Vivid is back and bigger than ever this year. One evening is certainly not enough time to see it all. I ventured into the city on two evenings and certainly did not see everything.
This year there seemed to be a lot more people out enjoying the festival. Also – there was a huge variety in the exhibits. Many of them seemed to be interactive as well, and there were a lot of Vivid volunteers around to look after the exhibits and explain how they worked to visitors. Continue reading
Last weekend was bush regeneration time. I went with a group of friends for a paddle along the Hawkesbury River from the Mooney Mooney boat-ramp where the Pacific Highway crosses the river to Gentlemans Halt near Spencer. Gentlemans Halt is in Maramara National Park.
The weekend was organised by the Willow Warriors, who provided the sea kayaks that we used. Continue reading
I went on a nice walk with Digi Dave and Kim to Palona Creek in Royal National Park. Palona Creek is a tributary of the Hacking River and is reached by a short walk along Lady Carrington Drive.
Hairy Fairy Club Fungi
When we reached the creek, we headed up a side track to the Palona Cave. The turn-off sign is marked “Limestone Cave”, but as far as I know this is wrong. The cave is not a limestone cave. Its about a ten minute walk to the cave from Lady Carrington Drive and when you arrive you can clearly see that it is in a sandstone cliff. The cave does have some speliothems however – some large columns and some very tiny stalactites. These are probably formed by evaporation rather than chemical means. Continue reading
Previously I had walked from Manly to Milsons Point and I had been along the coast from Bronte to Bondi Beach and from Bronte to La Perouse. I thought it would be a good time to do another section – from Milsons Point to South Head and then see how much more time I had for more.
My route followed the line marked on the map from the Walking Coastal Sydney Website. I had also downloaded an app that had the map on it – and this made it easy to stay on course – looking at my position on the map. Continue reading
This was a nice walk I did by myself through the Lane Cove National Park. This is a walk that is easy to do via public transport.
I started out at Thornleigh Station and walked a short way to Thorneigh Oval and then set off down the Great North Walk Track – down the valley. Continue reading
Here are a few photos of nice day at the Zig Zag climbing area at Mt Victoria in the Blue Mts. The climbers are Chuin Nee, Stu, Brent, Su Li, Enmoore, John and Jasper.
Three resources that provide information about fungi and help you identify them have recently become available.
A new guide was published in Tasmania – A Field Guide To Tasmanian Fungi by Genevieve Gates and David Ratkowsky. This guide is relevant not only to Tasmania but also certainly to the wetter regions of South East Australia. It has over 600 species and is very well illustrated and has excellent notes that help you distinguish one fungus from another.
It can be bought online from the publisher – the Tasmanian Field Naturalists.
Another very useful resource is a iPhone app called iFungi AU. This was prepared by Gregg Cook with help from members of the Sydney Fungal Studies Group. It can be purchased for $2.99 from the iTunes store. Continue reading
Wendy had two days off and wanted to do a walk. After some discussion, we decided that a walk in the Lower Blue Mountains from Faulconbridge to Glenbrook would be good.
Wendy admiring the view. Dawn – Lost World Lookout
I met Wendy at Springwood, and after a coffee break, we headed up to Faulconbridge and parked near the track head. We then set off down the Victory Track which leads into Sassafras Gully. Continue reading
I thought it was time to return to Lane Cove Bushland Park to check out the fungi once again. It was very wet for my last visit. This time it was much drier – and there did not seem to be so much fungi out.
Morels are an unusual type of fungi. I had never seen them before and was quite intrigued when Brian Everingham of the National Parks Association posted some shots on Facebook of some he had recently spotted near where he lives at Engadine. I got in touch with Brian, and he went out of his way to tell me where they were and to also take me to the location. Many thanks Brian.
Morchella esculenta
The morels were growing very close to the Woronora Dam Pipeline – and very easy to walk to. Continue reading
