Timing ...........?

My second article has appeared in the latest edition of the Peninsula News ( Nov 24th ) , this one tells the story of the Kariong Heiroglyphs and funnily enough the Express also ran a similar story a couple of days before , mine was more imformative and factual of course ( har har )
Thanks again to the PN team for publishing my stuff



A picture of the glyphs in question , as a bonus I also captured what appears to be the Woy Woy Tiger just out of shot to the right .............

Falling rocks

Work has just been completed on the road widening at corner of Memorial Drive and Maitland Bay Drive , the road has been moved away a bit from the crumbling hillside , there are some big rocks up there about to come tumbling down one day......
The section of the mountain here was not always like that , in fact you may have noticed a few areas where man has taken chunks out of the hill side along Memorial Drive.
Ever since the Peninsula was settled people have quarried sandstone and fill materials from the sides of the hill , the area being made up of old sand dunes needed a solid base before you could build on it , some of the older houses in the area sit on stumps made from solid chunks of sandstone quarried from Blackwall Mountains edges.
The old Woy Woy Shire Council used it as a quarry for years , most of the mountain lays in landfills at Woy Woy Oval at the waterfront when the lagoon was reclaimed .
The section in question today actually has been recorded as being the area where the sandstone was quarried for the construction of Ettalong Hall for Mrs Cox way back in the 1800's , a gang of workers camped at the base of the hill for the duration of its construction.
Another feature nearby is the Railway Workers Cave just up the hill a bit round the corner , during the construction of Woy Woy Tunnel , workers travelling to and from the main wharf at Blackwall and the tunnel site would stay overnight in the shelter of this large natural cave.

Grab a copy of

the Peninsula News this week and you can read my first article for them about the old WW2 airfield on Trafalgar Avenue .
The paper is free and is placed at various strategic points around town , always a good read
and thanks to Clare and co for the small blurb about me and the site within the article
veh cool !

Woy Woy to Wyong

Living in Woy Woy all ones life is like being in a pair of your most comfortable shoes ( or flanno shirt for some : ) There is something about this place that makes it special , a long time ago when the first settlers arrived some sort of local pact was made never to employ convict labour on the Peninsula , it was only to be occupied by free men.
Various characters arrived and made their marks , there was a jovial mood among this mixed bunch of settlers as they all contributed eagerly to their new area's development.
The oddballs and the heroes gained respect and notoriety equally , there was a real sense of caring for your fellow man that perpetuates to this day .......
I am reminded of a time when I moved out of town north to the Wyong Shire , Lakehaven to be exact one of those new mega hectare suburbs that popped up overnight in the 80's
I had met a nice lass and had decided after a year to move into her home up there.
Leaving Woy Woy gave me an empty feeling and it felt like I had lost something when I did finally move.
While moving my stuff into the new house at Lakehaven , I had driven onto the empty block next door to drop my dog's kennel over the fence into the backyard.
While driving off the block I got the old Dodge ute bogged in the soft clay / muddy soil that pervades Wyong, bugger !
So I get the shovel out and set to task and spend quite some time digging , jacking , piling lumps of timber under the wheels and after several attempts I got the beast mobile and scarper onto the tar - much to the amusement of a few local kids and neighbours peering over their fences ....
Fast foward 4 years of domestic bliss followed by a sudden return to singledom on Valentines Day 2000 ( that is another story .... )
and I am returning to my old family home at Woy Woy , while moving my stuff back I kept looking at this tasty EH Holden sedan for sale at the end on my street.
On one of the last loads back I decide to pull over and check the car out ( maybe this could be the new single mans chick puller mobile I thinks to meself )
"Six thousand bucks for that ! it's got bog in it bah !" I imagine myself saying to the owner if he was there and walk back to the Dodge.
I then find myself bogged in the sandy soil out the front of this guys house, part of an old sand dune in my street.
I get out and walk down to my new house which was about 8 houses away and grab a shovel and walk back muttering to myself " de ja fucking vu or wot "
I get to the rear wheels and am about the throw the first shovel when a light table top truck pulls over and the driver leans out the window.
" Need a hand mate ? " he asks
" Sure do ! " I reply
In a few minutes we hook up a chain to the uterus and she is pulled clear , I thank the truck driver and I'm on my way.
I think back to the near exact event that happened 4 years ago , shake my head and say to myself " Welcome home "

Calamity Street Terrigal and poo by the sea

There must be one or perhaps two unlucky buggers living in Campbell Crescent , Terrigal.
A couple of weeks back a large truck mounted crane toppled over and cut power to Terrigal for some hours , and today a cement mixer has capsized and while on it's side the cement inside it set causing a major dilemma , at every attempt to right the beast , the set concrete in the tumbler caused the truck to tip back over.
Evidently some poor bastard had to climb inside and jackhammer it all out , that would have been fun today in the 30 degrees temperature we had , bet the neighbours loved the sound of that jackhammer clanging away all day
Pity they couldn't re create that Mythbusters episode where they faced the same dilemma , except these guys just put some gelignite inside and bam! - problem solved
I wonder if both these vechiles were working on the same job , I'll ask my tradey contacts around Terrigal.

Latest News from NBN 3 - Ettalong Beach has been declared unsafe for swimming by the EPA for having a higher than normal feceal coliform content ( shit ) This has been caused by runoff from stormwater drains that deposit right in the middle of the beach ( handy)
I suggest that Gosford Council extend the foreshore upgrade and piss that old stormwater drain off for once and all ...........