Sorry. Gold vs feathers. In all the excitement of getting to about only a week behind, I forgot to say. A pound of feathers is definitely heavier than a pound of gold. The explanation is as follows:
Traditionally, gold is weighed in the troy measurement system. One ounce of gold is not the same as the ordinary ounce (really called avoirdupois ounce).
The best way to understand this is to convert them both to a uniform system. An avoirdupois ounce (feathers) converts to about 28 grams and the troy ounce (gold) to about 31 grams.
So it would appear that gold weighs more than feathers. But! There is one more piece of the puzzle. We all know 16 ounces equal a pound. True in the avoirdupois system, but not in the troy. In the troy system there are only 12 ounces to the pound. So a pound of feathers weighs in at just over 453 grams while a pound of gold weighs about 373 grams.
So a pound of feathers weighs quite a bit more than a pound of gold! There were only two votes. One correct and one less so! Maybe there are only two of you reading these messages!
Back to our trip!
On the way to Nelligen, we passed Batemans Bay which is situated near the mouth of the Clyde River. The coast North of here is going to be new territory for us. Last time we came this way we ducked inland to Canberra at this point.
Nelligen was originally the main port for goods shipped inwards to this region from Sydney on the twice weekly steamer. It was also presumably an exporter of timber and “stuff” in return. There are, of course, the requisite indications of gold and feather mining in the area! There is now very little of the original wharf structure remaining. But we did find a couple of old looking posts (attached to an old looking bit of decking) where the dock would have been …
The name of the village is said to derive from the name of an old resident called Nell. Apparently she fell in the river and drowned about 100 years ago. As she washed up and down on the tide, the locals would say “There goes Nell agin!”. And the name stuck! I must update Wikipedia on that point. They say the origin of the village name is unclear! How un-intetesting!
Our cottage is another quirky one – possibly a 6 on the previously used scale. There’s a stuffed fish on the bathroom wall – a 48 pound Jewfish caught by the owner’s mother in her youth (almost half a century ago). A little bit of a distraction when on the loo!
We had lots of space with old odds and ends about in the cooking/eating/living area. .
And we had a brilliant jetty for late afternoon refreshments!
As is our wont, we took the back road to the coast to investigate the beaches at Durras (North and South). The Old Nelligen Road. It starts as an ordinary side road but becomes a reasonable gravel road almost immediately. After a while it divides and branches into a network of fairly rough tracks through the forest. Google Maps knew where we were even if we didn’t! Finally it disintegrates into a rocky pathway which no sensible resident would use except possivly on horseback! That probably explains the number of vehicles we met. Zero! At one point we stopped to admire the view (trees) and take a photograph …
… and guess who Glenda found running about on the front of the car. Our hitch-hiker.
Still with us after TEN days and HUNDREDS of kilometres!!!
We are starting to see more people now as we are getting closer to Sydney although that is still a couple of hours North of here. The caravan park at South Durras (and that’s about all there is here) was fairly full. It’s right on the beach (two adjacent beaches actually!) …
… and every caravan had at least one kangaroo on guard.
Back home, on the way for more drinks on the jetty we met another local resident…
After a great couple of evenings looking for Nell again, it was time to move North. We saw signs inviting us to take the “100 Beach Challenge”. It transpires that the region of Shoalhaven has 100 beaches (actually 109, but that doesn’t make for such catchy phrase!). So we were really only just starting to scratch the surface of this sandy empire. Shoalhaven starts at the next beach – but that’s for another day
I’m now only 8 nights behind! But before I end this – here is a little puzzle sent to me (just in time, thank you) by Mad, Mad Mary. It used to be just Mad Mary, but now she’s (justifiably) mad about “Brexit and Ireland” as well as just plain ordinary mad!
COUNT THE “F”s IN THE FOLLOWING TEXT:
“FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS…..”
So how many?
Just check again before looking below.
Score Rating
0 Possibly dead!
1 Not really concentrating on my blog!
2 Underperforming
3 Average
4 Good
5 Enthusiastic
6 Correct
7 Imaginative