Blue Mountains Journal

Old cars often travel in fleets over the mountains. We caught this one up a Mount Victoria the other week when we were stopping by at the Bay Tree Tea Rooms for lunch. Words to walk with: From Sprawl by Les Murray "Sprawl is the quality of the man who cut down his Rolls-Royce into a farm utility truck, and sprawl is what the company lacked when it made repeated efforts to buy the vehicle back and repair its image. Sprawl is doing your farm work by aeroplane, roughly, or driving a hitchhiker that extra hundred miles home. It is the rococo of being your own still centre. It is never lighting cigars with ten dollar notes: that's idiot ostentation and murder of starving people. Nor can it be bought with the ash of million dollar deeds."

The guys in yesterday's post may well have been reading about Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae. What strange names for financial institutions, they seem better suited to these jolly fellows seen in the toy shop in Leura. It's horrifying to see the great economies of the world struggling to stave off a depression. My parents spoke of the hardships their parents endured to keep their young families afloat during the Great Depression. And we have been living the good life thinking such a thing couldn't happen again. Today is Blog Action Day where bloggers around the world are writing on the topic of poverty. Unexpectedly, the cold hand of poverty is begining to creep towards the respectible lives of those around us, starting with the aged and frail. Our parents spoke of the way people helped each other in bad times. May we each use this time as a wakeup to help others in need, not only those near but also those afar who's daily lives are always a struggle. It's sobering to kn...

A reminder of the jars Mum filled but hers were never packed with this artistic care. These are at the fabulous Leura Deli cafe a good spot to eat, one of my favourites. The ABC Shop has a new book on preserving Year in a bottle by Sally Wise. I'm so tempted to buy it just to look at, I know I'll never preserve a thing. Year in a bottle -- that's an interesting thought -- is this year worth bottling? Words to walk with: Counting in sevens by Judith Wright. "Seven ones are seven. I can't remember that year Or what presents I was given. Seven twos are fourteen. That year I found my mind, Swore not to be what I had been. Seven threes are twenty-one. I was sailing my own sea, First in love, the knots undone. Seven fours are twenty-eight; Three false starts had come and gone; My true love came, and not too late. Seven fives are thirty-five. In her cot my daughter lay, Real, miraculous, alive. Seven sixes are forty-two. I packed her sandwiches for school, I loved my lov...

Wattles lean over the clear waters made aquamarine blue by dissolved limestone from the caves. There are lots of different varieties of wattle, many in flower the moment. Golden wattle is Australia's floral emblem. Words to walk with: The Wattle by Henry Lawson 1910. "I saw it in the days gone by, When the dead girl lay at rest, And the wattle and the native rose We placed upon her breast. I saw it in the long ago (And I've seen strong men die), And who, to wear the wattle, Hath better right than I? I've fought it through the world since then, And seen the best and worst, But always in the lands of men I held Australia first. I wrote for her, I fought for her, And when at last I lie, Then who, to wear the wattle, has A better right than I?"

We're having lots of visitors at the moment -- all my friends and family seem to dream in unison of home baked treats washed down with copious cups of tea, quiet reading by a log fire, and pleasant afternoons strolling in mild autumn sun. Ah yes, the mountains are very alluring at this time of year before the big chill sets in. Photo: Afternoon tea at my home Words to walk with: Visitor by Les Murray "He knocks at the door and listens to his heart approaching."

In February last year I wrote in "Animals - not" of an ill fated trip to Euroka Clearing in search of Kangaroos. We decided to give it another go this time. Photo: Kangaroo, Blue Mountains National Park, Glenbrook Words to walk with: From Kangaroo by D H Lawrence "Her sensitive, long, pure-bred face. Her full antipodal eyes, so dark, So big and quiet and remote, having watched so many Empty dawns in silent Australia."

The Lyrebird is an iconic ground dwelling Australian bird, so named after the tail of the male, which is said to form the shape of a "lyre". However, this bird is also known as a "liar" because of its extraordinary ability to mimic the calls of other birds and the sounds of machines and other noises from the built environment nearby the forests where they live. Photo: Superb Lyrebird ( Menura novaehollandiae ), Katoomba I took this photograph a year ago but held off posting it because I hoped to get a better one. That didn't happen, despite Lyrebirds being quite common in the mountains. Words to walk with: From Lyrebird by Les Murray "Liar made of leaf-litter, quivering ribby in shim, hen-sized under froufrou, chinks in a quiff display him or her, dancing in mating time, or out. And in any order. Tailed mimic aeon-sent to intrigue the next recorder. I mew catbird, I saw crosscut, I howl she-dingo, I kink forest hush distinct with bellbirds, warble magp...

Happy New Year. At the moment the trees a shedding their bark and showing fresh new skin and it is the right time for me to do the same. Photo: Trees on Lawson waterfall walk Last January I resolved to start a blog and to post every day for a year. At the time I expected to be full time in the mountains but, some months ago, I returned to daily commuting to the "city and alleys" so it has been a challenge keeping up the pace. This year we plan to travel regularly on short trips beyond the mountains so it seems right to start a new blog with a new theme. Please visit and subscribe to Sweet Wayfaring where I will be recording my new discoveries. I hope to also occasionally post here. What a wonderful year it has been. Today's poem sums it up perfectly. Words to walk with: From The Forest by Judith Wright "When first I knew this forest its flowers were strange. Their different forms and faces changed with the seasons' change -- white violets smudges with purple, t...

While the banksias of last summer have gone grey ( yesterday's post ) the new flowers for this summer are already on their way. Photo: New flower forming, Banksia serrata Words to walk with: From Woman to Man by Judith Wright "The eyeless labourer in the night, the selfless, shapeless seed I hold, builds for its resurrection day - silent and swift and deep from sight forsees the unimagined light."

I was thrilled to see this lovely flower that I have not seen before. I believe it is a Kunzea. The fluffy pink balls look lovely at a distance and breathtaking close up. Words to walk with: Sensuality by Kenneth Slessor "Feeling hunger and cold, feeling Food, feeling fire, feeling Pity and pain, tasting Time in a kiss, tasting Anger and tears, touching Eyelids and lips, touching Plague, touching flesh, knowing Blood in the mouth, knowing Laughter like flame, holding Pickaxe and pen, holding Death in the hand, hearing Boilers and bells, hearing Birds, hearing hail, smelling Cedar and sweat, smelling Petrol and sea, feeling Hunger and cold, feeling Food, feeling fire. . . . Feeling."

I went up to Katoomba to do my weekly shopping and decided to stop at a few of the lookouts off the Cliff Drive that I have not done before. They offer great views following only a short walk to get to the cliff edge. Photo: Cahill's Lookout, Katoomba Cahill's Lookout offers an interesting view of Narrow Neck (You can see the road I drove along to do my posts in March and November ), Boars Head Rock and the farmland of Megalong Valley (I did a series on this valley in May ) I don't know who Cahill is but suspect it is the same person who has the Cahill Expressway in Sydney named after him -- he was the NSW Premier who approved construction of the Opera House. Anyway there is a possible link with the great city of Sydney which gives me a chance to use one of my favourite city poems. Words to walk with: William Street by Kenneth Slessor "The red globe of light, the liquor green, the pulsing arrows and the running fire spilt on the stones, go deeper than a stream; You ...

Photo: Jacaranda, Springwood (not a native plant) Down in Sydney and in the lower mountains a blue haze of Jacaranda is crowning the houses. In Queensland where I went to school they signaled the time to swot for the year-end exams. If I lived in Lawson I would have surely failed. It will be December before they turn on their display here and as they are a sub-tropical tree don't flower any further up. Words to walk with: The Jacaranda by Douglas Stewart "There is some sweetness not to be seen in air, Not to be trapped in rain, nor to be found In earth, that made this sky of blossoms flare In blue and sparkling daylight out of the ground; Some struggle of more than earth is in triumph here In that gesture of joy and fulfilment lifted on high Where, dancing with pale blue fire, the branches rear And the dark twigs hold the sky up to the sky. All things move in time as they move in dream; Abrupt, symbolic, like mountains seen through a rift, They tower and vanish. I watched th...

I find barbed wire fences almost as fascinating and photogenic as farmyard junk. Notice the blue weed beside the gate, it's known as Paterson's Curse and in other parts of Australia as Salvation Jane. Swathes of this purple-blue weed are flowering in fields at this time of year, beautiful to behold but a problem for the farmers. By the way the sunny day in this photograph, taken a week or so ago, belies the fact that we are currently having prolonged dull grey days, intermittent rain and cold temperatures. The log fire is burning tonight. Words to walk with: From Field Notes from Mount Bakewell by John Kinsella "Ground dyed blue by fallen Paterson's Curse in the cold, brilliantly purple. Heat sheds and takes their colour."

Photo: Farmland between Jenolan Caves and Oberon Words to walk with: From Farming by Paul Hetherington "A farm and creek, tussocks, sleety rain that curtains the barn with silver grey, the smell the seepage of old timber"

We wandered around Norman Lindsay’s garden looking at the various fountains and sculptures. Photo: Fountain, Norman Lindsay Gallery garden Hugh McCrae was another poet in Norman Lindsay’s circle of friends. Words to walk with: From Rakes Song by Hugh McCrae “The fresh and lively all must fade, The painted and the sung ones, And Time – when they are in the shade – Consoles us with his young ones. Then, let the girls grow old apace, And wander into heaven … I’ll love a twenty-summers’ face When I am ninety-seven! So waste no sympathy upon Pale lovers idly wailing … For every naughty lass that’s gone There’s fifty more availing.”

We were feeling a little lazy and not much up to doing a long walk so drove down to Norman Lindsay’s place at Falconbridge. Norman Lindsay is an Australian artist whose depictions of nudes caused much outrage in the 1930s and beyond. His home “Springwood”, where he lived a bohemian lifestyle and established a lovely garden dotted with his sumptuous sculptures, is now a gallery and museum. Photo: “Springwood”. Norman Lindsay Gallery, Falconbridge Norman Lindsay included poets in his circle of artistic associates. One of these was Kenneth Slessor. Words to walk with: From Burying Friends by Kenneth Slessor [ … “for a little of our vital essence goes into the grave of a friend” – The Succubus, Norman Lindsay] “Only it seems not a burial Of irrelevant sods, But a lopped member From this my body; Almost, in fact, a tiny amputation, A paring of biography, thrown in there. And he has thieved his own life away And something from mine. Farewell, thou pilferer!”

When driving on bush tracks over the past couple of weeks I have been keeping my eye out for waratahs in flower. These are the king of the native flowers, majestic in colour, size and beauty. They have become a popular garden plant, and are available from florists as a cut flower, but there is nothing quite so joyous as seeing their great crimson heads in the wild. Photo: Waratah, Mount Hay Road, Leura Words to walk with: From the Waratah and Wattle by Henry Lawson 1905 "Though poor and in trouble I wander alone, With a rebel cockade in my hat; Though friends may desert me, and kindred disown, My country will never do that! You may sing of the Shamrock, the Thistle, and Rose, Or the three in a bunch if you will; But I know of a country that gathered all those, And I love the great land where the Waratah grows, And the Wattle bough blooms on the hill. Australia! Australia! so fair to behold While the blue sky is arching above; The stranger should never have need to be told, That t...

At the end of the River Walk at Jenolan Caves there is a weir that forms a pool of clear water. Apparently it was build as a hatchery dam for trout -- there is a fish ladder on the other side of the wall. The building houses a hydro electricity plant. This is a lovely peaceful spot to rest a while before retracing steps back home. Words to walk with: From The Fishermen at South Head by Les Murray "They project their long light canes or raise them up to check and string, like quiet archers."

I believe the blisters on the leaf are caused by a mite. Not so nice for the leaf but they make an interesting photograph. Words to work with: From This Land by Ian Mudie "Give me a harsh land to wring music from, brown hills, and dust, with dead grass straw to my bricks."

We drove out to Evans Lookout this weekend. We were last out there in February, not that long after the big fires of last summer. It is interesting to see what the spring brings in renewal. Photo: View of Grose Valley from Evans Lookout Evans surveyed the first road over the mountains. Words to walk with: From Appassionata by Mary Gilmore "I feel the soft wind on my cheek, I turn to meet it with my mouth; O wind from out the south, Thou are his messenger Upon my mouth! I have been lifted up as a bird On the wind, Because of a word, Because of a whisper I heard. The trees bent down to cover it, The shadow of night drew over it; Love spelled it, heart held it; Now as a bird on the wing In the spring Am I stirred."