After lunch I headed here to have a wander, it’s free to enter and is well worth the effort. It’s on the Bells Line road about 30 km west of Mount Victoria.

I had a late start today, the body was very stiff and tired from yesterday. I headed to Mount Piddington at Mount Victoria, a short walk to the summit along very muddy trails. It was quite lethal underfoot. When I reached the top I was very surprised to see many cars in the big car park. I stayed for only a few minutes and decided to follow the loop back to the car, too many people.

A short walk but just enough for the legs after my big day yesterday.

I wanted to walk via the bush trails to get to Katoomba and so this morning I picked up the trail behind the house. I followed it passed Edinburgh Rock and down towards Lillian Glen and then onto the Fairmont resort, however the path I needed to get to was under repair after the recent rains and so I had to go via Empress Falls.

When I reached the falls that path was blocked also and so I had to return to the surface to get to Katoomba. A bit disappointed but I guess I will have to come back another day.

The path I took was up the main road, turning off at the Leura exit. It’s uphill all the way at around 100m more in elevation. My calf muscles were beginning to scream at me as I turned on to the Katoomba high street. I headed to the cafe that was offering Nasi Leemak Rendang. I enjoyed it, however I just wish it had been a bit more spicy. It was obviously made for the Australian Market.

I headed for the bus, but sadly it was going to be another hour and a half before it arrived and so I decided to walk. Of course I had to wait until the huge storm moved on and on the way home I came across several areas that had deposits of hail.

I didn’t know I had a garden here and so I thought it was only right that I went and had a look. It was still a bit damp but it was very pleasant.

I went for a walk this morning at the Grand Canyon which is one of the prettiest walks here. You will need to travel to Blackheath and then access it from there.

The rain had been on all night and by this morning it was drizzle with plenty of mist. I was dressed for the rain but it would have been better if it had been dry.

It’s a very pretty walk and you quickly descend to the floor passing through the dripping rain forest down a track that is well maintained, mind you it is still slippy underfoot.

When you reach the bottom you cross the river and head along the other side crossing it a few times more in a zig zag fashion until you once again head for the surface. A really enjoyable walk even though I was soaked through. When I got back to the car I changed my shirt for a nice dry one and put on a dry coat but me feet were still soggy.

I headed to Blackheath centre and parked up and went on the hunt for food. I found it in the form of an all day breakfast which I washed down with two lovely cups of coffee.

From Armidale to Bateau Bay the road was quiet but very rough. When I went to leave Armidale the car would not start. I tried to switch the car back onto gas from petrol but it just turned over and wouldn’t fire. I kept pushing the switch and then I heard the solenoid clicking, I don’t think it liked the cold weather. I fired the car up on petrol and headed off.

I got to Uralla to fill up the gas and there was none and so I kept it on petrol until I got to Bateau Bay.

Graham and Sandra were good enough to put me up for the night and then next morn I headed to Penrith. I had to use the main Pacific Highway until I could turn off for Berowra Waters. Haven’t been here in years. I used to own a boat and I kept it here but it seems a lot busier since the last time I was here.

Coffee in the restaurant was tremendous, best coffee I have bought in a long time.

The boat on the distance is being fuelled, it holds 5000 litres but today he only put in 700 litres which cost $1680…. Not sure how far you can go on that.

I had lunch at Windsor, had Thai food and then picked up dark chocolate Caramel Wafers. 😍 at the big sweet shop.

The closer you get to Penrith the busier it gets, so glad I don’t live here anymore, but it’s worth the effort to catch up with Jenny and Brett. And they gave me the master bedroom because they can no longer climb the stairs 🤔

Further to the work I got done to the car last week, well this weekend I replaced the coolant bottle and flushed the system in the old Ford. A relatively straight forward job but getting some of the radiator hoses off was a bit fiddly.

I put the car up on the ramps to make it easier and I was quite glad that I bought them. The old coolant bottle was perished and it was the original factory fitted unit,so it’s been on the car for over twenty years.

I took the car for a test drive and discovered that there was a small leak from the thermostat housing, I got a new gasket for it and replaced that today. I haven’t done a test drive yet but hopefully the new gasket has fixed the leak. I also replaced the wipers as they had seen better days too.

All that’s left now is to get on the road on Saturday to Sydney for my road trip.

Here’s another good book

This week I got work done to the car in preparation for my wee trip south in a couple of weeks. Front brakes serviced, including a disc skim and brake fluid flush. I also replaced the rear springs and shockies. It’s a notable difference when driving. I’ve got one more thing to do and that’s a coolant flush and I’ll also replace the thermostat.

I’m hoping to do a few walks in the Blue Mountains when I get there and so today I tried a walk that I’ve never done before. I went to Flinders Peak which is around 30 km west. According to AllTrails the trail is deemed hard and should take around three and a half hours to complete.

To get there you need to travel on a dirt road for about five K’s or so and then you come to a small rest area. The path is easily accessible and is very gradual in incline. The peak is 649 meters and the climb is just under 600 meters. However it’s not long before the path begins to become rougher and steeper. As it zig zags up the mountain the trail becomes more intense. The rain began making it slippy underfoot just to add to the fun.

We leave the trail through the Bush and climb over a spine of large sandstone rocks which are difficult to traverse. The higher you go the rocks are covered with lichen making it even worse. There is a respite from them as a new path opens up through the black boy trees.

All of a sudden as the mist descends you come across a large vertical rock face which is very challenging indeed. I climbed up the first face and did not feel at all comfortable. Its raining and as I look up at the razor back of stone blocks I made the decision to turn around, a thing I would not normally do.

As I descended I couldn’t find the way I came and found myself in a very precarious place, my shoes just could not find any grip.

After a few heart stopping moments I climbed back up and found a safer path down. It took just about an hour to get back to the car and I was very happy about that. I got within 50m of the summit and will give it another go when it’s dry. I just did not expect it to be so wet or difficult for that matter.

Another week and only one person came through the house for a look, an investor, but as it turns out he did not proceed.

I got a “Rebus” book last week and so I have been getting back into the swing of reading a few chapters once I return from the morning shift, it’s good to settle back into this routine.

I have had a fairly lazy week and so yesterday I caught up with a friend to go for a walk in the Toohey Forest in the outskirts of Brisbane. We had every intention of walking for about 10 kms but due to my wonderful map reading skills we went around in circles and completed only 5 kms after nearly two hours of walking. I should have realised there was something wrong when we kept seeing the same people passing us, however we did come across a very rare sight indeed…….2 Koalas up in the branches. One of which was hanging on for dear life at the very end of a narrow looking limb, while the bigger one was sitting astride a comfortable Y branch. I took a photo but it was really too far away to capture the wee beast. I haven’t seen a Koala in the wild for years and it is hard to believe that it has become an endangered species which Australia does not seem to care about. Developers have recently cleared an area of bush land which has been home to Koalas as well as other umpteen different species.

Greed and stupidity are pushing the wildlife of the planet to the brink and no governments seem to be interested in stopping this advance of the machines. No matter how many campaigns and protests set up by the members of the community, it matters not a jot, because developers are in cahoots with government to demolish and scar and rip the landscape towards a concrete future, which in turn increases temperature and when the rains come the floods have more things to destroy because the once natural floodway has now a shiny new block of units.

This year around the world something has definitely changed. The severity of flooding, the huge fires that are on the increase and the war in Ukraine has also exacerbated climate change due to many countries having to resort to burning coal once more because they can no longer buy oil from Russia. The future for Europe and the UK is looking very bleak this year, the high temperatures they have endured this summer will become a distant memory when many will be unable to heat their homes in the depths of winter. It’s not only the cost that will be crippling to many but there will also be fuel shortages.

https://www.chinesefoodwiki.org/Malatang

Back in the 70’s we had power cuts mid winter because of the miners going on strike and I fear that many of my friends and family in the UK will have a similar experience this year too. The environmentalist have their hearts in the right place but the reality of the current situation is that we need to build more nuclear power stations to take up the base load power that coal and fossil fuels are currently being used for.

Australian governments are dead against using nuclear power stations to produce power because of the environmental issues but yet they are more than happy to spend billions of tax payers’ dollars on nuclear submarines which will be obsolete by the time America delivers them. This is all because of the gullibility of previous Tory governments sucking the balls of the American presidents. This big brother syndrome is going to be the death of Australia. The amount of money being spent on this useless investment should be used to deliver a better healthcare system, housing for the needy and developing the necessary infrastructure that the country desperately needs. The American war machine is affecting more and more people around the world.

Their Fear, Their Paranoia, Their Stupidity, Their Arrogance is the 21^st Century plague that we should all fear…………..