Post No. 14,044
Date uploaded in Sydney, Australia – 2 January 2025
Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com
Pictures are taken by london swaminathan
this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.
tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com
xxxx
Australia is full of beaches, rain forests and national parks. If you go out of cities, you will see nothing but tall trees touching the sky or waves crashing on the coast. The country has Pacific Ocean on the east and Indian Ocean in the West and the South.
Palm beach is one of the famous beaches, approximately one hour drive from Sydney. You can enjoy swimming in the Pacific Ocean or boating or hand gliding etc. at Palm Beach.
It is at the end of three different beaches in a peninsula area. We pass Avalon Beach, Bilgola beach, Whale Beach and reached Palm Beach. At every beach we saw hundreds of cars parked.
(Palm Beach is a suburb in the Northern Beaches region of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Palm Beach is located 41 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district.)
It is a safe beach for children and youths. There are shallow areas where one can swim safely. Moreover, the coast guards are readily stationed there to keep an eye and save people. On the beaches, they plant two flags at a distance and in between any one can enter the sea without any fear.
We went there on New Year’s Day (1-1-2025) and there were 200 to 300 cars. One must pay Parking charge for the cars. Good public bus service is also available connecting all the beaches.
If you want to go in the sea in a ferry, they charge 20 dollars per head for one hour ride; children go free. I took a seat in the upper deck so that I can take good pictures. The sea is full of Blue Bottle jelly fish which is poisonous. Only when you step on it you are affected. I saw five to ten dead jelly fish on the shore.
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Three families went to the beach with all the tents and packed lunches. We enjoyed the feast on the shore under shady trees.
Children went for swimming under adult supervision. Youngsters, young couples were taking sun bath. In Australia sun cream is a must to avoid skin cancer. The weather reports add this UV factor in everyday weather report.
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London Swaminathan’s Foot prints on Sands of Time 1-1-2025
Mighty Pacific Ocean
In the far north is Cairns where from one can go to see Great Barrier Reef; during my last trip in 2015, we hired a glass bottomed boat and saw the living corals and the fish that live in coral reef under the sea.
- The Great Barrier Reef has 2900 reefs and an incredible 900 islands
- It covers 2600 kilometres in length
- Australian coasts are often nicknamed ‘Surfers Paradise,’ due to having a number of world-class surfing spots such as Crescent Head in New South Wales and Noosa Heads in Queensland
- Australia’s marine environment houses 4000 different fish species, 500 coral species and 50 types of marine mammals
- More than 85 percent of Australia’s population lives within 50 kilometres of the Australian coastline
- This geographical feature and interests in sports help Australia to get more medals in Olympic and World Tennis. Australia always maintains its position within the first ten countries in the Olympic Medal Table.
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Bluebottle Jelly Fish
The bluebottle jellyfish has a toxic sting, but it’s not usually harmful to humans:
The bluebottle’s tentacles contain stinging capsules that release a toxic mixture of proteins and phenols. This venom is deadly to small fish and other sea creatures, but not usually to humans.
Scientific name: Physalia physalis
Alternative name/s:
Indo-Pacific and Portuguese Man o’War
Similar species:
Physalia physalis, Portugese man-of-war
Size Range
Float: 2 cm – 15 cm
Introduction
The Bluebottle, Physalia physalis, is a common, if unwelcome, summer visitor to Sydney beaches. At the mercy of the wind, they are sometimes blown into shallow waters, and often wash up onto the beach.
On the eastern coast of Australia, it is the NE winds and warmer currents that bring them and other organisms that make up the armada or fleets of blue coloured floating colonial cnidarians and their predators, to beaches on the incoming tides.
The float is a bottle or pear-shaped sac that can exceed 15 cm. It is mainly blue, though its upper margin may show delicate shades of green or pink. It is a living, muscular bag that secretes its own gas, which is similar to air. The float has aerodynamic properties and it seems likely that sailing characteristics may be modified by muscular contraction of the crest.
The Bluebottle belongs to the phylum Cnidaria, which includes corals and sea anemones.
Physalia physalis is commonly encountered in the summer months on the eastern coast of Australia, and during Autumn and winter in southern Western Australia
The Bluebottle, Pacific man-o-war, is found in marine waters in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
–Subham—
Tags- Palm Beach, Pacific Ocean, Blue bottle jelly fish, coral reef, My visit
Tamil and Vedas 