Blue Mountains Journal

And we end this trip with a view from Kings Tableland at the home end of the track. Tomorrow you will find me over at Sweet Wafaring .  Please follow me over there as I don't expect to be posting in this journal again until the New Year.

Down below the lookout is this great and unexpected view of Lake Burragorang - Sydney's water supply now at a 80 percent full - how good is that. Here it is in May 2009 - 58 percent full And in March 2007 during the drought, a scary 34 percent. Lake Burragorang from McMahon’s Lookout

Now for the other reason for this trip. There was another family we rescued a little further up the track.  Tiring of the bumps they had pulled over to sneak a peak and got themselves bogged in the sand so we towed them out.  What is this family looking at?  I will show you tomorrow.

Hail to Waratah - King of the bush flowers.   Waratah - Telopea speciosissima 

Flannel flower - Actinotus helianthi. We've found the Queen and her ladies in waiting doesn't she look just lovely. Tomorrow we have an audience with the King.

I think everyone it getting a little tired that the King is proving so elusive.  Here we have a guard standing tall - whew we have reached the gates of the palace!  Grass Tree - Xanthorrhoea

Smoke bush, Coral Heath and Matchheads.      The celebrations begin with fireworks. Australian wildflowers are often not head turners, you have to stop and look at them in their tiny detail to really appreciate their beauty.

The blue bloods are gathering with their funny hats and some red blood for good measure -  yep we are getting closer.    Spade flowers - Hybanthus  monopetalus, Blue Dampiera, bloodwood (maybe) I find the single petaled spade flowers quite intriguing in their oddness ... a bit like the fascination with Princess Beatrice's odd hat at the wedding.

Mitre Flower - Mitrasacme polymorpa, Golden Glory Pea - Gompholobium, Common Fringe Myrtle - Calytrix tetragona .  I see bishop, gold and diamonds ... surely the king is near.  The mitre flowers are so named because the buds are the shape of a bishop's hat.   I was lucky enough to get a bud in the photo, these flowers are really tiny.

Drumsticks - Isopogon and Common Heath - Epacris Impressa.  There are drums and trumpets leading the parade .  These two are old friends I am always happy to welcome. The symmetry of the drumsticks please me and the delicate beauty and resilience of the heath flowers delight me.

Purple Flag Iris -  Patersonia.   The flags are flying to welcome the King.  These particularly amuse me because I was really fascinated the first time I noticed them, only to discover they appear all over the mountains.   I must have been walking around with my eyes closed for 15 years.

There is a crowd gathering for a spring parade, the King must be this way.  Unknown flower, Rice flower - Pimelea,  Smokebush (I think).  The diversity of bush flowers never ceases to amaze me.  Each year I welcome the ones I have seen before as old friends and puzzle over the new ones, hoping to one day work out their name. 

We will have to keep looking.  These little coronets are much too small for the King.   Pink Buttons - Kunzea capitata  Nonetheless. there flowers are a particular favourite of mine. A pretty shrub but even lovlier close up.

Hairpin Banksia - Banksia Spinolus.  Last time I took you out on this road was May 2009, in the autumn when these would have been in their youthful beauty.  Unlike the spring flowers they are fading. I like to think there is beauty in aging. Let's pin up our hair and dress up smart ... we are off the meet the king.

Here we go bump bumping our way along 20 kms of dirt road - Kings Tableland Road - the perfect place for us to be looking for the King of bush flowers.  Come let's go find him.

Near the ruin I showed you yesterday there is this graveyard.  I wonder what stories there are to tell from this rural property. That's the end of this trip.  I'm going to take you on a new drive in the Blue Mountains starting tomorrow.

Near the farmhouse there was this ruin, it looks quite special with the trees at their fresh spring best.

I have noticed this farmhouse on other trips along this road.  It looks so picture perfect in this setting especially with the grass so lush and green.

Here is the little house we saw on the drive up as it appears on the way down.

We are on our way back down now.  Here's the view from the top.

We are climbing up into the forest country now.

Today is theme day so I am taking a short diversion from our current trip. Over the years I've taken photos of dozens of fences because they are one of my recurring themes.  I decided to pick my favourite from each of my blogs. Bluemountainsjournal : Web on fence post, Lawson (my home town) Sweetwayfaring : Hill End, NSW.  There are lots of great fences in Hill End. Burnbraejournal :  Old fencepost in my backyard. Whistlersrest : Kookaburra on barbed wire fence (at our rural retreat) Click here to view thumbnails for all participants