Angophoras after the rain

Photographed yesterday in the Berowra Valley National Park, in the Pennant Hills area.

Ice epidemic

Ice as in lumps of it falling out of the sky. Otherwise known as hail.

Our suburb and others experienced a very dramatic thunderstorm the other day. It came after weeks of  record heat. We can expect more and more of these extreme weather events.

The insurance industry knows this. They have conferences about it all the time. Our insurance company is sending a builder round to check out the damage, though I suspect it could be quite a while till it's fixed - such is the scale  of the damage around here.


Hailstorms are usually rated by stone size, as in 'the size of golfballs', or sometimes oranges. Ours weren't quite golfballs, mostly grapes, with the odd small plum, but rather more solid.

One bright note: My old car (parked outside) and our solar panels (parked on the roof) seem to be quite indestructible.

Coal vs renewables? A Valentine's verdict!

In Federal Parliament, our wise and far-sighted Government ministers, totally uncorrupted by any donations they've received from fossil fuel industries, joyfully pass around a lump of coal. They've rebranded it as 'clean coal', and they tell us it's wonderful, harmless stuff. Of course we've got to burn the stuff to provide our electricity! Forget this pesky Paris agreement thing we signed up to!










I understand it got as far as the heavily pregnant Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, who refused to handle it!

Meanwhile, the local Greens were out on the streets, gauging  public opinion about fossil fuels, and about the need to drastically increase the renewable energy target. They spent a couple of hours at two northern Sydney train stations on Valentine's Day, organising a Valentine's Day card for local MPs from their constituents. 'We love Renewables' was the message.

And so many people wanted to sign! I've never seen a political action as popular as this.







The cards were subsequently delivered to the relevant State and Federal members. I think they're actually well aware they're on the losing side of history. But maybe not quite aware of  just how far behind public opinion they are. As Greens candidate Emma Heyde put it, if MPs are not thinking of our (clean) energy future, then they should start thinking about their own futures.



 

(Parliament pictures stolen from The Australian and Australian Financial Revue.)

The wonders of Walcha

On our way back from Queensland the other week, we called in on Walcha, a nice little town at the intersection of Thunderbolts Way and the Oxley Highway.




A good place for a coffee break.

And would you believe, there's this amazing trendy retro Coffee Lounge there. The coffee is appropriately insipid and retro too,  but what the hell, we're in the bush! Do check it out next time you're in Walcha.

The other thing of note about Walcha is that our esteemed Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, used to live here.




(Cartoon stolen from the National Museum of Australia.)

Ethereal Canyon

Ethereal: extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world.

And that sums up Ethereal Canyon quite nicely. My Thursday Survey bushwalking group explored it the other day. We were, as so often before, indebted to the Bush Club adventurers who have bravely pioneered the route in recent years. Thank you so much, Bush Club.





It takes a good half day to cover the 7 km or so round trip, and you get wet, and you have the usual adventures finding safe spots to descend into and climb out of the canyon, but it's so worth it!















It's in what's now the Newnes State Forest, which in a better future world will be the enlarged Gardens of  Stone National Park.





















At one point the creek disappears into a tiny hole, and reappears about 100m away, coming out unexpectedly as a rather beautiful waterfall.



After emerging out onto the plateau again we drove around to a spot where we could survey the canyon from above. Here's part of it.

"No Walls, no fear, refugees are welcome here"

An excellent little gathering yesterday in Hyde Park, followed by a march to the US Consulate in Martin Place.

It was organised by the Refugee Action Coalition Sydney. It was in support of the refugees detained in Australia's offshore detention camps, of bringing them here at last, and it was to denounce both Donald Trump and Malcolm 'Trumble' for their respective crimes against refugees and race relations.

Colourful isn't the word for these occasions. And the wit and humour on display was priceless. It's such a pity it's all so serious too though.

The thin blue line at the MLC Centre. The police are always pretty good on these occasions. And if there was anyone home in the Consulate, I feel a bit sorry for them. Not only do they suddenly have a thousand chanting natives outside,  but they also have a childish, ignorant, malignant narcissist oaf to report to!

I must admit, it took me a while for the subtle brilliance of the sign below to sink in!

Noosa - a beach too far?

Like on a previous occasion, we called in at Noosa, towards the  northern end of the Sunshine Coast. Like on the previous occasion, the roads were crowded, the parking was difficult and expensive, and we lost our enthusiasm about spending time there. In fact we ate a very quick lunch in a shopping centre, had a ten minute stroll on the beach, and ran back to the car so as to escape before blowing the whole budget on parking fees.

In its 1970s heyday Noosa was apparently quite the place. An idyllic, peaceful paradise. The usual story. Maybe it's still pretty good. I'll never find out though. Too much stress involved.

Mt Coolum - not for keeping cool on!

It was a rather warm sunny day, so I turned up early for my assault on that amazing Queensland icon, Mt Coolum.

Seems like it's every Queenslander's duty to scale the dizzy heights every once in a while (all 208 metres of them!) Half of Queensland was doing it that day. The signs say it'll take you one hour each way. It actually took 17 minutes.

You do get rather hot and sweaty though, and you do feel a little bit proud of yourself. And the views down the coast are excellent!

Eumundi

We called in on the Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Eumundi. It's famous for two things: Kevin Rudd, and the twice-weekly Eumundi market.

Rudd spent his early childhood on a dairy farm here, and attended the local primary school for a few years. Despite the rickety signboard, the school looks quite well appointed these days. And that's only fair and fitting. Kevin was after all the prime Minister who saved us from the worst effects of the GFC, in part by spending lots on school buildings - around the country that is, not just at his own old school! The bust is in Canberra, by the way, and I stole the picture off Wikipedia.

Eumundi's market is a big production. Quite an institution. We spent a couple of hours there, and I don't think we got round every nook and cranny of it.