, as I was photographing the sand, turned around and just snapped it when the batteries ran out. Beats the hell out of crab castings, don't it.
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It's a girl!

My daughter Julia had a daughter weighing in at 4.2 kg. Mother and daughter are both well.

Date of birth July 7, 2005, 9:30 AM. A new sister for Sienna, Jayden, Briar and Bailey.

No photos of the new baby yet, but Grandma accidentally took a short movie (MOV file, 8.5 megs) when meaning to take a photo (done the same thing myself -- just as well someone in the family can get things right). Julia had the bub at home, no doctor. She doesn't get her courage from me. That's Sienna holding the baby, whose name I don't know yet.

Looking for the right neighbours



----- Original Message ----- From: Jill The Legend To: pipwilson at acay.com.au Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 1:12 AM Subject: Question - Sandy Beach area


Hello Mr Wilson,

We have been admiring your extensive website on Sandy Beach and its surrounds, as well as the many other interesting facets of this site.

May we ask you a question about Sandy Beach as we are looking to purchase a house for sale, 11 [name deleted -- PW] Rd later this month at auction. Do you know the residents of this area/street at all? Our main concern is that there are 'yahoos' or native Australians, that may cause the re-sale value to be low.

I'm sorry we are asking you, its just that there are no other websites or local information bureaus that are able to help us. The Coffs real estate agent, is a little vague about the residents of the eastern side of the highway.

We are in Sweden at the moment but returnig in the near future.

Hope you can help as you seem to have the run down on everything in the area....if not, we shall continue to read your almanac regularly....its fantastic!

Cheers,

Jill & Steen

INTERNATIONAL THRILLSEEKERS INC.

* Ø * Ø * Ø *


Dear Jill and Steen,

Thank you for your kind comments. Unfortunately, I don't know any of the residents of [name deleted -- PW] Rd personally, so I can't vouch that they are any better or any worse than you.

For information about native Australians in the area, perhaps you might ask the good people at Yarrawarra Aboriginal Corporation, Red Rock Rd, Corindi Beach, NSW, 2456. I'm sure they would find your enquiry amusing and deal with it appropriately. I will post your enquiry on my website so local residents can take note.

I do hope that you get the neighbours you deserve.

Sincerely,

Pip Wilson

A Sandy Beach Almanac

Sunday, July 03, 2005


Hi guys.
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Friday, July 01, 2005

The sun comes out

The sun has come out at Sandy Beach today, and also at my nearest megalopolis, Woolgoolga where this picture was taken from the shopping centre park.

We have the same misty salt spray conditions at Sandy today because of the still-heavy surf, but the sky is very blue after the rain. It's surprisingly warm, T-shirt weather, and apart from the sog underfoot and the pong coming from my carpets where the rain got in, you'd hardly know we had so much rain.

I'm still not a grandpa to the power of 5, but I'll let you know. All is well.