“NSW started vaccination”
NSW has reported no cases from a local source, 4 overseas cases and no cases under investigation. It has been 40 days since NSW's last locally-spread infection. (s of 26 Feb.)
They started vaccination for healthcare workers this week. It will be followed for those who are 65 or elder people as the 2nd level needing people.
Wearing facemasks in public transportations is still mandatory in Sydney, many people wear no masks in town nowadays.
The government is still very careful about relaxation of the restriction and its recent notification on the relaxation of the rule is as follows;
- Quote -
Restrictions will be eased from 12.01am Friday, 26 February 2021 across Greater Sydney and NSW:
- 50 visitors will now be allowed in the home
- 30 people allowed to dance at weddings, with rotation on and off the dance floor
- Increased class limits for gyms to 50 people (currently 30) subject to the 4sqm rule
- Number of performers singing indoors increased to 30 (currently 5) subject to physical distancing requirements
- Singing by congregants allowed in places of worship if masks are worn and subject to one person per 4sqm (currently no congregant singing allowed, with one per 2sqm permitted in places of worship)
- Increase capacity for cinemas to 100%
- If current trends continue, drinking while standing up at indoor venues will be allowed in three weeks’ time (from Wednesday, 17 March).
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the easing of restrictions was due to the support of the NSW community.
“With the rollout of the vaccine now underway, and no new locally acquired cases in NSW, we are able to make further changes towards a new ‘COVID normal’,” Ms Berejiklian said.
- Unquote –
"Natural eels in the neighborhood creek!"
When I walk alone in the neighborhood, I usually walk “Ferndale Park.” One day in the morning, I found an eel in the creek in the park for the first time. Then following day, I found another eel at the another place of the creek. Then again, this time, at the same place of the creek, I found another eel!
When I was 12 years old, one of my classmates, Genchan, caught an eel in a reservoir called “Yatoike”in Kamakura, Japan. It’s a pond, not a creek, and he fished the eel. Genchan sold it to an adult then. I myself never caught eels, but loaches or catfish in the rice field in Tsuruok, my wife’s home town in Yamagata prefecture.
[An eel in a creek, クリーク内のウナギ、부근 시내 장어]
The creek, however, flows into the Lane Cove River in the Lane Cove National Park. My trekking pal, Isaac says there a lot of eels in the river and his acquaintance fished it before.
I like “glaze-grilled eel” and it seems easy to catch eels in the creek. But it might be prohibited to catch eels in the river.
"Kenji Miyazawa's ‘Ame ni mo Makezu’/ STRONG IN THE RAIN "
My trekking mentor, Changhwan Kim has interests in Japanese culture. When we walk together, he often talks about Japanese culture including songs and poems. One day, he talked about Kenji Miyazawa and one of this famous poem, “Ame ni mo Makezu/ STRONG IN THE RAIN ”
Since Mr. Kim himself is an iron man and he likes hard training in sever circumstances, he also likes the introductory part of this poem, I guess.
Strong in the rain/Strong in the wind/Strong against the summer heat and snow/He is healthy and robust
I talked about background of this poem and a model of this poem; Sojiro Saito (1877 – 1968), a devoted Christian and a disciple Kanzo Uchimura.
I also introduced Roger Pulvers who translated this poem into English. My wife and I met Mr. Pulvers at the occasion of“The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Commemoration 2020”SR#21:
http://georgesuzuki.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2020-06-29T14:56:00%2B09:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false
His translation is as follows:
STRONG IN THE RAIN
(By Kenji MIYAZAWA / Translated by Roger Pulvers)
Strong in the rain
Strong in the wind
Strong against the summer heat and snow
He is healthy and robust
Free of all desire
He never loses his generous spirit
Nor the quiet smile on his lips
He eats four go of unpolished rice
Miso and a few vegetables a day
He does not consider himself
In whatever occurs…his understanding
Comes from observation and experience
And he never loses sight of things
He lives in a little thatched-roof hut
In a field in the shadows of a pine tree grove
If there is a sick child in the east
He goes there to nurse the child
If there’s a tired mother in the west
He goes to her and carries her sheaves
If someone is near death in the south
He goes and says, ‘Don’t be afraid’
If there’s strife and lawsuits in the north
He demands that the people put an end to their pettiness
He weeps at the time of drought
He plods about at a loss during the cold summer
Everybody calls him ‘Blockhead’
No one sings his praises
Or takes him to heart…
That is the sort of person
I want to be
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Recently Mr. Kim and I are walking along Sydney Harbor National Park like Watson Bay to Bandai Beach and Rose Bay to Watson Bay.
I enjoy trekking as well as talk with him every time.
"GNW # 16 (Summersby-Ourimbah)"
After walking the last 3 sections of GNW (#28, 29, 30), Isaac and I till challenge the Great North Walk” endeavor. This time, we challenged #16 section from Somersby to Ourinbah.
The biggest problem is how to secure the access to the track-head, and also to be sure of the return travel.
The track-head of #16 is Somersby General Store and we found out that there are 3 early bus services available at F Stand of Gosford Bus Station. They are 6:30/7:00/7:30 am bus number 33.
It takes more than one hour from Chatswood to Gosford by T1 train. Isaac and I met at Epping and took 6:10 train to Gosford on 22nd of February.
We arrived at Gosford at 7:12 and took 7:30 bus to Somersby Store. When we go there at 8:10 am, I asked a clerk of the store. about the bus time table.
To our surprise, there is only 5:00 pm bus to return to Gosford in the afternoon. So we had plenty of time.
According to the website, the standard time is 2.5 hours for 6 km of Section 16, one way.
The Great North Walk #16:
http://www.wildwalks.com/bushwalking-and-hiking-in-nsw/watagans/somersby-store-to-ourimbah-valley-trackhead.html
So we can walk more when we arrived at the destination.
There is a sign bord of the Great North Walk along the road near the store.
We began walking toward the North from the store at 8:30 am. It was rather flat for about 2.5 km. Then we came to the point where a creek was overflowing the paved road.
I took off my shoes and socks, and crossed the creek. Then a female driver who happened to pass the creek, stopped her car and warned that there might be leeches and be careful about them. It was a fine day, but she warned it was a perfect day for leeches.
When we passed the creek, we had a short break and I shared a purple sweet potato with Isaac.
Then we came to the mountainous areas. We walked down to the bottom of valley and going up to the ridges in the rain forest. It was a bit hard to go up and down, but we did twice then came to the rest area.
We took a bit longer break, then went down to the relatively gentle slope. We arrived at the destination “Ourimbah Valley Tack Head” at 11 am.
We decided to walk the next section 17 from Ourimbah to Greta Road until noon.
The track came to the flat part and we enjoyed relatively easy walk. There are several stock farms and we saw many horses eating grasses. At one ranch, when I stopped at a fence, a brawn horse noticed me and came close to me. It was a friendly horse. I gently touched his nose.
We walked The Ourimbah Valley Road until 11:50 then we made an u-turn to go back to the Track Head.
We had lunch in front of the Track Head sign and began walked back the section 16.
When we came back to Somersby Stor, it was 3:30 pm. The store was closed at 2 pm. We waited at the bench table of the store until 5 pm.
Since we were not very sure time table, we were anxious until the bus came. It did not come at 5 pm. We waited for another 10 minutes and began talking about walking back to Gosford Station (about 12 km), then the bus came!
While we were waiting for the bus, I found a fat leech on the grass near the bus stop area.
Later when I came back to my shared house and took shower, I found that my right leg with bit of blood. So the leach sucked my blood! There was no pain, so I did not notice until I saw my leg.
Next time, I should carry some sault with me.
Anyhow, we were thankful that the bus came and not necessary to walk more than 12 km more.
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SR #32 「ワクチン接種開始」、「近所のクリークに天然ウナギ！」、「宮沢賢治の『雨ニモマケズ』」、「GNW#16(サマーズビー～オウリンバ)」
「ワクチン接種開始」
NSW州では連続1か月以上、ローカルの新規感染者数0が続いている。新コロナ感染症に対するワクチン接種が医療従事者を皮切りに今週から始まった。高齢者に対する接種がこれに続く。
公共交通機関内のマスク着用義務は現行のままであるが、街中のマスク姿はかなり減った気がする。州政府は慎重ではあるが、規制緩和が徐々に進んでいる。
最近の規制緩和の発表は次のとおりである。
NSW州政府は、２月２６日（金）からNSW州全体の新型コロナウイルス関連規制の一部を緩和すると発表しました。
（１）家庭への来客は、最大５０人まで。
（２）結婚式でのダンスに関して、同時に踊れるのは最大３０人まで。
（３）ジムのクラスへの参加は最大５０人まで。ただし４平方メートル規則に従うこと。
（４）屋内で歌う歌唱者は、物理的な距離の要件に応じて最大３０人まで。マスクを着用し、４平方メートル規則に則る場合、礼拝所での合同歌唱も許可されます。
（５）映画館での人数制限は席数まで（キャパシティ１００％）。
（６）新型コロナウイルスの市中感染がない状況が続く場合、屋内施設で立席での飲酒は３週間以内（３月１７日（水）以降）に許可。
「天然ウナギ！」
ところで今月のはじめに、毎日のように歩く近所のファンデール・パークのクリークで体長約50cmくらいの天然ウナギを3回目撃した。1か所は川幅も狭い小川で別々の日に2回、もう1か所は100m以上下流の淵のような場所で見た。
