Govett's Leap to Blue Gum Forest
I've just had a little wander down into the Grose Valley (Blue Mountains, west of Sydney) for a couple of days. The goal of the trip was to check out the Blue Gum Forest, birthplace of the Australian conservation movement and one of only a handful of contenders for my favourite place on the planet (others would be the Mutitjulu waterhole and Woodford Folk Festival). I hadn't been there since the fires in 2006; I was hoping most of the damage would have regenerated by now. It also gave me the chance to properly test out my new camera, too. There are half a dozen ways down to the Blue Gum Forest; the way I took is the steepest of the lot, but it's worth it because of this.
The good news is that the forest has recovered far better than I could have hoped for. I had decent weather for the walk, but it was a bit cloudy, so you're not quite seeing it all at its best. I still got some decent shots, though.
Comedy highlights of the trip:
1) One of the cool things about Bridal Veil Falls is that as they're so light and high, and because the valley they're in is a natural wind funnel, a small change in wind direction can suddenly shift the impact point of the falls 20 meters sideways.
I'd managed to scramble up to the base of the falls (this involves about half an hour's worth of finding one of the handful of routes that can get you over the frictionless moss-coated boulders without breaking your legs), and was setting up a camera timer shot when the wind changed. I suddenly went from being quite a long way from the falls to being directly underneath them; it also meant that my glasses were instantly hit with enough misty water to effectively blind me. And as I was precariously perched on top of a large mossy boulder and surrounded by similar, there was no way that I could move fast enough to dodge. I eventually had to just hunker down and wait for the wind to change again...
2) A Currawong at Acacia Flats, enraged at my refusal to share my dinner (I would've, but it ain't good for them), manages to lift the teabag out of my still half-full teabag and makes a spirited attempt at stealing my book. Who knew that birds liked Thomas Kuhn?
3) A Redbelly Black snake, warming itself on the trail in the Blue Gum forest, is rudely surprised by lostwanderfound taking his morning stroll. After his heartbeat settles, lostwanderfound proceeds through the forest before returning along the same route...and this time nearly steps on our scaly friend's new, different hiding place. Slightly unnerving when walking solo; fortunately, most of the snakes you'll meet around here will only get aggressive towards those who really ask for it.
And some other miscellaneous shots from the walk:
Been way too long since I've done that; the last time I got out was Mt Cloudmaker at the start of the year. Full photo collection over here.
The good news is that the forest has recovered far better than I could have hoped for. I had decent weather for the walk, but it was a bit cloudy, so you're not quite seeing it all at its best. I still got some decent shots, though.
Comedy highlights of the trip:
1) One of the cool things about Bridal Veil Falls is that as they're so light and high, and because the valley they're in is a natural wind funnel, a small change in wind direction can suddenly shift the impact point of the falls 20 meters sideways.
I'd managed to scramble up to the base of the falls (this involves about half an hour's worth of finding one of the handful of routes that can get you over the frictionless moss-coated boulders without breaking your legs), and was setting up a camera timer shot when the wind changed. I suddenly went from being quite a long way from the falls to being directly underneath them; it also meant that my glasses were instantly hit with enough misty water to effectively blind me. And as I was precariously perched on top of a large mossy boulder and surrounded by similar, there was no way that I could move fast enough to dodge. I eventually had to just hunker down and wait for the wind to change again...
2) A Currawong at Acacia Flats, enraged at my refusal to share my dinner (I would've, but it ain't good for them), manages to lift the teabag out of my still half-full teabag and makes a spirited attempt at stealing my book. Who knew that birds liked Thomas Kuhn?
3) A Redbelly Black snake, warming itself on the trail in the Blue Gum forest, is rudely surprised by lostwanderfound taking his morning stroll. After his heartbeat settles, lostwanderfound proceeds through the forest before returning along the same route...and this time nearly steps on our scaly friend's new, different hiding place. Slightly unnerving when walking solo; fortunately, most of the snakes you'll meet around here will only get aggressive towards those who really ask for it.
And some other miscellaneous shots from the walk:
Been way too long since I've done that; the last time I got out was Mt Cloudmaker at the start of the year. Full photo collection over here.