Dangar's Falls

After my trip to the Gara Gorge, Bec, Max and his friend Ryan came to stay for a couple of days en route to Canberra after some time on the Gold Coast and its hinterland. To keep them occupied, and taking advantage of the still remarkably warm winter weather, we decided to go out to Dangar's Falls out in the Gorge country. By the way, our extraordinarily warm winter means today has reached 16 C (or 60 F) as I attempt to post this message. On arrival, we started our visit by looking into the pool at bottom some 200 m below us (about 660 feet).

The second picture below show the flattish New England Tablelands landscape beyond the gorge and close to the full height of the falls - themselves hidden from view.

We then trod the path to the top of the falls, a route that is picturesque and exciting in its own way. En route we witnessed the rocky landscape through which the river flows. I didn't take a picture of the falls from the top because they we were essentially invisible.

We turned around to walk back to get a great view of the falls as Salisbury Water plunges over the top of the gorge. At this point I noticed that Max had disappeared, only to told that he was rock-hopping his way back towards our car. Part-way back I took a side trip to a look-out in the hope of seeing him. Guess what! I was lucky. Here he is trying his luck  jumping from one boulder or platform to another - see the next three pictures.

Miraculously, he didn't get his feet wet. That encouraged Bec to also try a bit of rock-hopping, something she accomplished with aplomb. We met up at the attractive lake near the parking lot.

It was then just a short uphill hike to the barbecue area where people can cook and eat meals and admire a full view of the falls. The first image below shows the full extent of the falls - and we were at  the top earlier. The drop you see is c. 183 m ( or exactly 600 feet).



You'll have to agree that it's a great view. Fortunately, our improved rainfall recently has led to a substantial flow. After heavy rains, the views on either side could be swathed in mist.







One more item! Max decided he wanted to toss a boulder over the platform he was standing on and see where it landed! He searched for a boulder, found one, and here he is about to toss it. Don't worry, there was no-one below - I made sure of that. And the boulder landed without any serious damage to the ecosystem.

That's it! An enjoyable trip was had by all.

AS

Gara Gorge

Last Sunday I was at a loss for things to do, and decided to revisit the Gara Gorge which I hadn't seen for a few years. When I arrived there, I was surprised to see the car-park full despite it being mid-winter. However, the day was lovely with great sunshine, little wind and perhaps a temperature around 16 C. This time I didn't walk the main tracks which I have used many times in the past but tried to find the path that leads to the swimming pool at the base of the falls. The scenery was lovely as the pictures show.

I started my walk on the western side of the Gara River just before it falls steeply into the beautiful gorge

And, while the track rose and fell a little, it remained overall roughly horizontal. I was intrigued at the large number huge rocks that dotted the western side of the path, like the ones shown here. Since this area was not glaciated in the last ice-age I wondered how they got there.

Shortly, on the left, the ground gave way to steep slopes down into the gorge.















And, as I walked on, I spotted the lake ... or swimming pool at the bottom of falls, as shown below. I once had a swim there, albeit in mid-summer when the water was quite warm. It would never occur to me to swim there in mid-winter!

Looking to the south-west from where the last picture was taken, I spotted another cluster of large boulders and decided to climb around them to get a better overall picture of the countryside.


There wasn't any formal path so I had to be careful where I trod. And I imagined there might be a few snakes hanging around!











Having explored the countryside around the falls, I returned to the car and drove upstream to the Blue Hole where I can remember the kids swimming and floating in what is now the distant past - well over 200 years ago. Doesn't time fly! In 20 years I'll be in my mid-90s and hopefully enjoying still walking around this gorge.

As you can see from the pictures below, the Blue Hole had a lot of water in it from much higher rains in 2020. But there were no people around swimming in or rafting on the placid waters, few if any willing too risk hypothermia from the cold water.

Looking upstream, you can see how picturesque this spot is ... even on a winter's day.












And looking downstream it also looks beautiful, albeit more shaded.

Just beyond the distant edge of this lake the Gara river begins to slope down to edge of the falls.

Come and see it some time if possible. And, for history lovers, somewhat further down the gorge is the site of Australia's first hydro-electricity generation plant.



AS

A Trip up Herbert Park Road

At loss to use up my day effectively, I decided to take a drive around our district. As always, I tried to take an unusual route. And today I decided to drive up Rockvale Road north-east of Armidale. Rather than travel its full length, I decided to try the Herbert Park Road instead and, around 10 kmm north of our town, I did a left turn. I drove a further 40 km north towards Guyra on a sunny and warm Winter afternoon.

I was entranced by the whole picturesque route travelling about a third of the way on a sealed road before doing much of the rest on a good quality dirt road. Close to Armidale the route took me past many small hobby farms, but further out the farms became large and the homesteads were widely scattered. In fact, much of the countryside looked empty! Over something like 40 km I never saw another car! I was all alone. So I stopped the car from time to time and tothe last ook a heap of lovely pictures like those shown here. Just have look at the lovely countryside! The first ones were taken at 1000 m above sea level and the last ones were about 1300 m - much higher on the New England Tablelands. Even at that altitude, the temperature recorded by may car was still close to 15 C - even in mid-winter.

As you can see, there's a lot of wide pasture-land, mostly brown in colour except for the occasional green paddocks where irrigation water is available and / or the pastures are top-dressed with nutrients.

A good quality dirt road!

One of the most evident characteristics of the pastures was the absence of livestock - sheep and cattle.

There great vistas. Looking south I could make out high country peaks some 60 km away.

The route had several river crossings in valleys like these below. One, the Gara Fiver, flows down to the spectacular waterfall I reported on earlier this. year.

The cone shown in the distance below is likely to be the core of an extinct volcano - much of the Tablelands area is covered in igneous rocks with thin top-soil that makes grain farming unlikely - but leads to widespread pasture.

 

Well, I did see occasional livestock later on in my trip. This field contained, unusually, both cattle and sheep.

At last, the dirt road became sealed - good quality work!

AS

More Cloudscapes

I went for another long walk this winter afternoon, but it was a glorious day. Brilliant sunshine warmed the temperature to about 14 C, which is good for winter. And then scattered and mostly thin clouds encroached to produce the images shown below. I was riveted by the colours and especially all the light white patches. That's all I have to say! Enjoy what you see.

AS

Brrrrr

The first of June marked the first day of Winter here and, for once, the weather changed accordingly. Throughout Autumn, we had amazingly warm days with temperatures occasionally rising to more than 20 C (68 F), hardly any frosts, and many lovely sunny days.

Yesterday, a fierce front came through from the south-west giving us a few rain showers and sending temperatures down about 15 C (60 F). Despite that, I rose at 6.30 am this morning to go for a walk as the day dawned bright and the overnight temperature was still around 5 C. I had only been back 30 minutes when something amazing happened. Dark clouds swept in driven by 30 kph westerly winds, the temperature shrank rapidly and it started snowing! This was by my calculation the first snow we'd experienced in 5 years. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of this event, some of which are shown below ... and one included is a short video. I expect that my readers in the UK and USA will laugh with contempt at our puny efforts at generating white flaky stuff and, to be honest, it didn't lay frozen on the ground. The sun came out after a short while and that was the end of our snow storm. Mind you, the maximum temperature today was just 5.2 C (41 F) and we decided to stay indoors in such frigid conditions. We also had wind gusts up to about 57 kph (35 mph) which created an 'apparent' temperature of just minus 6 C at 10.30 am - even with the sun out!

Here's what we saw: OK the snow is almost invisible, though it looked heavy to us.

However, the video might show the event better:

Comments welcome.

AS

Mount Yarrowyck

One of my favourite walks in our beautiful New England high country is the journey from the car-park at the base of Mount Yarrowyck to the Aboriginal rock art in a little cave about 1.5 km from the starting point. A week ago, in mid-May, the day dawned bright and amazingly warm for this time of year. Looking for something interesting to do in our district, but within permitted travel distance given the COVID-19 virus, I selected the trip to Yarrowyck and back.

Travelling westwards along the Bundarra Road about 12 km from where I live takes me to this spot. We're on the continental divide - the point on Great Dividing Range where water flows westwards through the Murray-Darling system to the southern ocean near Adelaide, a distance of maybe 1400 km in a straight line. Given that the point where I'm standing is about 1150 m above sea level, that means the river, for much of its course, is very gently sloped. To the east, where I am looking, the rivers flow to the Pacific Ocean, a distance of only about 150 km.

Travelling about another 12 km to the west, I arrived at the Mount Yarrowyck nature reserve to start my walk.



The minimal facilities include a toilet and a table to rest and maybe eat, but the notable thing is the jumble of massive rocks all over the area and along the path leading to the rock art. These would have fallen off mount Yarrowyck over tens of thousands of years and I had fears for my safety!

Upon starting my walk, I admired the view to the south across the pastures where cattle graze. The path up to the rock art winds through attractive landscapes and eucalyptus forest.




















And Mount Yarrowyck itself, shown here, lay northwards from the path. As I travelled along the 1.5 km long path, it got progressively steeper. And eventually I approached the rock shelter shown below.

The art itself appears to me getting fainter over the years. According to information provided at the site, the ochre sketches may be several hundred years old.

After looking over the art-work maybe 15 minutes, I turned for the walk back to the car. But the landscapes I saw as I walked east-wards seemed extremely picturesque.

And after getting back in the car to drive home I admired the wide open countryside to the east, with the top of the Great Dividing Range rising and falling in the distance.

Our region is a great place to live with its great landscapes, marvelously clear air, abundant sunshine, and high amenity.

Come all ye relatives and join us in paradise.



AS