Return to Hanging Rock

Hanging Rock is one of the most visited places in the Blue Mountains, thanks largely to social media. Every backpacker wants to get out there, jump across the scary gap, and perch on the narrow nose for a while, with the event appropriately recorded and posted.. Some even do base jumps or tight rope acts (look up a few YouTube videos if you really want to scare yourself!)






I took the precaution of giving my group a severe (but totally superfluous!) talking to about the perils of such activities, as spelled out on the official sign.

Strangely, it's not so well known among traditional bushwalkers, such as the members of my bushwalking club. So I like to take groups out there now and again to show them what they're missing.

It's a fairly mundane five kilometre walk out to it along a fire trail. When you get to Burramoko Head and the Baltzer Lookout you get the most spectacular views across the Grose Valley, amazing cliffs all around. And to the left and below, there is Hanging Rock, halfway detached from the cliff, and with a gap of a metre or so separating them.







Last time I went there three of the party made it across the gap, and the other three got stuck at various points along the final descent. This time only two of us did the jump, one of us even sitting for a while on that narrow nose rock. One stayed at the very top, designating herself the official long-distance photographer.

(Black & white photography courtesy Molly Huang)






The chap in red isn't me, but the black & white one is!

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.