Sad Event

I was out riding my bike on Armidale's cycle-path near Curtis Park on September 11th when I came across what looked like a crime scene. A large area was marked out using the usual polic taping system and police wagon was parked on the bike path. I didn't stop to find out what was going on and it was several days later that I discovered that 3 year toddler had wandered off from her parents close to children's play area and they didn't notice anything amiss for a while. However, when she was noticed missing a quick search found her in Dumaresq creek, which runs through the centre of town. Alas, she could not be revived. That set me thinking of 9 months ago when we hosted our grandson, Flynn, then not quite 3 years old, at more or less the same spot, and of the need for eternal vigilance with kids that age.

A couple of days ago, I was at the same spot again and noticed a ceremony on the banks of the creek around a tree that had become a memorial to the dear little girl. The flowers were there today and I took some photos of them to remind us of what must have been an awful occasion for parents, relatives and friends. For people who know Armidale, you'd recognise that the creek is very high, though not quite in flood. And the brilliant green of the grass betokens a long wet period at the end of winter and start of spring.

AS

Another Trip to Wollomombi

After all the heavy rain we've had in recent weeks, I though I'd drive out to Wollomombi today to see water thundering over the falls. It was a lovely drive through verdant pastures and past farm dams at last full of water, not to mention well-stocked paddocks full of healthy-looking cattle and sheep. And, of course, it rained much of the way. Well the volume of water tumbling over both Wollomombi and Chandler falls was rather disappointing, although quite a lot of passing tourists seemed rather impressed, if not by the thunder of water but at least the magnificence of the canyon below.

Here's the usual view from the main lookout, with Wollomombi falls on the left and the smaller Chandler falls zig-zagging down a similar overall drop, but in many stages. The second and third images focus closer on Wollomombi falls, although taken from two different locations - the second a kilometre down-stream.

The next photo shows the Wollomombi river snaking through the downstream gorge on its way to the sea. Note the flat table-lands landscape through which the gorge has been cut.

And I'll end with a selfie taken with my mobile phone rather than my camera ... just to show that I really was there.

AS

Spring Open Day at Saumarez

Saumarez is a large country home near Armidale built back in the 19th century by a wealthy grazing family and is now part of this country's heritage operated by the National Trust. One can take tours of the home, which Dot and I have done several times, but in Spring the main feature is the gardens planted with bulbs and other flowering plants. Last weekend the gardens had an open-day and we headed there in warm and sunny weather. In fact, this has been a warm winter and many of the plants were flowering earlier than usual. Dot, I and a friend spent perhaps 2 hours there having a rather nice lunch and strolling around the garden displays and absorbing the beautiful rolling New England countryside with, amazingly for this time of year brilliantly green pastures after all the heavy rain we've experienced.

Here's the rather grand house ... by Australian standards ... and the sundial in front of it with the interesting inscription.

And the surrounding undulating green countryside where, on a clear day like we experienced, one can readily see landscape features 20-30km away.

It's time now for some bulbs .... daffodils, tulips and so on. This year the displays were rather subdued.

And, on the other hand, we saw a lot of shrubs and trees in full blossom ... and the odd flower ... perhaps because Spring arrived early and took them by surprise.

If you'd like to visit us, September is a lovely time of year to come.

AS

BMX Max

Whilst in Canberra a couple of weeks ago, Max said he wanted to try out a BMX circuit not far from where he lives in the Belconnen region.  So Dot and I loaded the bike into our wagon and off we went. It wasn't a nice day and by mid-afternoon there weren't many people around by the time we arrived. That didn't seem to faze Max and he had a lot of fun testing out his bike, sometimes gingerly. Whereas some of the older kids rode fast across the humps and often took to the air, Max's wheels rarely got far off the ground! But what does that matter if you're having fun and testing your ability?

AS

A Trip Through Primorski Krai

When I left Vladivostok two weeks ago, one of the things that struck me was the contrast between the coastal areas, including that city and Nakhodka, and the inland. The former looked reasonably prosperous, but the inland looked for the most-part ensnared in poverty and crumbling infrastructure.

We've already had an insight into Vladivostok in a previous post but Nakhodka also looked thriving. Formerly the terminus of the Trans-Siberian railway for non-Russians in the communist era when Vladivostok was a closed port and home to a major naval base, the town has survived as a major import and export port with lots of modern infrastructure and connected with the rapidly growing economies of east and southeast Asia. Being exported were energy raw material including, coal and gas.

And coming in were huge container-loads of manufactured goods in exchange.

But away from the coast a series of badly constructed and maintained roads with numerous large pot-holes connected lost of small places with problematic economies, though a few had charted some viable post-communist future - mainly in resource development - coal, gas, agriculture (meat production) - and perhaps tourist ventures such as fishing. However, the short summer and cold winters provide limited scope for international tourism. One community visited had a population of 50,000 people in about 1995, but that has declined to a current 8,000 people as poorly located and inefficient communist era industries collapsed. Of course, the young and ambitious have departed, a process that is also blighting rural villages, many of whose houses are in a poor state of repair.

A polluting industry.

These garages originally stored residents' cars.

Derelict factories and a scarred landscape.

Decaying farm cottages:

OK, some activities and places seemed to be in much better, but much of what we saw was truly depressing for outsiders. Governments and the private sector have a huge job ahead rescuing such rural regions from the ravages of poor investments and meeting head on the huge raft of transforming technologies about to swamp us, not just in Russia but nearly every place on this planet.

AS