News 2000-2001
Bushfires
La Perouse
Southern Highlands
Kiama Excursion
Royal Easter Show
Walking at Glenbrook
Barrington Tops

Autumn Colours
Cronulla Morning
City Excursion
Pittwater
Kangaroo Valley
Leaving Home
Spring Has Sprung!

Bushfires

New Year's Day 2002.

This year certainly started out in a memorable way with the bushfires of Christmas Day. For two weeks, Sydney and its surrounds was covered in a disgusting haze from the bushfires in and around the city. The smoke even reached Auckland, more than 3000km away! The sun turned an interesting shade of red and the city skyline does its best impression of Los Angeles. Never fear - my home wasn''t anywhere near the fires and would only be affected if fire can jump over 10km of concrete.

Later in the month I took a field trip to one of the areas affected by the fires, Royal National Park. The area burned down in such a short period of time was incredible. To think that a lot of the damage was the work of arsonists is very disturbing. But there was already signs of new life in the grasses and banksias, 3 or 4 weeks after the fires. The miracle of new life.

La Perouse

January 2002.

Although this place is only 15 minutes from home I have never visited it. For all you Frenchies, this place was named after the first French explorer to visit the area. He came too late - a month after the first English explorer! If he had come earlier Australia's history may have been very different...

The area has wonderful rock platforms full of marine life and local history. On the afternoon I visited it was chocka-block full of Sydney-siders picnicking, swimming, getting a tan.

Southern Highlands

February 2002.

This is still one of my favourite places to get away from it all. I had just started a short course in photography at this stage and a weekend at Farmhouse was just the thing for practicing on different subjects. One village in the area, Berrima, has lots of heritage buildings, especially those made from sandstone.

Kiama Photography Excursion

March 2002.

The highlight of the photography course was a full-day excursion to Kiama, a seaside town 2 hours south of Sydney where a small jazz festival was in full-swing and we could mingle with locals and visitors from everywhere.

Royal Easter Show

Easter 2002.

A Sydney institution for decades. It was my first visit to the show since its move to Homebush Bay and there were lots of sights to be seen. One of the most popular attractions was the woodchopping where men in white tights race to climb and chop large pieces of wood with various pieces of hardware. There was also a circus and the impressive food hall displays.

Walking at Glenbrook

Easter Monday 2002.

On Easter Monday I went walking at Glenbrook (in Blue Mountains NP) with my friends Jenny and Jess. We were going to do a bushwalk but didn't realise that the majority of the park was still closed due to the summer bush fires. The only place we could walk was down the road leading to Euroka Clearing picnic area. It was a quiet and pleasant enough walk and we were rewarded with the sight of kangaroos grazing on the grass as we ate our lunch.

Barrington Tops

April 2002.

During the school holidays in mid-April Melanie and I took a little trip to Scone in the Upper Hunter Valley. We stayed at a small, country youth hostel, set among horse stud properties and corn fields. One of the strange attractions near Scone was a place called Burning Mountain, where a layer of coal underneath the surface has been smouldering for thousands of years and continues to burn.

But the best part was our day trip to Barrington Tops National Park. It involved driving on a unnerving unsealed road for half and hour to the top of the Great Dividing Range. There, you can feel the air cool and freshen. There were forests, icy creeks and magnificent views to appreciate.

Autumn Colours

May 2002.

Don't you love it when the temperature cools, the air gets crisper? Even the gardens of Kingsgrove put on a bit of a show at this time of year.

Cronulla Morning

May 2002.

The southern Sydney beach suburb of Cronulla is a hub of activity on a Saturday morning - surfers, fisher-people, joggers are at hard at it as the sun rises.

City Excursion

May 2002.

In late May I went on a photographic excursion to the city with my photography classmates. We had fun wandering around the alleys of The Rocks (the 'old' quarter of Sydney) amongst the usual crowds of families and tourists.

There were street performers wearing and doing the funniest things. The city also looked wonderful in the twilight from Bennelong Point.

Pittwater

June 2002.

Queens Birthday long weekend was spent on the shores of Pittwater, a beautiful bay just north of Sydney. Melanie and I stayed at Pittwater YHA, perched on the edge of Ku-ring-gai National Park overlooking Pittwater. Getting there was adventurous enough. It involved riding a small ferry from Church Point to Towlers Bay Wharf and then walking 15 minutes uphill to the hostel. No television or radio there, but why would you need it when you've got the wildlife to entertain you?

Early on the first morning I took a walk to deserted Morning Bay Wharf. It's no longer used but makes for a scenic photo opportunity first thing in the morning.

Mel and I did plenty of walking that weekend, exploring the tracks near the hostel. I reckon we walked about 20km or more - quite an achievement for someone not used to walking! On the way we saw some giant mushrooms and more magnificent bays.

Kangaroo Valley

July 2002.

A catch up weekend with uni friends Jenny, Xiao Hui and David in Kangaroo Valley (where we curiously didn't site any roos). We rented a property called 'Bimbadgen' about 10 minutes from the village. The house was definitely beyond my expectations. It was wonderfully furnished, at the bottom of the Illawarra Escarpment, complete with cows grazing in the nearby paddocks and a small tract of rainforest with a stream running through it. The silence is what gets you at this place. We all spent a lot of time appreciating it and the beauty of the valley.

We did a day trip too, to Tallowa Dam, half an hour's drive from Kangaroo Valley. It provides drinking water for the surrounding area and is surrounded by wilderness.

Leaving Home

August 2002.

Yup, the time came when I finally left the family nest. Mind you I didn't move very far, to the neighbouring suburb of Hurstville where I rented a flat. I learned very quickly that moving is a pain in the bum, especially when you're starting from scratch as I was. But I was pleased. The sense of independence I felt living on my own is certainly worth it.

Spring Has Sprung

October 2002.

A weekend trip to the Southern Highlands gave me a glimpse of the world awakening after winter. Mittagong and Bowral have many open gardens, and I visited Kennerton Green, one of the better ones. It was a magical place, indeed.