Escape to Hawks Nest

This tale starts on a Monday morning, we have the week off and the forecast is for sunny weather. Do we believe the weather report? The weather has been so crazy lately, we chance it and book a house at Hawks Nest for 5 days. Within two hours we are packed and on our way North to sunshine and fun.

We settle into the house, unload the bikes and head off to Winda Woppa to check out the beach. There is not a soul around, the tide is out, the sand is hard so we can ride our bikes all the way out to the point. Rosco runs along gleefully, stopping every now and again to tackle the waves.

The rest of the holiday is a mix of bike rides, beach walks and lots of swimming and chasing birds (the feathered kind).

One of the adventures we went on was a ride to Johnsons and Shellys beach. Along the way we met Roy, at 72 years old he was testing out his new bike on the same track as us. Now that’s something to aspire to as we get older.

At  Johnson’s farm we saw where the kid’s started their journey to go to school. First they had to row their boat across the river with the horses tied behind, then ride their horses 9km to grandmas house and finally walk the last 2.5 kms to school. That’s what you would call commitment to an education.

Back on the beach early in the morning in the dark before sunrise we discovered an interesting phenomena. As we walked on the beach our shoes and the surrounding sand had glowing specks whenever we moved.  When Rosco ran a trail of greenish glowing dots followed him. It turned out to be Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as Sea Sparkle, it’s a marine-dwelling species that exhibits bioluminescence. It must have been washed onto the sand with the tide. We had never seen it before and thought it was pretty cool.

By the end of the trip we had identified 44 bird species and discovered a lot more of Hawks Nest and the Myall River National Park.

After 5 days of sunshine as we headed back into Sydney the rain started, a great holiday was had by all.

Empress Canyon

Nearby Wentworth Falls in flood
 Source: PolAir

This summer had the hottest day on record, 45.8 degrees and today as I write it is cold and rainy. Its been a summer of extremes a few hot days and plenty of not so hot ones. I have managed two canyons so far, Serendipity and Empress. Stephen has done many more. The video we made of Empress, should really be titled “Catherine does Empress” as Stephen did most of the videoing so I was the star.

Nearby Wentworth Falls and has been spectacular in the last week with all the rain. 18 people had to be rescued from the area and the rescue helicopter, PolAir took some great photos of the waterfall in flood.

Stephen and Shaun also made a few more canyoning videos with a GoPro camera. Whungee Wheengee which is a narrow canyon at Mt Wilson with lots of icy cold swims and some tricky abseils and Yileen Canyon which ends with a 60 metre abseil into the Grose Valley.

Serendipity Canyon

Well I dusted off my wetsuit, found my whistle and once again set off into the wilderness with Stephen. Most of the canyons these days Stephen does with people much fitter than me. This weekend he made an exception to take me on Serendipity Canyon and show me a new exit out of the Wollangambe.

On the way down to the start Stephen showed me where the exit track met the main track. I seriously contemplated waiting there for him but it would have put a serious dampener on the day. So off we trekked down the side of Mt Wilson to the start of the canyon. The day was overcast so all the greens of the canyon stood out well as we clambered, abseiled, climbed and swam our way down the creek and waterfalls. The obligatory yabby was found and I even went first down the two last abseils. It was great to be out in such a beautiful part of the mountains.

Once we reached the Wollangambe Stephen has fun jumping off the cliffs into the river. Then we watched the water dragons descend on us to see if they could share our lunch. The trek out was ok, I just kept plodding along. About 500 metres from the car we came across a group of 6 guys in their 20’s navigating with their smart phones. With limited gear and eskies they planned on doing Wollangambe 1 & 2 and camping out overnight. Torrential rain was forecast from tonight and the next two days, so I hope they made it out.

What’s this?

Look at what Rosco found today (with a little bit of help from Stephen). It’s a Bandy Bandy snake. Only about 60cm long these little snakes are nocturnal and like to stay hidden away under rocks, so its not common to find one. They are suppose to feed on blind snakes, maybe we will find one of them next.

2013 starts with a bang

New Years Eve, its hot, hot, hot and we have a party to go to. So I don my Christmas dress and Stephen gets respectable and we head to Jackson’s Landing on the edge of Sydney Harbour. We arrive at Amanda and Stephen’s perfect city apartment for the party.

With great harbour views we watch the passing  yachts, cruisers and dinghy’s loaded with people heading to their vantage points.  Even a flotilla of black jet skis passes, we later learn they where part of the firework display.

The time passes quickly and before we know it the 9pm fireworks go off. Colour, bangs, ohs and ahs everywhere. We get a view of the harbour and Darling Harbour. We can also see police cars with flashing lights zooming up and down Pyrmont Bridge for a bit of fun.

After stuffing ourselves with dessert we then list every Australian movie an immigrant needs to see to understand Australia and watch a bit of Meatloaf in the 1975 version of Rocky Horror Picture Show. A bizarre and entertaining movie.

As midnight approaches we leave the apartment with most of the other nearby residents and walk the few minutes to Giba Park. Along with families, Irish backpackers and the rest of the apartment dwellers we setup position at 11:59pm. 

On cue the fireworks light up the harbour from one end to the other and are a dazzling spectacle of colour, noise and excitement. Being part of the crowd makes it even better. One of the Irish girls in front of us gets a call from her Dad in Ireland, he timed that well. She is so excited to share her Sydney experience with her Dad.

The fireworks are over and the crowd surges back to the apartments grinning from ear to ear and feeling positive about 2013.

Thanks to Stephen and Amanda for a great night out.

Fire

It’s a hot day with a blustery southerly blowing and the last thing you want to smell is smoke. Around 3:30pm we get our first whiff of smoke. Shortly after we hear sirens from the approaching fire trucks and sure enough out of our Eastern window we see plumes of thick black smoke rising into the sky.

A short while later a scene reminiscent of the early morning raid in Apocalypse Now is re-enacted,  with helicopters flying in from all directions heading for the fire.

The last helicopter to arrive is the Sky Crane, by far the most effective water bomber out of all the helicopters at the fire. 

Two for the price of one

Sugar Glider

Squirrel Glider

Sydney has had some extreme weather lately, it was snowing on Friday and today it is 34 degrees.  After dinner we decided to take advantage of the heat and see if there is any night time activity in the nearby bush.

We started at a well known spot for owlets, nothing. Did a big circle of the bush around the ovals, nothing. Rosco is enjoying the night time sniff and wee but that’s about it for fun.

We decide on one final search and go down one of Stephen’s mountain bike tracks. As usual Stephen is out in front and Rosco and I are bringing up the rear guard. In some scraggily casurina’s Stephen spots a bit of movement. Yeah. He cautiously approaches and discovers a Sugar Glider descending down a tree. A snap and a flash and the glider is recorded for posterity. Moving on down the track and then back again we discover another glider enjoying the sap from the tree. This time it is a Squirrel Glider with a gorgeous yellow edged belly.  

Both are a joy to watch, a successful night out. Next time we will try and find the nest.