I joined Digi Dave with our bikes and cameras and spent an enjoyable afternoon along the Cooks River photographing the birds (and enjoying a bit of cycling).
We started at the Cup and Saucer Creek Wetlands and after photographing there, we slowly rode down to the Tempe Wetlands. Continue reading
This was a pleasant day in the bush with Bob yesterday wandering around some seldom used passes at the end of the ridge that branches out from Hat Hill at Blackheath.
Grose Valley from Bald Head
This ridge, called the bald head Ridge, terminates at Bald Head, and on the way it passes a spot mark on the map as Bennett Lookout. On trips down the Grose Valley I had noticed two rock peninsulas sticking out into the Grose Valley near Bald Head. I had long wanted to visit them as I thought they may be good vantage points and be a nice places for a high camp. You can also see these rock peninsulas from Anvil Rock. On a recent trip to Blue Gum Forest via Pierces Pass, I and also noticed what looked like a possible pass along a ledge just under the higher of these two peninsulas. I had taken a photo of the possible passes and emailed it to Bob, and we and put this spot into our list for a future daywalk. Meanwhile we had both done a little research and found that the pass was probably the same as mentioned in “The Upper Grose Valley” by Brian Fox and Michael Keats (p 464). It was referred to as “Brownes Path” and apparently used by former NPWS ranger Kevin Browne. Continue reading
A friend, Garry Pienaar, recently lost his battle with cancer. Over the years we shared some great times climbing and mountain biking. Many memories and adventures! David Forbes has put together a moving visual tribute –
It is interesting, and disturbing, that in the discussions that have come up regarding the recent pollution spill from the Clarence Colliery into the Wollangambe River, there have been questions asked about whether one of the iconic features of that area – Goochs Crater is within Blue Mountains National Park (and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area).
Goochs Crater
The Gardens of Stone were originally proposed for national park back in 1986 (as extensions to Wollemi National Park), and that original proposal included features that were at that time unprotected like Rocky Creek Canyon and Goochs Crater. When the Gardens of Stone National Park was declared neither of these features were included in the park, but Rocky Creek Canyon had been added as an addition to Wollemi National Park. Continue reading
I spent a very pleasant day at the zoo, wandering around with my camera. It really is a very pleasant place to spend some time and the animals are very interesting to watch. It was a cold day, and I don’t know if that makes a difference, but the animals seemed fairly active rather than sleepy.
Here is a selection of my photos – Continue reading
This was intended to be a fungi walk – but there was not much fungi out, and what I found was old and dried out. Looks like the fungi season has ended at Wolli Creek.
Greenhood Orchid
But the wildflower season has begun, and there were still thousands of Greenhood Orchids out next to the track. Also there were lots of interesting birds around as well as the fruit bats. Continue reading
After our inspection of the pollution of Wollangambe River, I joined some of the party for a walk along part of a historic narrow gauge railway near Clarence. This started off through a tunnel, which was quite interesting. It was part of the original railway across the Blue Mountains – which was known as the Zig Zag.
The tunnel was well lined with sandstone bricks. Continue reading
Here is my attempt to photograph Comet C/2014 Q1 PanSTARRS. Conditions were far from ideal. My photo was taken from suburban Sydney. I was on my way home from a fungi photography trip – so didn’t have any special gear – I used a f 2.8 100 mm macro lens, with the camera on a tripod. A half moon didn’t help very much.
Comet C/2014 Q1 PanSTARRS
The faint smudge between the red marker lines is the comet.
It was very distressing to see first hand the terrible pollution in the Wollangambe River. I was in a group of 17 people that walked down to two points in the river from Newnes Junction last Saturday.
The map below shows where the pollution – coal fines, entered the Wollangambe River, and thus into Blue Mountains National Park and the World Heritage Area. The red arrow shows the entry point. The two red crosses show our inspection areas. The green line marks the Blue Mountains National Park boundary.
The first inspection point was about 1 km below the entry point. The whole of the riverbed appeared to be covered in a thick deposit of a black substance. The river itself had a black colour.
Polluted Wollangambe River
The sediment on the bed of the river
Our second inspection point was about 2.5 km downstream from the entry point and was at the intersection with a small side creek. This part of the National Park was burnt in a bushfire during October 2013 and there is a lot of charcoal ash around. The clear water in the side creek however demonstrates very clearly that it is not bushfire related charcoal that has coated the bottom of the Wollangambe River.
Side creek – clear water
The junction of the side creek and the Wollangambe River. The pollution extends up the side creek about 2 metres.
On 3 July 2015, the mining company was issued with a Clean-Up Notice by the Environment Proection Authority. A copy of that notice can be found here on the EPA website. To quote from that notice –
CLEAN UP ACTION 7
Aslo in that notice –
Penalty for not complying with this notice
I think the evidence in my photographs above shows that there is significant pollution remaining in the Wollangambe River. Reports from bushwalkers who have inspected the river downstream indicate that the pollution has now spread about 10 kms downstream from the entry point. And it seems likely to keep spreading further downstream!
The Colong Foundation has a webpage devoted to this issue with suggested action that the concerned public can take.
Some media releases can be found –
Centennial Coal Media Statement 30 July
Blue Mountains Gazette – 4 August
“Coal Fines” are the small particles of coal material that are “washed-off” the coal during the preparation plant process and discarded along with non-coal material and disposed of in large pools of water or ponds known as “slurry ponds”. These expansive areas of coal waste product are known as “impoundments”.
www.greenfieldscoal.com/faq2.php
I spent a pleasant day walking around some of the waterfalls to the south of Lawson and Hazelbrook in the Blue Mountains. I was also looking to see if any fungi was still out – very little was, so I ended up spending mrs time photographing the waterfalls.
Conditions were not very good for this – it was sunny and the water levels were quite low. But it is nice to be outdoors. Continue reading
