More interesting I think was my photo of these apple blossoms. I love the contrast of the soft pink against the clear, blue sky.
Unfortunately, that’s all I have from the orchard this year. I’ll have to look around for something else interesting to post about now.
Remember last year’s visit to Bilpin – the glut of apples, all ripe and ready to be picked. I was so intoxicated that I vowed to go back the following year. But things weren’t so rosy. The apples had been eaten by fruit bats. What survived their attacks had been damaged by hail weeks before. Hence the apples weren’t exactly so perfect, nor were there many to pick. BB and I however managed to pick 13kg, which were distributed to our families. There will be weeks of apple crumbles, tarts and pies to come.
It’s not only humans that love the sun. Princess Beagle has a knack of finding the sunniest corner of any space and plonking herself down to sunbathe until she is hot, hot, hot. Since her tongue isn’t hanging out just yet in this photo, we can safely assume that she’s not heading for the shade for some time yet.
While most people on the beach are taking their final walks, it’s only the beginning for the intrepid fisher-people. Sunset is when the fish start biting – when the crowds of swimmers and surfers have left the water. They come out with rods, buckets, easy-chairs and torches to settle in for the night.
I didn’t join them however – it’s time for me to go home.
I’ve walked past this patch of grass time and time again, but in twilight they become rather mysterious.
Time had ran away from us and the sun had just set as we stepped on to Umina Beach to walk the dog. Never mind, the colours – blues and violets at this late hour – were still fantastic to behold.
Since my geology excursion raised some interest, I’ve tried to find more examples. The next example was right on BB’s coffee table. It’s a plate made of some very special marble – Devonian age marble from Morocco, in fact (over 354 million years ago). And encased in the marble are marine fossils. Given that the marble was grey, I thought black and white was a better medium for capturing this.
Back at the top of the ridge we got our reward – a magnificent view back over Broken Bay.
The line of sandstone cliffs all the way back to Lions Head and Barrenjoey Head.
And since it was a clear day, we could see Manly, even all the way down to the city.
And that’s the end of the walk in Bouddi National Park. Hope you enjoyed it.
As we ascended slowly back up the ridge, we saw plenty of flowers and interesting plants.
We saw plenty of banksias, this one a low coastal variety.
In the cooler spots, the first of the fuchsia bells were starting to bloom.
But most interestingly were these palm fruits, which we first mistaken as red capsicum. Quite amazing in colour and shape.
We walked along the length of the beach. It’s not so long, perhaps a kilometre or so in length, but it was one pretty stretch of coastline.
Static and Silence 