The House(s) of Fran_mart

 To check out a geological site we walked from the Molonglo Gorge car park to Blue Tiles and back.  To avoid the scrambly bits of the track closest to the River (blue line) we came back on forest tracks (yellow dashes). A view down on to the Molonglo River.  A surprisingly strong flow considering the dry conditions. Much moss on this rockface indicates a moist microclimate.  We were surprised that we didn't spot any ferns. More gorge views. This wattle has been identified on iNaturalist as Acacia rubida , which I should have been able to identify myself. Our turn point at Blue Tiles picnic area. I didn't enjoy the rough walk along the track so decided after looking at the map to walk the roads along the edge of Kowen Forest instead. It looked a little longer but much easier walking.  Unfortunately it didn't include the contours of which there were several!  This was the nastiest, between points A and B on the map  From fiddling with Google Earth the cr...

 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...

 We have a bit of business to do in Canberra so are here for a couple of days.  After arriving we set off for an exercise walk (ie no stopping for long periods to look at birds or take photos).  I was just able to keep up, with a few wind-sprints to catch up when the rules were transferred to the guideline column! The first image is the walking track under some oaks outside the National Library. This was a surprisingly unpopulated image.  Most of the time there were hordes of people around, many of whom had dogs with them.  Also a few cyclists who appeared to believe they were about to win Paris-Roubaix and thus behaving as though they were on a velodrome: Muppets. This is a work titled "Holden On" by Robert Fielding: it is part of the indigenous art Triennale at the National Gallery and according to a sign on the edge of the Lake is challenging the politicians up the hill to do better.  Fair call. Back at the apartment I pointed my Peak Finder app to ...

 When we followed the Genoa River Fire trail we noticed a second track peel off to Cape Horn Bay.  On the 27th of January we decided to follow that and see where it ended up.  The intersection is clear in this route (from eBird) The reason for this photograph is to show the regrowth of the Allocasuarina littoralis.   This is a plant of interest to birders as it forms the food source for Glossy Black-Cockatoos.  (The plants have to be about 10 years old to get the appropriately developed cones, so these have got about 7 years to go.) There were a good lot of flowers on some of the trees. Others had cones from last year. This shrub was unusual.  INaturalist has suggested it is Daviesia latifolia , which does match quite well in Flora of Victoria , The Cape Horn Jetty is on the far side of the River, just visible in this image. On occasion the danger ta[e is quite reasonable.  In the logging industry branches such as that marked with the arrow are called ...