You can enter via the famous garden bridge.
It's an audio-visual show about Monet and the other impressionists, and it's put together by the same people that did Van Gogh Alive, which I'd visited a few months ago. Same place (Hall of Industries, Moore Park). Same deal, but different artists and music. And it's just as good.
Here are some pictures.
And here's a video:
Yet again I found myself exploring a terrific Blue Mountains bushwalking wonderland that's been well explored by almost everyone but me!
I'd taken the Hat Hill Rd north-east from Blackheath many times before, en route to Perrys Lookdown, though the road to there seems to be closed at the moment. I'd never quite checked out little Hat Hill itself, Bald Head to its north (except for the view of it from the other side of the Grose Valley), or even the touristy Anvil Rock lookout.
Here we are the other day, heading north from Hat Hill.
The view down the Grose Valley
And up it
A short burst of scary-looking bad weather swept through, to remind us of the week of extreme wetness we'd just been through. It was soon gone again though.
A native cockroach - clean and wholesome,and rather beautiful, I thought
Anvil Rock Lookout. It's so named of course because it's shaped like an anvil. But it also has a 305kg actual steel anvil bolted to it, just to be sure.
From several points along the way, we got good views of Sydney's distant urban centres. In addition, we could see some large areas of water, being the now-flooded flood plain of the Hawkesbury-Nepean river.
After a long and miserable wet week, the sun came out again.
Here in my northern Sydney suburb, we had about 350mm of rain. That's a record for my rain gauge, though some parts of the state, further north, got around 1000mm.
My special interest is in Parramatta, and the amazing Loyalty Rd flood retention dam. I discovered it by accident a few years ago on a bushwalk. I wondered what this huge construction was doing there, straddling the tiny Darling Mills Creek.
It turned out that Darling Mills Creek, and also Toongabbie Creek , where there's a similar edifice, are not always that tiny. They are the main upper tributaries of the Parramatta River, and after big rain events they get to decide whether Parramatta, with all its new skyscrapers and alleged cultural attractions, get to be swept away downstream into Sydney Harbour or not.It was a party atmosphere today at the Loyalty Rd retention dam! Every family and its dog (yes) turned up. And I thought I was the only one who knew about the thing. Click on the video above.
And still it hasn't overflowed. The water hasn't even got above the top of the bushwalkers' tunnel. That's when the dam starts to really earn its keep. It's never yet been required to. But I'll keep watching. One day it really will stop Parramatta ending up at Manly. Watch this space. I'll do another check on Tuesday if necessary.
Meanwhile, downstream in Parramatta, I checked out the site of the state government's proposed relocated Powerhouse Museum. One of the objections to the move was that the new site would be frequently underwater. Well, guess what? It's underwater today once again!
Any ideas, Gladys?
Autumn leaves are decorating our lawns and footpaths at the moment. They can be magnificently colourful. I came across these brilliant red ones in Hornsby Heights yesterday.
This one looked like a stranded fish, I thought.
And here's a slightly evil fish
But look at this really scary one!
It was back-to-Newcastle day for me yesterday. That is, I realised it was nearly 8 years since I last visited the place. (The local one. I visited the slightly smaller UK Newcastle a couple of years ago.) See here: 2013 post and here: 2019 post
Since I was last there they've torn up the rail line into the city proper, and replaced the last bit of the journey with a tram.
It's a nice tram, and it works very smoothly. I'll give it that.
One negative change, I thought, was the demise of the Hunter St pedestrian mall. Maybe it comes to life at night. But it was pretty dead yesterday afternoon. Lots of very serviceable cafes seemed to have sprung up elsewhere though.
And then there are all the fine looking parks and open spaces. And the particularly fine looking old railway station. It's become a quiet spot to hang out, and it's filling up, or trying to, with art galleries and boutique arty shops and things.
Here's the old Customs House - now a hotel.
Officially the walk starts at Circular Quay, with the ferry ride to Woolwich Pier. So we did that, and walked the pleasant streets of Hunters Hill, before plunging into the bush.
Here we are in the mangroves beside the Lane Cove River.
And here's a riverside resident passing the time of day further up near West Lindfield.
Another way to see this bit is by kayak. You can hire these from the boatshed at the Lane Cove National Park complex just downstream.
But we're planning to walk it all.
The news this morning had been about a mega-earthquake in the Pacific, and tsunami alerts in New Zealand, Norfolk Island and elsewhere. Sydney's a bit further away, but it's still in a straight line to those Kermadec Islands.
A police helicopter came circling overhead. It was broadcasting an unintelligible message. Must be a tsunami alert! Everyone got out pretty quickly.
Comparing notes with the other evacuees, we decided it was probably a missing person request in fact. There was something about a man wearing a blue T-shirt. This was confirmed later when we studied the police notices. No tsunami today!
LATE UPDATE: NSW Police announced late this evening that a missing 88-year-old Narrabeen man had been located safe and well in the CBD. Excellent news!
Every year or three my bushwalking club gets itself around the Colo Meroo circuit in the Wollemi National Park. We assemble at the starting point on the Upper Colo Road. Here we were the other day.
Not far from the Rural Fire Brigade station in fact.
It's a somewhat contorted loop that traverses Gospers Ridge and Mailes Ridge, and although I last did it less than three years ago, I found I was still a bit disoriented. It was a bit misty, so we didn't get to see the distant city views, for instance. They were said to be on the other side of the ridge than where I'd expected them to be. It's a very winding river, the Colo, and could defeat the best navigator, I'm sure.
Here we are, admiring the views down to the river from Mailes Ridge.
Back down at river level, near the unexpectedly closed Meroo camping area, is the traditional swimming spot. We were ready for a cooling dip, and there was a fair bit of water in the river, following recent good rains.
The boys did a synchronised swimming demonstration.
Somehow the girls didn't look all that impressed!
