The most southern suburb in the back ground…on the way to Namadgi.

Looking back towards Canberra.

I have been promising myself for some time to take a drive out into the National Park just south of here.

The back road to the Snowy Mountains goes through the Park in fact, but I didn’t think I would drive all the way up to the snow today…besides half the journey would be on dirt roads.

As it was I got as far as the beginning of the unsealed road before I turned around to come home. The full drive can be on another day.

This time of year, while in town we have had autumn colours (and those have just about finished as winter is upon us), out in the country it is dry and brown apart for the native vegitation, mostly gum trees (eucalypts) that are not deciduous and range in colour from pale fresh green to a silvery grey.

I stopped before turning around and went for a short walk on one of the walking trails. In January 2003 we had terrible bush fires in this area. 100s of hectares of the park and surrounding land was burnt out, today, recovery is really just beginning. The scars left by the fires are still evident with many many dead trees scattered through out the bush and the rocky sides of the hills exposed. Previous to the fires the rocks were hidden underneath the vegitation, now they stand out like scars on the landscape. However, there is a lot of new growth on the hill sides now. The past spring brought us some much needed rainfall after successive years of drought. It was eery walking along the track in the bush today. The only sound was of the leaves in the trees rustling in the breeze, the crunch of my own foot steps and when I stopped, the crackle of something else further away in the bush.

On my way back I took a side road out to one of the areas where there are walking trails into the hills. A drive into the country would not be complete without coming across Kangaroos grazing. I didn’t happen upon much wild life on my travels today, just the Kangas and a few Galahs. A lot of the bush creatures are nocturnal, I can’t see myself up here in the night time some how.

This area is just near the Ororral Valley, where another space tracking station is located. The old Honeysuckle Creek tracking station (now closed) was out here also. (google it, was famous for the first moon pictures).

Today there was a strange haze over the landscape, probably not the best day for taking pictures, it is starting to get cold here as winter moves in. Next time I drive out here I think I will go past Honeysuckle creek to Baroomba rocks, where, on a clear day, there is a fantastic view back to where I live.