Tropical meanderings and dog walking

Well I'm back from my little tropical sojourn. Back from 27 degrees to 17. Back from blue skies and sunshine to cloud and rain. Approaching Newcastle on Monday night the plane skirted thunderstorms. It is strange and beautiful and slightly unnerving to be looking down to lightening flashes.

Going back to old haunts is a good opportunity to re-appraise both the old and the new. I was surprised to notice the variety of architecture on Boyne Island - there are some really interesting properties there. There are also some uninteresting ones, too many of the modern Australian suburban "McMansion" style of "pile 'em high, fill the block, no verandahs, rely on air-con for cooling" type of housing. So horribly unsuitable for those subtropical conditions.

One of the things I had really enjoyed during my time living on Boyne and got to appreciate again on this visit was the dog-friendly beach. Great stretches of off-leash dog walking areas. Miles and miles of it. There are so few easily accessible areas around here where I can walk my dogs off-leash, where they can have a really good run and romp and we all get good exercise. I do use the waterfront reserve here at Dora Creek, a lovely walk, and also the beatiful park at Rathmines. Myuna Bay is another good place, so long as one avoids the boggy bits where the swamp is forever draining across the path. But all of these are on-leash areas. The local off-leash (but only at certain times) space is a pretty scrappy bit of a ground - not at all inviting, and it certainly doesn't encourage me to get out and stretch my legs in its dust.

With so many dogs and dog owners in this community there really should be more spaces for us to walk both on and off-leash. More paths, more parks. We'd all be healthier.