Close to paradise …

… is one description of the small north-coast NSW town of Urunga. It’s 500 km north of Sydney, and an attractive place for us to stay for 2 nights on our drive home. 

The main photo, taken late afternoon today, looks out to sea across the confluence of the Kalang and Bellinger Rivers, with a mangrove tree holding precariously to a rocky sea wall.

The birds grazing on the estuary shore in the extra are Bar-tailed Godwits. The website Birdlife Australia says that they are the world record holders for non-stop flight: they have been recorded travelling 13,500km from Alaska to Tasmania in only 11 days flying at an average of more than 50km/h, losing almost half of their body weight along the way. The birds pictured are juveniles who have chosen (very sensibly, I think) to spend the winter in Australia rather than fly half way around the planet to Alaska. Maybe they will do that next year.