A Walk around the Mangroves

 One of the places Eddie and I went to was a Maritime Museum. It was great. In addition to all the ships, there was a nice stroll over a boardwalk to the mangroves. And then explanations on how the mangroves stabilize parts of the fresh to saltwater areas. It was a fun little walk.

As we entered the path, Eddie did not like this sign.

Ibis are lounging and feeding.
In Sydney, they are called "bin chickens" for acting like pigeons and scrounging for food all over the place.

The Golden State

 A fantastic picture from space on Aug 18th of California.

The big green part in the middle is "the central valley". 

Our place is about halfway between Los Angeles (lower grey area on coast) and the Salton Sea (big salt lake in the lower right).

This is from Wikipedia.

The Central Valley is one of the world's most productive agricultural regions.^[50][5] More than 230 crops are grown there.^[5] On less than 1 percent of the total farmland in the United States, the Central Valley produces 8 percent of the nation's agricultural output by value: US$43.5 billion in 2013.^[51] California's farms and ranches earned almost $50 billion in 2018.^[52] The valley's productivity relies on irrigation from surface water and badly depleted underground aquifers.^[53] About one-sixth of the US' irrigated land is in the Central Valley.^[54]

Virtually all non-tropical crops are grown in the Central Valley, which is the primary source for produce throughout the United States, including tomatoes, grapes, cotton, apricots, and asparagus.^[55] Six thousand almond growers produced more than 600 million pounds (270×10⁶ kg) in 2000, about 70 percent of the world's supply and nearly 100 percent of domestic production.^[56][57]

Granite Falls

 We took a very different trip to Granite Falls in New South Wales. It wasn't far off the main road, about 5 miles, but it was on a bumpy, unpaved road. Ed's map said the road was closed, mine said it was open. Two different phones, but the same application. We figured it was because my map does not exclude dirt roads.

Anyway, it was a bit of a schlep, so Ed and I were the only ones there. It is a nice staircase down to the falls view, but the viewpoint was perched on a cliffside, held in place with very strong steel. Ed sill wasn't thrilled with the view, ubt he made it.

Sydney

 Between Japan and Dog sitting, Eddie and I spent a week in Sydney. It was great (except for the 36 hours spent with a stomach protest against some frozen Indian food - do not eat Lamb Rogash from the supermarket in Australia).

Here are some pics.

In a (sweaty) beach walk of about 2 1/2 miles.

A cemetary with an ocean view

The Sydney Observatory

Eddie on the beach walk

That cemetery again.

An old Deco staircase under the. Harbor Bridge

Eddie on a ferry from downtown to Manly Beach

At Manly

Fitzroy Falls

 I was surprised to see that the area near us had several waterfalls. In reality, Aussie weather makes the falls vary by season, but we ventured to a few. This one at Fitzroy Falls was right off the route inland. They were cool looking.

The falls are in a national park, and so the falls themselves were very close to the visitor center. The paths were well paved and overlooks were well done.

While we saw it from right above, this was the view from about a 1/2 mile away.

Eucalyptus trees on our vacation

Eucalyptus trees are native to Australia. They have been exported all around the world, but they are ubiquitous in Australia. In fact, there are very few other trees. 

Now there are different types of Eucalyptus - 900 in fact - and they are the dominant tree, often the only tree, in most of Australia. They are twisted and beautiful and often fragrant. We hiked through a lot of the country and they were everywhere.

I'm Back

 I have no idea why I couldn't get to Blogger easily overseas. But I'm back now and I will post some pictures.

We were south of Sydney for the dog sitting. The weather was nice and cool. A little too cool some mornings, but much better than the 115s here.

First, the dogs. Callie is the big mixed dog - a girl - a super powerful. Sweet, but looks a little frightening. Diego is the greyhood. He is a rescue from a dog track. He is the most laid-back dog ever. He liked being scratched, but you only knew it on rare occasions when he came to you, head down. Most of the time he just lazed around on the dog beds in the front room with us.

And yes, Eddie had to walk them morning and night for the last week after I fell on my fractured ribs, again. So yeah for him.

A nice walk on the beach about a mile from the house.

Hanging out on the deck in the sun.

Diego

Callie

This was taken for scale of the Bird of Paradise plant.