We finally reach our (well, my parents’) destination – two lookouts that overlook Broken Bay. You might have seen these before, but it’s my first time here.
The first lookout overlooks Pearl Beach and millionaire’s row.
I preferred the second lookout, which has views of the Central Coast Peninsula…
And Lion Island to Barrenjoey Head.
But I wasn’t exactly enjoying the view, more the scents.
The track wound its way under red gums…
And grass trees.
My parents enjoyed the fresh air and the coolness under the trees. I was too busy sniffing the many, many, many new smells.
Hi everyone, it’s Bridie Beagle here. It’s been a long time between bones but I’m back to take you on a short stroll. As you know, I love going for walks, especially in new places. I love to sniff out every nook and cranny. In this series, Daddy and I (and Mummy) are taking a stroll at Mount Ettalong, a hill between Umina Beach and Pearl Beach on the Central Coast.
What did we see? You have to wait until tomorrow to find out!
I recently completed some socks for Hubby using this pattern. It took me quite awhile to pick up the new techniques in the pattern, particularly for the toes and heel, hence a lot of frogging back and rework. But I liked doing the socks toe-up – a lot neater looking than top-down – and I liked the colours of the yarn. Most importantly, hubby liked it too.
Finally, we took a drive around the park. It was really quite extensive. When we climbed up the hill we had a great view to the Blue Mountains and the city. We were surprised to find that the suburban crawl was just below. Seems like the land that makes up the gardens were saved at just the right moment.
We visited the Callistemon (bottlebrush) garden. There were quite a few varieties. Unfortunately the flowers were also very difficult to photograph in the midday sun. I only managed to get decent photos of these very different coloured bottlebrushes.
However, I will supplement it with other Callistemon-like photos I have taken.
Let’s have a mini banksia festival!
Some middle-aged and ancient banksias.
Some new, mature, and old banksias.
A variegated orange and white banksia.
A variegated orange and red banksia.
And lastly, a whole bush-full of banksia flowers. Spectacular!
Mount Annan had an extensive native rock garden. I like the variety of shapes and colours that the flowers come in.
Close up, its leaves are like a palm.
But it’s the trunk that’s interesting – it’s full of intimidating spikes.
We got a close up of larger specimen that was fruiting. See how the cones form just at the tips?
Static and Silence 