It's autumn now in Canberra, a good time for bush-walking as it's not too warm. So last week I went for a walk in the Morton National Park, well a tiny bit of it by the village of Bundanoon. There are various short walks through the forest there, with lookouts over the depths of the Bundanoon Creek valley.
The route I took started down the Fairy Bower Access Trail, then along the Bundanoon Creek Walking Track, down to the creek in the floor of the valley, then straight back up Tooths Lookout Walking Track. I took a few hours and walked several km, but spent a lot of time looking around, exploring and taking photographs. And I walk quickly, so this is not a guide: for details of time and length of walks in the area please refer to the Bundanoon/Morton NP website here.
The stream that forms the Fairy Bower Falls slips slowly over the cliff.
Then cascade down in two vertical drops.
Tree roots stretch down the cliff looking for soil below, somewhere.
Orange lichens grow on the south-facing walls of sandstone - the shaded aspect.
Hand-cut and placed stone steps lead down the escarpment, winding through the trees.
Autumn is mushroom season and there were several varieties of fruiting bodies. However, I do not know the species, I merely admired their colours and forms. These white ones had wonderful veils around their caps.
These white ones shone like porcelain in the deep shadow of the tree trunks they were growing on.
This sky blue gem, I have tried to identify - Entoloma virescens ?
A giant staircase led back up to the plateau, through split rocks.
And up past another split rock - one cleaved by a tree that had seeded and grown in a crack in the sandstone. Over many many years, it has opened up the crack. Just how old is the tree I wonder?
