Three 'Evening Stars' tonight

The view to the west just after sunset this evening. From my roof. I like my roof.

Spica's a real star, and it's only just visible in the twilight.

Muogamarra open day

The Muogamarra Nature Reserve is a national park with a difference, just north of Sydney. The main difference is that it's only open for a few weeks of the year, during August and September, and then only on weekends.

If that used to limit the visitorship and its impact, I think the opposite may have happened now. It's become hugely popular when it is open, because of the publicity its exclusivity gives it.




The bushwalkers were there a couple of weekends ago.

We did just about all of the walks on offer. One takes you down along the old Peats Ferry Rd, and past some mangrove swamps.



























Peats Ferry Road naturally takes you to the site of the old Peats Ferry, where you would once have caught the ferry across the Hawkesbury and to the north.

It's waratah flowering time, of course, and there were indeed a few on offer. But 2019 doesn't seem to be a great year for waratahs.

A climate emergency everywhere else

While the powers-that-be of Hornsby Shire Council saw little evidence of a climate crisis the other night (see here:  Hornsby Council fail ), much of the rest of the world turned out in the streets yesterday because of it. In Sydney 80,000 of us gathered at the Domain. It was primarily a schoolkids' strike, but us grownups were very much invited too.

I was with the group that assembled in Milsons Point and marched over the Bridge. At the Domain we were joined by thousands more coming in from all directions.

 These occasions are always inspiring, colourful, and photogenic. No need to listen to the passionate speeches (inaudible actually), because I could just wander around taking hundreds of pictures. The placards tell the story. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

A climate emergency - not according to this local council!

All over the world, governments and local councils have recently been declaring climate emergencies. It's hard to see a reason not to - there clearly is a climate emergency, and while a declaration might be largely symbolic for a local council, it does assist them prioritising activities and pressuring state and federal government. In Australia the federal Government has been not just missing in action, but actively fighting on the wrong side of this battle. Just a bunch of coal salesmen really.


About 100 local councils around Australia have declared emergencies to date, including several within Greater Sydney. The last few weeks have seen a massive (and massively successful) campaign to gather support within northern suburban Hornsby Shire. It's been largely powered by energetic Greens councillor Emma Heyde, with the help of several local climate action groups. Over 6000 signatures of support were collected, mainly at local railway stations. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Demographic statistics and several opinion surveys would indicate that a big majority of residents of 'The Bushland Shire' favour drastic action on climate change.



There's a problem though. The local council is Liberal-dominated. And the mayor just happens to be a former Howard Government minister and current state Liberal Party president.

So it was anyone's guess  how the climate emergency motion would turn out. About 100 concerned local citizens turned up at the council chambers, possibly a record. About 20 spoke eloquently and knowledgeably in support of the motion. There were scientists, doctors, a statistician or two. The mayor was rattled. He  treated us as though we were all unruly undergraduates bussed in from Newtown. (Maybe that's how he has to chair state Liberal Party meetings!)



It was time for the councillors to vote. It all got lost in a mischievous tangle of amendments and amendments to amendments. The emergency declaration was lost, and what was passed was a long eulogy to the fabulous things they do anyway for the environment.

In hindsight it was obvious this would happen. There was no way this Liberal mayor was going to allow something that would embarrass his state and federal government colleagues, and highlight just how deficient they've been on climate.

But the climate activists have vowed to return. To every council meeting. They're monthly, and there are only 12 or so until the next council elections...........

Some photos courtesy Save Beecroft & Cheltenham Alliance, Hornsby Greens, Hornsby Shire Climate Action Group, Extiction Rebellion Northern Sydney, and commons.wikimedia

Mystery Mountain & Zobels Gully

The Thursday Surveyors went out to the Newnes area again the other day, for yet another fabulous bushwalking adventure.



We first headed on up to the summit of Mystery Mountain, where we had morning tea and looked down at the Wolgan Valley below. Great views also across large swathes of the Wollemi National Park.

We then retraced our steps part way down again, and strode out along a rather magnificent (and very navigable) ridge, half way up the cliff face.

Up now onto the plateau, via a handy slot, to a very scenic lunch spot.

It's easy walking over the top of the hill through an area burnt out by a fire last year.


















Then it's a long, easy stroll down again, via the rather magnificent Zobels Gully.

Back to the cars via the old Newnes railway route. A hundred years ago they were mining oil shale here. The ruins are nearby of the extensive refining works. The railway used to take the product out to Newnes Junction, 50km to the south, via what's now the Glowworm Tunnel. More here: Wikipedia article . That's all a whole other day out though.


GPS trace courtesy walk leader Harold.

A rare pink beauty!

You'll probably never see these again, we were told by leader Harold, on our bushwalk the other day. We were on a mountain near Newnes, and we were in a patch of burned-out vegetation. We'd come across a collection of pink flannel flowers (Actinotus forsythii). They're only found in a relatively few places in SE Australia, and only during the summer immediately following a bushfire.

Sustainable House Day

Today was Sustainable House Day. I visited the Thornleigh house, which I'd been watching take shape over the last few months. It's said to be Australia's first certified passive solar house. (That's because the certification system has just arrived. Not because it's the first passive solar house - I built one myself 35 years ago.)

It's very impressive. Very well insulated and draught proofed. Triple glazed windows. And a rather beautiful array of solar thermal water storage tubes. My house had black-painted concrete ones. Water's a better storage medium too. I want some!