Why I hate computers!

The day dawned ....
...unpropitiously when I turned on my new computer-for-travelling and it just sat there and whirred at me.  This went on for some time and I was not happy!

We gave up on that and went for a walk along the Riverside Drive shared path. We paused briefly to check a dead bat (and I will take a punt on it being a Lesser Long-eared Bat, Nyctophilus geoffroyi)
found beside the door: something had obviously had a munch at it also- no idea what.  The path walk was as always very pleasant despite the threat of rain (which stayed as a threat).  In the bird department the surprise was a large number of Hoary-headed Grebes in the Inlet.  There was a wide range of fungi in the trees beside the path 


and a lot of the Pittosporum was in good fruit. 
The Shire have been doing a lot of clearing along the way and also putting in some extra picnic tables etc.  At least they recognise that tourism is what is providing jobs in the area and offer some services, unlike the National Parks mob who just put up officious signs and don't even staff an office here (see day 3 for more on this).  The Shire has also put up some spiffy signs about dogs: the poop-scoop bit is optimistic judging by the amount of faecal matter on the path (and as there are two breeds of dogs illustrated one can't even say it only applies to German Shepherds)!
After our walk I put out some old apple to try to attract Satin Bowerbirds but 'only' got a Little Wattlebird.  (On a future occasion I looked closely at a Little Wattlebird feeding and it licked the apple, rather than pecking lumps out, as did the bowerbirds.)  After a cup of coffee (computer still not working) we took off for Bastion Point to see what birds and flowers could be found.  Before we got down to the beach we were astonished by the amount of foam around on the beach. 

I tried to get Tammie to leap into a drift of it, but she wouldn't oblige.

Several birds were added to the trip list with the highlights being at least 15 White-fronted Chats feeding on the Samphire and about 100 Little Terns sitting on a sandbank 
with a few Crested Terns to give a size comparison.   That got us to 3 Tern species as a Caspian was also around.  There were few flowering plants.  I shall attempt to name these later!

A pleasant walk although I got annoyed with myself for not using a backpack but sticking things in my camera bag and then finding my raincoat wouldn't accommodate it.

On getting home I managed to persuade my computer to come to life so I am able to update this (and look at my photos).  However I am copying everything on to a pendrive to make sure it isn't lost if things get sticky again!  (As an aside: most things computing are made in developing countries as the cost – and working conditions – of labour are much more favourable to employers.  However the quality control is not good.  This is a problem when many things rely on computers working properly.)

Later in the afternoon I walked up the road enjoying other gardens – they must have soil here as well as lotsa rain – 

I was fascinated by the water droplets on this one, so here is a close up!



and tasking a few bird photos.  Rainbow Lorikeets ..
 Little Wattlebird ...
 New Holland Honeyeater.
Then I noticed that Gabo Island lighthouse was visible, both from the road and the deck back at the house.  In the latter case it is necessary to get at the right point and look though a gap in the cypress, but its there.
The Satin Bowerbirds then turned up:

Our tea this evening was from Lee's Takeaway in town.  Lee is as in Harry Lee (Kwan Yiew, President of Singapore) not Brett (Australian fast bowler).  Whatever: they do very good fish and chips and our Snapper and spuds was an excellent serve.   On the way home I was a little surprised to see a fox dash across the road in front of me.  It was still a fox, rather than a formerfox, after the event.

After dining I heard a thump from the deck and remembered that I hadn't removed the apple from the bird feeder.  Sure enough there was some Possum Magic (the Amazing Vanishing Apple trick- now you see it; now you don't!!) happening.  
To say the least this animal was not nervous of humans.  

Persuading it to move took a smack on its bum, at which indignity it did a double gainer into the bush.

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