Easter 2013

A rainy year for walking. Only some small walks in the south east. Looking to get into the ranges this winter

RECENT RAMBLES

It has been a long time between blogs....but I have logged up quite a few steps.....We spent 4 weeks in South Australia and explored it by roas and path from East to West and then south to north
Some highlights

• The Coorong walks
• The h
• Heysen track along the coast south of Victor Harbour
• Rambles around Kangaroo Island nursing a dodgy broken windscreen
• Historic explores at the end of the Yorke Peninsula
• Climbing Mt Remarkablle int he Southern Flinders Ranges
• Wilpenia Pound walks in the north
• Grampian tramps
• Clare Valley vistas

TREK THE HIMALAYA

Follow Greg Babbage as he walks the entire 4500km Himalayas on trekthegreathimalayatrail.com.

It is a 157 dy walk through some isolated and magnificent country

wivenhoe sunday rambling

START OF TRACK

 This week we visited Wivenhoe Dam where they are letting out in a week the equivalent of a year of water supply to brisbane.

The water escaping was spectacular

However no pictures as there was no stopping on the dam wall.

So we did a walk around the dam and saw the level it had reached.

It was apparently well over 120% full when they released water that led to the extension of flooding in the brisbane River...

SOMEWHERE AROUND 36 DEGREES CELSIUS ON THIS WALK

TOOWOOMBA RANGE RAMBLES

Picnic overlooking the  Lockyer valley

The Lockyer valley was the area destroyed by the creek of the same name. The media name  it an inland Tsunami and it started in the Toowoomba City outskirts with a deluge of rain which transformed quickly to a flash flood.

The raging waters shock suprised with death and devastation the Toowoomba CBD then swept over the range into the Lockyer Creek catchment and swept away houses,farms,villages,towns in its path.

It was sobering to think about this as we walked down the range into the valley and skirted the cliffs of this now beautiful and peaceful place.

TABLETOP MOUNTAIN

" there are snakes in this long grass"(Betty)

STAND BY ME AROUD THE WORLD

A WALK IN THE PARK

A beautiful Australia Day and a short ramble in Brisbane Forest Park. It is hard to believe that this rugged forrest is right in the centre of a metropolitan city of 2 million people.  Brisbane lived up to its name as the " River City" in the recent floods and yes we are reminded now that the city is built on a flood plain with the meandering brisbane river winding through the city 25 km from the sea.

But in this centre are some small ranges which lead to the D'Aguilar Range and which were formerly prized by the timber millers but are now preserved as recreational areas.

The rains have made normally dry creeks to run and the dry open forest is a colour green

NOT SURE WHY YOU WOULD DO THIS WALK

A HAIR-raising video posted on YouTube shows a tourist on the notoriously dangerous yet spectacular "walk of death" walkway in Spain.



The Caminito del Rey walkway winds around the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, nearMalaga, Spain.

More than a century old, it has fallen into disrepair. The entire concrete top section has collapsed, leaving open air gaps bridged only by narrow steel beams.

Few of the original handrails exist but a safety-wire runs along the path, which is one metre wide and rises over 100 metres above the river below.

There is currently no public access to the walkway as the local government closed both entrances following two fatal accidents in 1999 and 2000.


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/worlds-most-terrifying-walkway/story-e6frfq80-1225993672931#ixzz1C6ptHRpi

sunset sailor riding the boardwalk

This catamaran was taken from the marina at Kangaroo Point by the owner during the flood and attached to a tree on the boardwalk.  The owner said he had seen all the pontoons destroyed and thought that this would save the boat.  Unpredictably, the marina survived and this boat was washed right up on the boardwalk where it defied the efforts of many helpers to budge it in the high tide on Thursday.

It had moved right across the boardwalk but has since submerged to its present position , perched on the wall of the boardwalk.

It is just a minute fragment of the many other far more overwhelming stories of loss and grief that the waters carried. As such it does not compare with other destruction of life and property. However, it is a reminder of the flood viewed from our apartment .

At least he still has the boat unlike the many boats we saw raging down the river , surfing on the flood waves to destruction.
The" for sale" sign is still on the boat.



SUNSET SAILOR UP ON THE DOCKSIDE BOARDWALK





LOW TIDE AT KANGAROO POINT MARINA



PEOPLE AND STORY

A FORTUNATE KANGAROO POINT KING TIDE THURSDAY

Floating in the flood

Floating in the flood: "Take a boat ride through some of Brisbane's worst flood affected suburbs"

HIGH TIDE WEDNESDAY KANGAROO POINT