I returned to visit Sassafras Gully at Springwood again. Despite fairly dry weather a lot of fungi was out – and it was very nice fungi too. Very colourful.
Some of the fungi that I spotted are perhaps new species or variants. Here is a selection of photos – Continue reading
After seeing a fantastic display of fungi out at Lane Cove Bushland Park, I though it may be worthwhile doing a walk through part of Lane Cove Valley between Thornleigh and Porters Creek Bridge. This was a station to station walk and was largely a repeat of my walk from 16 April 2015. Most of this walk passes through Lane Cove National Park. It is easy to organise a walk like this from Thornleigh Station to Macquarie Park Station. The track, most of it being part of the Great North Walk is well signposted.
How was the fungi? Not the colourful display from my visit the day before to the much, much smaller Lane Cove Bushland Park, but enough was out to make the trip interesting and worthwhile. Also – it is a nice walk, mostly through forest with the sounds of abundant birds. The walk is a mixture of track and fire trail. Continue reading
After photographing the fungi at Lane Cove, I headed back to the city to join my friends John and Chuin Nee and their young son, Jasper for a visit to Vivid. On a Sunday night – it was very crowded and it was hard to stay together as a group.
Vivid is a great festival – and offers a lot to see and experience for all age groups. Continue reading
I went back to the Lane Cove area for another visit to see if any more fungi was out. It was well worth going back there – even though there had not been much rain between my visits. A lot more fungi was out and it was very impressive too.
A lot of the colourful fungi is very small and most visitors probably walk past without noticing anything. To see the fungi there, you need to be a good observer and you also need to be very careful you do not damage the fungi. Visitors are strongly advised to keep to the formed pathways. Continue reading
I went for a walk today along the bushland area of Wolli Creek to see what fungi may be out. I started from Bexley North Station and walked down the Twin Valleys Track all the way to the junction with the Cooks River, then caught the train home from Tempe Station.
It was a pleasant ramble. Last year, I usually found the most fungi in the upper part of the creek – between Bexley North and Bardwell Park. This visit – most of that section was lacking in fungi. Nor could I find any Hygrocybe austropratenis growing in a site near Girrahween Park that I and seen on previous visits. But lower down the creek, things improved. Continue reading
I was up the mountains with Digi Dave. The day before we had gone to Coachwood Glen to photograph the amazing fungi there. After that we had gone to the Family Hotel at Katoomba for dinner and then camped near the barrier on the Narrow Neck Road.
I got up early, hoping for a good sunrise. I thought my hopes were bit unrealistic, as it had been quite windy during the night, and wind means no valley mist. This was almost right – there was a tiny bit of mist in Megalong Valley and some down over Lake Burragorang, but almost none in the Jamison Valley. Nevertheless, I walked a short distance to a lookout and waited for the sun to rise. The sunrise was nice but not super spectacular. Continue reading
I went up the mountains with Digi Dave for two days of photography. The first day we spent at Coachwood Glen – a small reserve in Megalong Valley, just below the cliffs of Medlow Bath.
In the first few metres of the track we spotted some nice fungi out, but then things seemed to dry up a bit. It didn’t seem as good as our earlier visits. But with careful looking we found more and more things out. You nee to be patient and super observant when looking for fungi. Its often that you only notice some of the fungi when you are low down on the ground, waiting for your camera to finish taking a photo. Continue reading
Bob and myself travelled up the mountains and headed out the road at Medlow Bath past Katoomba Airport and parked at the lookout at Point Pilcher. Our object was to find an obscure old cave used as a retreat by the former bushwalking mayor of the Blue Mountains – Frank Walford.
Frank Walford (1882 – 1969), was a journalist and author. Some of his novels are still in print. He lived at Katoomba from 1919 and edited the local newspaper. He was an expert bushman and spent a lot of time exploring the local area. He was friends with Eric Dark and Eric Lowe, two other local identities involved with the outdoors. Continue reading
Wendy had invited me to join her on a walk in the Upper Blue Mountains. She wanted a fair leg stretch so suggested a walk from Govetts Leap down to Blue Gum Forest and return.
As it turned out, we had good weather for walking – fine and cool. We set off from the carpark at Govetts Leap at about 9:45 am and after 30 minutes arrived at the base of Bridle Veil Falls. Continue reading
I went down to Bola Creek in Royal National Park again to see how the fungi was going. I thought there may be a bit out after fairly recent rain. There was more fungi out than my last visit but it still was not as good as earlier in the year (or compared to last year).
A Bola Creek, I met up with Atli again, The visiting nature photographer from Iceland, who was also on a photographic visit together with his girlfriend Erin. Their extra eyes and experience where handy to spot the often difficult to see fungi. Continue reading
