Putney 2112

I gave the suburb randomiser machine another spin (it's actually an Excel spreadsheet, but not to worry), and out popped the suburb of Putney. It's on the north side of the Parramatta River, about 10km west of Sydney's CBD.

I mostly think of Putney in the context of the Putney to Mortlake ferry. When I was working in Parramatta and living in the Inner West, I'd often come home this way. Slightly out of the way, but a pleasant little diversion.

Unfortunately on weekdays the ferry only operates during peak hours, and was closed for my visit. So no ferry ride this time.
I noticed a huge amount of new development since I was last there, and lots still going on. Putney seems to be quite the place. But then so is every suburb near the Parramatta River or with half-decent transport connections.

Here's the brand new Royal Rehab Hospital.

And here's an apartment block development which must have some of the best views of any is the Sydney area. It's on a ridge top. There's the city to the east, the river and Olympic Park to the south, and maybe the mountains to the west, plus the 'leafy green' suburbs in the north.

























There are parks, and riverside walks. Here we're looking across at the Rivendell complex.

Look out! (Lots of them!)

My Thursday bushwalking group had a nice little outing last week in the lower Blue Mountains.  We explored a series of lookouts, caves, and interesting little features on both sides of Glenbrook Creek, in the Valley Heights area.

Our walk started and finished at Martins Lookout, near Batman Park. We had morning tea on the other side of the valley, on Sharks Head, just above Sharks Head Cave, and looking out over the Creek.

A bit of interesting scrambly bits then, up narrow slots and emerging through holes like the one below. It was great fun.

One of the sights to be seen was up on the Lost World plateau: the memorial to the Reverend Brother Graham Eric Raymer, who drowned in the sea at Wollongong in 1953, while trying to save the lives of two of his pupils who'd got into trouble in the surf. I understand he used to bring them on bushwalking trips in the Blue Mountains too. So the Lost World and Bunyan Lookout must have been some of his favourite places.

Another interesting destination with a religious connection was Psalm Rock. This was also previously unknown to me, maybe because you have to bush-bash along the riverbank several hundred metres, with no clues or signposting, to find it.

It's a bit hard to see from the photo, but the whole of Psalm 23 ('The Lord is my Shepherd.....') is carved meticulously into it. Nobody knows who did it or when or why.

South Turramurra 2074

I pushed the button on my randomised suburb chooser device today, and up popped South Turramurra. And it's not a bad place for a visit either.

It must be one of Sydney's most liveable suburbs in fact.



There's a very pleasant little shopping strip. There are parks and pockets of carefully protected woodland habitat.

There's St Andrews Uniting Church, home of STEP (South Turramurra Environment Protection). As well as producing a multitude of extremely professional books and maps, and holding frequent excellent educational events, STEP was largely responsible for preventing much of the neighbouring bushland from becoming motorway corridors and housing estates. More here:  STEP

South Turramurra has an average income nearly twice the national average, and a median house price of approximately $1.7 million.

The Lane Cove National Park forms the southern boundary of the suburb. I strolled down there with a view to getting some pictures of the bush and of the Great North Walk, which passes by there. But what's this? It's closed today for a hazard reduction burn.




A very pleasant lady from National Parks was guarding the park entrance, and happily explained all about the fire and where I couldn't go.

I posed her for a photo, asking her to look a bit fierce. "I can't do fierce", she said!

The planets are aligned.........

Every few years there's an alignment of the naked-eye planets, whereby you get to see all of them at the same time (if you know where to look). There are of course six of them, when you include the one beneath your feet.

Mercury was an easy evening object a few weeks ago, but it's done its dash again now. The others are all still out and proud.

For a while I've been seeking an ideal observing location within Sydney. You won't get anything like a perfect dark sky without travelling hundreds of kilometres, but some metropolitan areas should be more suitable than others. And I hit on Terry Hills the other night as a good option to try out.

Right & below: The galactic centre is right overhead, with the dark 'Emu in the Sky' stretching horizontally from near the Cross in the south.









Right & below: Looking more or less straight up here. A very red Mars, Saturn, and always-bright Jupiter are in a line. Brilliant Venus set in the west a while ago.