Blue Mountains Weekend 12 – 13 February 2022

I was lucky to be able to join a group of friends staying up at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. I arrived in time for the evening BBQ at Enmoore’s place. Most of the group had been rock climbing during the day, and the plan was for some more climbing on Sunday. But first, on Saturday evening, after the BBQ, we headed down to Megalong for some spot lighting.

We had wildlife expert, Steph with us, and she knew good spots where she often observes Yellow-bellied Gliders and another spot for Greater Gliders. She showed us marks made on a tree by gliders –

But at that spot, we saw no Yellow-bellied Gliders. But we did see a fair few Red Triangle Slugs.

The wet weather had brought these slugs out. They graze on the trees – eating algae. This probably benefits the tree as well as the slug.

At the second site, we spotted one Greater Glider.

The next photo shows how long their tail is.

During the night there was a fair bit of rain. John and Chuin Nee had been wanting to do some more climbing. In particular, they wanted to get their young sons Jasper and Sebastian climbing. Both boys had done some indoor rock climbing during the school holidays. It was still quite wet after breakfast, so we did a short bushwalk from Enmoore’s place. We walked to the National Park entrance and down the Fairfax Track.

On this part of the walk, we spotted some nice orchids –

Horned Orchid (Orthocerus strictum)

Large Tongue Orchid (Cryptostylis subulata)

Small Tongue Orchid (Cryptostylis leptochila)

And we saw a lot more Red-triangle Slugs.

Then we arrived at the lookouts.

Govetts Leap was flowing well –

This small creature is an Assassin Bug (Gminatus australis) – thanks to Anna Voytsekhovich for this id.

This is likely to be a White-browed Scrubwren –

We then walked around a loop of Popes Glen.

Here is Horseshoe Falls –

And another view of Govetts Leap.

I crossed the creek to the west side and walked up through a closed off section of new track work to get a better view of Horseshoe Falls.

This was well worth seeing with the good flow. Horseshoe Falls and Govetts Leap would be about the same height given the geology, and would e the two highest single drop waterfalls in the Blue Mountains.

Above Horseshoe Falls is the much smaller Taylor Falls and a nice swimming hole.

By the time we finished our walk, the weather had improved, so we headed to the Sunbath Crag at Medlow Bath for the rock climbing.

Here is Chuin Nee leading and Martin belaying –

Chuin Nee and Enmoore –

And now Seby (age 6) is climbing with Martin –

Su Li –

Brent –

John and Jasper (9) –

Jasper near the top –

Enmoore –

Seby –

It had been aver good day. Thanks to Enmoore for her hospitality. And to John and Chuin Nee for a lift home.