Two Canyons and One Comet – 20 December 2014

I headed up the mountains with Albert – our aim was to visit some showcase canyons and concentrate on photography. Our plan was to first visit Rocky Creek Canyon. We arrived at the carpark at Galah Mountain and were surprised to find no other cars. As it turned out – we were the only party visiting the canyon that day.

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We walked through the nice rainforest gully to the start of the canyon. Then after changing into wetsuits, we climbed down into the canyon. The day was generally sunny with quite a few clouds. Rocky Creek Canyon can be good in the sun – as long as you use indirect lighting. But in the first part of the canyon, the lighting was quite poor – too much sunlight was coming in and making photography no good. It may be better in this section later on with the sun a bit lower? Continue reading →

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Christmas Lights of the Inner West – Bike Ride – 18 December 2014

Each year a group of us have got on our bikes are completed an evening tour of the Christmas Light of the inner west. In past years we have started at Dulwich Hill and moved west along the Cooks River Cycleway to Croydon Park and then ended up at Second St, Ashbury. This year -we headed east instead in a loop that started at Dulwich Hill – then to Marrickville and Tempe, and then back to Dulwich Hill.

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We met at Dulwich Hill shops and had dinner, then got on our bikes.  Continue reading →

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Dusky Moorhen Chicks at Cup and Saucer Creek Wetlands – 16 December 2014

I went down to see how the birds were going along the Cooks River. It was a bit windy and the tide was high – so not too many birds along the mudflats. I headed up to Cup and saucer Creek to see how the baby birds were going at the Wetlands. They seemed to be doing fine. Here are a a few photos –

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Continue reading →

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Videos Worth a Look

With the recent World Parks Congress held in Sydney some interesting time lapse videos were produced highlighting two national parks near Sydney. The videos were filmed by Filippo Rivetti.

Here is one on Royal National Park –

Royal National Park – The First Park from Filippo Rivetti on Vimeo. Continue reading →

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SUBW Christmas Walk to the Coxs River – 13-14 December 2014

I joined a large group of Sydney University Bushwalkers and friends to walk down and camp on the Coxs River just off the SixFoot Track.

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The Coxs River at the campsite is delightful. It flows through a granite area and the water has carved the granite into beautiful shapes. Sculpture by Nature! I find it a good place to wander around with a camera and tripod. Continue reading →

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The Grand Canyon – Blackheath – 13 December 2014

I was heading up the mountains with a big group to go to the Sydney University Bushwalkers annual christmas walk to the Coxs River. On the way up – we met at Blackheath and headed to the Grand Canyon. In the party were – Albert, Su Li and Brent, Wendy and myself and we were also joined by Kim and Alex on their visit from USA.

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Continue reading →

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South Wolgan Canyoning 10-11 December 2014

I spent two pleasant days canyoning with Bob Sault up in the South Wolgan area. The weather forecast was for rain and storms so we chose canyons with small catchments.

Tigersnake Canyon

Tigersnake Canyon

On the first day, we set off from the Old Coach Road to Crooked Crevice Canyon. This was a canyon that I had pioneered about 12 years ago with Chris Berwick and David Forbes. It is very close to Tigersnake Canyon and makes a good double. Continue reading →

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Storm Watching at Balls Head – 7 December 2014

Lately Sydney has experienced an impressive series of afternoon thunderstorms. One just about avery day for the past week or so. I thought that Balls Head would be a good place for some storm watching. It has some good lookouts and nearby are some sandstone caves to shelter in the storm is bad. Some of these caves even have seats in them.

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Its only a ten minute walk to get to the headland from Waverton Station. When I arrived, the ground was wet – so at least one storm had passed over. But it looked very black to the north-west and the weather radar indicated that a storm was approaching. So – out with the camera. Continue reading →

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Claustral Canyon – 5 December 2014

Scroll down my blog and you will see that I visited Claustral Canyon not very long ago – on the 25th November.

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I remember many years ago visiting Claustral Canyon three times in as many weekends. The purpose was to try and get some good photographs of the canyon. On the first two of those visits I did get some quite good photos, on the third visit I didn’t even take my camera out of the pack. Continue reading →

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Sydney Coastal Walking – Palm Beach to Narrabeen – 3 December 2014

A few weeks realiser I had looked down this bit of coast from Barrenjoey. Despite being very developed it looked worthwhile exploring – so I decided to walk this section of the Coastal Walk.

Looking north from Bangalley Head

Looking north from Bangalley Head

I got up early. It was forecast to be a hot day and I wanted to at least start in cooler conditions. So half past five train to Wynyard and then the L90 bus to Palm Beach. The bus leaves from Railway Square and I was surprised to find it very full by the time it got to Wynyard. I had to stand for about twenty minutes till it got to Dee Why.  Continue reading →

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