Boathouse at Paradise Beach
I've just moved to the northern suburbs of Sydney and in between emptying boxes, I'm exploring. Thanks to a bit of help from Google today found this secluded spot called Paradise Beach at Avalon - beautiful piece of real estate.
HDR of 5 exposures from single RAW.
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La Perouse Sydney
La Perouse is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb of La Perouse is located about 14 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Randwick.
The La Perouse peninsula is the northern headland of Botany Bay. It is notable for its old military outpost at Bare Island and the Botany Bay National Park. Congwong Bay Beach, Little Congwong Beach, and the beach at Frenchmans Bay provide protected swimming areas in Botany Bay. La Perouse is one of few Sydney suburbs with a French name, others being Sans Souci, Engadine and Vaucluse. Kurnell is located opposite, on the southern headland of Botany Bay.
Northern Suburbs Perth WA 2011
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L270 at Unanderra
They say a picture says a thousand words, well at least that many words are required to really, fully explain this picture of L270 leading 8928N.
The day started off innocently enough, a drive from Sydney to Bulli (northern suburb of Wollongong) via Moss Vale, hopefully to capture QRNational freight 6MS9, as well as the unusual combo seen above (it is becoming increasingly uncommon for the two PN L Class to lead trains to/from Port Kembla). We got our first few shots at Mittagong Junction, planning to snap 6MS9 and LS01 (a surprise addition to the expected lineup), before wandering across to Calwalla to get L270 and an El Zorro grain train.
With delays at Moss Vale, 8928 slipped through the cracks while we were waiting (fruitlessly) for 6MS9, instead photographing BB25, and heading south to meet LS01 (meanwhile 6MS9 snuck through). We figured we would catch up to 8928 at Robertson, as it turned out, he was ahead of us even there, so we gave up and had lunch, knowing we would easily beat the train to the bottom of the mountains.
As it turned out, we beat it too easily, having plenty of time to shoot 8938N, which was running ahead of 8928 (confused yet?), before ducking out along the Port Kembla branch to see if anything was moving. Having found 8117 departing with an empty coal to Mt Kembla, we wandered along that line for a photo, little realising we had run out of time to get our planned shot at Farmborough Heights. This was a rather last minute decision that worked out well! Needless to say, I'm not finished with L270 yet - a planned leisurely pace, with plenty of eye catching shots in fog and rain, turned into a grab shot at Unanderra!
Australian Brush Turkey - Alectura lathami. Fledgling.
The Australian Brush-turkey's range extends along eastern Australia, from Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, south to the northern suburbs of Sydney and the Illawarra region of New South Wales.
The Australian Brush-turkey mainly inhabits rainforests and wet schlerophyll forests.
Brush-turkeys feed on insects, seeds and fallen fruits, which are exposed by raking the leaf litter or breaking open rotten logs with their large feet. The majority of food is obtained from the ground.
Photographed Maleny, Qld, Australia.
Steve Hitchcock © All rights reserved
Anzac Bridge - Sydney
The ANZAC Bridge replacing the earlier Glebe Island Bridge, is a large cable-stayed bridge spanning Johnstons Bay between Pyrmont and Glebe Island (part of the suburb of Rozelle) in proximity to the central business district of Sydney, Australia. The bridge forms part of the Western Distributor freeway leading from the Sydney CBD and Cross City Tunnel to the suburbs of the Inner West and Northern Sydney.
L'ANZAC Bridge anciennement connu sous le nom de Glebe Island Bridge est un pont à haubans métallique situé dans la ville de Sydney, en Australie. Il traverse la baie Johnstons et relie les quartiers de Pyrmont et de Rozelle à proximité du centre des affaires de Sydney. Il fait partie de la voie ouest1 reliant le centre ville et le Cross City Tunnel aux faubourgs d'Inner West et de Sydney-Nord.
Le pont est le plus long pont à cables d'Australie et parmi les plus longs au monde. Le pont est large de 32,2 mètres et a sa principale portée longue de 345 mètres. Les pylones en béton sont hauts de 120 mètres et supportent le tablier par deux nappes de cables.
Admiralty House
Admiralty House is the official Sydney residence of the Governor-General of Australia. It is located in the suburb of Kirribilli, on the northern foreshore of Sydney Harbour. This large, Italianate, sandstone mansion occupies the tip of Kirribilli Point. Once known as “Wotonga”, it has commanding views across Sydney Harbour to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.
Its current name originates in the fact that it served as the residence for the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy’s Australia Squadron from 1885 to 1913.
2018 Sydney: A very cold, windy late-winters day at Maroubra Beach
Maroubra is a beachside suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 10 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district.
Maroubra is a local Aboriginal word meaning place of thunder. In 1861, the first house was built in the area by Humphrey McKeon. A number of other settlers arrived on the land in the 1870s to work on the wool scouring works located at the northern end of the bay.
HDR Dee Why, Sydney, NSW
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Dee Why is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dee Why is located 18 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Warringah Council and is part of the Northern Beaches region. Dee Why is surrounded by the suburbs of Collaroy, North Curl Curl, Brookvale, Narraweena and Cromer. www.facebook.com/BRJINC
Pacific National trip train at Gonaroo
On a clear still night 8007 on T158 stands at the gates to the wheat siding (Gonaroo) between Thornliegh and Normanhurst in the northern suburbs of Sydney as an up suburban passes by. The Gonaroo siding is now disused but the mill still remains. Tues 11th July 2006
Sydney Opera House & Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Situated on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the facility is adjacent to the Sydney central business district and the Royal Botanic Gardens, between Sydney and Farm Coves.
Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the facility formally opened on 20 October 1973 after a gestation beginning with Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The Government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph Cahill, authorised work to begin in 1958 with Utzon directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate resignation.
Though its name suggests a single venue, the project comprises multiple performance venues which together are among the busiest performing arts centres in the world — hosting over 1,500 performances each year attended by some 1.2 million people. The venues produce and present a wide range of in-house productions and accommodate numerous performing arts companies, including four key resident companies: Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, more than seven million people visit the site each year, with 300,000 people participating annually in a guided tour of the facility.
Identified as one of the 20th century's most distinctive buildings and one of the most famous performing arts centres in the world, the facility is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust, under the auspices of the New South Wales Ministry of the Arts. The Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007.
The facility features a modern expressionist design, with a series of large precast concrete "shells", each composed of sections of a sphere of 75.2 metres (246 ft 8.6 in) radius,[12] forming the roofs of the structure, set on a monumental podium. The building covers 1.8 hectares (4.4 acres) of land and is 183 m (600 ft) long and 120 m (394 ft) wide at its widest point. It is supported on 588 concrete piers sunk as much as 25 m (82 ft) below sea level.
Although the roof structures are commonly referred to as "shells" (as in this article), they are precast concrete panels supported by precast concrete ribs, not shells in a strictly structural sense. Though the shells appear uniformly white from a distance, they actually feature a subtle chevron pattern composed of 1,056,006 tiles in two colours: glossy white as well as matte cream. The tiles were manufactured by the Swedish company Höganäs AB which generally produced stoneware tiles for the paper-mill industry.
Apart from the tile of the shells and the Bradfield Highway. Significant interior surface treatments also include off-form concrete, Australian white birch plywood supplied from Wauchope in northern New South Wales, and brush box glulam.
Of the two larger spaces, the Concert Hall is in the western group of shells, the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the eastern group. The scale of the shells was chosen to reflect the internal height requirements, with low entrance spaces, rising over the seating areas up to the high stage towers. The smaller venues (the Drama Theatre, the Playhouse and the Studio) are within the podium, beneath the Concert Hall. A smaller group of shells set to the western side of the Monumental Steps houses the Bennelong Restaurant. The podium is surrounded by substantial open public spaces, and the large stone-paved forecourt area with the adjacent monumental steps is regularly used as a performance space.
The Sydney Opera House includes a number of performance venues:
Concert Hall: With 2,679 seats, the home of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and used by a large number of other concert presenters. It contains the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ, the largest mechanical tracker action organ in the world, with over 10,000 pipes.[citation needed]
Joan Sutherland Theatre: A proscenium theatre with 1,507 seats,[17] the Sydney home of Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet. Until 16 October 2012 it was known as the Opera Theatre.
Drama Theatre: A proscenium theatre with 544 seats, used by the Sydney Theatre Company and other dance and theatrical presenters.
Playhouse: An end-stage theatre with 398 seats.
Studio: A flexible space with a maximum capacity of 400, depending on configuration.
Utzon Room: A small multi-purpose venue, seating up to 210.
Recording Studio
Outdoor Forecourt: A flexible open-air venue with a wide range of configuration options, including the possibility of utilising the Monumental Steps as audience seating, used for a range of community events and major outdoor performances. The Forecourt will be closed to visitors and performances in 2011–2014 to construct a new entrance tunnel to a rebuilt loading dock for the Joan Sutherland Theatre.
Other areas (for example the northern and western foyers) are also used for performances on an occasional basis. Venues are also used for conferences, ceremonies and social functions.
The building also houses a recording studio, cafes, restaurants, bars and retail outlets. Guided tours are available, including a frequent tour of the front-of-house spaces, and a daily backstage tour that takes visitors backstage to see areas normally reserved for performers and crew members.
Planning began in the late 1940s, when Eugene Goossens, the Director of the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, lobbied for a suitable venue for large theatrical productions. The normal venue for such productions, the Sydney Town Hall, was not considered large enough. By 1954, Goossens succeeded in gaining the support of NSW Premier Joseph Cahill, who called for designs for a dedicated opera house. It was also Goossens who insisted that Bennelong Point be the site: Cahill had wanted it to be on or near Wynyard Railway Station in the northwest of the CBD.
An international design competition was launched by Cahill on 13 September 1955 and received 233 entries, representing architects from 32 countries. The criteria specified a large hall seating 3,000 and a small hall for 1,200 people, each to be designed for different uses, including full-scale operas, orchestral and choral concerts, mass meetings, lectures, ballet performances and other presentations.
The winner, announced in 1957, was Jørn Utzon, a Danish architect. According to legend the Utzon design was rescued from a final cut of 30 "rejects" by the noted Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen. The prize was £5,000. Utzon visited Sydney in 1957 to help supervise the project. His office moved to Palm Beach, Sydney in February 1963.
Utzon received the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture's highest honour, in 2003. The Pritzker Prize citation read:
There is no doubt that the Sydney Opera House is his masterpiece. It is one of the great iconic buildings of the 20th century, an image of great beauty that has become known throughout the world – a symbol for not only a city, but a whole country and continent.
The Sydney Opera House was formally opened by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on 20 October 1973. A large crowd attended. Utzon was not invited to the ceremony, nor was his name mentioned. The opening was televised and included fireworks and a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district (CBD) and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic image of Sydney, and Australia. The bridge is nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design. Furthermore, the bridge is ubiquitously known to Sydneysiders simply as "the Bridge".
Under the direction of Dr J.J.C. Bradfield of the NSW Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long and Co Ltd of Middlesbrough and opened in 1932. The bridge's design was influenced by the Hell Gate Bridge in New York City.[5] It is the sixth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world and the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 m (440 ft) from top to water level. It was also the world's widest long-span bridge, at 48.8 m (160 ft) wide, until construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver was completed in 2012.
The southern (CBD) end of the bridge is located at Millers Point in The Rocks area, and the northern end at Milsons Point in the lower North Shore area. There are six original lanes of road traffic through the main roadway, plus an additional two lanes of road traffic on its eastern side, using lanes that were formerly tram tracks. Adjacent to the road traffic, a path for pedestrian use runs along the eastern side of the bridge, whilst a dedicated path for bicycle use only runs along the western side. Finally, between the main roadway and the western bicycle path are two lanes used for railway tracks, servicing the T1 North Shore Line for Sydney Trains.
The main roadway across the bridge is known as the Bradfield Highway and is about 2.4 km (1.5 mi) long, making it one of the shortest highways in Australia.
The building of the bridge was under the management of Bradfield. Three other people heavily involved in the bridge's design and construction were Lawrence Ennis, Edward Judge, and Sir Ralph Freeman. Ennis was the engineer-in-charge at Dorman Long and Co and the main on-site supervisor (Bradfield visited occasionally throughout the project and, in particular, at many key stages of the project, to inspect progress and make managerial decisions), Judge was chief technical engineer of Dorman Long, and Freeman was hired by the company to design the accepted model in further detail. Later a bitter disagreement broke out between Bradfield and Freeman as to who actually designed the bridge. Another name connected with the bridge's design is that of Arthur Plunkett.
Even during its construction, the bridge was such a prominent feature of Sydney that it would attract tourist interest. One of the ongoing tourist attractions of the bridge has been the south-east pylon, which is accessed via the pedestrian walkway across the bridge, and then a climb to the top of the pylon of about 200 steps.
Not long after the bridge's opening, commencing in 1934, Archer Whitford first converted this pylon into a tourist destination. He installed a number of attractions, including a café, a camera obscura, an Aboriginal museum, a "Mother's Nook" where visitors could write letters, and a "pashometer". The main attraction was the viewing platform, where "charming attendants" assisted visitors to use the telescopes available, and a copper cladding (still present) over the granite guard rails identified the suburbs and landmarks of Sydney at the time.
The outbreak of World War II in 1939 saw tourist activities on the bridge cease, as the military took over the four pylons and modified them to include parapets and anti-aircraft guns.
In 1948 Yvonne Rentoul opened the "All Australian Exhibition" in the pylon. This contained dioramas, and displays about Australian perspectives on subjects such as farming, sport, transport, mining, and the armed forces. An orientation table was installed at the viewing platform, along with a wall guide and binoculars. The owner kept several white cats in a rooftop cattery, which also served as an attraction, and there was a souvenir shop and postal outlet.[48] Rentoul's lease expired in 1971, and the pylon and its lookout remained closed to the public for over a decade.
The pylon was reopened in 1982, with a new exhibition celebrating the bridge's 50th anniversary. In 1987 a "Bicentennial Exhibition" was opened to mark the 200th anniversary of European settlement in Australia in 1988.[51]
The pylon was closed from April to November 2000 for the Roads & Traffic Authority and BridgeClimb to create a new exhibition called "Proud Arch". The exhibition focussed on Bradfield, and included a glass direction finder on the observation level, and various important heritage items.
The pylon again closed for four weeks in 2003 for the installation of an exhibit called "Dangerous Works", highlighting the dangerous conditions experienced by the original construction workers on the bridge, and two stained glass feature windows in memory of the workers.
Lighting up Gordon's Bay
www.flickriver.com/photos/tombeesley/
One of those trips out for sunrise where you just get up too late and end up scrambling around for a decent photo. But I'd tried this one last time I was in this spot and it worked a lot better this time. Today there was better light and better cloud.
This is the northern headland of Gordon's bay, taken from the south headland (the same location as my last upload). 4 shots stitched together for this panorama.
PRESS L TO VIEW LARGE ON BLACK.
Under the boardwalk ...
"Down by the sea ...."
The footbridge in Botany Bay National Park, La Perouse leading to Bare Island.
An excerpt from Wikipedia: Bare Island is a small island in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located about 16 km south east of the Sydney central business district, close to the northern headland of Botany Bay.
Bare Island is connected by a footbridge to the suburb of La Perouse. The historic military fort and tunnels can only be visited by guided tour. The waters around the island are popular with scuba divers.
The island was featured in Mission: Impossible II and East West 101.
In 1877 it was decided that a fort was to be built on the island. Botany Bay was considered the back door into Sydney, thus making the city vulnerable to a seaborne attack.
0210 Memorial to the victims of the 2002 Bali bombing terrorist attacks. Coogee Bay, Sydney, Australia, NSW
Memorial to the victims of the 2002 Bali bombing terrorist attacks. On the northern side of Coogee Beach a memorial to the Bali bombing victims comprises three interlocking bronze shapes. The linked figures in this sculpture signify family friends and community. Bowed in sorrow and remembrance, they comfort, support and protect each other. The figures also symbolize life, growth, hope and our strength in unity.
2002 Bali bombings
The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 27 Britons, 7 Americans, 6 Swedish citizens and 3 Danish citizens). A further 240 people were injured. Various members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a violent Islamist group, were convicted in relation to the bombings, including three individuals who were sentenced to death. An audio-cassette purportedly carrying a recorded voice message from Osama Bin Laden stated that the Bali bombings were in direct retaliation for support of the United States' war on terror and Australia's role in the liberation of East Timor.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bali_bombings
Coogee is a beachside suburb of City of Randwick, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is also a part of the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The Tasman Sea and Coogee Bay along with Coogee Beach lie towards the eastern side of the suburb. The beach is popular for swimming and famous for its dangerous shorebreaks.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coogee_Beach
HDR Dee Why, Sydney, NSW
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Dee Why is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dee Why is located 18 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Warringah Council and is part of the Northern Beaches region. Dee Why is surrounded by the suburbs of Collaroy, North Curl Curl, Brookvale, Narraweena and Cromer. www.facebook.com/BRJINC
A view unobserved
Ready to be used, the bench seat sits there, but has no visitor. Sad really, for the view from the seat over to the northern suburbs is quite beautiful.
Again, this was a shot using the Yashica Electro 35, and I dialled back the ASA rating to 80 asa to bring out shadow details.
Stanwell Park, New South Wales
Stanwell Park is a picturesque coastal village and northern suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Golden Flight
On my way to work this morning I stoppped and took some pictures.
This is an egret on Narrabeen Lake, northern suburbs of Sydney, Australia.
Bare Island
Bare Island in Botany Bay National Park, is accessed by a footbridge from the suburb of La Perouse. Botany Bay was considered the back door into Sydney, thus making the city vulnerable to a seaborne attack, so in 1877 it was decided that a fort was to be built on the island.
An excerpt from Wikipedia: Bare Island is a small island in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located about 16 km south east of the Sydney central business district, close to the northern headland of Botany Bay.
The historic military fort and tunnels can only be visited by guided tour. The waters around the island are popular with scuba divers.
The island was featured in Mission: Impossible II and East West 101.
Palm Beach
Palm Beach, the jewel of the Northern Beaches, is the northernmost suburb of Sydney.
Brooklyn Bars
View On Black
Another early morning rise but decided to take a detour into the tiny riverside town of Brooklyn, been coming here for years fishing but never photographed it. Certainly has plenty of potential and will definitely be back.
About Brooklyn.
Brooklyn is a small suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Brooklyn is located 51 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Hornsby Shire and is part of the North Shore region. Brooklyn is the northernmost suburb of the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area.
Brooklyn occupies a narrow strip of tidal waterfront land aligned east - west along the southern bank of the Hawkesbury River. Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park borders the suburb to the south and the F3 Sydney-Newcastle Freeway crosses the river just to the west. Long Island runs parallel with the suburb on the opposite side of Sandbrook Inlet and is joined to Brooklyn by the railway causeway. Dangar Island is sited to the north east.
Narrabeen Head
Narrabeen is a beachside suburb in northern Sydney. It is located 23 kilometres north of Sydney. (Wikipedia)
3xp HDR
Port Stephens entrance from Lighthouse Hill
Port Stephens, an open youthful tide dominated drowned valley estuary, is a large natural harbour of approximately 134 square kilometres (52 sq mi) located in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia.
Port Stephens lies within the Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park and is situated about 160 kilometres (99 mi) north-east of Sydney. The harbour lies wholly within the local government area of Port Stephens; although its northern shoreline forms the boundary between the Port Stephens and Mid-Coast local government areas.
Port Stephens is formed through the confluence of the Myall and Karuah rivers, Tilligerry Creek, and the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean. The lower port has a predominantly marine ecology and the upper port an estuarine ecology. The area to the east of Port Stephens comprises the Tomago/Tomaree/Stockton sand beds.
A narrow entrance between two striking hills of volcanic origin marks the opening of Port Stephens to the sea. The southern headland, Tomaree or South Head, rises to 120 metres (390 ft) above mean sea level (AMSL) while Yacaaba, the northern headland, is 210 m (690 ft) AMSL. The harbour is mostly shallow and sandy but contains sufficient deep water to accommodate large vessels. After its recovery from the wreck site in 1974 the bow of the MV Sygna, a 53,000 tonnes (52,163 long tons) Norwegian bulk carrier that was shipwrecked on Stockton Beach earlier that year, was moored in Port Stephens, at Salamander Bay, for almost two years.
With an area of approximately 134 square kilometres (52 sq mi), Port Stephens is larger than Sydney Harbour. Port Stephens extends approximately 24 km (15 mi) inland from the Tasman Sea and at its widest point, between Tanilba Bay and Tahlee, it is 6.5 km (4 mi) across. The narrowest point is between Soldiers Point and Pindimar where the distance is only 1.1 km (0.7 mi). Between Nelson Bay and Tea Gardens, in the most well known section of the port, it is 3.8 km (2.4 mi) wide.
The port was named by Captain Cook when he passed on 11 May 1770, honouring Sir Philip Stephens, who was Secretary to the Admiralty. Stephens was a personal friend of Cook and had recommended him for command of the voyage. It seems Cook's initial choice had actually been Point Keppel and Keppel Bay, but instead he used Keppel Bay later.
The first ship to enter the port was the Salamander, a ship of the Third Fleet that later gave the suburb of Salamander Bay its name, in 1791. In that same year escaped convicts, then known as 'bolters', discovered coal in the area.
In 1795 the crew of HMS Providence discovered a group of escaped convicts, living with the Worimi people. Port Stephens became a popular haven for escaped convicts and so in 1820 a garrison of soldiers was established at what is now known as Soldiers Point.
The 63 tonnes (62 long tons) cutter Lambton, commanded by Captain James Corlette, began shipping timber and wool out of the port in 1816. The suburb of Corlette was named after the captain.
Port Stephens has rather poor soil for the most part, and has limited agricultural potential. For this reason, no large towns developed there historically and it was never developed as a significant port. The major city and port of Newcastle developed at the mouth of the Hunter River, about 45 km (28 mi) south-west of Port Stephens.
Despite this, in 1920 there was a push for Port Stephens to be the capital city of a new state in a proposal originating from the country newspaper The Daily Observer. The proposal was the Observer's editor Victor Charles Thompson's idea in response to continuing rural Australian antipathy at the Sydney-centralised funding and governance that many rural newspapers claimed had neglected to aid rural Australian towns.
During World War II, the remoteness and lack of any significant civilian population led to the Royal Australian Navy establishing HMAS Assault, an amphibious landing training establishment, at Nelson Bay. The sick bay from HMAS Assault still stands and is used by the Port Stephens Community Arts Centre.
A number of small towns developed around the port as fishing, holiday and retirement communities. Since the 1970s, with improved road access from Sydney, and the increasing popularity of coastal retirement lifestyles, there has been major expansion of these towns.
Source: Wikipedia
White Duck on lake at dusk
Swan on lake at sunset (I think it's a swan?? - ok it's not a swan.)
Bolte Bridge
"The Bolte Bridge is a large twin Cantilever bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It spans the Yarra River and Victoria Harbour in the Docklands precinct to the west of the Melbourne CBD. It forms part of the CityLink system of toll roads that connects the Tullamarine Freeway from the northern suburbs with the West Gate Freeway and the Domain and Burnley tunnels to the Monash Freeway and the south eastern suburbs.
The bridge was designed by architects Denton Corker Marshall and was built for head contractor Transurban by Baulderstone Hornibrook, construction taking three years from 1996 to 1999 and costing $75 million. It was named by Jeff Kennett, for former Premier of Victoria, Sir Henry Bolte because of its linking the West Gate, Monash and Tullamarine Freeways - projects commissioned or completed by the Bolte Government.
It is one of the largest balanced cantilever cast in situ box girder bridges in Australia. The superstructure is built as two independent bridges of variable depth, prestressed concrete box girders, separated by a 1.15 m clear gap between the structures.
The bridge features two 90 metre (295.2 ft)[1] high silver towers, situated on either side of the roadway at the midpoint of the bridge's span. These two towers are an aesthetic addition by the architects, and are not joined to the main body of the bridge.[1] These towers are hollow, and feature access ladders to a small roof top hatch. Until locked and surrounded by water, these towers were a popular target for urban explorers. It has four spans with two main spans of 173 metres (567.6 ft) and side spans of 72 metres (236.2 ft), giving an overall bridge length of 490 metres (1,607.6 ft). The bridge supports six lanes of automobile traffic. Access is prohibited to cyclists and pedestrians.
Other bridges in Australia of similar construction are the Gateway Bridge, Brisbane and Mooney Mooney Bridge near Gosford, north of Sydney."
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolte_Bridge
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