Chilly Beauty

 Brisbane, golf ponds and full moon.

This past week we knew winter had definitely arrived. Over night minimums dropped to 5 and 6 centigrade and the windchill factor, on our sunny 17 - 21 maximums, was icy as a result of the strong westerlie winds blowing.

Janice and I were the only Gaiter Girls available to walk on Tuesday. We drove to the Apollo Ferry Terminal to take the ferry across to Brett's Wharf on Kingsford Smith Drive Hamilton, our starting point for our riverside walk back to the city. 

Hamilton is one of the older suburbs of Brisbane and has many lovely old prostigious homes. Janice hadn't done this walk previously. A wonderful old white Queenslander caught her eye, high on the hill. We agreed that it would be worth our taking a closer look and so changed direction. We never found the beauty, but spent a lovely couple of hours admiring many of the magnificent homes and their city views.

A rare deciduous tree.

The Gateway Bridge - opened in 1986 to cross the river and bi-pass the city. Its 4 lanes replaced a ferry crossing. In 2010 it was duplicated. It looks insignificant from this distance, but close up, as in a 2018 photo, it is massive and impressive.

The following morning, there was just one pelican feeding on the misty golf ponds.

I was fully expecting this to be a short post. 

On Wednesday afternoon, the Hungry Hikers took a short, cold and windy walk along Bulimba Creek, before retiring to Leanne's nearby unit to cheer her up after her recent back operation. Thankfully she didn't require a lot of cheering up, as from the moment she woke from her operation, she knew it had been successful. No more debilitating sciatic pain whatsoever.

Time to conclude this post? 

It would have been, but Sunday evening saw the full moon rising over the golf course and for once, the sky was clear of clouds.

I was watching it rise with our neighbours, but the shimmering light on the ponds, soon had me rushing down to the water's edge.

The sky to the west, as I walked back.

Time to conclude now?

It would have been, but I was awake at 4am on Monday morning, and couldn't get back to sleep. I checked the moon's setting time and decided to head down to the ponds just after 5.30. My liitle camera doesn't do a great job in poor light, but this is the scene that greeted me. 

The photos in order from 5.40 to 6am. The first and second are from my camera. The third from my Iphone. A much truer image. You should be able to pick the rest, although as the time passed and the sky lightened, both were very similar.

6.06 onwards.

A lone pelican flew in,

And the moon began to play games.

Finding breakfast.

6.45 the moon has sunk below the tree line. I reluctantly made my way back to the house, with the golden glow of sunrise on my back.

Beating the chill.

5C when I set out. Only 13C at 10 am, so I was still wearing most of this clothing as our unheated home felt colder than the outside. Warmer days ahead and the sky continues to be cloudless.

Just the best start to my day!

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A Successful Return Hike

 Saturday 13 July

October 1, 2022, saw myself, Joc and Jan completing the O'Reilly's to Binna Burra hike of 21.4 km. It had been a hard slog in unexpected, appalling conditions, from about a quarter of the way through. We were  totally saturated and so cold that we couldn't undo buttons, zips or shoe laces. We agreed a few days later, that we should take this trail one more time, but in sunshine!

This is the link to the post titled, "Getting the Weather Right".

https://outandabout3.blogspot.com/2022/10/getting-weather-right.html

I am happy to write that on Saturday we did get the weather right! I had been concerned all week though, as showers kept passing through. 

A dramatic start to the day.

We arrived at O'Reillys to a sunny blue sky, 10C and a chilly breeze. Coffee done, we were on our way at  8.50am.

We very quickly entered an amazing, lush world of green. Soaring trees made a thick canopy which the sun found difficult to penetrate. Tree ferns, palms, vines, mosses, lichens, crow's nest, staghorns and elkhorns, filled the understudy. The track was narrow and for the majority of the hike, dropped steeply away.

Because of the earlier rain, there was many a boggy patch to contend with on the narrow path. Rocks and roots also slowed our progress. We were were also surprised at how much tree fall, impeded our progress. 

 Then/now images.

On our way! One kilometre done.

Dappled light.

Dappled light on Joc's trousers.

The path in its many moods.

Looking up.

Ferns, vines, moss and rocks.

Treefall

In the last 5k we safely negotiated several, small tricky streams.

I was in total awe of the unexpectedly numerous, Antarctic Beech trees. Once the forest tree of Antarctica, we are fortunate to have them still growing on our doorstep. At over 2000 years old and needing a specific environment, there are only a few places where they will grow in Australia, and for that matter, in the rest of the world. They grow by coppicing. The tree sends out new shoots radially from the base of the original trunk, and these shoots eventually grow into clones of the parent tree forming a ring of trunks, all belonging to the one tree. Their eroded roots look like forest sculptures.

This trail was constantly below the forest canopy. There were however, five viewpoints.

A sensational coastal viewpoint, for us to rest and eat a sandwich.

In the tranquility of the rainforest, it was difficult to imagine the hustle and bustle taking place in the distance.

Job done!

We arrived at Binna Burra at 4.15pm very tired, but elated that we had successfully covered the distance without any mishaps. Jan's wonderful husband, and chauffeur for the day, greeted us with the news that a huge python was asleep just several metres from the car. We changed. Checked it out, and returned to Mt Warren park, where a very welcome hot meal awaited us. Frank had been left with instructions as to when to turn the oven on.

Just the best day, in the best rainforest with the best friends!

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