Heritage Lilly Pilly

This giant, and very old Lilly Pilly tree greets you at the front
of the building - Wallarobba.

Wallarobba Arts and Cultural Centre is at the back of Willow
Park, in Hornsby NSW.

Each year an abundance of scarlet berries litter the surrounding
lawn and drive.

I have been inspired to draw, make prints of, and photograph
this great tree. I even wrote a poem about it and the associated
history of the building called 'Lilly Pilly Jam'.

Iconic Australians

We enjoy the birdlife here. Some are regulars, and this is their
territory.

We watch them nest build, and raise their young. Others migrate
through.

I took these shots close to our backyard this week, in fact they
have been very active nearby lately. One family of Kookaburras
use an aerial termite mound for their nest hollow in a giant gum
each year.

 Family groups are important to Kookaburras, and they are quite territorial.

 At on point they both leant forward like this, we thought they were due 

to fly off, but they stayed quite a while. 

This gum borders our land and the bush reserve. A wonderful valley spills away from here. 

The long trek back.

It was one thing to hike down to The Glow Worm Cave. However, we
none of us quite realised the exhaustion of climbing back up the hilly
track to the vehicles.

The afternoon sun got quite hot, making the conditions very humid.

The senior members were a little slower than the young. As the week
progressed though, we got reports of nearly everyone being tired or sore
from it all. 6ks of effort.

 A pause before the walk back. 

 This little rustic bridge marks the direction of the Newnes walk. 

 On either side of the bridge can be seen old railway tracks. 

 Lush vegetation here, even on logs. 

 Finally arriving safely at our wood-fired pizza restaurant at Hartley. 

The general comment of the day was the opposing styles of our twins. 

One dressed for comfort and practicality, the other stylish and in activewear.

 Pizza, coffees, wine, cider, and to finish, Gelato. My flavour was Tim Tam.

The birthday lad, 60 years young. 

The trek to The Glow Worm Cave cont.

So many pictures, and my son Ben's to see too.

Apparently, he was able to capture some images of russet coloured, fleeting small birds.
They danced and spread their tails like fantails.

 So many majestic escarpments, and valleys. 

 Many a waterfall after the rains.

 Small points of interest like this fungi.

 Bec and Mike. 

 Colorful lichen on rock faces.

 Ben meets a local resident. 

 Smile for the camera!

 Sarah watches Ben doing his photography. 

  Many ferns and treeferns, especially as we neared the cave, where it was lower and damper. 

 A riveted relic - a large steel pipe.

 Entering The Glow Worm Cave, cut out from rock, a curve in the middle. 

As the light does not pass this bend, it is an ideal habitat for The Glow Worms, 

which live there. Little dotted patterns of light are scattered across the walls and above the ceiling. 

 It takes some concentration to be sure footed, inside the floor is rugged 

and uneven. There are many sections of pooled water. 

 Exiting the cave at last. A little glen outside, a waterfall and this humorous sign. 

If you still had the energy you could keep trekking to Newnes.

Glow Worm Trek continued

The path started innocently enough, but then became more rugged, with
stepping around rocks, logs, and wet sections.

  A vista with the distinctive blue haze. 

 The Pagoda formations, these were quite high. 

 Old railway relics across deep chasms. 

 The trail now had steep gullies and valleys one side. 

 A smaller Pagoda.

 We were puzzling about the roadside masonry, convict or later company built? Still quite old. 

 A hurdle to clamber over, this gate. Mike on the right had studied

Environmental Earth Science and Geology. 

 The rainwater runoff had left puddles which were this rich saffron colour, due maybe 

to tannins from the surrounding vegetation. 

A sign of things to come.