Marathoners make it to Manly

Yesterday I led the bushwalking club's fourth annual marathon walk. It's becoming quite a fixture on the annual calendar, and a select group of three of us have started (and finished) all four of the 42.2 km events. We're very specific about the 42.2 kilometres. If my GPS machine says we've still a few hundred metres to go, then we find ourselves a few hundred more metres at the end of the road and we do them!

This time eight of us went to Manly. Not the usual 9km stroll from The Spit, nor the 11km ferry ride from Circular Quay, but the long way round. We started in North Turramurra, walking the Darri Track to St Ives, then across into the Garigal National Park, and down alongside Middle Harbour Creek. 

After lunch at Davidson Park we went under Roseville Bridge, paused briefly on Flat Rock Beach, made our laborious way around Bantry Bay, sat on the very thin rock sliver that is Natural Bridge, went up and down a few hills, and stopped again for a water refill break at Seaforth Oval. By now the short breaks were becoming more frequent, the blister-prone among us were developing their usual blisters, and those with mutinous tendencies were starting their mutinous mutterings. 

Nobody had to be flogged or shot in the end though, and we proudly marched past the Spit, along the beach at Clontarf, and into the streets of Manly - all pretty well before the dark set in. Our precautionary head torches had not been needed for once. We'd done the course in under 13 hours. Our junk food splurges before leaping aboard the Manly ferry were well deserved.

We'll do it all again next year.

N

Ringing in our 10th

We gave ourselves a special treat recently to celebrate our tenth anniversary, spending a couple of days at Bell's at Killcare. We'd heard it was a rather swish establishment with an even swisher restaurant run by a celebrity chef. It certainly was swish - a sort of manor house set amongst manicured lawns, pool, fountains and an extensive garden village of  blue and white weatherboard bungalows. Our little bungalow was set against a brilliant red Illawarra flame tree. Fabulous even on the inside, with the beachy blue and white theme flowing all the way through the huge bedroom, spa bath and kitchenette. A big, handsome tasteful space.

Dinner was served on the verandah of the main house, looking out across the garden where kookaburras posed for our cameras and the sun set in an obligingly picturesque way. However, the charming ambience of our eagerly anticipated dining experience went from the sublime to the riduculous in a matter of minutes. The wait staff resembled inexperienced backpackers doing their level best to out-perform each other in the Basil Fawlty stakes. The food was by and large good, though I'd eaten better fish and much better desserts in some of our local eateries. Given the price point and the hype surrounding the restaurant, it did leave a lot to be desired.  So disappointing.

All was not lost, though.  We spent a wonderful morning exploring the nearby national park and then discovering Killcare beach, which came complete with a perfectly formed rock pool.  Big enough to swim in. Killcare also has one of the best beachside cafes anywhere, overlooking the beach at the local surf club. Delicious food, great service and a grand sea view. A fitting end to our indulgent little getaway.

F. 

Sydney's cup runneth over

When I arrived in Sydney 15 years ago there was a bit of a panic on because Lake Burragorang was less than half full. A very wet weekend fixed that up and suddenly it was full and overflowing. Warragamba dam had collected its full two trillion litres of drinking water. 

Which is just as well because it hardly seemed to rain for the next 13 years. Supply levels gradually dropped to around 30%, a very expensive desalination plant got built, and we all learnt to have two minute showers and wash our cars with a cupful at a time. (Actually some of us hardly ever wash our cars, if the truth be out.)

Suddenly we had two wet summers, and suddenly there are spill episodes again, and quite a sight they are!

I'd been to have a look at the 1998 episode, but had been informed the viewing areas were closed because they were building a new spillway. Then ten years later I made the trek out again, only to be told the spillway was still being built! So I'd never actually got a proper view of Sydney's pride and joy, until today.


N

The spill is indeed quite impressive, with water cascading over the top and through what look like small slits in the wall, forcing it into a powerful waterfall. On either side are the smaller cascading falls fanning out into delicate patterns before tumbling into the swirling river below.  Pity we couldn't get closer to the rapids, but we were still afforded a glimpse through the trees of the river flowing calmly again. 

Once done with the grandeur and prettiness of the views we made our longish journey back through western Sydney, stopping for coffee and a browse through the odd 'supa centa'.  Back then to our waterlogged garden where there's not much we can do until all this rain subsides.

F

Westleigh's wild weather

The east coast low that's been moving down the coast these last few days have brought floods again to Queensland and northern NSW, and mini tornados to some of Sydney's coastal suburbs. 

In Westleigh we got a good dose of rain, plus some rather big winds.

There was a tree down in nearby Westleigh Drive, bringing with it some power cables. And in the Espanade in neighbouring Thornleigh, we saw we'd driven under a tree which was supported only by the power lines below it.

As usual, the police, emergency workers and power company people did a grand job, and everything was back in order within a few hours.

N

Asteroids, meteorites, and early morning no-shows

I was up at 4 am on Saturday morning, to watch the flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14, a 50m lump of rock which was not going to crash into the Earth. I was kitted out with binoculars, camera, tripod, and a star chart with the asteroid's projected trajectory, courtesy of Heavens Above ( http://www.heavens-above.com).  The projected brightness, magnitude 7, was well within reach of my equipment, I knew exactly where to look, and the skies were clearing. So I couldn't go wrong.

For two hours I peered through my binoculars, and snapped away with the camera. I was looking for a faint dot that moved. Or that turned up at a slightly different position on each photo. That's how these things are done. Over the two hours the asteroid should have moved nearly half way across the picture. Can you spot any difference between these two?

The Southern Cross, by the way, is near the top and fairly central. The pointers are to the left of it, and the various false crosses are below and to the right of the Cross. The dark nebula, the Coal Sack, is immediately left of the Cross. The black lines are power lines, and the asteroid, at its alleged magnitude of  7, should have been just bright enough to show up as a tiny faint dot in each, but at different positions.

Well that didin't quite work, and it's made more difficult by not having recorded the time, so not knowing exactly where to look for it. But what's this? A very bright object drifts across the field of view. It's the International Space station, and it was due at exactly 5:13am. So that gives me the time fix I need, and I know exactly where to hone in on in the search for DA14.

The third of the honed-in images is the 5:13am one. The thing should be two thirds of the way across, and centred vertically. In the others it should be further to the left somewhere. The brightly coloured spots are artifacts associated with an elderly digital camera, and can be ignored.

So where's my asteroid? NASA says it went over as predicted, 28000km safely above Indonesia. They say the 17m lump of rock which exploded above Russia a few hours earlier, with the power of a half megatonne hydrogen bomb, was not connected in any way (even though it was the biggest such reported event since 1908 - what a coincidence!) They would say that, wouldn't they? Here's their evidence:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/multimedia/da14_australia.html
and
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/asteroid20130215.html

Actually I do believe them. Thousands probably don't! I suspect Heavens Above just got the apparent trajectory calculation slightly wrong, or someone got the brightness calculation wrong. Better luck next time!

N

Surviving Westleigh's secret creeks

 I explored Elouera Creek the other week. That's not a name you'll find on a map. It's officially unnamed, so I took it upon myself to name it, after the street that runs down to the start of it.

There are several unnamed creeks here in the newly created Berowra Valley National Park at Westleigh: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHome.aspx?id=N1187

I took a renewed interest in exploring these little known and unnamed creeks recently, when one of them featured in the international news. A local boy with a medical problem took off with a small amount of food, and disappeared for nine weeks. His parents and the police feared the worst, but he was discovered in a little-known creek bed, alive, though only just, covered in leeches and with only half his previous body weight. A couple of senior citizen bushwalkers, keen off-track creek explorers like me, had stumbled upon him by chance. He was helicoptered out to Ruddock Park and taken to Hornsby Hospital. Rescuers said he'd have died within a day or two. 

 
Elouera Creek was a joy to behold. Waterfalls, caves, fabulously colourful angophora trees. Even things to eat, methinks, at least for the fit and functional survivalist: water dragons, fish, colonies of ants even.......

I've hatched the idea of exploring all of Westleigh's creeks and putting them all together into a boy's own adventure walk for the bushwalking club later this year. I'll keep you posted.

N

Celebrating Australia Day

We decided to walk around Cremorne Point this Australia Day and take in the ferry race and other happenings in the harbour.

Surprisingly, we weren't the only ones with the same idea, but we were happy to be part of the many family groups throwing down their picnic rugs and cracking open the bubbly....well, minus the picnic rug and bubbly.

One of the highlights was walking through a public garden planted by a local couple dating back to the 50's. Developed over a few decades it is now a sub-tropical paradise of ferns, flowers and brightly coloured shrubs, planted among the rocks and overhangs leading down to the water's edge.

There was also MacCullum Pool, but we decided to save the swim for Clifton Gardens further along.

Clifton Gardens beach and pier are a real drawcard. We swam and watched as big and little kids jumped off the pier. There was one great big leap performed en masse, just as I'd put the camera away. There's something very retro about the ambience here - one has the sense that kids and their families have been doing this for generations. A fitting way I think, to celebrate the things we love about Australia.

F