Digi Dave was keen to head back to Royal National Park for a photo trip, and I suggested it might be worth a look at Bola Creek.
So we headed down the road from Waterfall and parked and then walk down Lady Carrington Drive to Bola Creek. We spent a fair bit of time around the picnic area looking for fungi – but very little was out. Continue reading
I have been playing around recently with Google Sites and seeing what the tools can do. As an exercise I have created a small website on the Waterfalls of the Blue Mountains. At this stage it mainly shows photos of the waterfalls. the waterfalls are the more accessible ones close to the railway line and mostly reached on daywalks and good tracks.
As well as seeing what Google Sites can do, the exercise has also encouraged me to go and photograph the waterfalls in good conditions. This usually means during periods of rain when the waterfalls have a reasonable flow and the light is soft for good waterfall photography.
For some of the waterfalls, particularly those of Woodford, the only photos I have are poor, and I will have to go out in better conditions. There are also a few more obscure waterfalls that I need to visit.
Bungleboori Creek is one of the great creeks of the Northern Blue Mountains. It flows through the heart of the Wollangambe Wilderness – part of Blue Mountains National Park.
It is a creek I have been visiting for many years. I think my first trip to Bungleboori Creek was in 1974. In those days the map we used was the Wallerawang 1:63,360 sheet – the classic one inch to the mile map. On that map, Bungleboori Creek was marked by name. It started near Cockatoo Hill and flowed east. Part way along, it was joined by its south branch. This was marked on that map as “Bungleboori Creek 9 mile branch”. Above the junction, bushwalkers, and later canyoners, always referred to the two branches of the creek as “Bungleboori Creek North Branch” and “Bungleboori Creek South Branch”. These are logical names as both branches are roughly the same size in terms of flow and the size of the gorges they have cut.
I went up the mountains and joined Wendy for a very nice day in Sassafras Gully. This was one of my regular visits to see how the fungi was going, but also on this visit we experienced a wide range of the delights of Nature.
We left Springwood and started walking down Fairy Dell and into Magdala Creek. Compared to a week before, there was not too much fungi out. Continue reading
Our bushcare group spent a busy morning weeding at Diamond Bay at Dover Heights. There is a small bushland remnant at the top of Rosa Gully – a popular climbing area. This is one of the few bushland remnants in that area.
In our group was Enmoore, Stu, Su Li, Martin, Steffy and myself. We were joined by some other rock climbers and also members of the local bush care group. We removed a lot of Morning Glory, Japanese Honeysuckle, Asparagus Fern and Turkey Rhubarb. There was also a lot of Lantana and lower down some Prickly Pear that we left alone this time. Continue reading
Digi Dave and myself headed down to Royal National Park for a day of photography.
We started off at Audley and went a short way up the Hacking River to kook for birds. Well, some magpies and ducks were not that interesting, so we instead concentrated on photographing some of the many dragonflies that were flying over the river. The ones here did settle on reeds but it was very hard to capture photos of them in flight. They moved far too fast. Continue reading
I had seen the Jungle Circuit marked on old maps. It is a track that starts from the Govetts Leap to Bridal Veil Falls track near the bottom and traverses around to the base of Horseshoe Falls, and then around a loop (The Jungle Circuit) and back. This was my first visit.
The base of Horseshoe Falls
Horseshoe Falls and the nearby Bridal Veil Falls are, I think, the highest single waterfalls in the Blue Mountains – as they both fall down both the upper and lower cliff lines without a break. Continue reading
As I write, bush fires are continuing to burn in some of the beautiful alpine areas of Tasmania. So far there have been two fires that have burnt alpine areas near Lake Bill and near Lake Mackenzie. Both of these areas are on the Central Plateau and within the World Heritage Area.
The incredibly beautiful Central Plateau of Tasmania – alpine tarns surrounded by Pencil Pines
My first walk across the central Plateau was in 1980, and on that walk, I can remember walking into a zone of destruction between the Long Tarns and Lake Tyre (near the Walls of Jerusalem). It was as though an atomic bomb had been detonated in the area a few years before – all that remained were the skeletons of trees, a few scattered bushes and mainly bare earth and boulders. We guessed the destruction was due to a bushfire. Continue reading
My latest visit to Sassafras Gully to check out the fungi was after a period of dry weather, so there was not too much new fungi out and a lot of the old fungi was looking very dried out. But there was still a few interesting things to see.
On this visit, I started from Faulconbridge Station, and walked down the Victory Track. As I descended I did spot some fungi, and also quite a few slime moulds. Continue reading
My friends Doug and Lizzie were keen to do a canyon, and wanted one they could take their daughters along on. Their two girls are young (7 and 9) but are good bushwalkers. I was pleased to be able to come along and be able to assist in some tricky spots where needed.
It was a hot day, and I don’t think I have ever seen Rocky Creek Canyon so crowded. When we set off for the canyon, there were 18 cars or mini buses in the carpark. We bypassed Twister Canyon and headed straight down the gully to Rocky Creek. Continue reading
