It was a wet, misty day up the mountains. I was heading up there with Bob to do a canyon. We had decided on Dargans Creek. It is only a short walk to the canyon and an even shorter walk out of it.
Dargans Creek Canyon is in the Stage 2 Proposal for Gardens of Stone.
At the Clarence Dams, we set off down Dargans Creek. The way down was a bit wet and slippery, and we had to be careful. We soon arrived at the start of the canyon. Continue reading
On a recent rip to the Shellharbour area with Digi Dave, we had tried to drive out to Bass Point, but found the road closed. On that trip, we looked around for an alternative road, but could find none. Another friend however, have recently dived at Bass Point, so we knew that a new access road had been established. Like last time, we drove through the new town of Shell Cove, and this time Google Maps had a route we could follow to Bass Point.
Digi Dave scrambling around to Bushrangers Bay
We stopped first at the viewing platform for Maloneys Bay. Continue reading
This was a fairly quiet day spent in Malabar Headland National Park. It was a hot day and the birdlife seemed fairly quiet.
I walked from Maroubra out onto the headland. I saw a few small birds on the way. Continue reading
After my last trip to Nurragingy, I was keen to head back there for some more bird photography. A hot day was forecast, so I got there not long after 8 am. I was hoping to photograph the Pacific Baza and the Azure Kingfishers I had seen the week before.
I went first to the Pacific Baza nest area, and could see the chick doing well in the nest. It was making plenty of noise. One of it parents was perched in a tree nearby, and seems oblivious to the chick’s noise. It was preening itself, and seemed preoccupied with that. Another bird photographer was there and said there had been little action over the past hour. Continue reading
I spent an interesting day exploring some of the area near Kurnell and Cronulla. We started off by visiting the coast near Doughboy Head. This can be reached by a road that leaves the Kurnell Road just past the Desalination Plant.
This is a popular fishing and surfing spot. I was on the lookout for birds, but ended up taking photos of the surfers. Continue reading
Bob and myself headed up the mountains for a day of canyoning. We had decided to revisit Crayfish Creek. I could remember many years ago visiting this creek on a trip with Bob. Bob could recall it too – he said it was in 1977, just after we had been on a trip to the Ovens Creek area for Easter. But neither of us could remember anything much about the creek and its canyon except that it was not that extensive, nor were there any abseils.
So we set off along the firetrail to Burramoko Head from the barrier. We walked out to leave the fire road at about 300 metres south of Burramoko Hill. We followed an open ridge down to the creek. It was easy walking with no cliffs. Continue reading
This was a pleasant day spent in the northern part of Royal National Park on a walk led by Brian Everingham for the National Parks Association of NSW. I travelled to Bundeena by train to Cronulla and then the Ferry.
At the wharf, we were met by the rest of the party, and we proceeded by car to a street near the Jibbon Beach. As well as Brian there were Ken, Gary, Graham, Sue, Sue, Esther and myself. We then walked down to the beach and along it towards Jibbon Head. On the way, Brian mentioned some fo the management issues – such as the beach not being in the park, and the area just behind the beach, which is park, being an endangered ecological community – being littoral rainforest. Continue reading
It had been a while since my previous visit to Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside, so I thought I should visit the park again.
I did not observe that many birds, but those I did see where quite interesting. On my previous visit I had seen a pair of Pacific Bazas. This time I saw they had a nest, and in the nest was quite a well developed chick. It looked like it was 2 or 3 weeks old. It was hard to get reasonable photos of the chick in the nest – it being shielded behind branches. Continue reading
For a fair while I had wanted to do an overnight trip to Claustral Canyon. The extra time should allow for more photographic opportunities. Albert was keen to join me. We headed up Bells Line of Road in Albert’s car and parked at the Claustral Canyon carpark. We were not the only ones! There were 16 other cars there. But we had plenty of time, so it would not matter if new were held up by other parties at the abseils.
We set off around 10 am. Checking the logbook revealed that the last party to leave before us headed off at 8:50 am, so we should not have any problems with canyon congestion. This proved to be the case. We reached the abseils about 11 am. On the way, we had overtaken a party of 4, who were doing an extra abseil to get to the top of Calcutta Falls. We had taken the much faster, usual scrambling route. At the abseils there was another party led by Adele. They said they had waited for the party in front to get through. Not long after, Adele’s party were down the first drop, and we could proceed. Continue reading
After a great day down Birdwood Gully, I thought it may be worth visiting the nearby Sassafras Gully to see what fungi was out.
Hygrocybe miniata
Sassafras Gully has a lot larger area of suitable fungi habitat than Birdwood Gully, and I found a reasonable amount of fungi out. Perhaps the density was not as great as Birdwood Gully though. Continue reading
