Saturday, July 13, 2024

A man's gotta eat. A man's gotta drink. A man's gotta climb mountains. And a man's gotta laugh.


1st woman : Where is your husband ?
2nd woman: We had an argument. He is in the garden.
1st woman : I was there and I didn't see him.
2nd woman: Dig deeper.




Previous funnies posted here have been migrated to:
https://onemanadreaming.blogspot.com/



Saturday, June 8, 2024

Birdwood Gully, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia


2024-June   Day-trip

Birdwood Gully Round Walk
Springwood, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia

- Afternoon: A circuit walk
- At Night: To see glow-worms only




PDF version

If you prefer ...

Shorter PDF report of the trip is in this link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sr6hAdGorkvO5TrF7k-4SsIv-MX2AEXi/view

Otherwise, read on ...




Preview

Birdwood Gully Round Walk
An arch in an interesting overhang.





Glow-worm and its sticky silk threads
Under ultra-violet & red lights combination, they show up nicely.





Prolog

Birdwood Gully Round Walk is a circuit walk.

The circuit takes us about 1.5 hours to complete.
Short and relaxed 😀

And if you don’t stop for photographs,
you can finish it within an hour.




This trip

We go once in the afternoon,
to familiarise ourselves with the track.
Then at night again, to check out the glow-worms.

I was here 3 months ago, 2024-March,
with John Graham and others.

As this place is close to Sydney,
easy for us to see glow-worms,
hence I am here again,
and taking a group along.




Our group

6 of us:
- Paul ... leading
- Elizabeth Zhu
- George He
- John Zhong
- Lydia Zhang
- Kelly Wei




Glow-worms, Arachnocampa richardsae

Glow-worms are insects having a bioluminescent larval stage.

The roof of a cave / overhang covered with glow-worms can look remarkably like a blue starry night sky ... due to the collective bioluminescent glow from the larvae.

The larva hangs down sticky silk threads from the ceiling of a cave.  The glow from its head attracts prey and ensnare them in the threads.

Generally glow-worms have few predators.
Their greatest danger is from human interference.

Perhaps we shouldn’t have come here at Birdwood Gully 😭

More detail on glow-worms is in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnocampa




Map

1:25,000 scaled 9030-4S Springwood


1)  Afternoon clockwise circuit: Thin red line ~~~
- Blue oval: Glow-worms on cliffs
                   Grid Ref 7406 6935  to  Grid Ref 7410 6935
- Blue arrows, clockwise from left:
      1  Start and end:
                   Corner of  Lucinda Ave  &  Bednal Rd
      2  Overhang that has glow-worms
                   Grid Ref 7385 6934
      3  An overhang
                   Grid Ref 7425 6884
      4  An overhang with arch & hole
                   Grid Ref 7419 6881





GPS tracklog file & route

GPX tracklog file for the afternoon walk is in this link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11XJU9Z72XhWt6lxgSCq2uvUyzsaypUn1/view



In summary:
- Park cars at Corner of  Lucinda Ave  &  Bednal Rd,  Springwood
- Follow a well define foot track
  which is Birdwood Gully Round Walk
  (We did it clockwise.)
- Back to our cars.




Timeline & Distances

Afternoon circuit walk:

14:51  Start at Corner of  Lucinda Ave  &  Bednal Rd
15:07  At an overhang, blue arrow #2 of above map

15:09  Resume walking
15:30  At another overhang, blue arrow #3

15:44  Resume walking
15:45  At an overhang with arch & hole, blue arrow #4

15:59  Resume walking
16:12  Foot track ends at Bednal Rd
           Walk along Bednal Rd northward towards Lucinda Ave
16:20  Back at our cars

Total:  1 hrs 29 mins
           2.75 km  roughly


=====================================

Dinner in Springwood
to wait for the night, so we can go glow-worming 😊

Restaurant is:
The Bunker ... Shop 8 & 9, 150 Macquarie Rd, Springwood, NSW 2777
Food is quite good.  Price is reasonable.


=====================================

Night walk for the glow-worms:

18:26  Start at Corner of  Lucinda Ave  &  Bednal Rd
19:26  At as far east as we are willing to go
           Retrace steps
19:40  Back at our cars

Total:  1 hrs 14 mins
           1.7 km  roughly




Pictures - On the track

2)  Group photo on the track ~~~
- Left to right: Kelly, Elizabeth, John, George, Lydia





3)  Passing a cave/overhang (no glow-worms here) ~~~
- Left to right: Elizabeth, George, Paul

Photo by: John Zhong




4)  At another cave/overhang, Grid Ref 7385 6934 ~~~
- Elizabeth, Paul
- There are glow-worms here. You can see them at night.

Photo by: John Zhong




5)  The creek on the left is Shelley’s Creek.




6)  Further along the track ~~~
- Paul leading, followed by Kelly, Elizabeth, Lydia, George

Photo by: John Zhong




7)  Crossing Shelley’s Creek ~~~
Trust me it is Shelly’s Creek 😊
Refer to next pic.





8)  Believe me now 😊
The words
    SHELLEY’S
    CREEK
are chiselled into the rocks.



There are no more glow-worms after crossing the creek.



9)  Love these ferns.




10)  Passing an Angophora costata (Sydney Red Gum).




11)  Same Angophora costata as previous pic ~~~
- Lydia
- There should be a bigger Angophora along the track.  We must have missed it 😭





An overhang

Grid Ref: 7425 6884


12)  George climbing up ~~~
- Watched anxiously by John 😊

Photo by: Elizabeth




13)  George has climbed up ~~~
- John is relieved 😊





14)  Same spot as George was in previous pic ~~~
- Kelly




15)  Lydia.




16)  John.
Photo by: Lydia




17)  Part of the roof of the overhang.




18)  Nature’s scrulpture ~~~
- Bottom-right of previous pic

Photo by: George




Arch in another overhang

Grid Ref: 7419 6881


19)  An arch (yellow oval) and a hole in another overhang ~~~
- Elizabeth





20)  Another view of the arch.
Photo by: Elizabeth




21)  We all have a go at posing on the arch 😊
- Here is George.




22)  John on the arch.




23)  Lydia.




24)  Kelly.




25)  Elizabeth.
Photo by: Lydia




26)  Elizabeth ... again ~~~
- She is the sleeping beauty 😊
( But how about me ?  ... See next pic 😊 )





27)  Here is the true sleeping beauty 😊
Photo by: George




Hole in the overhang

28)  The hole in photo #19.




29)  The same hole from the other end ~~~
- Lydia (left side of the pic)





30)  Our group in the hole ~~~
- Lydia, John, Kelly, Elizabeth, George
- White oval: The arch (photos #19 - #27)






Dinner in Springwood

After the circuit walk, dinner is in Springwood,
to wait for the night to beginning, so we can go glow-worming 😊


31)  Restaurant is:
The Bunker ... Shop 8 & 9, 150 Macquarie Rd, Springwood, NSW 2777
- Food is quite good.  Price is reasonable.






Night walk - for the glow-worms

At night, back on the Birdwood Gully Round Walk.


32)  Our group ~~~
- Back row : Paul ... inspecting glow-worms by the red light from a torch
- Front row: John, George, Kelly, Lydia

Photo by: Elizabeth




Glow-worms in Birdwood Gully

33)  Glow-worms.
Photo by: John Graham, 3 months ago, 2024-Mar-07




34)  Glow-worms.
Photo by: John Graham, 3 months ago, 2024-Mar-07




35)  Glow-worms.
Photo by: John Graham, 3 months ago, 2024-Mar-07




36)  Glow-worms' sticky silk threads hanging down from ceiling.
Photo by: John Graham, 3 months ago, 2024-Mar-07




37)  Glow-worms' sticky silk threads hanging down from ceiling.
Photo by: Melody Guo, 3 months ago, 2024-Mar-07




38)  Glow-worms' sticky silk threads.
Photo by: Elizabeth Zhu




39)  Glow-worms' sticky silk threads.
Photo by: Elizabeth Zhu




40)  Glow-worms' sticky silk threads.
Photo by: John Graham, 3 months ago, 2024-Mar-07




41)  Glow-worms' sticky silk threads.
Photo by: John Graham, 3 months ago, 2024-Mar-07




42)  Glow-worms' sticky silk threads.
Photo by: John Graham, 3 months ago, 2024-Mar-07




43)  Video: A glow-worm moving in UV light ~~~
- Note: Slightly clearer videos are in:
  YouTube: https://youtube.com/shorts/qHG3q9e_F48
  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4Q9FUZCOUK/

Video by: John Graham, 3 months ago, 2024-Mar-07




44)  A glow-worm and its sticky silk threads.
- Under ultra-violet & red lights combination, they show up nicely.

Photographer: Yours Truly 😊




Glow-worms from my other trips

45)  Location: Grand Canyon, Blackheath
2023-Dec-16  Abseil & swims at night

Photo by: John Graham




46)  Location: Glowworm Tunnel, Gardens of Stone NP
2020-Jul-11

Photographer: Yours Truly 😊




47)  Location: Grand Canyon, Blackheath
2023-Dec-16  Abseil & swims at night

Photo by: John Graham




48)  Location: Grand Canyon, Blackheath
2023-Dec-16  Abseil & swims at night

Photo by: John Graham




49)  Glow-worms' sticky silk threads hanging down from ceiling ~~~
Location: Grand Canyon, Blackheath
2023-Dec-16  Abseil & swims at night

Photo by: John Graham




PDF version

Shorter PDF report of this trip is in this link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sr6hAdGorkvO5TrF7k-4SsIv-MX2AEXi/view




My other bushwalk in the Springwood area

2024-May
Day trip, circuit walk:
    - Springwood
    - along Sassafras Gully Track
    - to Lost World Lookout
    - to Bunyan Lookout
    - to Martins Falls
    - along Fairy Dell Track
    - back to Springwood

Trip report: Under construction 😊




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