Gan Gan Natural Produce-Anna Bay Honey

What is that you ask, well here you go !

“A black nor’easter is a persistent and potentially violent north-easterly storm that occurs on the east coast of Australia, particularly from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales, usually between late spring and early autumn, about two days a year (or more, depending on the intensity).

Developing offshore as a deep coastal trough, the storm is heralded by the rapid build-up of dense black cloud that brings heavy rainfall and strong northeasterly winds along the east coast of Australia. A black nor’easter can be a combination of surface troughs, onshore flow, and a low. The storm system may cool down warm days due to the persistent blanket of thick moisture-rich clouds.

Although not convection-driven, the north-east wind field leading warm moist tropical air to the subtropics and mid-latitudes can combine with a higher level cut off low from the Southern Ocean. Black nor’easters were first recorded during the 19th century and were so-named because the affiliated darkness (of the moisture-loaded clouds) can transform the day to as dark as twilight.” (wikiwand)

So we got whacked here by one from last Thursday afternoon to Saturday morning, wow it was crazy. Our station measured over 230mm in that time. We are just very lucky it has been exceptionally dry so far this year and most of the tide has receded. The image below shows the visible satellite pic from about 0725 Saturday morning. Yes it was incredibly powerful and now we really need a break but unfortunately another cold front/low pressure system will hit tomorrow afternoon. Lets hope it moves away quickly…

Ugh, well all of you along the east coast don’t need to be told that we are enduring the most humid summer for many years due to the crazy hot water in the Tasman Sea around us. Also the SAM (Southern Annular Mode) or otherwise called Polar Vortex is currently in a positive phase. This pattern basically allows tropical heat to enter our region via an onshore flow. Quite unusual for an El Nino event. Today at the farm we hit 36.8 C but with a humidity of almost 60 percent, leading to a “feels like ” or “heat index ” of 46C. That is pretty shocking, and very tiring with no aircon. Anyway, just a bit more weather info. We have a high chance of a tropical cyclone forming East of North Queensland. Hopefully this will not be as catastrophic as the last one. Now tropical cyclones actually suck a lot of heat out of the water and maybe this one will cool the surface water enough to reduce the SST anomaly… Anyway enough of the WX lesson for today. Keep cool my friends 🙂

Well I got a surprise today at the local PO from Elon Musk and his constellation, a grey box arrived and the contents are currently sitting on the lawn doing its SpaceX things, calibrating and looking for obstacles. It took maybe 30 minutes to set up (including a software update) and I am happy to say I have proper internet for the first time ever on the farm !

Speedtest done approx 30 min after install, pretty good…

Speedtest done approx an hour after install , Nice!

A late Xmas gift.

Now apparently these things take at least 6 hours to sort their stuff out properly but I am just really impressed so far. The latency (ping) is around 20-35ms which is as good as mobile broadband, but the speeds are just amazing. Thanks Elon, you little ripper!

Well I guess we all have had this drama at some time but I have been trying to set up a whole heap of new plug ins and an e-commerce portal for the future of this site and unfortunately I am using mobile broadband (No NBN available) . As you know Port Stephens is a popular tourist destination and our population actually increases from around 25,000 to around 120,000 in a week . Everybody wants to stream 4K Netflix on their phones and tablets and our bandwidth drops to around 2-3 Mbps regularly so pretty much impossible to do what I need to do.

Now the screenshot is showing how bad it can get and this is very dissapointing.

So… I have taken a big chance on ordering a Starlink system. The location is excellent, just waiting for the hardware. Hopefully this will sort the issues.

More to come.

Well as this year draws to a close, and we reflect on the good and bad of the year with hope and love for all others for the coming year, I thought I would share a quote from Douglas Adams (The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy) . Now this was brought to mind as I went for a drive this afternoon to Soldiers Point Boat Ramp. Let me just say that silly season is truly in full swing 🙂

“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools”

May the new year bring health, wealth and happiness to you and your families and friends.

Gazza.

It has been a long time between posts here but we know what Covid did to all of us and last spring our over zealous Biosecurity organisation had a quite heavy handed response to the Varroa mite detections in the Port Of Newcastle. Our hives were all euthanased.

The timeframe of re-establishment is at the moment unclear and I will get back to this apiary side as soon as it becomes more apparent.

In the intervening time, we have decided to once again begin a horticultural enterprise here at the farm, based on the same values as the apiary: Working in harmony with nature and avoiding any pesticides or herbicides. The vegetables, fruit and herbs will all be open pollinated heirloom varieties.

The hort side will be called “Gan Gan Natural Produce“. The name  is in honour of a spectacular local lookout and landmark “Gan Gan”,  which means white-breasted fish hawk (sea eagle) in local indigenous Gathang language.

Cheers,

Gary.

The air is literally buzzing with activity and the smell of Melaleuca and Bloodwood fill the valley! A perfect autumn day today and the time has now come for the main flow to be enjoyed. By the forecasts this week it seems Thursday 12th or Friday 13th will be the start as the temperature will be almost perfect and the winds as well. Of course this is all dependent on the daily forecast updates. Everywhere I walk here the intoxicating scent overwhelms the senses, it has been a long time coming but that makes it so much more precious. Pics show the ripe Tea Tree blossom now being rapidly transformed into liquid gold. A great week to be a beekeeper!

 

 

The last fortnight things have been going great here in the valley apart from our network connection 🙁

Optus (our provider) has been apparently upgrading the Gan Gan site , although it seems so far it is really just back to the way it was with only 2 or 3 streets directly below the transmitter now loving the 5G access. Lets hope the upgrade has some ongoing benefits- whew enough of that : the hives are loaded, the National Park is absolutely blooming and we are finally in the place we have waited for so long. A little more rain from the remnants of ex TC Esther and the whole area between Anna Bay Boreline and Fingal Bay will be alive with our bees and all of the beautiful, patient native creatures that depend on this. New updates will be posted when the rain stops again. It has been a  long and at some times discouraging ride, but the tide has turned, we are again in the place we love.

I had to add this pic – says it all about the events this week 🙂

 

After an intense week of storms, rain and wind the weather is finally settling into a milder pattern that we need to begin the all important inspections and extractions as long as the rain holds out… The entire north side of Pig Island hill is now showing a mosaic of blood-wood in bloom and the melaleuca continues to form. Every night a mass of flying foxes cross the valley toward the water board land and the massive areas of tea tree in there- they always settle in before the main flow so we are definitely “in the groove”. Pics below show the sunset vista from the base down here looking south. Peaceful indeed.

 

it has taken a few days but the lake has almost drained off and soaked in although it is still quite soggy down here. The colonies are very active due to the large supply of fresh Bloodwood blossom in the area and now we are just hoping for a few fine, mild days to unload some of the copious reserves. Cyclone Uesi is a couple of hundred km off the coast but the predictions are for huge swells mostly and not much else here, in fact the odd thing is due to the vortex of the storm the winds will actually be gentler here than normal. Stay tuned.