Sassafras Gully (Springwood) Walk – 19 March 2014

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Dave Noble

I thought it would be nice to walk down Sassafras Gully at Springwood. I wanted to get some photos of fungi that I thought may be out and also photographs of Glenbrook Creek. Showers were forecast and I thought that may provide nice soft lighting.

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As it turned out – there was a lot of fungi out, but the weather was fine and sunny for most of the day. So – not many photos of the creek (the flow was quite low anyway), but I did manage to get lots of photos of fungi. In some places I did have to shade the fungi with my pack or myself to get indirect lighting. Continue reading →

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Lockleys Pylon – Blue Gum Forest Walk 14 – 16 March 2014

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Dave Noble

I recently completed a nice three day walk in the Grose Valley Area. I started out from Leura, in the early afternoon, walking out from the station along the Mt Hay Road to the Lockleys Pylon Track. This was about a two hour road bash, which for me was made more interesting by experiencing a thunderstorm on the way. As I walked out I was worried about lightning strikes – some of which seemed very close.

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Then I headed out to Lockleys Pylon. I wanted to camp near the Pylon, preferable as high as possible but was not sure what campsites would be like. Continue reading →

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Cooks River Birds – More Photos

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Dave Noble

I spent another few hours on the Cooks River photographing the birds and also have updated my Cooks River Birds webpages. The updated pages start here and continue onto four linked pages. So far they cover 18 species. I have tried to identify the birds and have included a species list. I would be grateful if any reader lets me know if they spot any errors.

Pelican on the river. Its a shame it has to swim through rubbish!

Pelican on the river. Its a shame it has to swim through rubbish!

This is still a project in development. I want to photograph more species but also get better photos of those birds I have already seen. This requires a fair bit of patience – but it is interesting to watch the birds’ behaviour. Continue reading →

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Dargans Creek Canyon – 9 March 2014

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Dave Noble

The second canyon Su Li had organised for the weekend was Dargans Creek Canyon. The party was the same as saturday (Su Li, Brent, Dave W, Rob and myself) and also Ci’en and Chee Fong.

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This was my first visit to the canyon since the bushfires and the walk down the creek was certainly very burnt out. With the ladder down the dam cliffs closed off, we went to the climbing area and set off down the creek bed. A short way downstream, we climbed up to the base of the cliff lines to join the old track down from the ladder. Despite everything being burnt, this was quite easy to follow and we soon made it to the start of the canyon. Continue reading →

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Wollangambe Canyon – 8 March 2014

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Dave Noble

Su Li had organised a weekend of canyoning. Our objective for the first day was to visit a part of Wollangambe Canyon.

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On the way up the mountains, we decided to do the “Greg” Section, or “Lower Tourist” section of the canyon. So we park at the Cathedral of Ferns Campground and set off down the fire road for the canyon. Once we arrived at the Wollangambe River, we inflated lilos and set off down the canyon. On lilos were Su Li, Brent, Dave W and myself, and swimming was Rob. Continue reading →

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Royal National Park – Coast – Photo Essay

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Dave Noble

I recently spent more time in Royal National Park – walking along the Coastal Track. I hoped for some stormy weather, but I was a day too late. There and been a big thunderstorm over the area the day before I set off. The weather I had was pretty fine – which made photography a bit difficult – but at least the wet, humid weather before I left meant that some fungi should have popped out.

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Continue reading →

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Pozzines

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Dave Noble

This is a post about a landform feature that seems to me to be fairly common in sub alpine areas – but I have never been able to find a “proper” name for them (searching online for this geomorphological feature)

In Corsica, they are known as “pozzines” – and are a well known feature close to a certain part of the GR20 walking route. In http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozzine a “pozzine” is defined as –

Une pozzine est un trou d’eau observé dans les montagnes corses. Elles sont reliées par des canaux naturels creusés par l’écoulement des neiges fondues et se trouvent dans de vastes prairies.

And translating gives –

A pozzine is a water hole observed in the mountains of Corsica. They are connected by carved by flowing natural channels snow melted and are in wide meadows

Here is a photograph of the Corsican pozzines –

Pozzines near Lake Nino in Corsica

Pozzines near Lake Nino in Corsica

Given their description and how they appear – these types of small lakes or waterholes seem quite common. I have seen very similar waterholes in New Zealand and Tasmania. Continue reading →

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Vale – Alex Colley – Bushwalker and Conservationist

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Dave Noble

Alex Colley 1909 – 2014

Alex Colley lived a long life. He recently passed away at the age of 104.

I had met Alex a few times, the latest being in 2006, when I went to the office of the Colong Foundation to pick up a copy of the excellent book he wrote on the Blue Mountains – Blue Mountains World Heritage. The text Alex wrote is accompanied by very fine photographs taken by Henry Gold. At that time, Alex was still working as a volunteer in the Colong office.

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Alex was a bushwaker. A Tiger Walker. One of an elite group of The Sydney Bushwalkers, who in the 1930’s would complete very long walks in very short times. With very limited maps and information being available, many of the walks he went on would have been exploratory.

Later in his life, he devoted a lot of time to protecting those wild lands that he loved. In particular, he worked on two major projects involving the Blue Mountains – realising the dream of Myles Dunphy for a Greater Blue Mountains National Park and then later, having the National Parks that covered the Greater Blue Mountains dedicated as World Heritage. We owe Alex a lot for this work.

You can read more at this page on the Colong Foundation’s Website. It has their tribute, as well as a tribute from the Sydney Bushwalkers. The Sydney Morning Herald has an obituary here.

Caro Ryan, from The Sydney Bushwalkers has posted this video of Alex –

A celebration of Alex’s life will be held in June 2014. Check the Colong Foundation’s Website for details.

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Fairy Dell and Magdala Creek at Springwood – 2 March 2014

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Dave Noble

We had encountered a fair bit of rain and had cancelled plans for more distant trips. After hang breakfast with friends at a cafe at Springwood – a few of us set off down the nearby Magdala Creek to walk to Fairy Dell.

FDell 7

I was joined on this short walk by Dig Dave, Chuin Nee, John and their young son Jasper. The rain held off for the most part. Continue reading →

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Glenbrook Gorge – 1 March 2014

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Dave Noble

It had been raining for a day or two and I was hoping that Glenbrook Creek would be up a bit. Its only a ten minute walk to the creek from the National Park entrance at Glenbrook. There is a good track that starts behind the Visitor Centre of the National Park. The start is not obvious, you have to go along a service road a short way and look for a sign that is not visible from the carpark.

GlG 2

Once at Glenbrook Creek – it is only a few minutes more walking down to the start of Glenbrook Gorge. The rain and stopped so I set up my camera and tripod and started photographing the creek.  Continue reading →

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