As Vivid as ever

The great Vivid light show thing has been coming to Sydney for a few years now. It was invented to provide a bit of a tourist attraction at the time of the year when sensible tourists knew to stay away, because winter had just arrived.

Officially it's not just a 'light show thing'. It's an annual festival of light, music, and ideas, but the other stuff would be happening anyway, just with different branding. And it's the lights that bring out the punters (and photographers). By the million, allegedly.

I got there last night to do my annual review. My verdict: It's very photogenic! Well worth a visit.

Return to Hanging Rock

Hanging Rock is one of the most visited places in the Blue Mountains, thanks largely to social media. Every backpacker wants to get out there, jump across the scary gap, and perch on the narrow nose for a while, with the event appropriately recorded and posted.. Some even do base jumps or tight rope acts (look up a few YouTube videos if you really want to scare yourself!)






I took the precaution of giving my group a severe (but totally superfluous!) talking to about the perils of such activities, as spelled out on the official sign.

Strangely, it's not so well known among traditional bushwalkers, such as the members of my bushwalking club. So I like to take groups out there now and again to show them what they're missing.

It's a fairly mundane five kilometre walk out to it along a fire trail. When you get to Burramoko Head and the Baltzer Lookout you get the most spectacular views across the Grose Valley, amazing cliffs all around. And to the left and below, there is Hanging Rock, halfway detached from the cliff, and with a gap of a metre or so separating them.







Last time I went there three of the party made it across the gap, and the other three got stuck at various points along the final descent. This time only two of us did the jump, one of us even sitting for a while on that narrow nose rock. One stayed at the very top, designating herself the official long-distance photographer.

(Black & white photography courtesy Molly Huang)






The chap in red isn't me, but the black & white one is!

We come in peace

But in secrecy too. Nobody knew they were coming, but here they are. Actually, the Government knew they were coming, or at least it said it did.

The three Chinese warships that suddenly appeared at Garden Island must be friendly. They're flying Australian flags as well as Chinese ones after all.

But it's been pointed out that the timing's interesting for several reasons. They were here for the Tiananmen Square massacre commemoration, and the Chinese diaspora here know that Beijing tries to keep a close watch on everything they do as it is. Then there's those reported clashes between their vessels and ours in the South China Sea, and the Australian Government's ban on using Huawei equipment in our 5G telephone network.

Plus we've had those high profile totalitarian-style police raids on journalists in the last couple of days. The sort of thing that happens in China all the time. Bizarre really!

Patonga to Woy Woy: headlands, beaches, shark eggs, pelicans

A classic leg stretch with the bushwalkers the other day. We took the bus to Patonga on the northern side of the Hawkesbury estuary, and walked over the hill to Pearl Beach. Then via beaches to Ettalong, and around toWoy Woy.

Here's our morning tea vantage point, with views across to West Head, Barrenjoey, and the Newport Peninsula.

Who knew that some sharks lay eggs, and some give birth to live young? Actually I think I did. Our leader Len was able to further educate us on the subject when he found this Port Jackson Shark egg on Umina Beach.

An awful lot of dogs on these dog-friendly beaches, sometimes getting a bit tangled up with the bushwalkers.

One of Woy Woy's time-honoured attractions is the 3pm pelican feeding session. We were just in time.