Outage? What outage?

After the big storm the other week, which brought down lots of trees and power poles, we were without power for 24 hours. Not bad at all, I thought. They're on top of this.

They replaced the power pole around the corner, and restrung the power lines. But the NBN broadband cable remains stubbornly cut and unconnected. Nobody round here has any proper internet.

I rang our service provider, who told me there wasn't any outage in my area, so it must be me. I told the chap exactly what had happened, but he nevertheless sent an NBN team round to the house a couple of days later to see what was wrong here. I told them exactly what had happened, and they agreed that yes, it probably was the cut cable around the corner. A few days later again, my service provider rang again to tell me there was an outage in the area. I told him too exactly why there was an outage, and that I'd told them all about it a week earlier. He seemed pleased that his job was done. When I asked what the timetable for the repair was, he said it was the NBN's responsibility now, and he didn't know. Wasn't that interested in suspending charges for the non-existent service either.

So a relatively unconnected Christmas, and maybe a relatively unconnected few weeks to come. Sydney Exponential will endeavour to continue its service anyway. Watch this space.

Blown away suburbs

Several of Sydney's northern and north western suburbs were nearly blown away on Saturday night. It was probably the wildest storm that I've ever seen, and it caused hundreds of trees to come down, some on houses, many across roads, and lots of them bringing down power lines.

The storms, and possibly tornadoes even, had been much forecast. I'd cancelled a Thursday bushwalk, which could have gone ahead as it happens. The weather came late.

Walking around my local streets afterwards, I surveyed the destruction. Our power is now back on, though many will have to wait another day or two. SES and electricity crews have converged on the area from all over the state, and appear to be working miracles.

Some random observations:

* As well as no electricity, there was no phone service. We used to have phones that didn't need mains electricity, and the mobile system fails at times like these because everyone's needing to make calls.

* Although none of the traffic lights were working, the traffic generally flowed far better than usual.

* Despite widespread gridlock in some areas because of trees down on main roads, there was almost no assistance from the 'Emergency Broadcaster', the ABC. Maybe in times gone by, before the vicious cost-cutting of its idealogically driven political enemies, it would have been different. Hardly a mention that anything had  happened, let alone what streets were blocked, and what else was happening where.

* Our local streets were full of talkative, friendly neighbours. There's nothing like a little adversity to bring a community together!

Exploring Mt Charles and Lightning Ridge (not that one)

Bushwalker Charles was one of my companions the other day on an exploration of uncharted Blue Mountains territory. Uncharted for us, that is. Mount Charles has clearly been well charted, of course. There's a (broken) trig point there, after all. Even Charles himself wasn't able to put it back together again.

Bushwalker Liam's plan was to work our way from this part of the Bells Line of Road, along a series of ridges, including Lightning Ridge. We would then head down the spur at the end, and hopefully find a way through any cliff lines, into Carmarthen Creek. The maps show a waterfall and a 'Glow Worm Tunnel' to explore.

There was no distinguishable track for most of the way, and it was rather scrubby sometimes. It was a hot and sweaty sort of day as well.

We made it to within a few metres of our target canyon, but a sheer drop of 7 metres or so brought us to a halt. With a bit more perseverance, or with a longer climbing tape than the 5 metre one we had, we would have found a way down. It was hot though, and getting on. I was secretly pleased I'd failed to bring my much longer tape with me! We declared victory and headed back.

We passed what appeared to be a fossilised stegosaurus on the way back, and bushwalker Sandra took part in the world's first ever fossilised stegosaurus rodeo!

Wollangambe Crater

The walk in to Wollangambe Crater in the Blue Mountains is one of those classic bushwalks that I've been doing every few years since I moved to Sydney. 

The walk usually starts at Bell. You walk for a few hours in sometimes quite wild country, to an unusual saucer-shaped feature, the origin of which seems to be the subject of some debate by geologists and others who claim to be in the know.


Was it an asteroid impact, a volcano, or is it just a coincidental arrangement of ridges and valleys formed by the usual erosion forces? Or was it the 'electric machining' referred to on the website thunderbolts.info  The aerial photo above is from that site, and is credited to Garry Maxfield. I must admit it's never looked all that cratery to me from within it though.

I did the walk again last weekend, with a party of mostly Wollangambe newbies. The big bushfire a few years back, and the subsequent regrowth, has made the usual 'tricky navigation' sequences even trickier than usual, so we weren't let down in the occasional positional uncertainty department. But it's hard to get very lost these days, with all those GPS devices around.

We all posed for pictures on my favourite armchair tree. And we admired a good crop of late-flowering waratahs.



























Below: A lazy lunch in the crater

Peak Jacaranda comes late this year

Sydney's jacaranda month was traditionally November, and in recent years climate change seemed to have moved it forward a bit, to late October/early November.

This year it's gone the other way. We're into December, and Peak Jacaranda has only just arrived. In fact lots of seasonal markers have been a bit unhinged lately - presumably due to the unusually dry year we were having until recently.

I headed for McDougall Street in Kirribilli, where media reports told of uncommon hordes of tourists invading this particular purple patch. There are hundreds of streets around Sydney which are particularly blessed in this way, but for some reason it's McDougall Street that social media have singled out.

Sure enough, there was a small group there, doing a semi-serious photo shoot, with models in traditional oriental costumes. McDougall Street's jacarandas are in fact a bit past it this week, so I told them about all the other spots they could visit (ie just about any suburb to the north), where the show was still at its peak. Too late, they said. We're doing it here.

I went exploring then, and confirmed my advice was correct. North Sydney, Naremburn, Artarmon, Chatswood, West Pymble, Hornsby, Westleigh. Everywhere you look, it's still Peak Jacaranda.

Time to turn up the power

Solar power, that is.

My 3 kilowatt system has been proving its worth for nearly three years now. But there's room for another 2 kilowatts worth of panels on the roof.

Thursday was the big day. Up go the panels.

And in go the batteries. 11.4 kilowatt hours worth. Batteries are the contentious bit. I'm not usually an early adopter of technology, but I clearly am here. Batteries are still a little on the expensive side. Payback periods are still of the order of 10 - 15 years, so most people are waiting a bit longer for the prices to come down further. Some will probably be waiting for the promised battery rebates that were announced the very same day by the soon-to-be-back-in-power Labor Government.

I decided not to wait though. The real value will be in saying goodbye to household debates about heaters, coolers, and thermostat settings. Sydney's usually a bit too cool or a lot too hot. We plan to be comfortable from now on.

And somebody has to have an energy policy. Our current federal government certainly doesn't. 

Thornleigh to Parramatta via the scenic route

 

I led a group of bushwalkers on one of my classic walks the other day. We did Thornleigh to Parramatta, not along busy Pennant Hills Road, but mostly along a series of bushland corridors. You can do this sort of thing all over Sydney.

It had rained overnight, and the Darling Mills Creek was a little higher than usual. Some of the creek crossings were a little challenging, but it takes a lot to stop the All Nations Bushwalkers. The same couldn't be said for some of the other groups we encountered. One group stood transfixed as they watched us show them how it's done. They stayed transfixed there too, and didn't follow us.





Another challenging creek crossing, and some of the party opted for a less conventional technique.

And what about this for a barrier? It's the 'North Rocks Dam', officially the Loyalty Road Flood Retarding Basin. It was built about 20 years ago to protect Parramatta from floods, by slowing the flow after extreme rainfall events. So far it's never really been tested, but one day it will be.

The retarding tunnel through which the creek flows, serves also as the walkway for bushwalkers, most of the time at least.

It was a little bit wet in there this time, but fortunately quite negotiable.

You emerge out the other side, and tip-toe along a narrow walkway, before heading up a concrete stairway to dry land above.

Then it's on again downstream, past some striking sandstone cliffs. The suburb of North Rocks was named after one of the local sandstone outcrops, from which the stones for Parramatta Gaol and Lake Parramatta Dam were sourced.

















There's a bit of a weed infestation going on in some spots. Needs a bit of attention from a Bushcare group maybe.

Here's Lake Parramatta. When I'd first heard of it, I'd thought it must be something within Parramatta Park. But no, it's an entirely separate place, a few kilometres to the north. It's got a cafe. picnic and barbecue facilities, and a swimming area. And it's very popular on sunny Sunday afternoons.



Below: my intrepid group 

Some photos courtesy Paul Monaghan & Molly Huang

Burnie - (once were?) City of Makers (and platypuses)

The North-West Tasmanian city of Burnie is trying hard to cash in on Tasmania's tourist bonanza. It's promoting itself as the 'City of Makers'.

It certainly once was a city of makers. It made most of the country's fine paper for a while, at one of the country's biggest paper mills, located through most of the area in the picture above. I used to work there, in the Research Laboratory, back in the days when research, and science generally, were still thought worth the effort (rather than just exporting woodchips or other raw materials).

I found that where the main paper machine building used to be, there's now a Bunnings Warehouse! It's a pretty big and impressive Bunnings Warehouse, but still..... it's only another hardware store, selling the products of today's real makers, the Chinese.

I called in at  the Maker's Workshop, the embodiment of the 'City of Makers', and it is indeed a worthy establishment. There are several local artists and craftspeople-in-residence, there is homage paid to the makers of yesteryear, and I wish them luck.

I wasn't sure, though, what to make of the publicity blurb from Crystal Cruises, one of many cruise companies calling in on Burnie these days:
In fact, Burnie is famously the “city of makers,” boasting a proud heritage of craftsmanship and homegrown specialties that are known worldwide for their artistry and flavor. Juxtaposed with the surrounding untamed Tasmanian brush, Burnie’s creative industries give the town a hand-made ambiance, that welcomes travelers to indulge in its wares.

That wasn't really the Burnie I used to know. I suspect it isn't really today's Burnie either.

What else was Burnie famous for? Well, sometimes during my lunch break I'd go to the Fern Glade Reserve, and have my lunch while watching platypuses. It was a renowned platypus-watching spot.




Didn't see any the other week. Seems they might have gone missing. I did see locals with fishing rods though. Hope they haven't fished out all the platypuses!

Waratah blooms again, industrial relics and all

Waratah is an old mining town in Western Tasmania. It's said that at one time, its Mt Bischoff mine was the largest tin mine in the world. It was also the first town in Tasmania to have electric street lighting.

Not much going on in the 1970s and 80s, I noticed. But it seems to be looking up again. Tourists are passing through, and there's a nice feel to the place.





One of the things to do is to visit the old hydro-electric power station. Or at least, the relics of it. It's rather decrepit and unsafe, so they've officially closed the track down to it. But such tactics rarely discourage intrepid investigative bushwalkers.

You can read all about the Mt Bischoff mine at a vantage point overlooking the open cut. The mine was started in 1871 by James 'Philosopher' Smith, and it has been called the mine that built Launceston.