April meanders and wonderful sunsets

With school swimming still a feature in the first couple of weeks of April walks were fitted around them.

To start the month we had a swimming carnival. After we got home I headed for Mt Taylor on foot. It certainly help to get the kinks out of a body that had been sitting in front of a computer all day. I still needed to be careful of the blistered left heal. Once it warms up it seems to be OK.

Wednesday April 2: I had my usual PT session so walked to the gym and back. Unfortunately this does not give me nearly enough metres of elevation gain. After lunching at Woden I walked home via the top of Mt. Taylor.

Thursday April 3 was another swimming carnival day. At least we finished early and were home before 2 o'clock. Trevor and Michael were picking up their China trip doco down at Woden so I took the opportunity of  walking home from there. There had been light rain during the walk but at least I had my rain jacket so the top remained dry even if the bottom got a little damp. There were not many people out and about. The rain was obviously putting them off. Given that the forecast was for wild weather overnight I could understand people being a bit cautious about venturing out. There was a huge congregation of kangaroos in the paddock adjacent to the Mt Taylor nature reserve. A couple of the large males were obviously attempting to determine the pecking order and they put on quite a display. They were fighting on the slope of the hill. I'm not sure which was the better position - uphill facing down or downhill facing up. The roos kept switching who was up and who was down. I didn't see the end of the fight so I don't know which roo won.

Friday April 4: After some heavy overnight rain and continuous drizzle and rain during the day things were pretty wet underfoot. In the afternoon Trevor and I ventured out and did his Urambi circuit. This is a fairly flat 6km walk around the western half of Kambah. We got some strange looks from people who were out walking their dogs as the persistent rain was keeping most sane people indoors. Our rain jackets did their job so our top half was dry. The shoes were rather wet by the time we got home as there were puddles of water across the path in quite a few places as well as the rain.

The rain continued on Saturday. After lunch I went to the gym as I had spent a great deal of time hunched over the keyboard and needed to work some of the muscles in my upper body. I walked home in light rain, cozy in my rain jacket. I didn't have my camera with me which was a shame as there were some super views of water accumulated on the ends of needles on many of the trees. With light shining through the droplets it looked like hundreds of tiny lights. Very pretty.

Sunday saw the end of daylight saving. I'll need to adjust the time I go out for walks in the afternoon now. The morning was sunny but I was slaving away inside. By the time I was ready to go out it was raining again and threatening to be heavy rain, at that. I waited until the rain cleared and headed off to Cooleman Court. The Stanhope Highway was surprisingly dry considering how much rain we have had over the past week. There were some soft spots but these were easy to avoid. I encountered quite a few people out with children in tow who were taking advantage of the rainless late afternoon. After doing some shopping I headed home. The evening was closing in and very few people were out and about.

On Monday 7th we had Astrid for the day.

Astrid having fun in a muddy puddle

Nothing is better than playing in muddy puddles

She certainly fills up the day and with daylight saving now at an end and darkness coming that much earlier than it did last week I had little chance to fit in walking. Still, I did manage to clock up 6kms. Just as well the Marconi Crescent walk is viable at all hours of the day and night.

I was booked in to have a flu injection on the 8th. A visit to the doctors allows me to get a decent walk in no matter which route I take between home and Mawson. Today I chose a reliable route which, while not the shortest, guaranteed that I could make my appointment time without meandering through unfamiliar streets. When time is not important exploration is fine but not when I need to be at a particular place at a specific time. I made it with a couple of minutes to spare. As I walked through the Mt Taylor reserve I came across a group of small birds one of which I had seen a few days earlier. Unfortunately I was pressed for time and couldn't stop to observe these flighty little devils. It was also the first time in a while that I had passed the dam and the water level has increased yet again. That wasn't really much of a surprise given all the recent rain.

Wednesday I did my usual walk to the gym and back with my PT session in between. On the return trip I walked along Athlon Drive as I expected quite a number of spots on the lake path to be covered with water. After lunching at Cooleman Court I walked home along the Stanhope Highway. It was very quiet out. The persistent threat of rain appears to have kept most people indoors or in their cars.

The recent rain has really greened up the previously brown, dry ridges and hills

Thursday the 10th was the last of our zone swimming carnivals. Being the Associated Southern Colleges carnival it is a big one with time pressure. It was an early start as the aim was to kick off at 9:00am which we went close to managing. By the time we got home there was no time for a walk before I needed to head out for a meeting which was starting at 6:00pm. I forgot to take my house key so was locked out when I got back. Hungry and tired I figured getting some food into me was better than just sitting in the car waiting for Trevor to get home, he had gone to a swim club night. By the time I got home I was exhausted and it was wet and miserable. I didn't even attempt my Marconi Crescent walk.

There was more rain on Friday (11th) and it wasn't until after 4 o'clock that I headed out to do a circuit up and over Mt Taylor. Trevor came with me as far as the Village where we stopped for a cup of coffee. On the way to the Village we came across a couple of little birds which we had both observed in a number of places over the past few weeks. We still have not identified them and I failed to get a photo of them, too. The coffee pause meant I was even later reaching the top of Mt Taylor than I had intended. The light was definitely fading and the view down across the Woden Valley and towards the city was very pretty with the lights really putting on a great display. This also meant that I was going down the mountain in near darkness. This was great for testing my night vision however I did get out the torch when I reached the park sign as the track from that point down to Sulwood Drive is fairly rough and eroded in places. I passed a number of kangaroos grazing close the the track. They were almost impossible to see in the gloom. Even though I was carrying a torch, the light is fairly weak, they were unfazed by my passage.

There was quite a bit of water lying around on the Mt Taylor reserve tracks.

Yes, this is a track ... looks more like a lake

When I reach my rock run I realised that there was quite a bit of water coming down. I climbed up the narrow track which runs alongside the rocks before being forced onto the rocks themselves. The surface of the rocks was slippery and  a fair degree of care was needed to ensure a firm footing. The one slip I had as I was picking my way down reinforced the need for care. Fortunately, no damage was done.

As I went up beside the rock run I discovered another rock shute which seemed to have a greater waterflow than the rocks which are visible from my normal track. I decided to check it out and actually found a small waterfall ... well, there was water falling freely.


Safety being important I left the park at the Mannheim Street exit rather than walking back along the eroded, waterlogged trail that I normally take. Sometimes I do take the cautious option.

The Richomd Fellowship Track, which I use climbing Mt Taylor, is a zigzag track with 3 zigs and 2 zags. Coming up the second of the zags I encountered quite a few places where water was slipping across the track. This made it rather slippery and care was needed to ensure that I didn't slip and fall. The first of the zigs was also quite wet however the wet spots were generally on the flat, stepped sections so didn't pose too great a problem.


Saturday (12th) was a fine day. The sky was blue with just the odd small, light coloured cloud hovering just above the horizon. The only downside was the wind which was strong and gusty. In the late morning I headed off to the gym. There were times when I thought that I was going to be blown over but, fortunately, that didn't happen. After a session at the gym and a bite of lunch I headed home. The wind was still strong but not as gusty as earlier which made for easier walking. There were still a number of places where water covered the path. Fortunately, it was generally possible to walk off the path to avoid the puddles.

Walking to Tuggeranong and back does not get enough elevation gain for the day. Given that it had been a rather slack week climbwise I trundled out and did a Mt Taylor climb before dinner. There were very few people out on the mountain and by the time I got down there was only one other car in the parking area. I did the 4.1km circuit with 201m of elevation gain in 46:51 which I think is my best time for this circuit so far. I'll need to go back and check this against my previous times.

Sunday 13th: This was the day that Trevor and Michael headed off on their China tour. Trevor and I started the day with breakfast at Macon and Green Grout, an eatery in New Acton that had managed to get itself listed in the Gourmet Traveller 2014 Australian Restaurant Guide. Interesting is perhaps an apt description.

We collected Michael around midday and headed in to Civic and the bus station. This weekend was the Canberra running festival and today was the marathon day with half, full and ultra marathons. As we headed over Commonwealth Avenue Bridge stragglers were still out on their chosen course most looking like they would rather be somewhere else.

After dropping the boys I headed off to the National Botanical Gardens, the starting point for the Black Mountain summit track. Even on a Sunday you have to pay for parking. That would be OK if you actually got what you paid for. Supposedly, the cost was $2 per hour to a maximum of $10. I was a little short of change but did feed $4 into the machine and was rather surprised when it declared that my $4 had purchased a mere 1 hour 24 minutes of parking. When I get a chance I'm going to follow this up as it is less than satisfactory to be short changed on rather expensive parking fees.

The day was warm with a glorious clear blue sky. A lovely change from the wet days of most of the past couple of weeks.

I headed up through the gardens towards the exit gate. There was a delightful wattle in full flower with creamy coloured flowers. April is an unusual month for wattles to flower but this one seemed oblivious of the strangeness. The red flowered coreas were past their best and had been replaced by a cream flowering species which was playing host to small birds. I'm fairly sure that these are the same small birds that I keep seeing around Kambah and Mt Taylor.

Once outside the gardens it was just a fairly continuous climb to the summit.

Looking towards the western ranges from the top of Black Mountain

Having completed the climb I headed home. I was still short on steps, kms and elevation gain for the week. I rectified this by doing a walk to Tuggeranong and back in the late afternoon. All square for the week I settled down to dinner and to planning the week ahead.
Monday (14th) was a glorious day following a chilly night. I started the day with some cleaning and then a trip down to Tuggeranong to purchase paper and other supplies for my mammoth printing job leading up to the Swimming ACT presentation night. I did call into the gym and did a workout while I was in the vicinity. I decided to head down to Woden for lunch and to grab a few items that were not available at the Kambah Woolworth's which I wanted for my day with Astrid.

A group of kangaroos I came across ... just lounging around

On the way down I checked out the dam and then came across some of the little birds that Trevor and I have been trying to identify. I didn't manage to get a photo of these flitty little devils.

Yes, there is definitely a lot more water in the dam than was the case back in January

A day (Tuesday 15th) with Astrid is full of activities but mostly not a lot of monitored walking. We did go down to the Village to get lunch stuff and more chocolate for the days cooking effort.

Wednesday (16th) was another clear, sunny day. The early morning was quite chilly but the day quickly warmed up once the sun was up. After going to the gym I had coffee with Sue Knight and we were joined by her husband Phil. The walk home was very pleasant.

Needing to get elevation gain I decided to get the bus to Woden and then walk back. This allowed me to stop off in Chifley at A Bite to Eat for, you guessed it, a bite to eat. Suitably refreshed I headed to Mt Taylor and a climb up the Richmond Fellowship Track. Water is still seeping down the mountain and a number of places on the track was damp. Going down the Mannheim track there were active waterflows and at my rock pile there was quite a stream of water still flowing down.

It is great to see whole areas of bright green grass. If the weather holds there will be plenty of feed for the animals over winter. The Golden Everlastings are starting to flower while many of the plants are having their last fling before the cold weather sets in.


Thursday (17th) was a cool morning with the temperature a mere 6 degrees when I got up. It was sunny and still so the low temperature was not too much of a pain as I headed out for an early morning walk.

After my session at the Family History Centre I returned home and decided to head down to Cooleman Court.

Autumn is on its way with trees beginning to put on a colourful display

On my return I was treated to some gorgeous golden light effects as the sun sunk down behind the range. I had been contemplating climbing Mt Arawang on the way home but decided against it as darkness was descending and the path to the top is none too even and rather narrow in places.

Good Friday (18th) started with a cool morning. The temperature had dropped to a mere 3 overnight. I had been invited, by Astrid, to go to Duffy to help with some gardening and have some hot cross buns. Antony offered to supply breakfast, he must be missing Michael, so I headed off about 7:30 for the walk over to Duffy. I began by skirting the western side of Mt Arawang and then headed along Cooleman Ridge. Looking to the city and the line of bumps (mountains) ringing the north eastern side of Canberra I noticed that they were shrouded in fog and the tower on the top of Black Mountain was disappearing before my eyes. Out to the west there was fog along the river and in some of the valleys between the mountain ranges.

Fog along the Murrumbidgee River

Fog in the valleys between the ranges

I cut down through Chapman, picking what I hoped to be a relatively short route and I seem to have managed that quite well. I arrived at the Camelid Castle around 8:45.

Astrid enjoying herself digging

After lunch I headed off home following a section of Stage 6 of the Canberra Centenary Trail which runs along Eucumbene Drive in Duffy, onto Cooleman Ridge, around Mt Arawang and eventually crosses Barritt Street, my exit point. Cloud was starting to come in and the breeze had a bit of a bite however it was a pleasant 8km walk home.

Cooleman Ridge is studded with boulders of all sizes. According to the Cooleman Ridge Nature Trail guide, which I picked up as I passed one of the information points along the track, the rocks are Laidlaw Volcanics, which were formed by a gigantic eruption 420 million years ago.

The Cooleman Trig point with some of the Laidlaw Volcanics visible (on the left)

More rocks

Next to the horse paddocks at the back of Mt Arawang is an equestrian centre. It doesn't seem to be used much these days, except by the kangaroos.

Saturday 19th: ACTEW had sent us a notification that there would be inspection of the properties to ensure that all growth met the required clearance from powerlines, including those from poles to premises. I think nearly everyone in the neighbourhood has received a failure notice given the frenzied activities in yards over the past week. Unfortunately, the Eleagnus and the apricot tree ran foul of the clearance requirement for the lines to the house. The problem needs to be fixed before Trevor gets back so I started with a clean up of the Eleagnus. Apart from its thorns, and I have a number of punctures on my hands to attest to their powers of penetration, and the density of the wood I managed to clear the Eleagnus. There was a huge pile of off cuts out the back. Fortunately Anto was taking some green waste to the tip and called past and loaded up my very large load. I still have the apricot tree to deal with and will definitely need a pro in to do this.

With the yard cleaned up I figured that I could tackle one of the sections of the Canberra Centenary Trail (CCT). As it would be around midday by the time I would be starting the walk I decided that Section 7 from Tuggeranong to Parliament House, 29.4km in length and requiring about 7.5 hours, was not a good choice. Instead I decided to do Section 1, the Parliament House to Watson section, which is a mere 19.2km and logged as requiring 5 hours. Having checked the bus timetable from Watson back to the city and organised my pack I set off for Parliament House.

First issue: parking. I did find a spot in one of the surface car parks down toward Old Parliament House. That was fine as I had decided that I didn't really need to circumnavigate the big house on the hill and happily started from the car park and headed down towards the lake.

The John Gorton Building is one I have often passed. Indeed, I worked in it briefly back in the days with it was known as the Admin Building and, more recently, sons Anto and Mikl have worked in the building. We do seem to have a habit of finding buildings wrapped in plastic. Here is John Gorton:

Is this really a junk on Lake Burley Griffin?

The route tracked along the shoreline until reaching Kings Avenue. There is work underway in this area and the CCT signs directing pedestrians were nowhere to be seen so I overshoot the turn off and had to backtrack.

Aspen Isle and the Carillon

Once across Lake Burley Griffin the route tracked along the lake shore towards the city before heading up Anzac Parade towards the War Memorial. A quick toilet stop at the War Memorial cafe and it was up Mt Ainslie. I've been up Mt. Ainslie a number of times over the past few months however today was a relatively slow climb. I was carrying my full day pack with 2 litres of water, a thermos with coffee, first aid stuff, food, wet weather gear ... you get the idea.

From time to time I have come across trees that should have been dead ... fire ravaged trucks with just a shell remaining ... and yet there they are happily regenerating. Here is one I came across and, yes, you can see right through the burnt trunk.

Normally when I climb Mt Ainslie I return down the same track but today was different. It was over the top and down an entirely different track.

Following a track that ran along the back of houses at Hackett the trail reaches Mt Majura. The CCT sign actually had a disk informing the walkers that the track was the summit track. So far so good. I had been making good time and had covered the first 10km in just a little over 2 hours and that included the climb of Mt Ainslie. The track up Mt Majura was quite pleasant and reminded me of the Richmond Fellowship Track on Mt Taylor. All was good until I reached a junction which had CCT signs showing arrows for both tracks. There was not a mention of "summit" anywhere. I opted for the wrong track so did not end up reaching the top. By the time I realised that I had picked the wrong track I figured that I would give it a miss and go up Mt Majura another time.

A view back over the city and towards the western ranges

Section 1 finishes in Watson. What I hadn't realised is that it finished down on the Federal Highway nor was there any indication that I had just finished Section 1 and had started on Section 2. It really is a funny place to stop and, if I had realised, once I had come down from Mt Majura as there was a straightforward track down into Watson where I could have got a bus into Civic. That was not to be. On I walked. I was a long way from anywhere and certainly a long way from any bus route. I figured that I was probably well on my way to Hall and decided that I needed to bail out. In the end I followed a road with lots of traffic until I reached an intersection which had two options: Harrison and Mitchell or the Gungahlin Town Centre. I opted for the Harrison and Mitchell route and eventually, in sight of Mitchell, came across a bus shelter.

Over Easter the buses were running on the Sunday timetable so they are generally only operating an hourly service. Still, it was only a 20 minute wait and I was able to finish off my coffee as I slowly turned into a block of ice. The bus was well patronised and duly delivered me to the bus interchange. Unfortunately I had a 40 minute wait for the bus that would drop me back at Parliament House and, hopefully, my car. I filled in the time by grabbing an early dinner. Of course, the bus stop at Parliament House was on the opposite side of the massive building from where I had left the car. Another rather cold trek brought me to the front of building. Next I had to figure where the carpark was. The open air carparks are not lit so I needed to check the route I had driven to work out which path to go down in the hope of finding the car in the dark. I was obviously looking a little lost as a policeman (on a pushbike) stopped and asked if I needed help. He seemed a bit surprised when I said that I was looking for my car which I had parked in one of the Parliament House open air carparks before I had walked to Watson and beyond. At least he pointed me down the road I needed to get to my car. It was the only vehicle left in the carparks and even then it was not easy to see.

And how far had a I walked? 22.58km and 557m of elevation gain.

As well as the signage issues, there were a number of places where water covered the track even though it is now days since the last rainfall. Here is an example:

I have a number of issues with the CCT sections that I have tackled. There is very little detailed, written information about the routes. Relying on the signs obviously means that you can go astray. A proper description would be a definite advantage.

I came across a number of stiles ... memories of the Coast to Coast walk flooded back. At least this one was easy to negotiate.

Note the carpet over the fence making easy to put a bike over

On Sunday (20th) I opted for a relatively easy day. I drove down to Woden, which was deserted at midday, and had a pedicure. Later in the afternoon I walked down to Tuggeranong and did a session at the gym.

Monday was quite cool to start with but promised to warm up and be lovely and sunny. I figured out that I could tackle more of the CCT. This time I planned my starting and finishing points. It does mean that I have part of Section 2 to cover but I can do that at any time.

I picked up Section 2 at Muligan's Flat car park on the edge of Forde, one of the outer suburbs of Gungahlin. I chose this starting point as I had figured out how to get back, thanks to Action buses, following my walk.

Everything has to be the best in Gungahlin. The initial path was a wide cement strip. Luxury. However the icing on the cake was the stile:

The route picks up and follows the ACT border with some lovely views across the countryside

as well as over the city

The track has obviously been built with cyclists in mind. It weaves and has relatively gentle rises and falls.

Section 2 terminates at the Northern Borders Camping Ground. This is in the absolute middle of nowhere. Still, its toilet was a welcome sight and I did make use of it. I also used the table to eat my lunch before heading off on Section 3.

Northern Borders Camping Ground

Much of the area I had been walking through was probably an old sea bed. The rock was generally sedimentary with shale quite common.

The path hugged the northern ACT border and looped around to the village of Hall. It was a undulating tracked as it passed around and over ridges and hills. At One Tree Hill it was possible for walkers to climb to the lookout at the hilltop. The track was less than brilliant however I did get up and down without mishap. I'm not sure if the effort was worth it as the views were not that much better than those on the lower track.

The One Tree Hill lookout

I was pleased to reach Hall and had hoped that it would be possible to grab a coffee but not such luck. It was a Monday and the cafe is closed on Mondays. So on I plodded, on Section 4, towards Gold Creek and Federation Square and, hopefully, a bus to Forde.

By the time I got back to the car park I had covered 24.40km in just on 5 hours walking. The elevation gain had been 543m.

Tuesday 22nd was an Astrid day. Although I did lots of steps I only did a small amount of logged walking. By the time I dropped Astrid home we were both exhausted.

On Wednesday 23rd I had my PT and headed off to the gym. The sky was overcast and from time to time it precipitated but it was never enough to cause much concern. I had intended going down to Woden and grabbing some lunch and walking back vai Mt Taylor however the best laid plans were given a swift kick as I waited around for a chap to arrive and give me a quote for attacking the apricot tree to mee our power line clearance requirements. By the time he materialised it was too late to go to Woden so I just went down to the Village and grabbed the bare basics.

I still wanted to get in some elevation gain so just before 5 I headed off, in the car, to the Mannheim Street "car park" and did my up the Richmond Fellowship Track and down the Mannheim one circuit. It was a fairly slow circuit.

Thursday is my family history day and this week was no exception. By the time I completed working through all the ins and outs for the Schools Swimming Championships, prepared the report of who had been granted swims and sent it off I was running late. It was a delightfully sunny day, even if the night had been cool, and a pity being inside.When I finally got home I had some additional changes to do to the Champs entries which I did and sent off yet another version of the report. I was beginning to loose count of how many times I had created the report. Enough was enough and I decided to head out for a longish walk. Escapism at its best!

I headed off to Mt Taylor via Colquhoun Street. As I approached Mrs Lowes Fire Trail I figured that I would go and investigate the hilltop just outside the horse paddock. There appeared to be bits of walls and masonary and I wondered if this had anything to do with the fire trail name. Climbing the rise next to the horse paddock, no longer occupied by horses, I was struck by just how many kangaroos were in it. There would have been well over the hundred mark.

Just some of the roos in the horse paddock

When I reached my target I was disappointed to discover that the "walls" were just more rocks.

Just more rocks

Still, the view down the valley to the Tuggeranong Town Centre and beyond was pleasant.

By the time I was descending Mt Taylor the sun was setting. The display of colours made the whole walk worthwhile.

It was dark by the time I left the park and I carefully made my way out and home.

Friday was Anzac Day. After a number of glorious days the weather had changed and it remained heavily overcast for the entire day. Today I headed down to Cooleman Court and back via the Stanhope Highway. I kept expecting the rain to come but it held off. I had finally put on my new hiking boots to give them a workout. They stood up to the 12km walk pretty well.

On Saturday (26) I headed down to the gym shortly after 10 o'clock, once again in my hiking boots. In the late afternoon I decided to go and investigate Mt Neighbour. It really isn't all that big just more difficult to get to than most of the other peaks, even though it is only a short distance off the edge of Allchin Circuit. Once again I came across a heap of kangaroos. More interesting was the horse that came charging over the the fence and then followed me for quite some time. I got the impression that it was lonely.

Mt Neighbour

The odd kangaroo or two hundred

Once I got to the top of Mt Neighbour I went over to McQuoid's Hill and them home along the Kambah Pool Road.

Interesting pattern of light on the ranges

Another example of a burt out shell of a tree which is still alive

Same tree ... just a different view

More interesting light patterns

And then I almost bumped into this big roo ...

I did come across a couple of groups of small birds but failed, again, to managed to get any useable photos of the little critters.

On Sunday (27) I spent the morning working on swimming stuff and it wasn't until a little after 2 o'clock that I headed out, once again in my boots. By the time I reached Chifley the kitchen at a Bite to Eat had already closed. Cake was not an appealing lunch so I continued on to Woden. Having come to rely on my phone to keep track of the distance walked and elevation gain I was a bit surprised when the data upload failed to complete during the entire time I was at Woden. In the end I shut down the phone and restarted it and headed home. There was definitely a problem as Runtastic gave some very odd results.I'm just pleased that the problem didn't occur when I was doing a long walk on a new trail.

There have been some truly spectacular sunsets during the month. Here are a few more views:

On Monday (28th) I spent the day tackling more swimming things and compensated by doing a number of short walks. I did do a short Mt Taylor climb circuit, though.

Fortunately, I did get my phone working properly. I had been thinking very evil thoughts about it but, luckily for it, I finally managed to get it up and running again.

Tuesday (29th) was an Astrid day. By the time I took her home it was already dark. Apart from a walk to the Village and back I haven't managed to log any walking for the day. Not to worry. I rugged up as it was getting decidedly chilly, put on my head light and headed for Mt Taylor. As it was dark I varied my route. I went around Marconi until I got of Inkster Street which I climbed to get to Sulwood Drive. I then walked along Sulwood Drive, with some great views over the Tuggeranong Valley, until I reached the Manheim Street entrance to the park. I went up the Manheim track, rather then my more regular Richmond Fellowship Track, as a risk mitigation strategy. There were very few people out on the mountain at that time of night. From the top I retraced my steps.

Wednesday (30th) was the final day of the month and started with my normal walk to the gym for my PT session and home afterwards. It was a glorious day with just the odd cloud.

I took a bus to Woden and did some shopping and grabbed some lunch before heading home via Chifley and the top of Mt. Taylor.

Looking out towards the ranges from the top of Mt Taylor ... how many rows of bumps are there?

Some of the gum trees are already flowering ... much to the delight of the parrots

On dusk I did my short Mt Taylor climb circuit and what a lot of people were on the mountain: cycling, walking, running and dog exercising. I was treated to another wonderful light display.

I suspect that it is mating season for the roos as I saw quite a few large males huffing themselves up to look big and other sparring as they sort out who is and will be the alpha male in the mob.

Statistics for April:
Distance: 437.27km - an average of 14.58km per day
Elevation Gain: 8177m - a daily average of 273m
Steps: 710,256 or 23,675 per day

Yes, it has been a big month.

March ... a little madness at the end of the month

Trevor's mother passed away on 27 February at the advanced age of 95 years. As we had a school carnival at Yass on Friday 28th Trevor did not depart for Queensland until the Saturday. After dropping him at the airport at some ungodly hour for his flight to Brisbane I returned home and then headed off to the gym.

Returning home I decided that it was a pleasant day and, with the recent rain dampening the vegetation and thus reducing the fire risk, I decided to see if the route up to the summit of Black Mountain was open. Heading off through the Botanical Gardens I came across numerous small birds attacking the flowers on the Coreas with gusto. Having noted this activity I continued on my way. As I passed the Red Centre Garden it was obvious that it had sustained some damage in the recent heavy rain.

The Red Centre Garden

Arriving at the boundary fence I was pleased to find the gate unlocked so headed out and up. A little way along the track there was a sign stating that the climb up would take 1 hour 10 minutes and the round trip 1 hour 50 minutes. I'm not sure who did the timing but it didn't take anywhere near that time to make the climb and descend.

The Black Mountain tower visible through the trees on the way up the mountain

A rather grey looking sky behind the tower

Some of the interesting looking trees up on Black Mountain

Once back inside the gardens I came across more of the small birds feasting on the Corea nectar. Try as I may I failed to get a decent photo of these elusive creatures.

During March I made numerous trips up to the top of Mt Taylor. Some of the climbs were in the early evening and I was treated to some lovely sunsets. Then there was the evening, well night really, when I made the climb by moonlight. The moon was very bright and was reflecting enough light that I did not need to use my torch on the way up the Richmond Fellowship Trail. I was surprised when I arrived at the top to find a heap of people there. Some had settled in and were happily consuming beverages while others were wandering around looking at the lights of the city below. As I headed down the Mannheim Street track I encountered more people coming up the mountain in the dark. Some were family groups with relatively young children. I was beginning to think that some sort of convention was happening on top of the mountain. I was also surprised that quite a few people did not seem to be carrying any light. On the way up this is sort of OK but very dangerous going down. When I got down to the Mannheim Street "carpark" I was asked by a young chap which was the quickest way to the top of the mountain and would he be able to see the fireworks from there. The penny finally dropped. There were fireworks scheduled for the night and the crowd on top of Mt Taylor were there to see them. They should have had a good view, too. I didn't bother returning to the top of the mountain though!

Kangaroos grazing just below the summit of Mt Taylor

Looking down over the "horse paddock" which was now green

During March I struggled to get as much walking in as I would have liked. A trip to Queensland for Molly's funeral impacted a couple of days and then there were all the swimming activities: ACT Championships, Brophy and numerous school meets. They all contributed. By the last week of the month there was also a lot of rain. I was well short of my targets. Fortunately the Canberra Walking Festival provided a solution on the last weekend of the month with a marathon walk (42.2km) on the Saturday and a choice of 10km, 20km or 30km on the Sunday. There were other walks on the Saturday as well as the marathon but it was the marathon that I selected. It was possible to register on the day and I duly presented myself in plenty of time to complete the paperwork and commence the walk at 7:30am.

Walkers gathering ahead of the marathon walk

The gray, misty morning ahead of the marathon walk

I'm not sure how many people did the marathon walk but there was a reasonable sized crowd who set off in the the gloom of the misty morning. The first 10km took us through Kingston, Manuka, Forrest, past old and new Parliament House before heading back to the shore of Lake Burley Griffin.

A different view of the Parliament House flagpole

View across Lake Burley Griffin toward Black Mountain

We then did the 32km circuit of the lake before arriving back at our starting point. I was really pleased with how well I managed the 42km. The balls of my feet were a little sore and my left heal was rubbed but otherwise I was in pretty good shape. A bath, a foot rub and an afternoon snooze and an early night did wonders.

On Sunday morning I was up early and headed off to Kingston for my second longish walk of the weekend. This time I was only doing 20km. I had grabbed some hikers wool from Trevor to protect the tender parts of my feet and it worked for the balls which came through the walk in good shape. I did end up with a double blister on my left heal. Bother!

As for the walk, we set out just before 9 o'clock. It was another grey day with mist hanging around. This made for good walking conditions. Crossing Kings Avenue we headed through the carpark and walked along the side of the John Gorton Building. Crossing over to a wide path that runs alongside the rose gardens in front of old Parliament House we were confronted by a lot of traffic ... unusual for a Sunday until we worked out that a classic car event was taking place on the grass area in front of the rose gardens. There were some great looking cars already lined up for inspection and a heap of people already streaming in the area. It made the going a little slower than would otherwise have been the case. We eventually passed the Treasury Building and headed past the side of the National Library before passing under Commonwealth Avenue Bridge.

The rose gardens

Looking towards a mist shrouded Acton from Commonwealth Avenue Bridge

Walkers crossing the bridge across Sullivans Creek in the grounds of ANU

After crossing the lake using the Commonwealth Avenue bridge we headed around the lake as far as the ferry terminal before taking a footbridge across to Acton and the grounds of the Australian National University. Passing through the almost deserted university grounds we headed for the Botanical Gardens.

The pedestrian entrance to the Botanical Gardens

Gosh, it was only a few weeks since my last visit. Our route took us through the gardens, initially along the lower rainforest boardwalk before heading towards the exit gate that I used when walking up to the Black Mountain summit. Today, on exiting the gardens, we headed down rather than up and walked through the Canberra Nature Reserve that surrounds Black Mountain before crossing into the suburb of Turner and then on to O'Connor, Lyneham, Dickson and Hackett. Arriving at the nature reserve that surrounds Mt Ainslie we followed a number of trails in a generally anti-clockwise direction before exiting the park at the back of the War Memorial. Next came Anzac Parade with its memorials lining both side of the road. It was then a short walk along the lake shore, across the lake using the Kings Avenue Bridge and back to our starting point.

On both days I had walked with people for part of the time and their company certainly made the walk go quickly.

At the end of the walks I actually felt pretty good. I had averaged just on 10 minute a km for the 20.2km. Apart from the blistered heal the body had stood up well to the two days of walking.

I was left with one problem. I hadn't done my mountain climb of the week. Taylor didn't count as I had tagged it for one of the earlier weeks in March. So, around 4 o'clock, with rain threatening I headed off to climb one of the local mountains/hills: McQuoids Hill. Apart from the lack of tracks to follow and the rather wet, a result of an afternoon thunderstorm, it was a pleasant walk, blister and all. The hill was populated with numerous huge kangaroos and they kept hopping away from me in the direction I was walking. Silly animals.

In the final weekend I managed to catch up most of my distance shortfall from earlier in the month. The step count was healthy. Only the elevation gain was a little below my monthly target. Pretty good all up considering the disrupted month.

Oh, yes, I have now ticked over the 2 million steps so far this year.

During the month I encountered more of my lizards and the one spotted near the start of the Richmond Fellowship Trail appeared a couple of times. There was abundant bird life in evidence although not many of the small birds except for those spotted in the Botanical Gardens. The kangaroos enjoyed the improved conditions and the fresh young grass appeared to me to their liking.

In many of the places I walk within the ACT I encounter ant nests. There are quite a few along the Mt Taylor circuit. During the winter, when the ants are not too active, walking across the nest is fairly painless. Not so during the warmer weather when you are likely to pick up ants on your shoes. Ant bites generally follow.

An ant nest straddling the path

When the nest straddles the path the best approach is to walk along the edge where the least number of active ants are.

The magpies on top of Mt Taylor are rather cheeky. They probably manage to con food out of people as they certainly thought that I should part with some of the grapes I was munching.

The month had quite a few wet days. Sometimes the rain was confined to the ranges which meant some interesting views.

And then there were the sunsets ...

The cockatoos were everywhere. Often there would be trees covered in white things. On closer inspection they turned out to be cockies.

My stats for March:
Distance: 344.37km; an average of 11.11km per day
Elevation gain: 6157m which was an average of 199m per day, just short of ny 200m per day target
Steps: 705,886 and average of 22,771 per day

February wanders ...and the rain finally came

The early part of the month was hot. The countryside was very dry. The roos started to disappear as surface water became scarce. Horses appeared in the horse paddock just east of the Taylor Nature Reserve and the roos left them to it.

The larger birds were in evidence: magpies, currawongs, crows, koels, cockatoos, peewees, various parrots and galahs. Down at Lake Tuggeranong there was a black swan family, a pelican, a pair of ibis along with the various duck like creatures, terns and swamp hens. Small birds were sometimes in evidence. A colony of thornbills were seen near the Kambah #1 oval while willy wagtails and varigated wrens appeared from time to time.

Swan family on Lake Tuggeranong

In the middle of the month the rain came.On Saturday 15th I managed to get caught in the rain while doing a Mt Taylor walk. It was OK as I was wearing my rain jacket so the top was dry (except for the sweat!) but the bottom half was decidedly damp.

The next day I climbed Mt Ainslie and managed to get my timing spot on. I arrived after a downpour and got back to my car before another one.

From the top of Mt Ainslie with much of the city and ranges obscured by haze

The next couple of days were fine.

On Wednesday mornings I have a PT session and I generally walk the 6kms to the gym and then back. From home to the Tuggeranong Town Centre is fairly flat. The rises and falls depend on the route selected and are really quite small. As I have been aiming at averaging 200m elevation climb per day I need to throw in additional climbing to compliment the flat walk. I had some business to do in Woden so decided to take the bus in to Woden and walk home via Mt Taylor. I failed to check the weather forecast and did not notice dark clouds building up in the sky. I happily went off without a raincoat or umbrella.

The first storm struck while I was in the shopping centre. The sound of the rain pounding on the roof was hard to ignore.

The rain stopped. While there was still grey cloud hovering overhead it did not seem to be that threatening so I began my walk home. By the time I was walking along the path which runs between Chifley and Hindmarsh Drive it started to spit. I was not too concerned. I figured that I could stop at Chifley shops if the rain increased which it did very rapidly. The shops were too far away so I opted to head for the Hindmarsh Drive underpass as it was the closest available shelter. This was fine until the storm water drains started flooding and water began gushing through the underpass. When the water reached ankle deep I decided that it was probably time to leave my "shelter".

As I headed towards the Chifley shops I could not help but admire the lake that had formed across most of the open area which runs up the spine of the suburb. Water was pouring down the path. The storm water drains were not coping with the deluge and I observed at least one manhole cover being bounced up by the surging water. When I got up to the playground and BBQ area adjacent to the Chifley shops there was white water and waterfalls.

Chifley's lake

This is normally a path ... but here a river

 Taking shelter in the supermarket, it was still raining although it had eased off, I grabbed a coffee and some plastic bags. Both were welcome. The coffee to warm me up. The plastic bags to keep the content of my backpack dry.

On leaving Chifley shops I figured that the best route home was to take the sealed path across to the Tuggeranong Parkway, go through the underpass and then use the path on the western side of the Parkway to get back to Kambah.

The theory was fine.

There were quite a few kangaroos in evidence standing around the the meadows that the path passed or meandered through. All of the roos looked rather damp and a bit miserable. I probably look a darn side worse!Most just watched me trudge past.

All went well until I reached the Drakeford Drive underpass. The path into the underpass goes over a storm water drain. No problems here as the water level in the drain was well below the path. There was a build up of water in the underpass though. How deep could it be? When it reached the mid thigh level and I had no idea how much deeper it was going to get before I climbed out I decided to call it quits and go back.

Leaving the underpass I headed up Waldock Street towards the Mt Taylor Nature Reserve. I entered the reserve through a gate a short distance below the carpark. The track took me down to my normally dry creek. Today it was running a treat. After paddling through the ankle deep water I passed more kangaroos. I'm sure they were wondering what the mad human was doing. They simply stood there and watched me drip by.

Water had finally run into the dam. While it could still do with more, at least it was no longer dry.

The dam in the Mt Taylor nature reserve a few days after the downpour

 The walk through the reserve was uneventful.

On leaving the reserve I headed across Colquhoun Street and down to towards the Sulwood Drive underpass. For some reason the drains in this particular underpass get clogged even with light rain. Today they were not only clogged but the underpass had collected quite an amount of water and other debris. At least I had a fair idea of the slopes leading into and out of this underpass and I waded in. Once again, the water level reached mid thigh before the path began to rise and the water level fall. The last half of the passage was through leaves, bark, twigs and other assorted debris.

While I encountered other pools of water on the final couple of kms home the worst was definitely behind me.

All that practice dealing with wet feet in England really came to the fore. The day brought back memories of the wet days we had as we hiked across England last September.

A warm shower, a change of clothes and a cup of tea and I was ready to face the world again.

On Thursday I walked from Cooleman Court home along the Stanhope Highway. The Highway section was pretty much undamaged by the heavy rain. Sections of the track leading up to Cooleman Ridge and through the horse paddock leading of Mt Arawang had had some scouring but was generally in reasonable condition.

On Friday I checked out my Mt Taylor circuit with a climb up the Richmond Fellowship track and down the Manheim one.There was evidence of erosion in places but all in all the tracks and trails had fared pretty well.

On Saturday evening I took Trevor with me to do the short Mt Taylor circuit: from the Manheim St carpark we entered the Mt Taylor reserve and headed in an anti-clockwise direction around the mountain until we reached the Richmond Fellowship track. Up the track to the summit and then down the track leading to Manheim St. All up the circuit is a little short of 4km with about a 194m elevation gain.

On Sunday afternoon Trevor suggested doing the circuit again. We set off shortly before 7pm. As Trevor came up the Richmond Fellowship Track he observed a Wedge Tailed Eagle overhead. It eventually moved on and I saw it hovering near the summit before it darted off. As we were descending the mountain we came across an eagle on a dead tree. It obviously didn't mind observers as a number of people approached the tree and it just sat there. I took a series of photos of the eagle.

 During the month I saw eagles a number of times with a pair observed circling over Mt Arawang, too.

As we came down the Manheim track the sun was setting. There was quite a bit of smoke in the air and this made for interesting light effects.

I keep coming across lizards when I'm out and about. This little chap scooted across the bridge at the bottom of the Richmond Fellowship Track and "hid" behind the post.

All in all, February has been an interesting month with the initial heat and finally some welcome rain.

Stats for the month:

I walked 328.25km, a daily average of 11.72km
The elevation gain was 6575m which equates to 235m per day.
And my steps: 713,947 an average of 25,498 a day.

By the middle of February I had clocked up one million steps so far for the year.

Looking ahead ... and January activities

Having mused about the challenge to set myself for 2014 for a day or so I have tossed up a couple of objectives. Both have an element of fun so I'll do a suck it and see for January before finally deciding if either or both are goers.

In terms of straight walking I thought that a target of an average of 11km per day across the year should be achievable as long as the body doesn't decide to crack up! This includes hike, too.

The other objective is a mountain climbing one. On average to climb at least one mountain a week. To add interest, any one mountain can only feature once in any given calendar month. I've already done Mt Taylor for January. There are so many easily accessible mountains in this area that it should not prove overly challenging. I'll see how I go with this one.

The weather has been quite warm with temperatures edging up into the 30s. It is interesting to note the complete lack of activity of the non humans in the heat of the day. The kangaroos, sensible creatures, generally find a shady spot which picks up any breeze and laze away the hot part of the day. When it is hot you don't see many roos out and about and the horse paddock adjacent to the Mt Taylor reserve has been devoid of hoppy creatures during the heat of the day. Usually the paddock is a haven for roos but not in the heat as there is no shade.

A kangaroo in the shade of a tree

The horse paddock which normally has loads of kangaroos ... not a roo to be seen

The small birds are once again in evidence although they too are generally not out and about in the heat.

We finally got some welcome rain. The brilliant green of the countryside we saw as we flew from Sydney to Canberra on our return from England in mid October had vanished by Christmas and the land was looking very parched when we flew down to Melbourne on our way to Hobart. The January rain has been very patchy but welcome nonetheless.

Walking down to Tuggeranong on the afternoon of 24 January in a drizzle I came across a tortoise. I can't recall the last time I have seen one of these creatures and definitely not locally.

During January, Trevor and I went to Tasmania for a weeks walking and a few days in Hobart. I've detailed the walk day by day in my blog. A significant part of Tasmania is World Heritage listed or in either a national or state park. There are some wonderful pristine wilderness areas and the fight to preserve these is ongoing. There are threats to log areas that have not been attacked on a large scale before and this sort of activity will damage the environment for decades, if not centuries, to come. Some of the trees are hundreds, if not more than a thousand, years old.

Trevor up the top of Mt Wellington

Looking down on Hobart and the Derwent River from the top of Mt Wellington

Boardwalks have been installed in heavily visited areas of the parks to preserve the fragile environment. The Cradle Mountain area, these have significant numbers of visitors each year, have extensive boardwalks which have a twofold purpose: making it easier to walk through the park and ensuring that the impact on the fragile environment is kept to a minimum as most walkers do the right thing and follow the tracks and do not wander hither and zither across the park.

Having done Auswalk's Tasmanian Wilderness Hiker this month I have begun looking at my next hiking challenge. Larapinta looks tempting. It is one of the iconic Australian walks and features in many of the lists of the 10 best walks in the world. World Expeditions classic Larapinta trek looks good.

Having seen a number of snake when I have been out walking, including a large brown on the Stanhope Highway back in October and the tiger snake at Cradle Mountain, I still had not managed to get any photos of one of these wriggly creatures. I intended to get a photo the next time I came across one. On 25 January I was doing a circuit of Mt. Taylor with a climb up to the trig point and down. I went up the Richmond Fellowship Track and was coming down the Mannheim track when I spotted a young brown snake coming across the track just ahead of me. While I had my camera it was in my pack. By the time I got it out the snake was disappearing into the vegetation beside the track. I wasn't going to take a close look in there so missed another photo opportunity.

The other odd thing that happened on the 25th was the behaviour of the kangaroos. I was walking in the afternoon and it was reasonably warm. Kangaroos generally take to the shade in the heat of the day and I had not seen any until I had a group of three suddenly taking off in fright. I'm not sure who was the more surprised - me seeing the fleeing roos or the roos seeing me. Normally the roos pay little attention to walkers who are on the tracks so I'm not sure why this group got spooked. Just to add to the oddity, about a km later a lone kangaroo, unusual in itself, took off as I approached near where it had been standing. Once again, unusual behaviour. I'm not sure why the roos behaved in this way on that particular day.

The small birds are making a return or perhaps it is that they are no longer tied to their nests but are now out and about with their young. In the latter part of January the Superb Fairy Wrens were popping up quite frequently. What a pity that they are both small and flighty making them hard to capture in a photo.

I climbed Mt Arawang on Australia Day. This is not a very tall mountain and one I usually walk around rather than up. It does have good views from its trig point, through.

I came across these wallabies near the top of Mt Arawang

Looking down over Weston Creek towards Black Mountain from Mt Arawang

Looking towards Woden from Mt Arawang

Looking across the Tuggeranong Valley from Mt Arawang

The western ranges as seen from Mt Arawang

 A number of the tracks on Mt Arawang pass through long grass and are quite narrow. I am cautious about walking those types of tracks when snakes are obviously out and about so don't normally climb this pimple during the warmer months.

January had been pretty dry and this was clearly evident in the only dam inside the Mt Taylor Nature Reserve. During January it completely dried up.

Monday the 27th was a public holiday. Trevor and I lunched at the National Library. Their food is always interesting and well presented. Even the 15% surcharge for the public holiday didn't put me off.

After lunch Trevor headed off home and I walked. The route I took was along the southern side of Lake Burley Griffin before tracking through Yarralumla and then alongside Yarra Glen past the Woden town centre and on Mt Taylor taking an anti-clockwise circuit. All up the walk was 16.72km. It is possible to stop at a number of shopping centres with just a short diversion (Yarralumla, Curtin, Lyons and Woden Plaza) and no diversion much to speak of to reach Chifley and Kambah Village. I filled my water bottle up at Chifley. There is a tap in the local BBQ area. The day was quite warm so the additional water was most welcome. The only wildlife encountered were large birds and humans. A significant number of people were out on bikes with the odd person on foot. There were quite a few groups picnicing beside the lake. Some even had gone to the trouble to cover tables with tablecloths. Very posh.

January has been a very warm month. I'm sure that there have been hotter months over the past 40 odd years. I can remember one summer when we watched a series of Black Adder which came on late at night, 11:30pm if my memory serves me correctly, simply because it was so hot that we couldn't sleep. This was our introduction to Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) and Tony Robinson (Time Team) amongst other things.

With temperature well over the 30 mark walking has been decidedly hot.

A kookaburra spotted sitting on a climbing peg on pole in Mt Taylor Nature Reserve

On Wednesdays I mostly walk the almost 6km to the gym for my 9am PT session. On the 29th I set out in lovely, balmy conditions. By the time I reached the gym it was starting to heat up. The walk home was definitely hot!

Trevor and I lunched at Cooleman Court and I walked home along the Stanhope Highway in the heat of the early afternoon. Large birds were out and about but there was not much other activity. I did come across a lizard taking advantage of a post pointing out the features on Cooleman Ridge. I arrived home and spent the next hour dripping!

A lizard hiding on a pole along the Stanhope Highway

To fit in a mountain climb for the week I planned to climb Mt Ainslie which sits behind the Australian War Memorial. I figured that I could probably do the climb on Thursday after I had completed my session at the Family History Centre and any swimming stuff that I needed to do before the weekend. The only issue was the temperature. The heat was quite fierce in the high 30s, nudging 40, but how difficult could it be? By the time I reached the top I was feeling pretty awful. A stop in some shade just before the summit did help but it was still a tough climb. I'm glad that our guides decided that the Mt Roland climb was too risky as much of the route was completely exposed. Even with partial shade on Mt Ainslie the climb was tough.

There are some wonderful views from Mt Ainslie. Here is just one ... looking down across the city and lake.

View from Mt Ainslie across the city

The final day of the month was another scorcher. The temperature recorded against my walk home from Mawson in the mid afternoon was 38 degrees. In the morning Trevor and I checked out the blackberries on Narabundah Hill. The berries are quite small this year due to the very dry conditions and they are still at least a week off ripe although there is a scattering of ripe berries already but not worth the time picking just yet.

Stats for the month:
364.19kms at an average of 11.75km per day
Elevation gain: 8435m. Daily average: 272m
Steps: 718,297. Daily average: 23171

And, yes, I did climb 5 separate mountains during the month.