Thursday, February 11, 2010

Little Cove Walk


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Little Cove Walk





 




Slip into your thongs...

or do you call them flip flops
  or jandals -
if you are a New Zealander,
or slippers -
as in Hawaii...









  



Let's walk down the lawn
and cross the road









  



to the steps









  



down to the boardwalk









  



 I am taking you for a walk
just a little stroll today
it is so hot
I thought you might like a swim
at Little Cove









  



What's that?









  



who's this 









  



oh 
you little beauty
it's the Blue Faced Honey Eater









  



taking refuge
in the shade 
of the palm fronds








  



see you later









  



we turn left 
and amble down hill
slowly








  



we are heading 
for this cove









  



which looks so cool
and inviting









  



it's not too busy today









  



and the sea is calm








  



 
we'll find a spot
with some shade








  



down we go









  



 you can fish








  



or swim out the back
across the cove








  



have a try at 
stand up paddling









  



snorkle
at the edge 
of the bay








  


body surf








  




or even share
a little romance









  




now we have cooled off
let's head back home









 



and if we get hot
we'll take a little rest
where the brush turkey 
has created a mammoth nest 
on the bank

and we'll look out 
over the ocean
of Little Cove
my new home...





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58 comments:

  1. Thank you for taking me along on your walk. Boy, what a great place to live! I used to have a Hobie Wave (like the sailboats shown in your picture captioned "the sea is calm") to teach my boy how to sail.

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  2. Oh glorious! That is a perfect beach.

    I really like your new friend, the Honey Eater, too. What a beautiful face.

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  3. What a peaceful walk around Little Cove Delwyn. Hope you will be very happy there.

    Australia offers so much for the senses. Love the blue 'eyebrows' on that honey eater.

    Very thoughtful of them to build stairs and walkways down to the ocean for you...

    Did you stick a toe in the water?

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  4. Lovely post!
    Glad I slipped on my "Slippahs" (flip flop / slippers) and strolled over here. Why, you even have stand up paddling like we do here in the islands. You blue faced friend is the star of today though!


    Aloha, D


    Comfort Spiral

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  5. The color of the water - sublime! And fine white sand, a wooden boardwalk and a stroll through the trees - what a magical place!

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  6. Very refreshing and visually exciting. Thanks for the illustrated journey.

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  7. Oh my goodness...I really warmed up sitting here at my computer in chilly Minnesota. That was a lovely respite. May I come back again?

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  8. No fair. You brought us back home. I wanted to stay on the beach longer. Float a little. Next time, ok? ok?

    Enjoyed it.

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  9. I love your new home! It looks like a little slice of heaven. I also enjoyed the walk and that sweet little bird. My husband has been researching New Zealand. He's thinking it might be a nice place to move. With walks like this one - I may have to agree.

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  10. Well, that walk certainly set me up for the day. And the photographs of the Blue Faced Honey Eater are stunning.

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  11. Paradise!! And I gaze out of the window at last nights snow!!

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  12. I am so terribly envious! What bliss to put one's bare feet into flip flops for a change . . . mine have lived in their warm sheepskin Uggs all winter.

    The gorgeous turquoise and sea-greens of the water are beckoning to me.

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  13. delwyn i'd happily exchange my two layes of snocks and thermal lined boots for a pair of flip flops. but most especially i'd love to see a blue faced honey eater face-to-face 'cause that's a beautiful bird. it's been so great taking a walk with you again delwyn. good times!!! steven

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  14. I remember the brush turkey on a walk to the cove once, now it's the lovely Honey Eater. I love exploring the cove, knowing it's your new home, Delwyn, I also like those colorful thongs!

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  15. A lovely walk to the water's edge; very different from your river.

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  16. The temperature here is hovering around the freezing mark and the ground is covered with snow. I have to put on a hat, scarf, winter boots and several layers of clothes to keep warm.

    But, somehow, after visiting your blog and taking that walk down to the cove, I feel much warmer.

    Or, at least I do, until I step outside to take Lindsay for a run.

    Loved that little Blue Faced Honey Eater!!!

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  17. From one beautiful spot to another. Thank you Delwyn.

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  18. your new home?

    you actually live there and have all this beauty on your doorstep? Please reassure me about the cold winters of NZ, please.

    Nature's miracles are everywhere for those who have eyes to see.

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  19. It looks like paradise. And what a beautiful bird. It must be very tame to stay still for so many photos. Thanks for the beach walk.

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  20. Hi Delwyn, Did we by any chance bring a thermos of iced tea? Just asking... What a tranquil spot - a serene cove to call home.

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  21. you always take us on such a wonderful stroll with such a treat at the end-- inviting and cool and beautiful

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  22. Hello Dan
    Many moons ago we had a little hobbie cat- is that similar?

    Happy days

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  23. Good morning Polly the thinker...

    Little Cove is a very special well..little cove...almost like a secret bay...and often very calm and picturesque there...

    the blue face is startlingly beautiful isn't it. He was very still - perhaps very hot and in need of rest...

    Happy days

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  24. Hello Beautiful Bonnie

    I am so lucky to have the stairway right opposite almost. It has a little identifying plate on the first step BW 52 - perhaps for maintenance purposes.
    Each time I walk over the BW 52 I think yes, Beautiful Walk for me ( I was born in 52)does that make sense to you...it seems to me???


    I have had some lovely swims down there and also many in our infinity pool up the top...



    Happy days

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  25. Rosaria

    oh yes it's very warm all year round...well a bit warmer in summer..

    Happy days

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  26. Hi there Cloudia

    so that's how you spell them!

    We also have the shoes off habit in my house although it is hard to train visitors - they can look a little aghast and one friend just forgets (ignores) the convention every time... I love that it keeps the house so much cleaner and also separates the outside world from the inside one - a demarcation of sorts...

    I'll wave out to you next week en route to Hanalei...

    Happy days

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  27. Hi GW

    Australian sand is very fine and pale - yellow or silver...not coral sand like you find in the islands - I guess it's had longer to grind down finely...
    I am a lucky bird myself to have this at my doorstep...

    Happy days

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  28. Hello Larry
    welcome and it is nice to have you joining in the chat here...

    I'm glad you enjoyed a glimpse of the Qld coast.

    Happy days

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  29. Hello Kathleen

    I have to fess up and get out my atlas to find Minnesota...

    please come walking any time..

    Happy days

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  30. Hi Julie

    sorry to drag you back - it is nice to float and look up at the sky above the gum trees...and if you look down the Northern end of the bay you can catch a glimpse of my pool edge....

    Happy days

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  31. Hi Nancy

    I can vouch for the desirability of NZ as a wonderful place to move to - stunning diverse geography and lovely generous and authentic people...however I live in Australia - that big continent right next door to NZ...

    NZ is full of walks and sheep and grape vines and very few people - just over 3m....but it is never as warm and tropical as my coast of Qld. I grew up in NZ and lived there for the first half of my life...before slipping over here for a warm, winter holiday and deciding to stay forever!


    Alden - 'stream of consciousness', writes from Whangarei, NZ which is a beautiful spot.


    Happy days

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  32. Hello Martin

    thanks for coming with me and having that little chat...that bird had a delightful character..

    Happy days

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  33. WEll Elcmae you will just have to take your daughter's lead and come on down... - have a gap year of your own.

    When my fourth and final child was counting down the days to the end of her school life in 2007 and relishing the idea of freedom and independence that the new year of 2008 would bring, I had a little mantra that I would sing at any opportunity I could...which also celebrated my freedom and independence from parenting which had lasted over 30 years in my case...

    I would cry:

    2008
    and I"M out the gate!!!

    Happy days

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  34. Hello Bee

    I seem to feel that I have not been your way for a while...I must correct that...

    Ugg boots sound very Australian...
    I have not succumbed to them but daughter has some...

    Happy days

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  35. Hi Steven

    I have to imagine what snocks could be...

    thanks for being such great walking company...

    maybe one day you will see him for yourself..

    Happy days

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  36. Hi Wanda

    when we moved in a little baby turkey would come visiting occasionally , my friend who lives close by warned me of their destructive habits and I was expecting trouble with all my new plantings. I have been very lucky and they have only dug out some little tropical plants that have shot up by themselves after the rains...

    I do shoo the juvenile turk away so that he doesn't get the idea of setting up camp in my gardens...

    I picked up the thongs at the ABC store in Hawaii years ago...and now wear them as my inside shoes - Our family removes shoes, as the Japanese and Hawaiian convention, upon entering the home...the travertine I find very hard to walk on after wooden floors - hence the thongs...

    Happy days Wanda

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  37. Hi Violet

    It is beautiful if a very different way...but I do miss the solitude of the river...

    Happy days

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  38. Hello Barry

    you keep warm now...bundle up well when you go for your jaunts with Lindsay - does she have a coat?


    you can share my Blue faced Honey eater...

    Happy days

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  39. HI Ayu

    thanks for coming down to Little Cove...can you swim?

    Happy days

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  40. Hi Ellen

    you are right, and I plan to appreciate the differences and the benefits of this change- it won't be forever..

    Happy days

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  41. Hi Friko

    yup, we moved from the river about 1km to the sea...- a stones throw away...

    But I have to tell you I live in Australia not NZ.

    You are the 2nd person today under that misapprehension...perhaps because I occasionally post about my quick trips to NZ to see the parents, you have misunderstood.

    And yes NZ winters are bloody cold... but mine are subtropical...you can swim all year round here if you wanted to and many do... we are subtropical here on the mid Queensland coastline, so the winters are usually 16-25 C, only rarely the early morning will drop to 10 C, but that is very cold for us.

    Happy days

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  42. Hello Joanna

    I think it is GODZONE.

    There was a saying used by the Qld Tourism board that went ...

    Queensland
    Beautiful one day,
    perfect the next...

    I have to agree...

    I think the bird was very hot, it was a very hot morning - perhaps 35C and maybe he needed a rest in the shade because when I returned over an hour later I saw two German backpackers taking photos by the track and when I went to investigate there he was still sitting inside the frond...

    Happy days

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  43. Barb that sounds good..

    but Australians are very pragmatic and sensible people...they don't weigh themselves down with excess when going to the beach...they take some water but go home after a couple of hours swimming and playing, for lunch and snacks and a break from the intense heat, usually.

    Strangely this is the first summer that I have noticed the people sitting on chairs on the beach like they do in Hawaii...there are a few in my pics, they would have been scoffed at in years past -


    Our family were astounded to see the beach goers in Hawaii arrive with their eskies(chilly bins) full of food and cans of soda...setting up for the day...

    food and sand don't mix for me...
    and also we had it drummed into us as kids not to eat and swim...


    Above Little Cove is a touristy cove of apartments so I can see that some of those people may carry down a chair but when the long stretches of sand between your car and the ocean scorch your feet with every step the last thing you need are armloads of regalia...

    Having said all that beach goers are much more careful with shade tents and protection as Qld has the highest skin cancer rate in the world I believe... I have had a little on taken off my face, Beloved has had a few, my friend many...the damage accumulates into old age...

    Oh I need the iced tea after all that chat...

    Happy days

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  44. And hello Donna

    you are my last reply to write at present...
    thanks for walking with me...its high time I came your way...

    see you soon

    Happy days

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  45. What a magical name - Blue Faced Honey Eater. Lovely to stroll with you and see the warm sun,sea and beautiful wildlife

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  46. Good morning Jennifer

    I am just about to sign off and head home for lunch...so I am glad I caught you...

    and I'm glad to see you at the beach...

    Happy days

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  47. Delwyn

    Thank-You for the lovely walk! The beach is so beautiful--the ocean is unreal(many colors).

    I am a bird lover and I do appreciate you sharing your pictures of the Blue Faced Honey Eater.

    I hope to go on another walk with you soon.

    Best
    Tracy :)

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  48. flip flops!
    I've never seen such pretty ones before!

    The weather here in japan is weird...it is hot some days, cold again, warm again....

    Happy sweet Valentine's Day!

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  49. I was hoping you’d post a walk to the beach once you were settled. Now I totally understand why you moved. Anytime you’re feeling too hot, I’m happy to swap beaches with you….

    Thanks for warming my toes. Beautiful bird photos too. I’m going to see if I can rally my crew for a beach walk today – it’s meant to get above freezing and the winds are calm.

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  50. Delwyn, my favorite photo is the one where I get to peek through the trees to the cove. I had a body reaction, a yearning to be there. My husband and I did a tour in Australia in 1979 in a VW van and have many fond memories of Aussie's beaches. thanks for taking me on your walk.

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  51. Hello Maggie

    it sounds as if my photos are stirring up some enjoyable memories of the past. - an old VW van!!! were you hippies or surfers???

    We moved over here in 1978 from NZ and have loved every day. It really is a paradise...

    Happy days

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  52. Hi there little Tulsa

    how nice to see you

    My daughter in Tokyo posted a pic of blossoms one day and snow again the next


    She is getting a little tropical break next week...think hula skirts and mai tais, so must be looking forward to that...

    Happy days

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  53. Hi Sarah

    you are very eager and committed to brave the elements and get out for a constitutional....

    I can only imagine how cold it must be...NZ did have some days at freezing point - well maybe at 6am then if warmed up slightly... but over here our cold winter lows are about 10C at 6am rising to 16 or so and a nice winter day will be 15 to 25C - it really is a paradise...

    Happy days

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  54. Hi Tracy

    I'm glad you like the birds too - I have done a number op bird posts in the past - friends I have met when out walking...

    Happy days

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  55. that's a lovely walk, thanks for sharing. The blue faced honeybird is a beauty too

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  56. such an enticing post of jungle and beach beauty!

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  57. Those views of the water are amazing! Turquoise, teal, sea green, cobalt blue, sky blue, with skies to match! So uplifting to see when we're under snow and ice for weeks now . . . have a safe trip! Love, me xx

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