Victoria St Gem

For many years this building was the Rural Lands Protection Board. It had a discreet but beautiful metal sign next to the door, you can see the discoloured square. It now has a new name and a fancy new sign that is in congruent with the historic facade. I am not against change but just think this now looks stoopid!

Wild Water Canoeing

The Nymbodia River is a very popular place for canoeing. It caters for beginners and the very highest level. This is a scene at Buccarumbi where kids are having their first go white-water canoeing.

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Rivers Edge

Kids always like playing at the waters edge

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Catching a Feed

The Wooli River is an excellent spot to cast a line.

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Election Special

The state of New South Wales goes to the polls today. There is a booth at the end of my street, the small St Stephen's Presbyterian Church.

Pecan Tree Sunset

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The Old Curiosity Shop





All my life I have enjoyed rummaging through second hand stores but good ones are becoming scarcer and scarcer. This beauty only opens every few months and is attached to the South Grafton Uniting Church.

Rowing

Early morning Grafton.

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The Big Fig

The big White Fig is a very special tree in the heart of Grafton.

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Wooli Oysters Yum! Yum! Yum!

The pristine Wooli River grows great oysters, these had just been opened at the oyster farm and were seconds away from being eaten.

The Old Glen Innes Rd Part 4: Buccarumbi Bridge Disaster

Today a modern low-level bridge passes over the Nymbodia River at the forgotten town of Buccarumbi, but look downriver and a disconcerting scene appears, quickly you realise the evidence of a previous bridge that now lies in ruins.

The Nymbodia River rises on the lush Dorrigo Plateau and of all the tributaries of the Clarence River it is the most volatile and capable of extreme river rises. In 1947 a flood brought an incredible amount of debris down the river which built up behind the bridge; like a dam it suddenly burst taking the whole structure with it.
















This image from the State Library of Victoria shows the decking torn apart and cast downstream.

Astute followers of my journey along the Old Glen Innes Rd will also notice that the Buccarumbi Bridge was a gigantic version of the still used Bawdens Bridge that crosses the Orara River which featured in my first post on the Old Glen Innes Rd.

To view my journey along the historic Old Glen Innes Rd please click on the label.

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Grafton Post Office

For 137 years Grafton has been lucky to have its postal operations carried out in this very handsome sandstone and brick building. So many communities have suffered the indignity of having either their Post Office's closed down or moved to souless shopping centres for the benefit of retail magnates rather than the convienience of residents.
A few years ago the inside was modernised (retailised) and the magnificent red cedar counters were removed. I often wonder where they went, something else I must find out about next time I am at the local museum.

It was built with local sandstone and the bricks were made of local clay and fired nearby; all the joinery was also of local rainforest timbers. I have always admired the stonemasons carving skills with the cypher of Queen Victoria and her crown in the keystone of the central arch.

Blue White Green

Angourie headland has soft grass to lay down on and watch the clouds go by.

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Well of Loneliness

There are very few houses in Pillar Valley. After stopping at the Public Well I suspect very few of them use the well as it is overgrown with grass and shrubs. I would like to know more about this place as Australia does not have a "well' culture.

Dragon Boats

The Asian sport of Dragon Boat racing has become very popular in Grafton.

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Put Your Feet Up, Relax A Bit!



Wooli has a lovely view of the Solitary Islands.



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Grand Old Entrance

The old CBC bank has an imposing entrance but could do with some TLC.

Pick Me Please!



Church fetes in Aussie country towns are unique experiences.

 

Swimming The Horses

Every morning at around 8 I hear an old fashioned sound through my window, the clip clop of racehorse hooves on the concrete road, they are off for their morning swim in the Clarence River.

They go at least 250m out into the river. It is great exercise and gets the horses into peak physical condition.

If I'm still home at 9 (only on weekends) I get to hear the rhapsodic clip clop all over again as the horses are taken back to their stables at the end of my street. I count my blessings that even in this very modern age some things in my neighbourhood are timeless.

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Skywatch Friday: Birds Fly North

Even though it is still very warm there are signs that summer is ending.

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Walkers Marina Hotel

Walkers Marina Hotel ,South Grafton, was once the 'Hilton' of the Northern Rivers. Supreme Court judges, politicians and the rural gentry would stay in its 'luxury' rooms overlooking the Clarence River. A lot has changed since the early 20th century but over the last few years it has been beautifully restored. I will post some shots of its over the top red cedar interiors soon. The 3rd floor was once a rooftop grandstand bar to watch rowing regattas on the river.

Yamba Rock Pool

There are very few ocean baths north of Sydney and Newcastle but on Main Beach Yamba there is a real beauty. They work to a simple principle, at high tide the sea overtops the pool and replenishes it with new water. Once a month the council empties the pool completly and cleans out the build up of sand and decaying seaweed... woahhh does that smell bad on a hot summers day!

This pool was built in the 1960's and replaced an older rockpool on the other side of the headland. It is very well used and a free facility that Yamba is proud to have.

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My Roots: Old Glen Innes Rd Part 3

This is the last house standing (just) in the now vanished village of Chambigne (pronounced Sham bean). I have a strong family connection to the area as my grandfather Stephen Conroy Bellamy was born here in abject poverty at the dawn of the 20th century. He once told me that as a small child there was so little to eat that his father, James Zadoc Bellamy, took him and his five brothers and lived in the bush for months on freshwater codfish, wild pigeons and damper (an Australian bread cooked in the coals of a fire).

I don't know where their humpy (lightly built house) was but the school was over the creek in the distance. My grandfather told me lots about the Clarence Valley but I regret we never went up to Chambigne so he could show me where he lived, then again maybe he wanted to forget such terrible times.

This is the 3rd part of my journey along the Old Glen Innes Rd during 2011. Click on the label to see the earlier entries.

Out Vile Dictator

I'm being political today. So what is the connection with backwater Grafton and Libya; well I have a very good friend who lived there for a long time and he regularly brought me gifts when he was back in Australia and told me tales of the beauty of the country and it's people. I treasure this tile at the moment as it is a common tile, the kind you find all over Libya, the kind you find in the ordinary homes of the ordinary people. I think the fish is a sign of good luck, they certainly need it at the moment.
It looks like a terrible civil war is developing and I know my friend is worried about all the Libyans he knows there.

I also have some less salubrious items. His books are the crazy ramblings of a mad person. I have seen his "Green Book" being burnt and stamped on a number of times in the news. I also bet a few watches have also been dashed against the pavements.

It seems the crisis is worsening every day and I am sure I am not alone in feeling helpless towards the ones who always suffer, women and children.

The Simple Life



There would be few better things to do on a rainy day then go sailing a boat with the family.



St Mary's Maclean

Very few modern buildings can say "Look at me I'm built from what is underneath". St Mary's Maclean is an 1893 Gothic style church built from local stone, by local stonemasons to a design by a local architect.

Stormy Weather

There have been a series of late night storms this week, unusual for this time of year.

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Old Dairy Factory

All over the North Coast there are remnants from when the dairy industry was king.

Mid Flight

The Wandering Monarch butterflies have been profuse this summer.

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March Theme Day: My Favourite Part Of Town

My favourite part of town is Angourie Back Beach. We go there lots and it is only ever crowded at the peak of the Christmas holidays. It's a great place to people watch as travellers come from all over the world to surf  the famous but treacherous point on the other side of the headland.
This spot is also the start of one of the world's most spectacular paths, the Yuraygir Coastal Walk. The four day hike south traverses the longest stretch of protected coastline in NSW and the traditional Aboriginal homelands of the Yaegl Nations in the north and the Gumbaynggirr in the south: along empty beaches, windswept heaths, littoral rainforest and pristine streams and rivers to the village of Red Rock.

Sometimes you can go to Angourie Back Beach in winter and you have it all to yourself except for the Ospreys, Honeyeaters, Kites, Thick Knees, Cowrie shells, coffee rock, driftwood............

On the first day of every month the City Daily Photo Community celebrate by posting to a particular theme. To see my comrades favourite locations in their own towns click below.

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