Vivid – Sydney’s Light Festival 2012

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Dave Noble

A few photographs from the Vivid Festival from this year.

The festival seems to be getting better each year. These pictures are from my first visit and do not cover all the displays and artworks.


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Canyoning in the Gardens of Stone

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Dave Noble

Late May was a good time to join Dave and Nicole, together with Mitch, Chantal and Tom from SUBW for some canyons in the Gardens of Stone National Park.

Many of the canyons in the Gardens of Stone are dry and so can be done in the cooler months without too much hardship. The canyons are quite spectacular and so are the surrounding areas above the canyons. There are a lot of intricately carved rock formations ranging from large pagodas to small delicate rills.

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Mt Solitary Walk

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Dave Noble

May is a nice time of the year to head out to Mt Solitary. Its an easy mountain to get to and once on top, there are plenty of things to see and the most amazing views. I had put a walk on the SUBW program and had three others make up the party. They were Chris, Iris and Craig.

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Wollangambe Crater Walk

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Dave Noble

A crisp and cool weekend was a good time to walk out to Wollangambe Crater from Bell. The walk is very pleasant and quite easy. It follows an overgrown fire trail and then a “good use” track along a ridge out to the Crater. On the walk were Rik, Wendy, Chuin Nee, John, Su Li and myself.

Wollangambe Crater gets its name from its appearance rather than its origin. On air photos – it is a shallow bowl shaped depression that looks like a crater. It does not appear to be a meteor impact crater, nor of volcanic origin. Continue reading →

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Parramatta Valley Bike Ride

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Dave Noble

Sunday was great weather for a bike ride. It has been a while (too long!) since I got the road bike out and taken it for a spin. I set off along the Cooks River and rode to Homebush Bay then past Rhodes and across the bridge to Meadowbank. There I met up with Rob and we set off along the northern bank of Parramatta River.

Parramatta River at Meadowbank

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Autumn at Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Dave Noble

I had never been to these gardens before! Despite travelling past the gate many times, and having once worked at the Botanic Gardens at Sydney, I never had the opportunity to visit this more alpine garden until now.

My good friends, John and Chuin Nee invited me to john them for a photographic trip to the Gardens. Chuin Nee’s parents were in town and they joined us (and they were very patient with our photographic pursuits) Continue reading →

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Mountain Biking – The Old Great North Road

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Dave Noble

The Old Great North Road is a great venue for mountain biking. Chris and Clare invited me to join them for a ride starting at Wisemans Ferry.

We rode up the old road for 13 km to where it meets the electricity access fire trail. This section is excellent riding. After an initial ascent, the road is quite rough – providing entertaining mountain biking. Its is mixture of short technical sections – usually nothing too hard and separated by faster, sweeping level sections. It is great fun. Continue reading →

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Anzac Day Climbing – at Nortons Basin

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Dave Noble

I have climbed at Nortons Basin before and found it a reasonable crag. Two of the cliffs are set high above the Nepean River with Nortons Basin – a large pool below. On Anzac Day – I joined Stu, Enmoore, Martin, Steffy and Albert for a day of climbing.

The weather was quite nice – but the crag was not so good. The area has become a rubbish dump. A huge number of stolen cars have been dumped off the cliffs, there is a lot of other rubbish around – paper and plastic bags, plastic bottles, broken glass bottles…. You get the picture. Its a shame! It is a really great location.

The climbs were mixed. There has not been much traffic and many of the climbs were dirty and dusty making them hard for their grades. Also – a lot of the bolts are now old and look a bit suspect.

On our visit, we could not cross the river, to what may be the best of the three cliffs. We started by bashing around to the base of the cliffs on the West Side Crag. Its easier to get to this cliff via a set of chains, but Martin and myself had forgotten the way. The climbs here start from a dodgy ledge. Continue reading →

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Blue Gum Swamp Creek – Walk

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Dave Noble

A nice walk with bushwalking friends and lots of children. Tara had organised a BBQ at her place at Springwood and after it, on the Sunday, a lot of us went for a walk heading out from White Cross Road at Winmalee  along Shaws Ridge and back along Blue Gum Swamp Creek.

There are lots of beautiful trees in Blue Gum Swamp Creek – and as the name says there are a lot of Blue Gums. In this case Eucalyptus Deanei – “Deanes Blue Gum” rather than the Sydney Blue Gum (E Saligna). Continue reading →

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Red Rocks Walk

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Dave Noble

A bushwalker friend, Dave, was on a short visit from his work overseas and had organised a walk for SUBW to the Red Rocks near Newnes. This is one of my favourite bushwalking places. Easy to get to, great views, a high camp, interesting rock formations – it has a lot going for it! The only downside is that unless you go straight after rain then you need to carry some water.

The Red Rocks is the section of the tops between Mt Dawson and Point Nicholson and then on to Point Anderson. The first part follows the Wolgan/Capertee divide and the second part is a peninsula jutting out into the Capertee Valley.

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Posted in Blue Mountains, Bushwalking, Wilderness Photography, Wollemi National Parks | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment