Bay of Fires

Here is a selection of shots taken during a recent trip to the Bay of Fires, Tasmania. This was a short three day trip with the Tasmanian Walking Company staying at their lodge above the beaches. And a very pleasant trip it was too. I haven't captioned the images, I prefer to let them talk for themselves and the wonderful wild place that the north east coast of Tasmania is.   

Click on any shot to pull up a large screen image.

 Sandstone Seawall

Sydney Harbour Bridge from Miller's Point

The shoreline might not look as dramatic or romantic from this side of the bridge as that on the Opera House side, but there is still plenty of form and colour if you take a look at the detail.

These sandstone blocks now form a strong feature of Sydney harbour. Some have been recycled to form benches in the Barangaroo Reserve, a forshore park that provides a lovely green space right in the heart of the harbour. 

Other blocks have been used to form retaining walls along the driveway leading to the new high-rise buildings and off to the left back into the Rocks area through the Cut, a deep cutting through the sandstone to ease traffic flow a long time ago. The whole route is an easy walk out from the busy crowds of Circular Quay, and the park is thoughtfully designed. So good to see in modern cities.

Once on the sandstone blocks, take a look at your feet and see the variety of colours and lines in the sandstone. Sydney sandstone is a wonderful rock and it has been used to build much of the older city. Here on the shore, years of weather and and the sea itself have painted a rich patina colour chart from the dry upper blocks to the sea washed tideline. And this is only a small sample. Every block if different.

And the sea life has colonised the lower blocks.

Box Vale Walking Track

The Box Vale Walking Track follows the line of an old mining railway line outside Mittagong in the Southern Highlands, NSW, Australia. Coal was mined at the base of the escarpment of the Nattai Gorge, pulled up in small rail carriage buckets to the head of a standard gauge railway, where it was loaded into larger carriages to be pulled six kilometres to Mittagong. The mine only operated from 1888 to 1896 and all the equipment and rails were removed. Today it is promoted as a popular walking track.

The view up the Nattai Gorge from the head of the railway above the mine.

Parts of the track follow the old embankments, offering views down over and through the surrounding forest.

Other parts of the track go along the old cuttings in the sandstone, and natural history is slowly growing over the industrial history.

The main feature of the old line is the 84m long tunnel.

The sandstone there was obviously too thick to cut through. 

The tunnel was hand cut, probably to reduce any risk of shattering the soft and layered sandstone with explosives and causing the roof to collapse. The base of the old sleepers can still be seen and felt in the dark. Trip.

The southern opening of the tunnel is particularly impressive, beneath the honey-coloured sandstone cliff, and trees show the scale. 

Old chip marks can be seen on the walls of the tunnel, hand cut, hard work.

The cuttings seem to have been drilled and blasted. The rock in the walls is fractured and loosened blocks have fallen onto the cutting floor, where the trains once ran. Now tree ferns, which only grow at a few millimetres per annum, are now well established. 

And the rock ledges are used by birds too. Here on the left, a lyrebird has began to build her nest.

The nest is perched on a ledge, where cats and foxes are less likely to be able to find and reach it. So the cutting has benefitted the lyrebirds. This shot was taken in autumn, and it will take the female lyrebird until late winter to finish the nest and lay her single egg. The nest chamber will then be domed and lined with moss and feathers. The chick will then live in the football-sized chamber until it is fully feathered and fledges at six weeks old.

Enlighten - Canberra 2021

There hasn't been much travel to write about or illustrate this past year, but here in Canberra, the crowds (well-behaved) were out to see some of the best free exhibits in town, the annual Enlighten Illuminations. Here is a small selection from the show.

A crowd gathered to see the video projection on the Australian National Gallery walls

Looking along past the National Portrait Gallery wall to Questacon and National Library

The distinctive cube angles of Questacon

Questacon is the science education centre - hence the theme for their show

Birds on a wire, ever changing colours

The National Library always portray images from their vast collection. In this case advertisements for Australian fruit products

And an old photograph of an orchard

The Old Parliament House stands low but proud above the lawns

An open display of archival correspondence

Up at the top of the hill is New Parliament House - fewer people reach this venue. 

It is a nice quiet place to end the evening

Famous and less well known faces spread over the walls

Time to reflect on parliament

And a possum looks out from its nest box, wondering why the night is so busy