Tehachapi Loop

My friend Steve, who lives in Hemet, California, was recently passing the famous Tehachapi Loop during one of his regular business trips in California when he chanced upon a BNSF freight train negotiating the track at the same time that he happened to be there.

It's a consist made up primarily of double-stack containers, with a few auto-carriers on the rear and hauled by four what appear to be GE "Dash 9" (or maybe ES44) locomotives.

The following photographs were sent to me by Steve.
All enlarge when clicked.

 

Thanks, Steve!

I envy you the opportunities that you have to see this piece of railroad history on a regular basis.

Up, Up and Away!

My 70th. birthday was celebrated over six-month's ago (November 2015) and as a special gift I was presented, by my wife, son and daughter, with a 45 minute flight in a helicopter.
I deliberately held off taking the flight until the weather moved out of the stormy, unpredictable summer and well into the calmer period of autumn.....late autumn, in fact.

So yesterday (Wednesday 25th. May) I headed up the highway from Yamba to beautiful Ballina, a 75 minute drive and it was a simply superb autumn day; 23 degrees, light breeze and a blue sky. Just a perfect day for my first flight in a helicopter and a perfect day for top-down motoring in the MX-5.

On the way to Ballina I stopped at New Italy - a roadside rest-stop with picnic facilities, cafe, art displays etcetera. This location commemorates the settlement in the area of approximately 130 Italian immigrants back in the 1800s.

 Note that all photos enlarge when clicked. 

My flight was booked with Air T&G, a helicopter-flight business operating from Ballina Byron airport.
They have three Robinson R22s, two R44s, a Bell something-or-other which is a "Huey" look-alike, and a Bell 47, which anyone who has watched M.A.S.H. would immediately identify.

After being weighed and leaving behind anything of a loose nature (keys, mobile phone, pen) I was taken out to the little two-seat R22 by my pilot, Ryan.
With the aircraft and Ryan both dressed in black it looked like something out of an action movie!

After a pre-flight briefing we climbed in, donned a headset each and Ryan went through the checklist then fired her up.
We had to let the engine warm up for about five minutes and, once ready, Ryan did a radio check, advising other aircraft in the area of our intentions (it is uncontrolled airspace at Ballina) and we "taxied" out to the edge of the runway. Yep...taxied. About a metre above the ground!

On the way to our launching pad we passed this Bombadier CL-600 operated by Execujet, out of Sydney.

Past the general aviation hangars and services.
The hangar on the right contains what appears to be an ex-RAAF (or maybe RNZAF) Victa Airtourer.

We held short (hovering a metre above the ground) for a Jetstar service to make its landing.
Once he had touched down and commenced taxiing we were clear to lift off and, in the words of The Fifth Dimension, we were "Up, Up and Away"! 

We tracked inland initially...west towards Alstonville, flying at 1000 feet, over many macadamia plantations, one of which (or part of one) is pictured below.
The country is so green that it's almost unbelieveable - like being in Ireland!

We turned northwards, heading to the coast near Byron Bay, and passed near Bangalow.

There are quite a few palatial residences in this area; this one was once owned by Paul Hogan.

This is a new section of the Pacific Highway which was only opened within the past twelve months.
It includes twin tunnels which pass through a hill that, although providing spectacular views, was very twisty, slow and dangerous.
This new section of dual carriageway is part of the major restructuring of the Pacific Highway currently in progress between Woolgoolga and Ballina.

Below is a shot of the northern end of the tunnels, with the old highway alignment on the left and the new dual-carriageway road on the right.

Beautiful country around here; lush green and soft, rolling hills extending inland to the Great Dividing Range.
You can make out Mount Warning, that sharp peak in the centre of the ranges, which was spotted and named when James Cook sailed the Endeavour up the east coast in 1770.

The photo below that of the countryside is the view along the pristine beach extending north to Brunswick Heads and beyond to Hastings Point.

Ryan had us cruising along at 1000 feet and a little under 80 knots.

We met the coastline just north Byron Bay and then started tracking south, dropping down to 500 feet.
I have not edited the colours in the photo...that is exactly what we saw. I think the ochre tint is from the sand being stirred up.

The next series of shots are of the lighthouse at Cape Byron, the most easterly point on the Australian continent.

We saw plenty of dolphins on the way south to Ballina, and even a manta ray. But no sharks....which was good because there were dozens of surfers.
Sadly, no whales. It appears that the warm current is still making its presence felt further south but they should be on the move pretty soon.


We arrived at the mouth of the Richmond River, where it meets the Pacific Ocean at Ballina, and turned inland to approach the airport, with a final view south along the beach towards Evans Head.

Ryan held the helicopter short of the approach as we waited for a light aircraft to do a "missed approach" practice and then we were on finals and ready to touch down.

Of course, I had to have the obligatory photo taken as I sat in the R22, so here you go....

That yellow disk is not a landing light!
It's lens flare, from the sun.

What a fabulous experience this was. Totally absorbing, and thoroughly enjoyable.
I will do it again, one day.....maybe get a chance to do a whale-watching or a "hands on" flight.

Thanks, family.
This is up there with the hot-air balloon flight for my 50th.

Clarence River - Broadwater

On Pateman's Road/Old Ferry Road, at Ashby, is a magnificent view south towards Lawrence.
It takes in the sweep of the Clarence River as it winds down from Lawrence (in the distance, directly above the house in the foreground) and also the Broadwater "bulge" off the river.

This is a view which the owners of several homes see each time they look out their south-facing windows.

The panoramic photo (taken yesterday afternoon) will enlarge if clicked.

You probably can't make out two small brown dots in the paddock down under the trees to the left but this is one of them.......

........a small wallaby and she had a joey in her pouch.

Just another day in paradise!!

Oyster Shallows

Two photographs taken literally over the road from where we live. (Both enlarge when clicked).

This is the section of a backwater of the Clarence River known as Oyster Shallows and it leads into Lake Wooloweyah.

The first photograph looks south and the second is swung around 180 degrees and looks north, towards the Yamba Road bridge.

 

If I took a shot 90 degrees to the right of the one immediately above then you would be looking at the entrance to the Palm Lake Resort.

Crossing the Clarence by ferry

There is a vehicular ferry which crosses the Clarence River at Bluff Point, about a kilometre north of Lawrence, a village which sits on the west bank of the river.

Many people use this ferry (and also another further upstream at Ulmarra) every day.
It is in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is the busiest vehicular ferry in NSW.

Because there are two ferries located here there are never any times when regular maintenance interferes with the service.

A trip across the river - about 400 metres - takes around three minutes.
(Further upstream, at Ulmarra, the river is wider and the ferry trip at that crossing takes about twice as long).

Here is a short video of a "ride" on the ferry....taken last week when I did the return trip from Yamba to Grafton via the "back road".

May be viewed in HD (720 or 1080).

Out to sea......

Images enlarge when clicked.

The other day when at the lighthouse I noticed two large ships heading south.
One was closer inshore than the other so I used the little Panasonic Lumix, at about middle zoom setting, and snapped the following shot to see if I could make out the word on the hull..............

So it was a container ship belonging to the Italia Marritima freight line.


Then I ramped it up to maximum optical zoom to see what the other ship was.......

A bulk ore carrier....empty.

Grainy shots but no worse than those from a multi-million dollar satellite at 22,000 miles and made with a camera that I can carry in my shirt pocket!

Storm Clouds

Looking like a scene from a Stephen Spielberg movie, this storm approached Yamba last evening and slipped south of us as it headed out to sea.
About an hour earlier we had experienced our first hailstorm since arriving in Yamba over a year ago and we thought that we were in for more from this monster.

The sun was setting and gave the huge cloud an edging of light, as if a giant hand had painted a white line down the side.

Clicking on the image will open the full-size version in a new window.

The Big Seven-Zero!

Ahh well, it had to happen, I s'pose.

Back at the beginning of the month I turned 70 - and was presented with a surprise birthday party in one of our favourite restaurants here in paradise.

I thought that I was having a quiet dinner with my wife, sister and a good friend but no.....upon walking through the door I was not only greeted by the entire restaurant singing "Happy Birthday" but there was a table full of family members and friends.

My daughter had flown up from Canberra, my son and his partner, plus new grandson, had driven down from Brisbane and other friends that we have made over the past 18 months were also present.

What a wonderful and completely unexpected surprise it was!

Here are some photos:-

A great night.

The Road Trips - Yamba to Canberra via the Inland route & Return via the Coast.

From Yamba to Canberra took two days - broken overnight at Coonabarabran. That was about seven hours from Yamba, via the Pacific Highway to Grafton, Armidale Road & Waterfall Way to Armidale, the New England Highway to Tamworth and then the Oxley Highway to Coonabarabran.

The next day saw us drive to Canberra via the Newell Highway to Dubbo & the Mitchell Highway to Wellington and Molong.
From Molong we took the minor roads down through Canowindra to Cowra and thence the Lachlan Valley Way via Boorowa to the Hume Highway south of Yass, then the Barton Highway to Canberra.
That was another seven hours.

The change in the environment is amazing: we left the greenery of the coastal fringe, with its sugar cane and dairy farms, climbed through sub-tropical rain forest to the New England Plateau, then to the open expanses, wheat and sheep of the Central Western Plains.

The return journey was via the "normal" route: Federal Highway to Goulburn, Hume Highway to Sydney and then the Pacific Highway to Yamba.
Video highlights were recorded, edited and uploaded to You Tube. Here are the links and I suggest that, as they are in 1080HD, it would be best to play direct from YT and not through this blog:-

Below are several photos - most of which are included in the videos.
They will enlarge when clicked.

This map - an extract from Google Maps - shows the route we followed from Yamba to Coonabarabran - the extent of the first day's drive.
The Armidale Road, from Grafton to the junction of Waterfall Way, a few kms past Ebor, was the "worst", but only because it was twisty between Nymboida and the top of the range. The surface was fine.
The major highways - Waterfall Way, the New England, the Oxley, the Mitchell and the Newell - were excellent and allowed for fast, safe driving, with sparse traffic. Even the semi's were separated by several kms.

The above shot was taken when we stopped for morning tea and a "behind the bushes" comfort stop!
Somewhere between Nymboida and Ebor.

The reserve at Ebor Falls (above) has picnic facilities, including water on tap and toilets.

It's just a very short walk from the parking area to the Top (or Upper) Falls and then a short walk down an unpaved walking track to the Lower (or Bottom) Falls.
These must be quite spectacular when there has been good rainfall.

The Mathew Flinders Motor Inn at Coonabarabran was very comfortable and has a very nice on-site restaurant.
This made for a comfortable, relaxed evening after a long drive: we were able to unpack the car, have a rest, have a shower and then stroll across to the restaurant for dinner and a few glasses of wine. Most enjoyable....and the staff are lovely.

Decor straight from the 1970s but clean, neat and tidy.
It would be a crying shame if the management/owners ever decided to "modernise". This is heritage stuff and should be kept - Mission Brown, Burnt Orange and all!

The above map shows the route on Day 2, from Coonabarabran down through Dubbo, Wellington, Molong, Cowra and then to Canberra.

Cameron Park, in Wellington, provided a convenient and shady spot to have morning tea.
The temperature on this morning was up in the high 20s so it was nice to sit in the shade in this peaceful spot.
That's the main road in the background.

On the Saturday night in Canberra we had dinner at the Vikings Club, Chisholm, and the last time I saw the sun setting over the Brindabella Mountain range was in May 2014....nearly 18 month's ago.
So I had to snap this shot with my phone.

Finally, my gorgeous grand-daughter Matilda, just turned nine years old earlier this month.
She's grown up a bit since her fifth birthday!