Three days in great country. A good place to enjoy the long weekend.
The tops between the Wolgan and Capertee Valleys are a spectacular bushwalking destination. The Blue Rocks – The Red Rocks – The Mount Morgan Plateau. Each part is very good. Each part is extremely rugged and spectacular. Each part is different – and each part is reasonable accessible.
Vivid was back again and bigger and better than ever. I only had time for one visit this year. There were lots of people enjoying the sights and also lots of people with cameras and tripods.
Here are a few of my photos –
The Opera House is the main focus, but there are plenty of other things to see. I think there are 60 exhibits in all. If you want to visit Vivid – then you had better be quick – I think it ends on the night of Monday 10th June. Continue reading
A wet weekend was forecast – but we had three birthdays to celebrate. Jasper was about to turn one. It was also major birthdays for Digi Dave and Gab, as well as Rik’s birthday. So we thought a good place for a party in the bush would be the campsite at the head of the Dry Canyon.
This turned out to be a good plan. We did have a fair bit of rain – but most of it fell on Saturday night. With a lot of fine food and drink to share, and great company, we had a very pleasant evening.
Back to the Upper Grose. My aim was to get more photos of Blue Gum Forest – hopefully with some nice post rain atmosphere. The conditions I had hoped for did not eventuate, but a walk down a section of the Grose River is always good.
I set off from Mt Victoria and walked out to Victoria Falls Lookout and then down to the Falls. Bright sunshine – difficult conditions to get good photos – but some off the cascades below the falls were is shade – so that provided a few photographic possibilities. Continue reading
A cold weekend up the mountains. An icy wind was blowing from the south west. It was chilling! I had travelled up to the Blue Mountains with John, Chuin Nee and their baby, Jasper. I had convinced them that Hanging Rock on Burramoko Head at Blackheath would be a great place to take photographs. The light would be best at dusk and at dawn – so it would be necessary to camp at the nearby Baltzer Lookout.
Pete Harvey was a very well respected and admired walker in SUBW. He had served the club in many roles including a term as president. His sudden death shocked his friends from the club. On the weekend after his funeral service, Tom Murtagh of SUBW organised a memorial walk in the Baal Bone – Blue Rocks part of Gardens of Stone National Park. This was an area that Pete loved to walk in.
We had a large contingent of walkers, including Dave and Nicole’s little baby Oli (6 months old) on his first overnight walk.
Being a memorial for Pete Harvey, our original intention was to get to Mt Harvey near the Red Rocks. An ambitious plan! We almost made it. We camped about a kilometre south of the mountain and reached a high pagoda overlooking it on the Sunday morning. Continue reading
Castle Head is one of many headlands on the Narrow Neck Peninsula south of Katoomba. It is named after the feature it looks down on – the Ruined Castle.
As well as bushwalkers, it is also a place used by recreational abseilers. They descend off the head down to the Ruined Castle. There is also at least one rock climbing route up Castle Head. Continue reading
The Red Rocks is a geographical place name for the cliff line of the Capertee Valley between Mt Dawson along to Point Nicholson and then to Point Anderson. These cliffs generally face west, and so the massive sandstone bluffs are a magnificent red colour when viewed from along the Great Dividing Range further west. This contrasts to the much smaller outcrop of the Blue Rocks, limestone bluffs near Pantoneys Crown.
I take broader definitions for these colourful place names. I use the Blue Rocks for the area near or on the Wolgan – Capertee divide west of Hughes Defile and the Red Rocks for east of there to the Pipleline Track. Further east is denoted as the Mount Morgan Plateau.
Not long ago I completed two daywalks along sections of the Coastal Track in Royal National Park. This is first class coastal walking. The scenery varies from making your way along the tops of mighty cliffs, hiking through moors, along sandy beaches or clambering over headlands.
I headed up the mountains with Digi Dave for three days of photography. We spent time at Wentworth Falls and Blackheath.
Asmodeus pool
First spot we visited was the Nature Walk at Wentworth Falls. This was was pleasant but bot that great. I was expecting more having walked part of it many times on the way to Empress Canyon high up in the Valley of The Waters. It starts by traversing at the head of the valley through bush – but very close to houses. Nothing special. Then is descends through a hanging swamp to Edinburgh Castle Rock and things start to improve. Continue reading
