Sydney Sapiential travels north - and is no more!

 

It's been nearly 24 years now of getting to know and love (not always, but often) this town of Sydney. But all good things must come to an end some day. Sydney Sapiential has upped and left. Gone to Queensland droving, so to speak.

 

I've sold up and moved house four times now. Each was prolonged and painful, but this one was probably the worst. So much stress, so much to do. I never want to do it again. (That's what I've said on the previous occasions too, of course.)

There's so much to throw out, so much to pack and take with you....

There's removalists to co-ordinate.

 

And of course you have to actually find a buyer for the house. All came good in the end.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle was the Queensland border. They opened it just in time, a week and a half before Christmas, but they imposed a near-impossible permit system, requiring vaccination documentation and a Covid test both 72 hours before and 5 days after entry.

We broke our journey at Tea Gardens and at Evans Head. Both are scenic and slightly off the highway.

 

Then it was time to brave that Queensland border. See if you can work out the system being used by the border policeman to sort the wheat from the chaff. (And note the pesky passenger coughing on cue!!)

 

 

And it's on then to the Sunshine Coast and Maroochydore, with its fine beaches. (And its oversized shopping centres, innumerable homemaker centres and a Los Angeles style tangle of motorways to nowhere!)

Ben Bullen pagodafest

 

With my imminent departure to a new life in a more northerly location, last Thursday's Gardens of Stone expedition may well have been my last such Thursday Survey. Living National Treasure Harold found us yet again a totally new area to explore (for most of us, not for him).

We were in the Ben Bullen State Forest, not too many stones throws from the Mt Piper power station, which is indirectly responsible for the subsidence damage to some of the pagodas and other formations around the area.

The good news is that, after decades of campaigning for it, a Gardens of Stone National Park is finally to be created. Details aren't yet widely accessible though.

Mostly you're away from such sights, and from the trail bike trails, and then it's a fabulous wilderness. A pagodafest even!

Purple plus in Parramatta Park!

 

Every jacaranda season seems like the best ever, but this one actually is the best ever.

And one of the best collections of them is in Parramatta park, towering above the not-yet-opened new cafe.

Mt Wondabyne and Kariong Brook Falls

I was in Brisbane Water National Park yesterday, checking out the way between Patonga and Wondabyne. I'll be there leading a bushwalking group next week. It's embarrassing if you get lost, I find. Shouldn't happen now.

And I was able to remind myself just how scenic the Kariong Brook Falls are, and to admire those views of Mt Wondabyne from its approach.

Red and purple

 

Jacarandas (the purples) and Illawarra flame trees (the reds) often got planted side by side, as they traditionally flowered at the same time - November in Sydney. 

I've noticed that in recent years the jacarandas were peaking a week or two earlier. This year though the two have synced rather well, and November it is again for them both.

These ones are in Westleigh.

Purple

 

We're at peak jacaranda season now in Sydney. Here's a fine Pennant Hills specimen.

More red

 

It's a good year for the Illawarra flame tree. They traditionally dazzle with their bright red flowers at the same time as the jacarandas do their purple thing. Often they've been planted side by side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Castle Hill's historic Heritage Park they've planted a whole lot of them. I was half hoping for a dazzling show today, but it looks like they'll need a few more years yet. Watch this space.

Another stinky!

 

This sting bug dropped in on me yesterday. He must have been on his best behaviour as I didn't smell a thing. He's a Bronze-Orange Stink Bug (Musgraveia sulciventris).

A while ago I reported on one of his relatives, a  Toad Stink Bug: earlier stinky post

Slightly red

 

The Red Wattlebird isn't as red as you might think. Here's one in the front yard today, making merry with the grevillea flowers.

Its only red bits  are its 'wattles', the dangly bits below its cheeks. They tend to be invisible unless you can get up pretty close.

Very red

 

Maybe it's the time of year, or the recent rain after not much, but there are some fabulously red Sydney Red Gums (Angophora costata) around at the moment.

Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden

I think it's 20 years since I last visited the Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden in St Ives. I think there used to be an entry fee, and that might have kept me away. There isn't one now, and I can report that it's well worth a visit. They've done lots.

 

There are picnic facilities, lots of educational signage, short tracks, long tracks. Some are bush tracks, and there's a bicycle track.

 

 

There seems to have been some hazard reduction burning here recently. It's a bit contested, whether this does more good or harm, and how best to do it when we do. But from a photographer's point of view, there are always spectacular images to be got,with the resulting colours and patterns.

Back to the movies again!

Coming out of lockdown again, and getting back to the movies again, no danger of dangerous overcrowding in this cinema.

I was at Roseville, watching 'Eiffel'. It's a very watchable film. It's about Gustave Eiffel, his amazing tower, and his somewhat sad and sorry relationship with the love of his life (a woman, not a tower). That part might be all fiction. Not sure.

Re the tower, it was built for the 1889 Paris World's Fair, and a proposal had been submitted for a 200m tower, so as to beat the 169m Washington Monument. Eiffel decided to go for 300m instead, which is still a very respectable tower height to this day.

No bugs

 

We're in the process of selling our house, so we need to take an interest in termites. They're not good news if you're selling a house.

 

 

Came across these ones today.

 

 

Not in the house though! They're on a fire trail in Hornsby Heights.

 

 

 

The pest inspector gave the house a clean bill of health. Here's his official report below:

Glenbrook Creek and the Portal and Tunnel View Lookouts

 

It's one of the Blue Mountains' classic walks. We started from Lapstone station yesterday, and made our way down to the Nepean River and its junction with Glenbrook Creek.

 

 

 

 

 

The ascent to Portal Lookout is quite steep and in parts, quite exciting. At the top, we found they'd erected a fence, and a sign that said 'Abseilers Only'. We weren't quite abseiling, but I think we qualified.

 

 

From the top you get to survey the Nepean River and western Sydney.

Then it's a somewhat boring walk along recently sealed roads to Tunnel View Lookout, where you watch the trains on the other side of the valley, going in and out of the tunnel that cuts through the big bulgy bit.

Down then to a horribly crowded Jellybean pool for lunch, and a 3 km boulder-hop down the creek and round to the start point again.

Hornsby's Lisgar Gardens

 

Hornsby's got quite a few places that are well worth a visit, and Lisgar Gardens is one of them. 

 

I went back there the other day for a reminder. It's looking good still.

More here: Hornsby Council's brochure