Riverside giant (Photo Challenge: Angular)

Giant eucalypt at Jugiong Creek Reserve, New South Wales, Australia

.

It was a cooler afternoon in late Spring, after so many hot days, so we hit the road!

We had a vague idea to run along the Murrumbidgee River from the village of Jugiong to wherever the end of daylight left us.

The village of Jugiong has been by-passed by the Hume Highway and is a riverside oasis of ancient eucalypts, a traditional veranda-ed pub and one of the best RV camping spots in the region.

It was a birthday and we wanted no fancy restaurants or silver service. The treat for the day was to sit, with a coffee and muffin for afternoon tea, by the banks of the majestic Murrumbidgee River.

We dreamed of another day when we would come back to fish under the pines and paddle the kayak in the gentle ripples – but today we had dirt roads to explore! We hitched the wagon and nosed across the bridge to the paddocks and river banks waiting on the other side.  ♦

___________________________________________________

Weekly Photo Challenge, ‘Angular’

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/angular/

Photo taken 17 November 2014 with my old Canon Powershot A550

Jugiong, on the Hume Highway and on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, in southeast New South Wales, Australia

The Long Track Pantry, Riverside Dr, Jugiong  http://www.longtrackpantry.com.au/

River gum nest (Weekly Photo Challenge: Threes)

Here’s my first ever Weekly Photo Challenge, just had to do this one…

We’ve been ‘champing at the bit’ to go for a paddle on the Murrumbidgee River at Jugiong (New South Wales, Australia). Last weekend was our chance.

There’s a great little sandy beach under a towering gum at the end of Dixon Lane.

River gum, a ‘widow maker’

.

At this spot the river has a handy low-level shore for getting into the kayak.

At its deepest the river was only knee deep, with a sandy bottom, so very easy for us L-plate kayakers. (It’s also a great swimming spot for kids and pets at the moment.)

There are a couple of picnic tables back up the bank near the grass car park. But many noisy possums live in the she-oaks, if you’re thinking about camping!

But a warning: the gum tree above the little beach is a ‘widow maker’ so don’t sit under it in case it drops a deadly branch. In the last storm two sizable branches ended up in the water.

The resident cockatoo was happy, though, as it made a new nest hole for her. She very noisily guards this lovely spot on the river!

Any nest in a storm

.

Broke on the water…

.

And for the three-photo story as a gallery:

River gum, a ‘widow maker’

Any nest in a storm

♦

___________________________________________________

Weekly Photo Challenge, ‘Threes’

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/weekly-photo-challenge-threes/

Photos taken 18 November 2012 (no. 1) and 23 February 2014 (no’s 2 & 3)

with my old Canon PowerShot A550.

Jugiong, New South Wales, Australia

Murrumbidgee River picnic spot, Dixon Lane, off Riverside Drive (Old Hume Highway), Jugiong, New South Wales, Australia

– Turn south off the Hume Highway at Jugiong onto Riverside Drive (Old Hume Highway). In the village, turn left at Dixon Lane, a fenced track that leads to the river. 

Newspaper article on the bushranger days at Jugiong: ‘Jugiong: Historic town on the Hume Highway’, The Age (on-line newspaper), 8 February 2004, http://www.theage.com.au/news/new-south-wales/jugiong/2005/02/17/1108500196919.html