The Watchers

 

 This wonderful scene spotted on the Terrigal Esplanade. The dogs were watching their owner have a swim. I'm not sure how much the little dog could actually see. From the photo it looks as if it is staring at the wall. Perhaps it was just copying its big friend.

 

Paradise slipping away.

 

At the southern end of Terrigal Beach there is small headland with a platform of smooth brown rock at its base. The rock platform stops well short of the beach at the Haven so you have to walk up and over a hill to reach the Haven.

For possibly tens of thousands of years, people, initially the local Aborigines and then early European settlers and latterly local residents and tourists, have fished from the rock platform or just stood gazing out to sea.

 Now sadly that beautiful viewing platform is not accesible. The local council has funded the construction of an elevated walkway under the cliff which they say will improve pedestrian access to the Haven and also be a tourist attraction .They are probably right on both counts but it is an unattractive intrusion and it has destroyed a wonderful local natural feature.

The rock shelf has featured in many photos I have taken on my early morning walks since I retired to Terrigal over 12 years ago and many times I have stood on the shelf and looked at the magnificent view.

 Back in December 2017 I took the above photo and posted it on the blog. It's been a favourite shot of mine but I had no idea who the lady was. Then a local character, Ray, who I see most mornings and who follows my blog, by chance volunteered to me that her name is Cheryl. 

That would have been the end of the story but by coincidence eight months later I found myself walking with Cheryl on the local 5 Lands Charity Walk from McMasters Beach to Terrigal. She was a delightful walking companion and we did another walk together a few months later. After that we
exchanged emails a few times and then she disappeared from my radar until I met her walking in Terrigal early one Saturday morning last November. She misses her rock.

 Now the walkway is nearing completion. The local federal member of parliament who turns out for the opening of an envelope will be there with her tape cutting scissors no doubt but for many of us it will be a sad day. Another part of old Terrigal lost.

I will post some photos of the walkway when it is open if I can bring myself to photograph it.

Respite

 Relief ! After a scorching weekend to a very hot week which was preceeded by a very hot weekend we woke up this morning to a cooler day. It's all relative but today 29ºC felt really cool. A welcome respite from the record breaking heat.
More heatwave conditions are on the way but at sunrise this morning these two guys were enjoying the cool air looking north from the headland at Terrigal Beach.
I waited around for the sun's rays to light the scene. I used my "walkabout" camera of choice - the Leica X1.

That is smoke above the horizon from big bushfires burning further up the coast. The weekend saw the worst bushfire conditions ever experienced in NSW. 

Joggers in the mist

We are into 35th day succesive day of record temperatures. It is the longest,hottest,driest spell since records begain in 1859. In Sydney the temperature has not gone below 26º for that period and most days it is well above that. In Terrigal it has been hotter and in the west of the state it has been in the upper 30º's and into the 40º's.
Everyday it is clear blue skies and heat and humidity. Today at dawn the home weather station gadget showed 95% humidity. We are all over it. Give us a break. And some rain.
The very high humidity and the relatively cooler sea generated an unusual bank of fog along the coast this morning. Here is Terrigal Esplanade at 6.10.

Early morning-worlds apart

Two takes on early morning-worlds apart.Top early morning on Terrigal Beach a few days ago.Early morning swimmers showering off.Dog walkers and joggers on the esplanade and the first customers in the Surf Club Cafe getting their caffein fix.
Bottom-early morning in Wellington-such an English name unusual for it to have endured- near Coonoor,Tamil Nadi,India.Taken in November 2015. Rickshaw and taxi drivers having a chat at a roadside stall on a damp morning. Waiting for their tea to brew-their fix.A world away from Terrigal.

Back in 1982 an American photographer,Rick Smolan, published a book "A Day in the Life of Australia". It was a big success and lead to a series of A Day in the Life of books from countries across the world and Rick Smolan building a very succesful US publishing company-Against All Odds Publications.
These two photos reminded me about the A Day in the Life of... books the big feature of which was that a large team of photographers all took their photos right across the country on the same day.So it really was one day frozen in time.
I met Smolan in 1992 when he was looking for sponsors for his book "Alice to Ocean" the story of Robyn Davidson's solo camel trek from Alice Springs to the Pacific Ocean.This book was seen as very innovative at the time as it came with a CD ( Mac format only) of photos featured in the book.I used to have copies of both A Day in the Life of Australia and Alice to Ocean but somewhere along the rolling road they have been put out to pasture.Perhaps a declutter too many there.I see that I can buy a used copy of A Day in the Life of Australia for a couple of dollars from Amazon US.A pity about the postage.I'm sure I can find a copy easily anyway in a local used bookstore.