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Weekly Photo Challenge “Everyday Life”


I have been posting some of my  special images of everyday life.   I see now that others have shortened this to just life everyday.  Well everyday life  in the  Bellingen Shire in the tiny fishing village of Urunga NSW, Australia,  is slow at best.  Not much goes on around here in a great hurry.

A lot of shops have closed down and sold up recently.  We lost the hardware shop.  That was harsh!  There isn’t a lot of money in having a shop in Urunga.  This is a crying shame.  The place is glorious!  People are always needing hardware,  and I wish they didn’t go.

We have a post office and two butchers, three hairdressers, two clubs, one pub, one police station and a primary school.  We have two caravan parks  and an ambulance station and a Premier League Football team called the Urunga Raiders who are the most senior adult teams of Urunga FC.  They participate in the Premier League competition for the Mid North Coast area.

We live with a highway running through the the centre of the built up area of Urunga.  Soonish,  in a couple of years the new Highway will be built and the passing traffic will bypass us altogether.  I guess more shops will close then.  I certainly hope not though.
Pilot St East
Well this is something I see everyday when we walk the dog or go to the shops.  This is the street sign down on the corner of my street.  This is what street signs look like in Australia,  well in our shire anyway.  This image has been played with a little to make the street sign look better.  I have a few signs of my own that have manifested into my possession.  The joys of having teenagers and teens with friends.   One year I awoke to the round-a-bout sign being in my back garden.   My favorite is Keep Left, it gets used a lot.   Next door have a stolen sign also.  There sign is from the Northern Territory and it says Be careful as Estuarine Crocodiles swim in these waters,  the sign is on their swimming pool.
IMG 4315 Sacred Ibis with 1968 HK Kingswood
Like I said, nothing takes place in any mad hurry.  The Ibis clearly demonstrates there is plenty of time here in Urunga to walk on the road or where every you choose if you are a big bird.  He may have been looking at the 1968 Holden parked and left with the window wide open.  Perhaps the bird thought he may just jump into that window.  In Australia it really isn’t a good idea to leave your vehicle like this unlocked.  Many of us do though.  My friends, and many of them Never Lock their vehicles.   They say if they want it more than me then they can have it.   Nice way to look at things.   I think it works as none of these friends have had a vehicle stolen or anything stolen out of it.  Closest was an ex boyfriend one of my friends had,  he didn’t take the car.  He took the Rotor Button instead.

The Ibis (Bird) is such a common site here also.  They eat my onions, not sure if they like the onions but they munch down the green from the tops.  Very frustrating trying to garden between these and the rabbits of Urunga,  and the cows of the past.  Yes, gardening can be a trial with these.

IMG 2681 Bank Corner Bellingen Oak & Hyde Streets
This is the bank in Bellingen where I used to visit everyday.   Now, I don’t visit very this establishment very often, because I have no money,  in this bank or any other.  It is a snapshot of Bellingen and Bellingen is 10 minutes away from where I live at Urunga.  This is where the local High School is and the local Catholic school.  It is the home of the Shires Chambers for their meetings.  It was my home for 24 years.  I live not far away though.  This is where I go to do my radio show each week.  Radio 2bbb ( live streaming)

IMG 3861 Ocean View at Night
This is most likely one of the busier establishments in Urunga. The Ocean View Hotel.   I am sure some people visit here everyday.  I  see it everyday but I have been there a handful of times.  I went there for my birthday dinner this year.  The hotel is quite old and has been here as long as the town has.  Old to us here in Australia will never be the old that others in other countries speak of because our white history is not that old.  Around 2oo years ago a lot of white folks settled here compliments of Mother England,  Which incidentally is where the word POME comes from.  It is an acronym for “Prisoner of Mother England”.

IMG 8909 Shire Signage OK

You can’t go far anywhere here and not run into a  cow or a herd of them.  I lived on a dairy farm for ten years and these guys were my arch nemesis.  Undoubtedly, they are the biggest pest if others forget to shut the gates.  I have had my garden destroyed by cows more times  than I care to count.  It can be seriously heart rendering to see an entire years work down the tubes.  It is even worse seeing it from a distance and seeing the cows up on your verandah as you drive on in and up to the house.   Cows with flowers in their mouths,  my flowers.  I have lost it a few times.  I remember breathing a sigh of relief when we moved from the farm,  at least a flower will grow if I plant it ,I thought eagerly.   I had not been eager to garden anymore because of them.
The worst part about this is in the ten years I lived on the farm, every year this happened.  It was never us!  It was visitors every time.  They neither shut the gate or  they neither checked it was shut correctly.  In the end I got a pad lock and I padlocked the gates shut.   Not because I didn’t want visitors, but because while I was away, then no person could even look like opening that gate and wrecking it again.  If only I had thought of this nine years previous.  I may have been a happier person and not so demoralized for ten years.

Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr

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9 comments

  1. Why exactly they are closing again? Just through test of time? Larger businesses? or newer establishments?
    Change, I’m one who is receptive of change so I completely understand what you said here. To miss the things you once knew.

    Reply

    • yes a lack of trade enough to keep the doors open. But on the same hand there are new buildings being built and existing business are playing hopscotch around the streets of town. Our Bowling club is brand spanking and rather flimsy looking and modern. Hello Rommel / hope your day has been good.

      Reply

  5. I’ve just come home from a week in Coffs. We’ve had countless holidays there in the past 30 years. It never disappoints. Actually we were in Korora Bay. We had great mornings in Bellingen and in Emerald Beach – possibly my favourite beach (after Korora Bay). I love your photos, especially the ibis taking its time to cross the street. I’m just a bit jealous that you live in the area.

    Reply

    • Hello Trish, yes Korora Bay is spectacular. I don’t get there as often as I should. No need as here has it all as well. Thank you for stopping by! I am blessed to be where I am, I sort of realize this most days, there are days that I forget and life takes on the normalcy of living just about anywhere. Then I look up and out the window and I remember.. hey I live here. Glad your holiday was excellent also.

      Reply

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