A visit to the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour sounded like a good place to redeem a Discover NSW Voucher. It fully covered the cost of entry, and I had a most interesting visit.
I had visited the museum before – but only to a small part, and had not seen the ships, which are probably the best part. So I proceeded to the Submarine and Destroyer. There seemed to be a queue for the submarine, so I first visited the Destroyer – The Vampire. Continue reading
This started off a nice day weather wise – with some rain looming. When I checked the radar – the rain was out at sea and heading north, but during the day, it got quite cold and windy – so I did not stay as long as I had planned. The cold windy weather meant a lot of the smaller birds stayed hidden in their shelter.
White-bellied Sea Eagle
I caught a bus to Tempe, then while waiting for the next bus to the park, I looked for Kingfishers at Cahill Park – with no luck. All I photographed was a Darter (and a Cormorant) – Continue reading
Our bushcare group spent a productive day weeding at Lion Island in Broken Bay. The Island is a Nature Reserve and is not open to the public. It is an important location for penguin nesting. So it a special place to visit and worthwhile place to help regenerate the bush.
We had been to the Island before, back in 2015. On that occasion we mainly removed Lantana from the top of he ridge above the penguin rookery. This time we headed to the high point of the Island and concentrated on removing Asparagus. Continue reading
I took part on the field activity of The Sydney Fungal Studies Group Inc at Bola Creek in Royal National Park. This had been postpone from the weekend before, when it was considered to be too dry. Fortunately, during the week, over 20 mm or rain and fallen in the area, and this made this visit worthwhile. We found a lot of fungi out – particularly waxcaps.
The group assembled at the south end of Lady Carrington Drive and then started walking down to Bola Creek. We soon started seeing fungi. Here is some of what we saw – Continue reading
I was keen to head back down to Royal National Park and walk along the Coastal Track south of Bundeena to look for whales and birds. This time I was joined by Sue. We travelled to Cronulla by train and then caught the ferry to Bundeena. We soon completed the walk to the start of the Coastal Track and were in the bush.
First stop was The Balconies – Continue reading
I joined Valerie and Sue for an afternoon visit to Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. Two of us used Discover NSW Vouchers which are the entry much cheaper. But a lot of other people had the same idea and the venue was very crowded. But we could still see all the fish and the other sea life OK.
We met earlier outside the venue and got our tickets, then went off to a nearby cafe for morning tea. Then back outside the Aquarium for our entry slot – 12:15 pm, we found ourselves in a very long queue. Fortunately it did move fairly quickly and we were soon inside. Continue reading
This was another trip to look at some Aboriginal sites in the Blue Mountains. This time on Kings Tableland. Bob and myself travelled to Wentworth Falls and met up with Pete for the first part of the trip. Pete showed us two sites, that he had earlier told us about and we were keen to visit. Then Pete had to head off, so Bob and myself checked out some more sites on the Tableland. Then we finished the day looking at some early Colonial Heritage at Bulls Camp at Linden.
At Kings Tableland we first looked at small open rock platform on a great vantage point. This site features some sharpening grooves, a bowl shaped depression, and some engravings. Continue reading
I spent a nice day photographing local birds. I started off walking down the Cooks River from Wardell Road and made my way to the Cahill Park. Then I caught a bus to Barton Park and spent the rest of the day there.
Along the Cooks River, the main birds I photographed where two Sacred Kingfishers I saw just downstream on Illawarra Road. Here are some photos – Continue reading
My last visit to the headland had been good – not so much for the whales as for the Peregrine Falcons. They had appeared late in the day and renewed their bonds. I was keen to go back and see them again. But this time – while I was there, I did not see them. So had to make do with some of the other resident birds and the passing whales.
At least the whales were a bit more active on this trip. Continue reading
Wendy had planned a weekend trip to visit two of the basalt capped mountains in the Blue Mountains. Her plan was to first visit Mt Tomah and go to the Botanic Gardens there. She was particularly keen to visit the rainforest section. Then we would head to Mt Wilson and camp near October Creek. Then Sunday would be spent on some daywalks at Mt Wilson.
As well as Wendy and myself, Rui also joined us. We had a very pleasant weekend. Continue reading
