Monday 2 May 2011

A Walk by the Lake

I grew up on the shores of Lake Macquarie and still return there semi-regularly to visit my parents. It is Australia's largest saltwater lake, 4 times bigger than Sydney Harbour. 24 km long with 174 km of foreshore. There is a lovely walkway at the northern end of the lake, that I have enjoyed previously on many occasions. On a recent visit I found out about a new(ish) extension near Eleebana. So after a family lunch nearby we went for an afternoon amble. And it was spectacular.


It was a picture perfect day


The trees were noisy with Little Corellas (Cacatua sanguinea)

Paperbark trunk, so tactile, who can resist touching them?
Paperbark flowers


The Eleebana end of the track

Lots of people were out enjoying the day

The track is built out over the water

and made arty with poetry
although I enjoyed the sight of this little fellow more,  a Little Pied Cormorant I think,
not exactly sure, but could be a Pied Cormorant


2 comments:

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

No one would ever mistake Australia for any place else. What are those birds?

Louise said...

The white ones? They're corellas. Large white parrots, similar to cockatoos, but slightly less screachy. They still make a tremendous racket though. They hang about in quite large social groups, and their numbers have really increased near my parents house in the last 10-20 years- not sure why.