What should one do when one goes for a gander at shipping containers washed up on shore?
Why climb on top and run across them, of course.
Newcastle Herald photographer Marina Neil captured this colourful moment at Birdie Beach in the Munmorah State Conservation Area on the northern end of the Central Coast.
Another photo that Marina took showed the orange-jacketed fellow climbing on top of the containers, while another peered inside them.
"Hoping to find myself a new car," he quipped to Marina.
It proved to be a bit of a mission to get to the site. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service had blocked road-access to the beach because of the coronavirus.
This Topics correspondent cut through a surfer's track and trekked along the beach for 40 minutes or so to reach the site. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it.
We bumped into Central Coast Drones photographer Reed Plummer on the beach.
Reed had been working on a project to photograph and video Central Coast beaches during the days of COVID-19.
The containers were carrying face masks, which had washed up on the beach.
As Reed said, it seemed a pretty apt - albeit sad - way to capture the story of beaches during the pandemic.
Strange Light
We wrote on Tuesday about a strange blue light in the night sky at Norah Head Lighthouse.
Hamilton's Jeremy Farish captured the image while photographing the milky way.
The blue glow has an apparent lightning bolt through it.
Col Maybury, president of the Astronomical Society of the Hunter, asked colleagues for their thoughts on the strange light.
Sutherland Shire Astronomical Society's Rolando De Michiel responded by saying the light could have been an Iridium satellite flaring, or droplets or ice crystals in distant clouds reflecting the light from the lighthouse.
Another possibility was that the blue circular light may not be connected with the line going through it, Rolando said.
"The line may be a meteor trail," he said.
Another suggestion was a bolide [bright meteor] explosion.
If the image was related to lightning, the light would probably have been purple, Rolando said.
Topics believes these are all interesting concepts, but we still say aliens.
Non-Viral Jokes
Don't interrupt someone working intently on a puzzle. Chances are, you'll hear some crosswords.
I'm a big fan of whiteboards. I find them quite re-markable.
Why was King Arthur's army too tired to fight? It had too many sleepless knights.
- topics@newcastleherald.com.au
