Koala

This was not taken at the zoo; on my bicycle ride last Sunday I spotted this koala in a tree at the side of the road. This is one of the reasons I like bike riding; you see much more than when driving and you can stop pretty much anywhere to take a photo.

Adelaide Parklands

Adelaide City is surrounded by a corridor of parklands; over 7 square kilometres in total. Much of it has been developed into gardens, and the rest is a mix of recreational areas and open bush land.


Both of these photos were taken a couple of weeks ago in the vicinity of South Terrace.

Flinders again

Another shot I took during my cycling tour of the Flinders Ranges; somewhere in the Brachina Gorge region. I love the contrasting colours and the sheer rugged beauty.

St Mary's Peak

As a follow up to my ABC Wednesday's "outback" post I will show a few more places in the Flinders Ranges.

St Mary's Peak is probably one of the most climbed and photographed hills in the Flinders. I have climbed it a couple of times ... when I was younger! It lies on the eastern side of Wilpena Pound. To climb up and back is a full day's hike. When I did it I started at the Wilpena Pound camp-site, walked through the pound and up to the top and then returned via a track on the outside.

Nearly at the top! I found this shot amongst my slides; taken in September 1968.

Road to the top

Canberra has a fantastic network of bike lanes and bike paths, but today our illustrious leader took a short cut up a bush track to a scenic lookout. Demanding enough at the best of times, it was made worse because it had rained the night before.

Bushfire?

Late this afternoon I looked towards the Adelaide Hills and saw smoke. It was not a bushfire, but a controlled burnoff in the Cleland National Park. The conditions today were ideal; mild temperatures and almost no wind.

The Department of Environment and Heritage, who manage the state's national parks, do burnoffs at this time of year to reduce the amount of undergrowth which could become a hazard during the fire season.

ABC Wednesdays - F for Flinders

The Flinders Ranges start several hundred kilometres north of Adelaide and are one of the top tourist destinations in our state. Nowadays they are easily accessible in a standard vehicle as there are bitumen roads to the main towns. For the more adventurous there are still many offroad tracks to explore; in 4 wheel drives and on foot.

In 2002 when I took this photo I was on a cycling tour in the northern Flinders Ranges with a local Adelaide based cycling group.; another great way to explore the beautiful countryside.

The Flinders Ranges were named after the English explorer who mapped our coastline in 1802. His favourable reports lead to the establishment of the new colony of South Australia.

To find out more about ABC Wednesdays and see links to other participants' sites go to mrs nesbitts place

Warriparinga Wetlands

Just beyond where yesterday's photo was taken is the second of four lakes in the wetlands. The wetlands are visited by more than 30 species of birds; about a dozen are waterbirds.

Some key facts about the wetlands:
- located on a 3.5 hectare reserve
- 45,000 cubic metres of earth was shifted to the wetlands
- have a capacity of 23 million litres
- more than 8,000 local native plants were planted

The wetlands have been built to compensate for the damage done to the Patawalonga system by the building of a concrete drain; shown in a previous post.

You can read an article about the Warriparinga Wetlands here.

ABC Wednesdays - D for dunny

His and hers; these dunnies are located at a camping ground near Purnong on the banks of the River Murray. These toilets are longdrops; the seat is positioned over a deep hole - no flushing required. The buildings are constructed in a way that they could be moved to a new location if the hole gets filled up.

When I was child, just after the second world war, my parents had a dunny like this out the back in metropolitan Adelaide. My father then built a new house and its toilet was connected to the sewer; no need for the outhouse then.

PS. Even at this campsite there are 'proper' toilets and showers available.

To find out more about ABC Wednesdays go to mrs nesbitts place

ABC Wednesday - A for arduous

Click on the photo to enlarge

Today I went with a group of cycling friends to watch the 2nd stage of the Tour Down Under. We took a short cut along an arduous bush track to get to the Mylor road to see the race. We are not competitive cyclists in lycra; just a group enjoying the fresh air and exercise. For some of us it was a training day for the Challenge Tour on Friday.

From Mylor we rode into Hahndorf to see the riders again; then a few kilometres out of town to a vantage point to see them on a couple more laps and then back to Hahndorf to see the final sprint to the finish line. The town was decorated in purple.

To find out more about ABC Wednesdays go to mrs nesbitts place.

A personal retreat

This quaint little stone hut is on my friends' property. Just after breakfast on New Years Day I went for a walk in the bush to have a look at it. Liz said she often used to escape there to get a good sleep when she was on night shift.