The Daily Good News
Is it personal , Zen ?
Do you just harbour a deep hatred for cows ?
( pretty sure that’s a cow . Could be wrong . It looks like Paddington Bear crossed with a Labrador )
Mmmmmm .. I've had the pleasure of eating many aged prime cuts. A fringe benefit of being a commercial fisho is often having a solid relationship with the the local butcher. {and bottle shop owner / publican and various taxi drivers , but I digress} Stuff you won't see for sale , but sourced and kept for their own personal consumption,.
I'm just glad I got my fish fingers ,eggs and chips down before I glanced those posts.
@stu, I liked how you put the "Vegetarians, turn away now" comment after making it necessary to scroll past the pics first...
"Had a pleasant nutty smell", haha as opposed to a 'netty' smell, which at a guess is a bit fish-like?
Bring on beef week ..
https://www.betootaadvocate.com/headlines/casino-bloke-and-rockhampton-b...
Bob Brown finally brings a crucial topic into the spotlight.
Of course, the woke left and also right-wing economics won't want to know about it.
Good news nonetheless I think.
https://theconversation.com/bob-brown-is-right-its-time-environmentalist...
Good news?
Chew Tapendatol SR, then swallow. Preferably washed down with a 'wee nippy sweetie'.
And a scoob, of course.
Gee, wow, thanks for that.
A comment on another thread reminded me of something I saw this morning....the two Osprey fledglings down the road are starting to make regular appearances and it looks like they may be ready to take life on solo.
Crazy when you see their nest which is built on a flimsy branch a metre or so from the top of a huge Norfolk pine . Hard to believe that something they’ve made from spit and twigs could possibly survive the howling winds it’d be subjected to up there. No nails , screws , nuts and bolts. Particularly impressive when you consider it’s basically made with just their lips and feet seeing how Ospreys don’t have any hands to speak of.
In regards to the mention of drones and ospreys . As much as I despise drones , I don’t think the ospreys give too much of a fuck as long as they’re not being continuously buzzed directly over their nest . Even then it’s questionable when you see the way that they are relentlessly hassled by every other bird in the vicinity anyway. They don’t get five minutes respite from being humbugged by some pesky little bird or another.
The last few days were full of good news.
Drove down out the back of Coffs and up into the New England national park.
Started at Point Lookout at about 1350m, up in the clouds amongst the Antarctic Beech trees.
Dropped about 1100m over 21km the first day, down to the headwaters of the Bellinger River. Rock hopped for about half a day then set up camp.
Rain was pretty constant and there was a cracking storm that night with thunder rolling up and down the valley and lightning illuminating the ridges.
Next day was more of the same as we followed the river for another 20km through pristine sub-tropical rainforest and further downstream, past long-abandoned settlements.
Meanwhile, it rained and hailed and the river kept rising.
Just at the end of the walk was what should have been an easy 50m wade across waist-deep water, however the water was now flood-brown and flowing quick.
Walking across with a pack on the back would have been a big mistake but luckily I had an oversize dry bag with me. Everything went in the dry bag except the empty backpack which stayed on my back.
Ended up stripping naked and using the dry bag for buoyancy and stability, walked/floated the final crossing.
Subsequently felt as hardcore as G.I. Joe with a kung fu grip.
Next day was a 17km paddle down the same river, through rainforest and then farmland, ending at the locality of Thora.
Amazing four days and the sort of stuff that keeps you alive.
Epic stuff Andy.
I'm paying for it now Ben!
Yeah , Awesome ,
Sounds like you could slam a 'fully loaded can'..
Well done Andy
I was definitely singing the Solo Man song at one stage.
Absolutely amazing AndyM. That is living life to the full. Well done. Also the most positive post i’ve seen on SN for a good while. Inspiring stuff.....
Unreal Andy. Sing it like no ones listening.
Thanks fellas!
Andy -Were you carrying your kayaks through the walks ? How far between paddles.
The section from Point Lookout to Darkwood Road was just a walk with a car at each end, kayaks locked to the roof.
We then re-sorted the cars (3 hour + round trip shuffle) and paddled Darkwood Road to Thora.
Kayaks are big heavy plastic bastards, so no walking in with packrafts.
Heard a story of others who accessed the Bellinger via Sirius Road with packrafts.
bet there were some horse bass in those deep pools.
Looked unreal . Inspirational stuff.
Blowin, this app is s great start, complete with links to water levels.
Heaps of fish FR, didn’t see any bigun’s but they were everywhere as we were wading through.
Next time you’re down there, maybe drive to the end of Darkwood Road, throughthe unlocked public access gate, and to Dardanelles Bridge.
Beautiful area and would surely have fish.
Dardanelles Bridge is better than it sounds, hasn’t been a bridge there for decades and is close to pristine.
Can get the tribe right to the water’s edge.
Cheers Andy. Just downloaded it and it looks unreal. Keen to get into it. Cracking time of year for non ocean related activities.
And all you need are two cars and some cheap sit on top kayaks.
Nice stuff Andy. Have been talking for ages about doing a similar trip down the Upper Macleay using li-los for the water stretches.... need to get serious. Tricky thing is the car drop off and pickups.
Damn that looks good. The bush looks at its best in the rain.
FYI...one of the solo men was a warriewood/ n Narra local and shaped for McGrigor
Doesn’t it Chook.
Antarctic Beech forests in the mist and the rain are fantastic.
My first board was a McGrigor . Wonder if the solo man shaped it ?
Out of the water today so I went for a gentle walk to scope the ocean. Definitely on the cusp of summer . Saw my first cicada . Nice blue current running from the North. A couple of feet of pretty North East swell with a squadron of a dozen solid kings swimming through the lineup. They would’ve been at least metre long . Ospreys , whales and no one around.
Good day to be alive I reckon.
.
Runaway train in Rotterdam saved by whale tail statue.
Some headlines covering the story:
'Stopping All Cetaceans'
'What A Fluke'
Wow if I hadn't seen the photos I would have thought it was just a tall tale...
haaa... "The statue, coincidentally called Saved by a Whale's Tale, had not been intended to actually save a train."
'Stopping All Cetaceans'
Fantastic!
Does this mean that Australians might actually be able to buy reasonably priced crays?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-03/china-broadens-trade-war-against-...
Hell no AndyM, we can't have that...
Depends on their break even price AndyM. I heard somewhere that this is in the region of about $50/kg but stand corrected. If this issue spirals and the industry tanks then the only winners will be the recreational fishers. The other downside is we won't be able to watch Aussie Lobster Men for a while!!!
Dunno if it qualifies as good news but I can't be arsed starting a new thread:
Mentioned last week how I was on Radio National's 'The Book Shelf' chatting about Malcolm Knox's latest book, and the poddy has gone live.
Well there you go, some contemporary art with both form and function. (The whales)
A win for the little guy... opposed and commented to council on a DA by a rich Sydney developer. It relates to the retention of old man banksias, red gums and a few others , and the established wildlife corridor to the National Park ,{video evidence over10 years} , as well as 'tracked machinery' to tear it all down ,, haha
Old mate has to rethink and amend his grand plan ,, suck it fuckwit.
Nice one, TS.
Stoked.
yeah cheers guys, , it gets better , He now can't touch one faarkin branch on one tree without a qualified wildlife expert /"fauna ecologist" present. NPWS are onto it and are backing us too.
And that's just the start .
Game on.
gotta love old man banksias and all that goes with em....thank you ts
Conor, sly fade for the inside section:
Had my first surf today in sometime, surprisingly empty, good size for someone coming out of lockdown, drove home tired but stoked listening to the Sandpebbles. Life is good.
Hey Stu I saw that photo today of Conor. I can’t comprehend the view they must of had at that time. Simply mind blowing stuff
Dedicated to good news ....