I am a great fan of pretty much anything to do with water—quiescent, flowing, or falling—and it’s been a while since I presented a post with a water feature. Here is a place that I remember very well. I was in Australia in September 2007 and I had all weekend to drive from Coffs Harbour on the east coast of New South Wales (roughly halfway between Brisbane and Sydney) to Dubbo, 971 km (583 miles) to the west. Near the end of my beautiful and photographically very productive adventure, between Mullaley and Dubbo on late Sunday afternoon, I came across a sign that resulted in one more little excursion. Here’s the entry from my journal:
I was now nearing my destination, but there was still enough of the fading light left that I made one more detour when I saw a sign for Hickeys Falls—and, apart from the natural beauty of the spot, the extra time and effort it took to get these views (it involved a fair scramble over a jumble of large boulders and fallen trees) would have been well justified just to learn that the name of the waterway that held the falls was Wallumburrawang Creek. I really would like to find out the (ab-)original meaning of that wonderful name!
For the record, I have tried to trace the meaning of “Wallumburrawang”, but have so far been unsuccessful. If anyone out there knows, please share it with me—and thanks in advance! (Oh, and by the way, let me also explain that there really is no apostrophe in the official name of either Coffs Harbour or Hickeys Falls. I’ve found this to be the case numerous times in that part of the world in instances in which a person’s name has been assigned to a place and it appears that the possessive form should be employed; my general impression is that, when the explorers who coined the names were unsure where and/or if an apostrophe was called for, they just chose to leave it out rather than go on the record as having put it in the wrong place.)
krikitarts 
Must have been some trip….great memories for you to enjoy
It was a great trip it lasted nearly five weeks and my journal is 112 pages long. There will surely be more posts from my adventures!
Beautiful photos, Gary…what a nice trip. And your info about the apostrophes brings to mind the name of a lake up here in our Wasatch Mountains…Cecret Lake…probably named such by one of the pioneers from days gone by.
I know of essays that have been written regarding the use (or lack of use) of apostrophes where linguists would agree that they belong, and it would be really interesting to do a study on apparent misspellings as well—although who can say if, when an explorer assigns a particular name to a particular place that has made a significant impression, he/she may have actually intended the alternate spelling with full knowledge of its arresting uniqueness? It sertainly kould have been meant as a cemantic curprise.
Yes, I suppose it could have been meant to be such a thing…sertainly co. :)
Another luscious place to visit. Beautiful!
It really put the icing on two days of very memorable exploration. That is really an amazing part of the world. As is the case almost anywhere, there can be great surprises as you take the back roads (which I do–and I know you do too–whenever possible).
Oh, I really, really want to go there. You captured the essence of this beautiful, tranquil place perfectly.