Sunday evening - the sun setting below the rain clouds

On Sunday we visited the local Berwick market. The market, which is run every Sunday, is full of junk stalls though we have found a few treasures in our browsing. This week however, we purchased a couple of maple trees as we plan to have the front of the house landscaped sometime this year. After organising delivery we purchased some ornamental grasses for our rear garden. Even though the dark clouds were threatening the rain held off and we managed to explore the market without getting wet.

We headed home to await delivery of the trees. After a coffee, we pottered in the garden, planting the grasses under the gum trees and a rosemary bush. I’ve not had much luck with rosemary in the herb garden so decided to plant this bush in another area of the garden. Eventually, the trees were delivered and we were free for the rest of the day. I suggested to my husband that we take the dogs for a walk. We set off down Casey drive and headed up the old coach road - quite an uphill walk and I could feel my muscles complaining in my legs. This is part of the road that use to run between Sydney and Melbourne in the 1800's. Only a few parts of the road still survive in dirt form and on this part of the road you can actually still see the ruts in the road from the coach wheels. On reaching the top of the road, we had a marvellous view across the bay and we watched a ship heading through the heads towards the open ocean. Even though the clouds still threatened rain, it was clear breezy day and you could see the coastline stretching for miles.

After following the road a little longer, we noticed that the dogs were tiring so we decided to head for back via the horse-riding track that runs at the rear of Casey Drive. We arrived at the diverging pathway, which leads down into Casey Drive, a right of way that runs between two properties, to find that someone had fenced it off. We managed to squeeze through a small opening and set off down the muddy path towards the road. We noticed that on one side of the path the fence has been removed. Obviously, the new owners of this property have decided to make the right of way part of their own land! Previously, we had noticed that someone had cut down a tree at the bottom of the pathway to hide or bar access to the pathway. My husband managed to pull the tree aside a little and we were able to gain access into Casey Drive. This is the second right of way leading from Casey Drive to the hills behind us that has been deliberately closed off by owners. We know there is another right of way near our home but have been unable to ascertain just where it is due to owners hiding or closing off the access point. It looks as if I will now have to ring the local council to complain and to find out why the pathway has been fenced off and to also ascertain exactly where the second right of way is! No doubt I’ll become popular with my neighbours!