Location
Our local neighbourhoods - Part 2
Participants
Ron, Chris, Helen, Peter, Richard, Natalie, Colin, Yvonne
The start
-each in our home and out the door
Points of Interest
Yvonne
-We have all been so fortunate the weather has been brilliant, a tad hot some days, almost like spring had sprung early however the latter part of last week brought us back to reality. Last newsletter I had just started my "get fit” program with my mini marathon course within my own property. I soon realised I needed to expand my activities so in addition to my mini marathon I have been walking daily from the top of my street to the gates at the end of Sommerville Road and into the Berowra Valley National Park. Along the way and in the NP I’ve captured some interesting photos. Firstly almost at the entry into the NP I discovered "HH GNOMESVILLE and SPOONSVILLE” interesting not sure who set it up but plenty of cars come to see. Then once in the NP the scenery is ever changing - the native plants starting to bloom especially the beautiful pink Crowea, Eutaxia obovate (Bacon and Egg plant), another native very similar to a Grevillea which is abundant and a very tiny white flowering ground cover. It is so serene and peaceful within the National Park and I really enjoy this environment. I’m so fortunate to live so close to this wonderful open space. Since the bus accident I haven’t been able to walk very far so I'm trying to regain my stamina before Katoomba so I can join in the walks. I'm walking with the aid of my walking poles. I’m also currently enjoying watching the Paralympics’ Games and those incredible athletes. I’ve also included a photo of my Freesia called Yvonne.
Peter
- This month’s walk for the SAM Club involved two walkers, John and Peter, undertaking the Great North walk to Newcastle. The walk began with a brisk pace knowing that Newcastle was 237 kms away, but enthusiasm was high and there was no time to waste. Fortunately the Buffalo Creek Reserve is just 200 metres from our front door in Ryde, so no messy travelling to the start of the walk. However, once we arrived at Sugarloaf Point in the Lane Cove National Park we realised we were coming to the limit of our 5km walk from home under Covid 19 rules in Sydney lockdown.
Sadly we had to return home for a beer but not before a stroll down the back yard to admire the spring blossoms. The azalea bush is in full bloom after recently being repotted and filled with wonderful fresh compost laden with fresh worms. The walk continued further down the back yard past our beautiful Sydney Red Gum which dominates the back yard and casts welcome shade across the house during summer. The philodendron selloum once resided in a small pot plant but now continues it march across the back lawn. On the way back to the house John admires the azalea bush blanketing the walkway to the back door. A quick stroll along the side path reveals the grassbush is in need of a haircut down to a respectable height. The walk ends with a cool beer and good conversation.
Natalie and Colin
-The 1st September was a spectacular day to be out for a walk. It was the first day of Spring and we are still in a hard lockdown in our LGA so we are required to wear masks outdoors.
Today we drove a bit further away from home and then walked along a section of the Cooks River. As we are on the edge of our LGA we can walk into another LGA as long as it is within 5km from home. We started near the footbridge at Foord Avenue and continued towards Ewan Park to see the new bridge that was completed back in November 2020. It looks wonderful and they have also installed a ramp for those people wishing to kayak along the river. We walked to Beaman Park, crossed the river again to Marrickville Golf Clubhouse, continued on to the “Mudcrabs” Wave Rock site and back towards Ewan Park and then into our own LGA.
We saw fantastic wattles, lots of cockatoos, 3 kookaburras and a few water birds. The sun was shining and it was lovely to go a bit further away from home. How difficult is it all becoming! We walked 4.5km and took 80 minutes, so not a fast walk. Oops, we were only meant to be out for 60 minutes.
At home we are doing gym via Zoom and have progressed up from the Fit and Strong classes to Abs Butts and Thighs. Colin also does a Pilates class and I am doing a Chair Yoga class. These are provided free from Canterbury Bankstown Council.
Hope you are doing OK and always hoping that we might get to see you in person at Katoomba in November but I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Take care everyone.
Helen and Richard
-.On Monday we drove via Waterfall and McKell Drive into the Royal National Park (still in our LGA). We headed to the stone gates which marked the entrance to ‘The Forest Path’. This was built in 1886 to afford convenient access to the finest forest trees. Unfortunately more than those originally intended gained access. Logging was permitted on at least two occasions in the first quarter of last century. In September 1922, almost 100 years ago, the SMH carried a series of articles and letters in response to the National Park Trustees entering an agreement with a Coal Company for the removal of timber from 1200 acres. Continued public pressure led to the contract eventually being cancelled. The ‘Forest Path’ was rebuilt as a joint project of the Bicentennial Project and the National Park Trust.
The track took us through cabbage tree palms and Gymea Lilies on a path beside the Bola Creek and the Hacking River. It is one of the oldest walking tracks in the park. We could hear the squawks of the white cockatoos, the singing of other birds and the trickling of the water in the creek and shallow river. We only passed two other people despite there being several cars at the start. We walked by some cedar trees and later on some Corkwood trees, apparently useful in medicine. We spotted some early Spring flowers and did see more as we drove home the long way through the park itself. The loop was just over 4.4Km and took us 1 ½ hours.
Chris and Ron
Not a lot of physical activity as our area is devoid of bush walks, however we made up for this with working in the garden as well as pruning our very large grapefruit tree, still much more to take off,
It was our youngest granddaughter’s birthday but alas we could not be with her to celebrate. Walked 4ks to meet her and hand over her present. Unfortunately, no photos from our walk, but our garden is full of colour at the moment so we will share these with you.
Have spent some time in preparing for the next update to our website.
The finish
-we each headed back home to lockdown to hear about the ever increasing numbers of those with Covid 19 and any changes to the restrictions.
So glad we could enjoy some time out in the Spring sun to explore our local areas.
Distance walked
-again this varied depending on how comfortable each one felt about leaving home.
Our local neighbourhoods - Part 2
Participants
Ron, Chris, Helen, Peter, Richard, Natalie, Colin, Yvonne
The start
-each in our home and out the door
Points of Interest
Yvonne
-We have all been so fortunate the weather has been brilliant, a tad hot some days, almost like spring had sprung early however the latter part of last week brought us back to reality. Last newsletter I had just started my "get fit” program with my mini marathon course within my own property. I soon realised I needed to expand my activities so in addition to my mini marathon I have been walking daily from the top of my street to the gates at the end of Sommerville Road and into the Berowra Valley National Park. Along the way and in the NP I’ve captured some interesting photos. Firstly almost at the entry into the NP I discovered "HH GNOMESVILLE and SPOONSVILLE” interesting not sure who set it up but plenty of cars come to see. Then once in the NP the scenery is ever changing - the native plants starting to bloom especially the beautiful pink Crowea, Eutaxia obovate (Bacon and Egg plant), another native very similar to a Grevillea which is abundant and a very tiny white flowering ground cover. It is so serene and peaceful within the National Park and I really enjoy this environment. I’m so fortunate to live so close to this wonderful open space. Since the bus accident I haven’t been able to walk very far so I'm trying to regain my stamina before Katoomba so I can join in the walks. I'm walking with the aid of my walking poles. I’m also currently enjoying watching the Paralympics’ Games and those incredible athletes. I’ve also included a photo of my Freesia called Yvonne.
Peter
- This month’s walk for the SAM Club involved two walkers, John and Peter, undertaking the Great North walk to Newcastle. The walk began with a brisk pace knowing that Newcastle was 237 kms away, but enthusiasm was high and there was no time to waste. Fortunately the Buffalo Creek Reserve is just 200 metres from our front door in Ryde, so no messy travelling to the start of the walk. However, once we arrived at Sugarloaf Point in the Lane Cove National Park we realised we were coming to the limit of our 5km walk from home under Covid 19 rules in Sydney lockdown.
Sadly we had to return home for a beer but not before a stroll down the back yard to admire the spring blossoms. The azalea bush is in full bloom after recently being repotted and filled with wonderful fresh compost laden with fresh worms. The walk continued further down the back yard past our beautiful Sydney Red Gum which dominates the back yard and casts welcome shade across the house during summer. The philodendron selloum once resided in a small pot plant but now continues it march across the back lawn. On the way back to the house John admires the azalea bush blanketing the walkway to the back door. A quick stroll along the side path reveals the grassbush is in need of a haircut down to a respectable height. The walk ends with a cool beer and good conversation.
Natalie and Colin
-The 1st September was a spectacular day to be out for a walk. It was the first day of Spring and we are still in a hard lockdown in our LGA so we are required to wear masks outdoors.
Today we drove a bit further away from home and then walked along a section of the Cooks River. As we are on the edge of our LGA we can walk into another LGA as long as it is within 5km from home. We started near the footbridge at Foord Avenue and continued towards Ewan Park to see the new bridge that was completed back in November 2020. It looks wonderful and they have also installed a ramp for those people wishing to kayak along the river. We walked to Beaman Park, crossed the river again to Marrickville Golf Clubhouse, continued on to the “Mudcrabs” Wave Rock site and back towards Ewan Park and then into our own LGA.
We saw fantastic wattles, lots of cockatoos, 3 kookaburras and a few water birds. The sun was shining and it was lovely to go a bit further away from home. How difficult is it all becoming! We walked 4.5km and took 80 minutes, so not a fast walk. Oops, we were only meant to be out for 60 minutes.
At home we are doing gym via Zoom and have progressed up from the Fit and Strong classes to Abs Butts and Thighs. Colin also does a Pilates class and I am doing a Chair Yoga class. These are provided free from Canterbury Bankstown Council.
Hope you are doing OK and always hoping that we might get to see you in person at Katoomba in November but I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Take care everyone.
Helen and Richard
-.On Monday we drove via Waterfall and McKell Drive into the Royal National Park (still in our LGA). We headed to the stone gates which marked the entrance to ‘The Forest Path’. This was built in 1886 to afford convenient access to the finest forest trees. Unfortunately more than those originally intended gained access. Logging was permitted on at least two occasions in the first quarter of last century. In September 1922, almost 100 years ago, the SMH carried a series of articles and letters in response to the National Park Trustees entering an agreement with a Coal Company for the removal of timber from 1200 acres. Continued public pressure led to the contract eventually being cancelled. The ‘Forest Path’ was rebuilt as a joint project of the Bicentennial Project and the National Park Trust.
The track took us through cabbage tree palms and Gymea Lilies on a path beside the Bola Creek and the Hacking River. It is one of the oldest walking tracks in the park. We could hear the squawks of the white cockatoos, the singing of other birds and the trickling of the water in the creek and shallow river. We only passed two other people despite there being several cars at the start. We walked by some cedar trees and later on some Corkwood trees, apparently useful in medicine. We spotted some early Spring flowers and did see more as we drove home the long way through the park itself. The loop was just over 4.4Km and took us 1 ½ hours.
Chris and Ron
Not a lot of physical activity as our area is devoid of bush walks, however we made up for this with working in the garden as well as pruning our very large grapefruit tree, still much more to take off,
It was our youngest granddaughter’s birthday but alas we could not be with her to celebrate. Walked 4ks to meet her and hand over her present. Unfortunately, no photos from our walk, but our garden is full of colour at the moment so we will share these with you.
Have spent some time in preparing for the next update to our website.
The finish
-we each headed back home to lockdown to hear about the ever increasing numbers of those with Covid 19 and any changes to the restrictions.
So glad we could enjoy some time out in the Spring sun to explore our local areas.
Distance walked
-again this varied depending on how comfortable each one felt about leaving home.