We three Oldies, Patsy, Myself and Daisy, had a great weekend with all you youngsters. It was good fun, the weather held fine enough to settle the dust and add a little interest in places without being too damp to put a spoiler on things, the tracks were pleasant to drive, the scenery great, the company great and the camaraderie great. Take a bow Scallops and all members concerned.
We got up pretty early (as Daisy's road speed manners are a little different to those of Hyacinth- D2) to allow what we considered was enough time to get us there by around 8.30ish and we were pleasantly surprised to actually arrive at the FUP quite early, only preceded by one other attendee. This gave us a chance to enjoy a nice cup of coffee before the convoy began to actually form up.
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0900 or thereabouts turned up, we crossed the SP and headed off up the range then turned off the highway and meandered along some pleasant rural secondary roads to arrive at our campsite in magnificent fine weather to set up camp and enjoy a chat and lunch before setting out on the afternoons entertainment. The mountain tracks chosen for the day were not too challenging, very scenic and fun to drive. Daisy ambled along happily in 2nd and 3rd Hi most of the day although there one or two points where she got real serious and actually went into growl range and asked those lazy front tyres to pull their weight. (I think the front axle must be a teenager!) There are a lot of great shots elsewhere covering the drive so I won't double up on them.
We three Olds decided to book into the Taj Mahal for the night (Pressure from above about all that hassle for just one night, do we tow a trailer or not, have to clean up next day sort of pressure, you know the stuff marriages are made of) and in hindsight, with the weather today, perhaps we actually may have made a sensible decision.
Our camp for the night:
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There is another story just there but we won't go into that at this moment.
Sunday's drive to the lookouts was also just as pleasant as the preceding day's, the proximity to the Eastern escarpment becoming more obvious as we drove further into wet convectional rain influenced rainforest vegetation. At the end of the road we dismounted and all trekked off to the magnificent lookout where Scallops can be seen in the following shot, offering an Insight into what can happen to your pots if you over cook porridge and use too much laterite and Kryptonite and the mixture magmatises and sticks to the sides leaving these caldera things. (I think that is what he said, anyway, if not it is pretty close!)
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Mother nature always puts on a good show in these forest areas, Patsy spotted a couple of rufous fantails and some other little yellow jobs (as of yet to be identified) as well as the numerous fungi, lianas, ferns and other things.
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And just to prove that the python was alive compare this shot with the one of WhiteD3's and you will see that he has moved. (He must be a male, he is lying in the sun resting, obviously after a hard days work doing chores as allocated by the female of the species!)
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Thanks all for a great weekend.
If anyone has any shots of Daisy that you care to share we would be interested in seeing them. Daisy doesn't get out that often.
One of these days if there is a guarantee on weather patterns holding we might take Onslow out for a play in the bush!
Regards
Glen
