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

The Lilian Fraser Garden

This one's a lockdown recreational space with a difference. It's the Lilian Fraser Garden in Pennant Hills. 

Ms Fraser's family ran a poultry farm in the area about 100 years ago. She herself was an agricultural scientist. When the farm was sold off  for housing blocks, she kept the house and garden, but in later life donated the place to Hornsby Council. You can wander in any time. More here: Hornsby Council brochure

Further explorations up Cockle Creek

I ventured into deepest unexplored bush country this morning. Or that's what it felt like. There were hints of disused walking tracks. There were no other humans to be glimpsed, but a large wallaby hopped past at one stage.

Yet the M1 motorway was just above and to my east, and the suburbs of Wahroonga and Asquith were a couple of hundred metres away to either side. What a discovery!

 

 

 

 

I'd entered this secret world by way of an opening in the bush at the end of Stokes Aveue, Asquith, and I exited with the help of a fortuitously placed footbridge which led to a track up to King Road, Hornsby.

 

 

 

 

I think the footbridge is there to service the mysterious 'Chemical Dosing Unit' which is located near there. I feel the need to research this more, but suspect it's more to do with removing nasties from the creek than with adding them.

Crosslands Reserve - luxury lockdown location likely to lose legality

It's always a nice spot, but today it excelled itself. The car park was full as ever, but the lockdown exercisers must have been largely out exercising genuinely along the Great North Walk, rather than participating in enormous picnics and barbecues, like you usually see here on weekends. So the wide open spaces were indeed wide open, and it was yet another beautiful sunny day.

The Covid outbreak broke through to new records today, and the rules got changed once again. As from 5pm the whole state is finally locked down. 

What the new exercise/travel excuse rules mean for Crosslands type expeditions here in Greater Sydney is still a bit unclear to me. In the northern suburbs you used to be able to travel up to 10km for your exercise excuse, but this has become 5km. Except that, on most interpretations, you could go a lot further if you stayed in your local government area (if it happened to be a big one that is, like Hornsby!)  I'm yet to work out if the local LGA loophole still applies. Premier Gladys and her cronies rarely say anything clear and definitive during their public appearances.*  Except that there are $5000 fines involved! And the relevant section of the NSW Health website seems to be snowed under, so I can't seem to clarify the point.

* Actually they also say very clearly that they are in no way to blame for the emergency. It's the people who do the wrong thing, it's the virus that got virulent, it's the health advice they followed, it's the vaccines that didn't come, etc etc. Definitely nothing to do with a government that waited 10 days too long to do anything much, and then did far too little for several weeks. If you take your health advice from business 'leaders', you'll be led to a very bad place, in every respect, business included.

The Great North Walk part 3: Hornsby to Berowra

The stages are getting a bit bigger and hillier now, but we're still going (fairly) strong. Nine brave souls at the start.

Here we are having morning tea at the scenic waterfall on the Great North Walk's recently-designated 'upper diversion' around the Hornsby Rifle Range. I'm still a bit peeved at having the easier under-the-rifle-range route stolen off us allegedly for safety.

 

 

 

 

 Down those steps into Galston Gorge

 

 

Probably better to be facing inwards

 

 

 

This bushwalker's done it all before

 

 

An unexpected challenge at the creek crossing under the Galston Gorge bridge. They've put concrete 'stepping cylinders' there, but they're not stuck properly to the boulders beneath, and they wobble horribly!

 

 

 

Now is this a snake I see, around a tree? (Actually it's not!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch at the Crosslands Reserve. Some are feeling a bit sore, and checking out the Uber option.

 

 

 

And then there were seven.

Photo courtesy Elaine W

Covid countdown - 3 parks in 1: a big new Hornsby Park

 
Bottom bit


I'm sure this used to be called Rosemead Reserve. It's a pretty little picnic spot on the way down to the Great North Walk.

You can walk to lots of places from here.












 

Top bit


Up near the Aquatic Centre is the delightful little park I always knew of as Hornsby Park.

Middle bit: a work in progress


And this is where something amazing seems likely to come together. The (rather scary) mountain bike trails are there already, and work's been underway for a while on renovating the old quarry site into a very spectacular area indeed. (See: Quarry progress) It's all going to be one giant, and hopefully very special, suburban super-park.

Covid countdown - Hornsby's Neal Park & Edgeworth David Garden

How long have we been living in (sort-of) lock-down? How many weeks ago exactly was it, that PM Scomo told us we could still go about our normal business and that he was still going to the footie? Two weeks, six months? Hard to say, but I just looked it up. It's about nine weeks since his footie remark, and eight weeks since the plan to ban all non-essential gatherings of more than 500.

Then in the following two weeks the legal gathering limit quickly shrank down to two! Since then it's all been a bit strange.

One of my special missions during this time has been to use my legal-exercise outings constructively, and to explore and document as  many as possible of the nearby parks and bushland reserves. I've discovered or rediscovered lots of them, and I'm so glad they are there.



Today's little outing was to the Edgeworth David Garden in Hornsby, which is adjacent to, or part of, Neal Park. It's a small area, but an unexpectedly attractive green and rainforesty patch.


It was the home of  Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David, geologist and war veteran who also led the first expedition to reach the south magnetic pole in 1908. He's got a nearby major road named after him too.





And he and his wife had a very nice garden!

Covid countdown - Waitara Creek

Waitara Creek runs from the western edge of Waitara, past Normanhurst Park, and down to Berowra Creek.

It's long been my plan to explore the 2km bit between the park and the Hornsby to Westleigh link track (the Dog Pound Creek one). I thought it might involve a fairly strenuous bush bash. Today was the day to find out.

Surprise surprise, it's actually quite easy. There's a  good track along most of it, and nothing very hard anywhere. At one point there's an interesting descent around a waterfall, which is done with the aid of some handy ropes.

The only negative was the smell around the sewerage pipe that you follow for a while.

'Social distancing' in the food court and the car park

Hornsby Westfield shopping centre on Monday. It's often hard to get a seat in the food court. Now you can't have one either, but for different reasons.

Glass half full (quarry half empty)

I did an inspection of the Hornsby quarry yesterday. You're not exactly encouraged to go inspecting, but I have my methods.

The quarry was an embarrassment for the Council for many years, having been obliged to expensively buy it when it closed, but without the funds or plan for doing anything with it.

Then along came the NorthConnex road tunnel project, and a plot was hatched to use the spoil from the tunnels to fill the quarry, and then to create 'the Centennial Park of the North' within the filled-in quarry.

It was understood that there wouldn't be enough fill to completely fill the hole, but at first glance I thought they hadn't put much in at all. It was still a very deep hole. There again, when I dug out a picture of the thing as it was a year or two back (second photo, courtesy Hornsby Shire Council), it was clear that much had indeed been achieved.

Here's a link to the Council's video about the project, with time-lapse footage and all:  Final Truckload video

I look forward to watching the creation of  'the centrepiece of the Shire's recreational facilities for generations to come'.

An arts festival, Hornsby style

No opera to be heard, or old or new masters' canvases there. And the performing arts on show involved cheery ladies on stilts or people wandering around in green dragon costumes.

Great fun though, and perfect for the Saturday shopping crowds in Hornsby.


There were in fact painting workshops going on for the kids, and several local arts and crafts groups were there to sell their wares and advertise their deeds.

Saturday's activities were just an introduction to the event proper.

There was music too, like that of this jazz band. Or from the very tall musical lady below.

The festival actually goes on for a month, I've just discovered, and there really is some serious culture and a range of creative enterprise planned. See http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/my-lifestyle/arts-and-culture/festival-of-the-arts/festival-of-the-arts-2017-eoi