Merry Christmas

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As I write this the rain and mist and 'wintery' weather we have had for weeks has passed over and today it's positively  HOT! So it looks like being a sunny Christmas day after all. For me (Louise) I'll take the mist and cold anytime, and in that spirit I hope you enjoy this photo taken in our garden last June.

However and wherever you are celebrating tomorrow (by the beach, by the fire...) we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas . We hope you will have a restful break and a wonderful New Year.

Remembering George

Remembering George our beautiful bunny who died this weekend.

DH

Spring Fair

Come and say hello to us at the Warrimoo Spring Fair (held at Warrimoo Public School) this coming Sunday 23rd October! 
We will be there with photos on display and numerous items available for purchase including our new range of journals. Together with other stalls, rides, and entertainment, it promises to be a great day for the whole family.

Spring Unfolds

The Blue Mountains comes alive with colour and transforms into a new world in spring. Up here where the seasons are much more defined by the weather, we get to marvel at the beauty around us as the sun shines more brightly and spring unfolds.

Many private gardens are generously open to the public during this time, charging a small entry fee, often to fundraise for a worthy cause. If you missed viewing the beautiful gardens around Hazelbrook last weekend, you still have time as they are also open this coming weekend. Gardens in Yellow Rock and Winmalee open their gates as well this coming weekend while Leura has a week long garden Festival during the first week of October, culminating in the Leura Village Fair on October 8th-9th.

The early settlers of the Blue Mountains must have seen the similarities of the weather patterns here to their homes in England and covered their gardens and estates with all sorts of flowering trees, shrubs and bulbs making it feel like another world as you walk through the garden gates. This is especially evident in the long established gardens in the delightful village of Mt Wilson which are open for a number of weekends over the next few months.

Of course the The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mt Tomah and Everglades at Leura have their doors open all year round and are wonderful places to visit.

To find out more about some of the open gardens here are a number of links with more information:

Hazelbrook Gardens Festival

Leura Gardens Festival

Mt Wilson Gardens 

Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mt Tomah

Everglades Historic House and Gardens

Michelle's Photoshoot

We had the pleasure of photographing the lovely Michelle last week. After her 'solo' shots we captured some great moments with son Jordan and their beautiful retriever, Cruise. Click here to view more of the photos!

Magpie Mania

An overhelming dislike of magpies seems to grip the public at the start of spring - the media this week was full of complaints about these birds swooping passers by to protect her nest and her young. What a lot of people fail to recognise is that humans have taken away the magpie's home and habitat - we force them to nest in unnatural places and have removed their source of food - we have built homes, roads and surburbs on their original habitat, and then we expect them to trust us when we go near their nest!

The magpie is a native bird - a protected species in Australia. They are impressive intelligent birds and only swoop to protect their eggs and young. They guard an area of about 30 - 50 metres around their nest but once their chicks have fledged (which takes about 6 weeks) they stop their swooping behaviour.

Old time remedies such as wearing a hat or head gear with eyes painted on them has been said to stop these birds swooping. If you're riding a bicycle, putting a flag at the rear of the bike stops the birds from making contact with the person. However the obvious plan would be to avoid the area they nest in for a few weeks till nesting is over.

There are times when we need to be reminded that we share the planet with some beautiful and amazing creatures who also deserve a space to live and survive.

DH

Murphy

SO here's the thing. Murphy is now nearly all grown up. Still as beautiful as ever but of unknown parentage. Dil bought him as a rescue dog and was assured he is part chihauhau.  I say, chihauhau my...eye! He's up to my knee and must be about 15kg. I love making her crazy about this especially by saying that his deep chest lends itself well to Doberman (she is LESS than impressed with that idea!) So here he is...and here's the challenge. What do YOU think he is? Comments welcome.

Photo by Louise and textures courtesy of Skeletal Mess (Shadowhouse Creations)

LB

Remember this year's Father's day for a lifetime.

Gift vouchers for dad available from the link below:
http://mindseyephotography.yolasite.com/specials-and-gifts.php

Blackheath Choir Festival

The Joyful Noise - singing at the 2010 Blackheath Choir Festival

Immerse yourselves in wonderful music at this year's upcoming Blackheath Choir Festival. Events such as this remind us of the unique opportunity we have in the Blue Mountains to be involved in the music and culture around us. It is a well known fact that music soothes the soul, lifts the spirits and brings people from all walks of life together.

Held this coming weekend, from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th August, the festival is a chance to celebrate the richness of music and of singing. There will be many local choirs performing as well as talent from far and wide. To find out more, have a look at

http://blackheathchoirfestival.weebly.com/

A Ghost Town

It was a surreal experience walking the streets of Yerranderie – now a ghost town in the middle of the Blue Mountains National Park. In its heyday (in the early 1900s) it was a thriving mining village nestled in the valley with working silver ore mines in the hills surrounding it. By the 1950s the mines were closed and slowly people started leaving the town after a number of unsuccessful attempts to reopen them.

Yerranderie has been privately owned since then and visitors have been welcomed to this tranquil place to enjoy its peaceful bushland, understand its history and hear stories of the people who lived and worked on this land. After the long drive in on gravel road, it’s worth staying the night and there are a number of accommodation options – the old post office is now a hostel, there’s a self contained mining cottage across the road and also an inviting expanse of grassed area for campers.

Yerranderie is lovingly cared for by a couple of caretakers who can show you around the town, tell you the history, and direct you to the number of walking tracks to the various mines in the area. The old town buildings are fascinating to view and house a large number of interesting items, while a walk through the old cemetery is a reminder of just how many people called this place home. Surrounded by mountains there is also a walk to Yerranderie Peak – a somewhat difficult climb but the views are worth it.

This charming and unique place is one of our historic treasures – it’s future is now changing hands and we hope it will remain open and welcoming, so we can all see and taste the glory of the bush and learn of its history.

DH

SEE MORE IMAGES OF YERRANDERIE HERE

The Cave Hotel

A fascinating piece of history lies hidden along the Bells Line of Road – The Cave Hotel sits just metres away from the road where hundreds of motorists drive by each day.

The cave itself seems to have first been in use by the indigenous people of the area as evidenced by the many emu footprints carved deeply on the cave wall. It is said the cave became “The Cave Hotel” in the late 1800s and served grog to the passing travellers. The outside rock face bears the inscription “The Cave Hotel, by T.Shearwood”.

What an interesting and curious site! It makes us wonder what other gems are hidden away along this road and in the surrounding bushland … and what will be destroyed if the proposed widening of the Bells Line of Road goes ahead?

DH

Horseshoe Falls

Location: Start at the picnic area at the end of Alexander Ave in Hazelbrook. This walk goes through Horseshoe Falls Reserve.

Duration: I hour

Grade: Moderate

Features: Waterfalls, creek, overhang

Trip Notes:

Where are the Horseshoe Falls? Although signs announced the way to them throughout this walking track, when we got there it wasn’t clear exactly what the sign was pointing to. Even each of the walking books we referred to had different maps of the same area and different names for the same falls. Nevertheless we had decided to explore this beautiful area with its ambiguous maze of walking tracks. Some helpful new signs had been put in place and the one saying “Waterfalls” is the one to follow at the start. 

The track hugs a wide rocky creek bed with water cascading down the slopes, sometimes forming pools and mini waterfalls and other times dropping off ledges making veils of water. The sides of the embankment are covered with ferns, and splashes of fresh faced wattle dot the landscape. Soon some formed steps and a boardwalk is reached, but just before the boardwalk an unmarked side track on the left leads to a lovely spot between 2 waterfalls. It’s a bit slippery and there’s a small rock scramble to negotiate but the scene is captivating – an expanse of flowing water surrounded by ferns where we can see the first waterfall upstream and watch the water as it races over the top of the second. 

At the end of the boardwalk a sign points to Horseshoe Falls which leads us past some unusual round rocks along the muddy path. Footing has to be watched down this small descent. Here we come to the first of the main waterfalls - Lyrebird Falls which pours over a ledge, cascading down a rocky shelf past lush ferns and mossy logs forming a huge pool on the beach below – truly spectacular after rain. For the move adventurous, a muddy upper path provides a way to the falls where you can sit behind them and listen to the thundering water. 

From these falls the track continues following the creek, and soon another unmarked side track on the left is another opportunity for a short detour. Here you come to a curious section of the creek where the water flows over some sinkholes – a series of perfectly rounded holes in the creek bed. It’s definitely worth a look although the path is slippery and extreme care must be taken near the exposed ledges. 

Continuing along the main track where angophora trees wave their tall trunks amidst the lush green ferns, another junction is reached and turning left leads us down past some large rock steps which are eroded and slippery. Although not signposted, this is the way to get to Horseshoe Falls and the wonderfully large overhang from which the falls are possibly named. A sign here told us we had reached Horseshoe Falls however it’s unclear as to what it’s referring to. There was however, the spectacular Glow worm Nook Falls which runs over the roof of the overhang and forms a curtain which we can walk behind. Sandstone rocks and lush ferns surround this oasis and hours can be spent exploring this little paradise. 

From here the track continues on to Oakland and Burgess Falls, but as rain clouds approached we decided to head back the way we came and save the rest for another day.

DH

This article has been published in the July/August 2011 edition of The Mountains Blueberry.

On the eve of the BIG storm this week, I said to Dilshara that I had been so busy working on portraits, a 365 project and other aspects of photography that I had abandoned my work with textures - which is what I love nearly most of all. Then we lost our power and all I had of an 'electrical nature' was about 30 minutes laptop battery time and a hundred or so image and texture files on my internal hard drive. I found this old photo and messed about with a couple of textures and got (what I think is) a great result. Sometimes you can mess with photos and textures for hours and get nothing worth keeping. So I consider this happy result as a sign to get back to it!
The storm provided a fortuitous turn of events for me in that sense, forcing me back to practising what I love and do best.

The textures applied to the photo in Photoshop are by a guy called Jerry Jones who goes by the name of "Skeletal Mess" on Flickr. His textures are marvellous and he has hundreds of them - all freely available to use by other photographers. A talented and generous guy!
More of my textured photos are found by following the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildephotos/sets/72157621831685669/

Freaky weather!
Well, we are up a mountain and it's not unusual to have really strong winds from time to time. But this week has been something else! On Tuesday the winds got stronger and stronger through the day. Just as our monthly camera club meeting got started the power was lost. And that was the end of that. The journey home took me almost two hours instead of 15 minutes due to this:.....

I'm happy to tell you that I wasn't on the train (and as far as I know only one person had a relatively non-serious injury), but between this accident and another tree across the road further back along the highway it was one heck of an evening. When we eventually got moving again there were trees down all along the highway.

We had no power at home for 24 hours - so no phone, no hot water, no heating and NO INTERNET!!!

By the next day the journey back to Katoomba took a measley 45 minutes and I picked up two backpackers along the way who were thumbing a lift back to their hostel. The road is still on a go slow today (Thursday), and whilst I am grateful beyond measure to have my central heating and my internet back, others are still without power  throughout the Upper Mountains. And now we are forecast snow. What a week! 

LB

These beautiful animals give their whole lives over to serve our needs/wants. They have a right to a life, and death, that is dignified.
Take action against live export of cattle. Visit http://www.animalsaustralia.org/ for more information
LB

Wilson Glen

Location:  Start at Buena Vista Rd in Woodford at the sandstone memorial opposite Woodford Station

Grade: Easy, although a bit overgrown at times and some uneven rock steps to negotiate

Duration: 1hour

Features: Creek, Cave

Trip Notes:

A pool in the middle of beautiful bushland, lined with sandstone blocks and surrounded by ferns - a place for families and friends to gather on a sunny afternoon and enjoy the therapeutic atmosphere and clear cool water. This is how we imagined Gypsy Pool to be, as a friendly fellow walker described this man made pool and the days he spent at the swimming hole years ago. Now the pool has sadly been allowed to fall into disrepair - the sandstone walls broken, with silt and overgrown vegetation hiding the glory of days gone by.

Nevertheless, Gypsy Pool is a fascinating place to visit and the trip there makes a great afternoon bushwalk. The memorial at the start tells us that in 1932 Thomas M. Wilson dedicated this area to the Blue Mountains in memory of his wife, and as we descend the well-formed steps we are grateful for this generous gift. Lush green ferns surround the path and a few old seats provide some places to sit and observe. A wooden bridge takes us over the small creek which winds its way down the escarpment and we soon come to a curious little sandstone structure with water dripping into its moss covered cup shaped surface. A silver sign above it tells us it’s Tealby Spa – we later find out that this is a natural spring and there was once a metal lions head here with the water running from it.

A few meters away a large shelter with picnic tables provides a nice spot for a break before descending down into Wilson Glen. Angophora trees dot the landscape with their orange trunks standing out amid the glistening green of the ferns. The track takes us over a number of bridges through the rich rainforest type vegetation of Wilson Glen and brings us out into more open forest. As we walk past the hand painted sign pointing to Gypsy Cave, we soon come to an old fire trail. Turning right at this T-intersection and following the track for a few minutes to another path on the right takes us to Gypsy Pool. Crossing the old pool, we enter Gypsy Cave – it’s more like an overhang than a cave but there is room in there for a picnic table, and I imagine it would have been a wonderful shady spot for swimmers to rest and picnic, long ago when the pool was in its prime.

A set of steps heads off to the right and this is our return route. Ascending the steps we soon come to a small track on the left which leads to a lookout and is a peaceful spot giving clear views of the surrounding bushland while looking down onto the ferns of Gypsy Pool. Continuing on, a fork in the path is eventually reached - making a sharp left here takes us up a few more steps, past young Banksia trees and eroded rocks bringing us finally out onto Railway Parade. To complete the round trip a short road walk has to be done but care must be taken as the road is narrow and there is no footpath.

DH

This article has been published in the May/June 2011 edition of The Mountains Blueberry. 

Mt Victoria

Let's start right at the top. Mt Vic is a town seemingly not going places. People go through it on their way to elsewhere. The two empty shops on the highway just stay that way, with businesses intermittently trying and failing to stay open there. The Old Post Office is...I don't know what - quiet, shut up. Is there even a resident. Ooh, spooky!

But Mt Vic has a lot going for it. Bikers (of the nice variety) stop at The Imperial Hotel (beautifully newly refurbished); locals post their letters and buy their lunchtime sushi at the General Store (greetings Ronnie and Nolene); cinema enthusiasts drive for miles to enjoy the experience of the old time Mt Vic Flicks; abseilers abseil; snow falls; it is the first and last and highest town of the beautiful Blue Mountains

This spot is dedicated to celebrating in vibrant images the village of Mount Victoria. There's life in the old dog yet!

Mount Vic Flicks is the local cinema open Thursdays to Sundays. The building was originally the town's public hall and was built in 1934. It is now one of eight 'significant cinemas' listed on the Australian cinema map and is twinned with another 'old time' cinema in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. It offers a cinema experience of times gone by complete with pre-movie enterainment, namely an organ player who works her way through an entire repertoire of movie music, accompanied by her partner on maracas, ending with a rousing rendition of "That's Entertainment". There's a snack bar with choc tops, soft drinks and mugs of tea. The seats aren't the most comfortable in the world but that all adds to the experience. What's more they put on art house, foreign language and alternative movies with less of the action blockbusters. And at a cheaper price and a more intimate experience than the big chain movie cinemas could ever provide.

You can book ahead and it's highly recommended for the more popular movies - I queued for half an hour to get the last seat in  the house for "The King's Speech".

 

Ronnie and Nolene run the Post Office and General Store. Ronnie also makes sushi and you can get a warming tea, coffee or hot chocolate. Despite their long hours they are always cheery, knowing all the locals and having a joke with (or on!) them.

One shop success story is the interesting gallery and toy shop, Trains, Planes and Automobiles still surviving in this little town since 1997. Occupying the old bakery on the Great Western Highway, it houses a countless array of toys, games and memorabilia and the brick oven can still be seen hiding behind the shelves. It is certainly worth a visit for both the young and not so young, with authentic antique toys lining the cabinets as well as shelves of currently popular toys. The shop is full of colour with it's walls packed with toys from ceiling to floor and is a great place to find an unusual or interesting gift.

Faces of the Blue Mountains

We hope to capture some of the friendly and unique faces of the people who live in this special part of the world.

Musician Steve

Musician Steve Bevis who uses his music to speak out - he addresses  important social justice issues and brings awareness of how we in the West can be so apathetic to our brothers and sisters in the developing world. At the same time he brings a message of hope and life.

George, Murphy & The Chickens

Our new and very cute little pup Murphy whom we got from a rescue organisation called Aussie Desert Dogs. Murphy is a Chihuahua cross although he's growing fast, and is now 3 months old.

George, our 6 yr old rabbit is a bit apprehensive of Murphy and Murphy wants to eat George. George is a sweet bunny whom we got from the Blue Mountains RSPCA about 5 yrs ago. He is quite content to hop around the yard and relax on the rocks.

Our pretty chickens add a peaceful atmosphere to our garden and have a therapeutic effect as we watch them wander about. After an initial protest by George, they are now content to forage about together in the garden.

DH

animal passion

Animals are our passion. We love to photograph them and show their beauty whether at rest, play or something in between!
Oscar is 13 years old and has spent almost all of his long life sniffing out the Blue Mountains. He is a gentle soul with a crazy spirit and is the source of all my animal portrait inspiration. Quite simply he is my non-human soul mate. LB

Beautiful Birdwood

The orange glimmer in the clear pool caught my eye, as after days of rain I finally got a chance to do my favourite Springwood bushwalk. I had heard stories of years ago when the streams here were full of yabbies, but as I had looked at the urban growth in the Blue Mountains I had given up hope of ever spotting a yabby – at least one so close to civilisation. Maybe there still is hope for the streams of Birdwood Gully and Madoline Glen.

The Birdwood Gully/ Madoline Glen area on the north side of Springwood is a lovely area of bush, surprisingly unspoilt by the development near it. (I’m sure this is due to the team of bush carers who look after this area). A walk down the stone steps to this gully causes the business of life to be long forgotten and one can enjoy the peacefulness of this quiet bushland.

As we walk along the old paths, past towering gums and ferns, we hear unusual bird calls and watch little lizards dart along the rocks.  The walk here takes approximately one hour for the round trip and you can start it at the intersection of Bednal Rd and Lucinda Ave in Springwood. (You will have to do a short road walk at the end to link up the round trip). It is a perfect walk for children (or for those who need a bit of encouragement to get out into the bush) because of the variety of natural scenery to enjoy.

Explore the waterfalls and creeks and maybe catch a glimpse of the wallabies that inhabit this area, but watch out for leeches after rain! The vegetation here is rich and varied and as I point out an interesting shaped mushroom to my eight year old godson, a bower bird catches our eye … but that is a whole new story.
DH


This article has been published in the September 2010 edition of The Mountains Blueberry.

Knapsack Park

The distinctive crack of a Whip Bird broke the stillness and promised us an interesting afternoon stroll as we entered Knapsack Park – a section of interesting bushland in Glenbrook with several tracks running through it.  This area contains a lot of early convict history and we chose the Olivet St entrance to do a round trip to Lennox Bridge and back, hoping the bush would give up it’s secrets of days gone by.

As we walked along the wide, open trail, a cyclist gave us a wave and fellow walkers were also enjoying this piece of bush close to their suburban homes. The afternoon sunshine lit up the old quarry - a large rock shelf of orange, brown and cream layers of sandstone, providing a fascinating spot to explore and an old eroded five trail took us through the quarry and up onto the escarpment. A flash of blue caught our eye as a pair of Superb Fairy Wrens leapt and danced with each other. The Rosellas darted beside us and Common Bronzewings fluttered along the path as we made our way out of the quarry, to the top. There is a maze of unsignposted tracks in this area, but by keeping to the main path you will soon come to a track on the right which leads to Marges Lookout. This is a curious old lookout with a huge tree providing some shelter as we looked over the plains below. The landscape here is covered with “Egg and Bacon” flowers, and this expanse of yellow dotted with bright red Mountain Devils and pale pink Grevilleas surrounded the path as we made our way along the cliff and down to Lennox Bridge.

Lennox Bridge is a quaint old sandstone bridge tucked away in the bushland of the Lower Blue Mountains. The Bridge is a semi circular arch bridge built in 1833 by David Lennox working with a team of convicts and took just 12 months to complete. It was the first of its type, and now the oldest remaining bridge on the Australian mainland. This peaceful spot is an inviting place for a break and an impressive place to explore. A multitude of birdcalls rang through the air and we drank in the serenity and watched Brookside Creek below. A Sacred Kingfisher landed on a nearby branch, its beautiful blue-green colours glistening in the light. The shy Eastern Spinebill also darted to and fro. This seemed like a birdwatcher’s paradise and as we made our way back along the creek a confident Noisy Friarbird gave us its performance. The frogs, hiding in the creek lined with ferns, croaked along with the birds. A bright Eastern Yellow Robin and a Golden Whistler also came and perched nearby and the ever-present Laughing Kookaburra watched with us as a large Eastern Water Dragon sunned itself on a warm rock.

This walk which should have taken us at most one hour, took about two as we couldn’t help but stop and watch the amazing wildlife around us, making this somewhat ordinary trail into a wonderful walk.

DH 

This article has been published in the November 2010 edition of The Mountains Blueberry. 

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