Waterfalls

 The previous owners named this property "Twin Falls Overlook" after the two beautiful waterfalls at the ends of two draws on the property. I have visited the largest waterfall, pictured above and in the movie below, but still haven't seen the smaller one in person. 

This is the how the sellers advertised the property, with a wintery picture of the smaller waterfall:

The waterfalls still need names! The streams are the headwaters of Muddy Toe Creek and located in the far north corner of Muddy Toe Hollow.

Exciting News

We are in contract for land (about 34 acres) in Kentucky! We are purchasing it with friends of ours, the Mudricks, and hope to close in June when the new survey is completed. The property is 20 minutes outside of Morehead, KY and the Daniel Boone National Forest and 20 minutes in the other direction from Grayson Lake State Park. We are going to use this blog to share our photos, videos and updates while we work on the property and build a cabin. This blog is private, so only those with the link can access. Here is a topographic map and aerial image showing the property boundary. The inner polygon is a 1.5 acre pasture on the ridge where we will likely build a cabin.

Birds of Oz

Warning: no pictures of kids will be shown in this post. Feel free to skip to the next. This one is for journaling/memory purposes.

When you see Cady or Asher next, ask them to sing “Lizards of Oz” for you. We have a new repertoire of songs – most dealing with Australian wildlife. While we have seen a few lizards, the wildlife that we most often see are the birds. I’ve tried to catch many of them with our better camera but some are more shy than others. There are so many different species, I think we (even kids!) can identify over 30 and that is just the common ones that hang around by our place. We checked out the most popular guidebook for birds in Australia (aptly named “What Bird is That?” and first published in 1931) from the library and it was over 800 pages long and weighed almost a kilo. SO MANY BIRDS! Anyway, here are the ones we could catch on camera with their common and scientific names and location of the photograph.

Australian Brush-turkey, Alectura lathami, pictured in Taronga zoo, Sydney, New South Wales but they were wild - not exhibit animals!

Australian King-Parrot, Alisterus scapulars, Myrtleford, Victoria (Adult male with red head)

Australian Magpie, Cracticus tibicen, Myrtleford, Victoria

Australian Pelican, Pelecanus conspicillatus, Pictured at Taronga zoo but we also saw them in the wild in a few places including Primrose Sands, Tasmania

Australian White Ibis, Threskiornis molucca, Albury, New South Wales

Blue Faced Honeyeater, Entomyzon cyanotis, Shepparton, Victoria

Brolga, Grus rubicunda, Tidbinbilla, Australian Capital Territory

Bush Stone-curlew, Burhinus grallarius, Great Keppel, Queensland

Crested Pigeon, Ocyphaps lophotes, Myrtleford, Victoria

Crimson Rosella, Platycercus elegans, Myrtleford, Victoria (adult with red belly, juvenile with green mottled belly)

Eastern Yellow Robin, Eopsaltria australis, Booderee, Jervis Bay Territory

Emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae, Pictured at Taronga zoo but we also saw them in the wild in a few places including Tidbinbilla, Australian Capital Territory

Galah, Eolophus roseicapilla, Myrtleford, Victoria

Gang-gang Cockatoo, Callocephalon fimbriatum, Myrtleford, Victoria

Green Rosella, Platycercus caledonicus, Port Arthur, Tasmania

Indian yellow-nosed albatross, Thalassarche carter, Jervis Bay, New South Wales

Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae, Myrtleford, Victoria

Little Penguin, Eudyptula minor, Bicheno, Tasmania, photo by Bicheno Penguin Tours but we were there!

Little Pied Cormorant, Microcarbo melanoleucos, Greenpatch, Jervis Bay Territory

Magpie-lark, Grallina cyanoleuca, Echuca, Victoria

Masked Lapwing, Vanellus miles, Vincentia, New South Wales (check out the yellow wing spur!)

Olive-backed Oriole, Oriolus sagittatus, Boderee, Jervis Bay Territory

Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus, Husskinson, New South Wales

Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, Rosewhite, Victoria (plus the bower with blue treasures that he collected to attract a female)

Silver Gull, Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae, Vincentia, New South Wales (“mine, mine, mine”)

Straw-necked Ibis, Threskiornis spinicollis, Myrtleford, Victoria

Sulfur-crested Cockatoo, Cacatua galerita, Myrtleford, Victoria

Superb Fairy-wren, Malurus cyaneus, Echuca, Victoria

White-bellied sea eagle, Haliaeetus leucogaster, Jervis Bay, New South Wales

White-faced Heron, Egretta novaehollandiae, Echuca, Victoria

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus funereus, Myrtleford, Victoria

Yellow Rosella, Platycercus elegant flaveolus, Albury, New South Wales

No picture but seen frequently:

Australian Raven, Corvus coronoides, Myrtleford, Victoria

Black Swan, Cygnus atratus, Primrose Sands, Tasmania

Pacific Black Duck, Anas superciliosa, Bright, Victoria

House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, Myrtleford, Victoria

Nankeen Kestrel, Falco cenchroides, Hume Highway, Victoria
Willie Wagtail, Rhipidura leucophrys, Myrtleford, Victoria

Jervis Bay

From Sydney we traveled down the New South Wales coast on Princes Highway for 2.5 hours, stopping at Kiama to view the blow hole (cool!) and lighthouse and have ice cream.

On the drive, the views of the beaches with rocky outcrops to one side of us and green hills on the other reminded us of Oregon and the Pacific NW. We arrived at our destination in Vincentia on Jervis Bay and walked out our backdoor to the beach. We had three nights at this cozy beach house but could have spent an entire week. The chilly weather did not stop the kids from getting into the water or digging sand pits to Mexico.

We also went out on a whale-watching cruise. Humpback whales are migrating north and we followed a pair for a while trying to get a good picture when they would surface and hoping that they would breach. Neither happened but it was still a neat experience.

The real highlight of the boat trip were the dolphins. They hung around our boat and played at the bow both on our trip out and then back into the bay. 

Despite the wind and chill, Cady and Asher hung out at the front of the boat the entire trip looking for them. (Asher in orange and Cady in gray puffy coats):

On the way back into the bay, the boat captain took us along a rocky cliff with pancake stack type rock formations. He stopped the boat in a natural cove and we finally got a family picture with everyone looking at the camera! This one may make it to the holiday card.

One of the great things about visiting the beach in the winter is that the sunrise and sunset were not at crazy hours. We would sit at the beach before breakfast while the sun was coming up over the South Pacific and then in the evenings know when it was time to head home for dinner by the sunset reflections in the clouds. The sand was so fine and white and the water so blue – I took a million photos. Sunset and my loves:

Sunrise with my rooster:

We spent most of our last full day in Booderee National Park which is actually in the Jervis Bay Territory, a separate territory of the Commonwealth, and governed by the federal government and ACT (Australian Capital Territory) not New South Wales. We hiked around a lake at the botanical gardens waiting for temperatures to be beach-worthy and then visited both Scottish Rocks beach and Murray Beach. Both had amazing sand and clear water. And were EMPTY! I know it is winter but we were there during school holidays! Amazing empty beaches seem to be the theme all over the country. Scottish Rocks:

Murray:

From Scottish rocks we spotted dolphins not far off shore and just before we left Murray we hit the jackpot  - the Australia story that we will be telling for years. A 2 m (6 ft) smooth sting-ray (the largest string ray species in the world) came right up by us on the beach. It was probably only in 12 inches of water and not afraid of us as all. We kept a healthy distance, while restraining Asher from giving it a cuddle, and walked along side-by-side as it swam the length of the beach. The only other family on the beach said that they have seen these rays near the marina where the fishing boats come in (looking for fish scraps).