Eden - aptly named.

(Olympus 300 Digital)
Down on the far south coast of New South Wales, just above the border with Victoria, sits the little fishing town of Eden.
This is a beautiful spot to spend a weekend and we did this in 2003, when the Canberra MG car club arranged a weekend tour.

Eden has a strong history associated with whaling, the operation ending many decades ago.
Now the only whaling activity is centred on whale-watching, rather than whale-catching.
The fishing industry remains very strong, however.

(Olympus 300 Digital)
Eden is also the most southerly port in NSW and is the haven to which any retirements from the annual Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race head if they drop out before crossing the Bass Straight.

A delightful spot and it is easy to see why the location was named "Eden" - it is a little bit of paradise.

Winter is definitely here!

(Sony DSC-F717)

Last week I and my boss did the monthly run from Canberra up through the Snowy Mountains, calling into the Snowy-Hydro locations which are serviced by the company for whom I work.
The trip took in the power stations at Talbingo, (T3), Cabramurra (T1 and T2) and Khancoban (M1 and M2) plus the various Group Control HQ's, depots and accommodation at Cabramurra.

We took a 2-wheel drive Hyundai van, loaded with equipment and supplies that needed to be dropped off at the various locations and we weren't far out of Cabramurra when we ran into snow (see photo above).

Our original overnight stop was to be Cabramurra but it was pretty clear that we had a very good chance of being iced-in and would not be able to negotiate the road to Khancoban until well into the following day.
Whilst we were having lunch the snow really started to come down and a decision was made to do the T2 inspection as quickly as possible and then head to Khancoban, which is below the snow-line.

(Nokia mobile phone used for both images)

Cabramurra, and our van is in the centre background.

The "village square" (90 degrees to the left of the first photo) which looks very European. Footprints have already been covered.

(Nokia mobile phone. L-to-R Bob McGregor and Liz Schaeffer from Snowy-Hydro and Len Petch, my boss)

This is the entrance to the Tumut 2 (T2) power station, which is another kilometre in under the mountain. It seems like a long drive but at least the tunnel is lit.
This station - and Tumut 1 (T1) - are the only two underground power stations in Australia.

Although only about 20 minutes from Cabramurra, this location was below the snowline that day.

The trip continued the following day (Wednesday) with visits to Murray 1 and Murray 2 (M1 & M2) power stations near Khancoban, followed by the return trip to Canberra via Tumbarumba, Tumut and Gundagai.

Certainly a very refreshing couple of days and a change from the regular nine-to-five routine!

An old hobby resurfaces.

(Nikon EM, scanned from 35MM slide)

Once upon a time......
Well, back in the late 1970's and into the early-to-mid 1980's, I used to paint military figurines.
It started off as a hobby for my own interest but I ended up doing commissions.

When I moved to Canberra in 1984, with the HUGE change of lifestyle and work I gave it away, not resurrecting the interest until 2005.
Then it lapsed for another few years until recently, when the interest resurfaced and I dusted off the paints and brushes, taking up where I left off almost 4 years ago.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoos

(Sony DSC-F717 digital)
We don't get too many of these larrikins hanging around our place. Plenty of their cousins, the pink & grey galah and a variety of parrots. These fellows often fly over but rarely stop to eat.
Photographed recently, snacking on a hand-out of sunflower seeds in our front yard.
(The dish is fixed to the stump of what was once a beautiful weeping cherry tree. Then the rains stopped).
I tried to get them to raise the crest by making a bit of a disturbance, but they were too accustomed to urban living to be alarmed by some bloke making silly noises!


A lovely bird. Just a pity that they screech so loudly - usually at dawn!