Monday, March 05, 2007

Renown

Beautiful storm last night. I was up past my bedtime watching it. The first one was medium strength and just rumbled and flashed a bit. The second one was good and loud. Several whacking great crashes of thunder right overhead and the flashes of lightning were enormous.

Missed the eclipse on Saturday night. I was going to watch it but I got a bit elephant's (drunk). Have marked the August eclipse in my diary as 'total eclipse DON'T GET DRUNK'. Righto.

Didn't go to the Parade. Went to a mate's instead and we sat there on the back lawn getting slowly plastered. Mardi Gras has pretty much passed me by this year. I promised myself I'd see Swan Lake, the one with all the guy swans, but didn't get off my arse.

Watched the Kylie concert last night on Aunty. I'm not that much of a Kylie fan, musically, but she's a deadset diva and a bloody good entertainer. There's plenty of performers but not that many good entertainers.

Enough rambling. On with the photos. These are from last week. It's dark and overcast today and I'm sitting at home with a cuppa tea.

Kendall Road Empire Bay

Little old house at the end of Kendall Road Empire Bay. Could be older but it looked like 1940s. It was probably surrounded by bush back then. Now the street is full and it's surrounded by seventies houses.

Kendall Road Empire Bay

24 Kendall Road Empire Bay. Looks like I got here a day or two late for a good photo. Bugger.

It's in my hist list as "house .. 24 Kendall Rd, Empire Bay ... c. 1920". Looks like it was a small rectangular cottage with wooden interior walls.

There's nothing listed as heritage on either the Australian Heritage Council database or the NSW Heritage Office database. In the Gosford City Council notes for 2002 there's a motion to have the house in this photo and a lot of other historic buildings removed from the Heritage registers. That leaves them unprotected from development.

Renown at Empire Bay
(Embiggulate)

See her? The old black and yellow ferry in the middle there. This is as close a picture as was possible with all the boats stacked up round the marina.

I can find nothing on the Renown on Google. I've never seen her out of her bay and I don't remember her name or picture in any of the library books. Speak up if you know.

Renown at Empire Bay
(Embiggulate)

Her stern. To see her get the ferry (the Saratoga not the Codock) from the Woy Woy wharf to Empire Bay. Or turn off Empire Bay Drive at Greenfield Road and follow the signs to the Post Office or the wharf. She's visible from the wharf.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

bloody storm kept me awake until it went over then i got woken up at 3.30am by something going across the roof
I was going to go to mardi gras on saturday night but my firend who i was going to go with hurt her back during the week
i watched the kylie concert as well
i thought it was quite good

Aesthetic said...

Me too, kept awake by the storm that is.

I love the diary entry.

Spike said...

Michael - Possums trampling across in the night? Loud buggers those.

Were you going to the free seats up the end of the Parade? Best spot.

I've glimpsed Our Kylie in person. She's fucking tiny.

Aesthetic - I stayed up for it. Heard it coming and arranged myself on the balcony to enjoy the show.

Had a few uneasy moments remembering what that Lightning programme said: "If you can hear thunder you're in the strike area".

Thank yer.

Anonymous said...

i dont know what it was either a possum or a cat
we were just going to go and watch the parade i dont know where abouts we were going to go but those free seats would have been good but i suspect they wouldve been all taken by the time we got here
oh well i think we are going to go next year that should be a big year for it as it is the 30th anniversary

Jimmy Little said...

"Renown" looks a lot like one of the small ferries that did the Ettalong / Booker Bay / Blackwall / Woy Woy / Saratoga / Empire Bay / Wagstaffe / etc. daily rounds when I was a kid. I remember them painted white, though -- but something about the stern and the rounded windows looks awfully familiar...

Spike said...

Michael - the parade ... those free seats would have been good

To get the free seats register in January at BGF to do bucket collecting at Shop Til You Drop or before the Parade. You just stand on the street and say 'BGF!' every now and then and people stick money in yer slot. The freebies are right opposite the paid seats.

It's a great spot there. The marchers have been on their feet for a couple of hours but they perk up when they round that last corner. From the seats you can hear the Dykes on Bykes stop and rev up just before the corner then they roar round the corner and howl along between the freebies and the stand and all the marchers come after them and everyone's on their feet screaming their fucking heads off. You'll love it.

I gotta be in it for the 30th year. But what shall I wear?

Jimmy - D'oh! Now I remember. I've seen her in a photo at the Kincumber Orphanage. Thank yer.

Anonymous said...

Brain can't turn off tonight, don't know why.. Found some stuff on the Renown.. what a great looking ferry, I want one to putt around in.. "..the Renown, ex-Loonganna, which came from Tuggerah Lakes..." .. " For about eight months around 1938 Rosman chartered Renown to Walters of Stockton for use on the Stockton — Newcastle ferry service." .." Renown was sold privately to Botany Bay." for more read here.. http://www.afloat.com.au/www/79/1001224/displayarticle/1007755.html

Spike said...

Great link, ta, Trainspotty.

Not sure that it's the same Renown though. I found about 15 boats of the same name on Google. That photo in the article is minute but it looks like wheelhouse is higher than the Empire Bay boat.

Love that top photo in the link, the overloaded ferries lurching in the swell. Not one to click if you get seasick :)

Anonymous said...

regarding the little green house pictured in Kendall Rd Empire Bay,it was relocated to that site 10-15 years ago and came from outside the area

Spike said...

Thank yer, Anon. I like such info.