The House(s) of Fran_mart

 This is about two walks we did on 29 April.  The catalyst for some elements of both walks was Frances' reading material about geology, particularly material about interesting geological sites around Canberra.  For the first walk, a variant on one of our usual walks around the suburb of Reid, the geology was in the rock used to build St Johns Church, but the material below follows our path to the church.  Here is the route. There is a lot of foliage colour in the area when looking down from our apartment.  This is an example early in our walk. An historic sight!  No idea if anyone still uses it, but given the way Australia Post is reducing services in the area its possible it hasn't been emptied for quite a while. We were struck by the colours in this damp wood.  Perhaps pile it around the fireplace but don't actually burn it. Not all the leaves have changed.  These oaks in Booroondara St are still quite lushly green. Truth in advertising.  I...

 This is random photos taken in our visit to Canberra.  They begin with daybreak on 28 April.  The first image looks more or less ENE towards Mount Ainslie. The next two are WNW towards Black Mountain. A little later, showing the coloured leaves of Reid (to the SE) with Mount Pleasant in the mid- background and Defence at its foot including the column for Bugs Bunny visible.  (I shall try for a snap of Bugs later)  Swinging a little more to the North here is the War Memorial and more leaves! After I plated a little croquet we called in at Kelly's Swamp where diversity was not great. Some Shovelers are visible in this image. Back in Civic a new Meriton hotel/apartment block is getting close to completion.  I had assumed that they took down scaffolding with a crane, but on 27th when I walked past they had the equivalent of a bucket brigade happening with the duckboards being passed down by hand.  Note the guys in hi-vis below the glass wall. In this imag...

 Begin with sunrise on 27 April, looking at Mount Ainslie. Then an evening image with cloud. A little later the sky had deepened in colour, but the lower light meant camera shake was a bit of an issue. One of my small delights is looking at the reflection of car lights in the apartments on Corranderk St. Your tax dollars 'at work' as the War Memorial gets enhanced (perhaps).

 On our usual route between Mallacoota and Canberra we see a sign going off the Monaro Highway to Myanba Gorge .  Frances had been reading about that in "Stories beneath our feet" so we decided to invest a couple of hours in going there.  I have a few some text to add in but here are the photos. There was some interest in the drive as a sign at the start of the Imlay said it was closed with a detour along Coolangubra Forest Way.  Probably not a problem as that is where we were intending to go.  A nice smooth dirt road, albeit with some loose gravel on the bends.  I enjoyed the scenery, and was quite happy to leave it where it was, relative to the car. Of course, the clear felled areas were very unpleasant.   Once into the South East Forests NP things improved again.  I think this is on Wog Way (I am astonished that the shrill people haven't demanded this be renamed). We parked at the start of the walk and were surprised to find this deluxe wh...