Saturday, 31 May 2014

A top bush experience near you

A top bush experience near you

Sometimes we just need our eyes opened to the beauty that is near us.


Lane Cove River, adjoining my local patch of bush

A colleague who has lived in Earlwood for a while recently expressed great surprise and wonder at something he'd only just discovered on a weekend walk. A little wander down a bush track near his house revealed a whole natural world he didn't know about, with cavelets, cliffs on which to rock-climb, and some lovely trails that wound through the bush.
Girrahween Park, which winds along Wolli Creek, is indeed a little local treasure, and well known to some in the rock-climbing community who even have a guide to the cliffs there.
My local bit of bush, the Field of Mars Reserve near Ryde, is a cracking little nature reserve that I enjoy all year round.
Getting to know a local bit of bushland is such a pleasure because you get to know it intimately, can get there with no cost and no time, and can watch it change through the seasons and in all weathers. I've been in it in torrential storms, when the tracks are knee-deep rivers, and on hot summer days when the colourful native bees have been buzzing. I've wandered through it at night, and seen owls, tawny frogmouths, possums and frogs, and I've enjoyed the huge range of fungi and tiny wildflowers throughout the year.
The other advantage of getting to know your local patch of bush is then working out what the habitat connects to. Certainly in Sydney, most little patches of bush aren't that far from another, and another. Today I walked for over three hours with my son, from Cherrybrook back to Ryde, and 95% of our walk was in the bush.
Cascades near Thornleigh
We passed convict artworks engraved in the stone, and the bush was buzzing with birds: treecreepers, flycatchers, wattle birds, parrots of all colours and sizes, kookaburras and bellbirds. We passed cascades and waterfalls, ferny glades and towering gum forests.
Convict "graffiti" in upper Lane Cove Valley

There is another loop I can do, where by crossing over two roads, I can run for more than an hour, almost completely in the bush. I can link up several tracks and head in almost any direction, in the bush. Two weeks ago, I took a long loop along the Lane Cove River (little tracks go on  both sides) and was reminded how beautiful it is. What a blessing to have so much gorgeous nature on my doorstep.
Lush ferny glade near home. Local treasure.
Yes, I still adore going to the Blue Mountains, or Royal National Park, or Ku-ring-gai National Park, or wider afield, but I think sometimes our eyes need to be opened to the treasures in front of us.
Of course, not every part of Sydney is as fortunate, but even in places such as Auburn, I've scooted along a little track between houses and a creek, and discovered an albino blue-tongued lizard. Most places in Sydney aren't that far from a large reserve such as Centennial Park, or Bicentennial Park at Homebush, or Royal National Park, or another national park.
Winter unfortunately seems to be a time when many people go into a temporary torpor, but it's actually a perfect time to be out walking and enjoying life. If you want more encouragement, read the brilliant Michael Moore's blog on why he walks. Alternately, if you do want something a little more challenging, you can read my recommendation for 10 wonderful winter walks, or grab a copy of Top Walks in NSW.
But the easiest thing is just to head out from your place to your nearest bit of bushland, and see where it leads you.
Blessings
www.kensbigbackyard.com.au

Sunday, 18 May 2014

Charles Darwin Walk, Wentworth Falls

Charles Darwin Walk, Wentworth Falls

This delightful, easy walk is a great way to get to one of the best views in the Blue Mountains without  having to fight for a car park.


Charles Darwin Walk, Wentworth Falls

I have my definite favourite walks in the Blue Mountains: Ruined Castle, Blue Gum Forest, National Pass and a few other absolute corkers are highlighted in my book, Top Walks in NSW.
But one of the problems with having such outstanding favourites is finding the time to explore some of the smaller tracks around the mountains - particularly the gentler walks that perhaps don't appeal to me as much. This delightful little walk, the Charles Darwin Walk at Wentworth Falls, had therefore escaped my footprints until today.
Darwin of course visited the mountains in 1836, and wandered around this area. The walk named after him follows Jamison Creek from the Great Western Highway, right down to the big plunge of Wentworth Falls. It has a wonderful series of little bridges across the bubbling creek, and passes by cascade after cascade, all through a fern-filled valley brimming with birds. Without really trying we saw honeyeaters, wattle birds, yellow-tailed black cockatoos, fairy-wrens, a host of crimson rosellas and the delightful eastern spinebill. There are little caves to explore and logs across the creek, all on a very well defined track.
Fern-filled overhang, with Jamison Creek flowing through. 

It's only 3km from Wilson Park, where there are toilets, down to Wentworth Falls, so will take an easy hour, or two hours return. You can make it even shorter by driving down the narrow Dalrymple Ave, and parking right at the end by the gate – room for one, possibly two cars.
A network of other little tracks dive off to the sides, and many of these would be fun to explore if you have the time, but we preferred getting down to the dramatic cliffs around the falls. From here you can then do the glorious National Pass loop – if you have the energy and the time – check out the stunning lookouts on the west side of the falls, or wander up to the important Aboriginal area of Kings Tableland, east of the falls. We decided to avoid the crowds heading down the stairs to the bottom of Wentworth Falls, and instead took the track up to the left, towards Rocket Point, which is accessed through a keyhole in the rock.
Keyhole leading to Rocket Point lookout
This little lookout offers a stunning but quite different view of the falls. Unfortunately, there's nowhere to sit where you can enjoy the view, but if you follow the main cliff-side track here for a bit over 5 mins more, it'll wind through shrubs and scrub up to a rock platform with an extensive view that is great for lunch and a turnaround point.
All in all it's a wonderful little wander, suitable to little legs and big.  
Log 'bridges' across the bubbling creek.
    
www.kensbigbackyard.com.au

Sunday, 4 May 2014

The failed urban sustainability project

The failed urban sustainability project

Can an average household in suburban Sydney become sustainable? Theoretically yes, but practically... well ...

Sustainable urban household?

I have failed. My efforts to live a sustainable 21st century life in middle class, suburban Sydney are little more than a tittered joke among the neighbours, and polite ridicule by those closest to me. Even the chooks shake their heads and cluck at me, before they put their heads down to continue destroying what is left of our meagre garden.
I live on a small block, about 550 sq. m, in a ramshackle 1960s brick house that was affordable because it has a lot wrong with it. But it provides a comfortable and happy home for two adults and two kids, and a changing menagerie of animals. Five years ago, when I left my job of 11 years, the plan was to endeavour to work less, and spend the extra time growing veggies and living a healthy, sustainable lifestyle. Here's some of what has happened. And gone wrong.

Solar power

Don't believe the misinformation. People will say the most outlandish things about solar power, including the tired old line that "it takes 20 years to make back the energy that it took to produce the panels". Rubbish. When solar panels were first invented, for spacecraft, that was true, but it hasn't been true for many decades. It now takes one to four years to payback the energy needed to create a solar system. My solar panels have been a dream. They sit on the roof, causing no trouble, generating both power and income. Our household uses about half the amount of power of the "average" four-person household, according to AGL. We used 834 kWh last quarter (summer). Our solar panels generated 580kWh during that period. We were fortunate to invest at a time when the NSW Govt was offering the outlandish rate of 60c a kWh for solar power, so we actually made a profit during the quarter of $140.

Why I failed 

Although the solar panels are wonderful, we are not generating more power than we need, so are still importing power from the grid (supposedly from "sustainable" sources, but electrons don't differ between green, brown or black electricity). I hadn't fully realised when I installed the system that it is quite difficult to "upscale" a system once it is in place, i.e, all the infrastructure is to suit a certain amount of power production, and you can't just add more solar panels and plug them in. I would have liked to have designed the system that way, so it could be expanded more easily.

Food production

Some of this year's small lychee crop, harvested from the backyard.

Previous owners had planted a small orchard here. There is a large lychee tree, mangoes, oranges, lemons and a few other odd fruits. My plan was to have a well-tended veggie garden, providing a consistent percentage of our daily food requirements. Our soil is horrible compacted clay, and by introducing chickens and lots of composting I hoped to help improve the soil.

Why I failed

Fruit is shared equally between us, possums, bats and fruit fly. Veggies were going okay until I introduced the chooks. The free-range chooks basically eat or dig up everything they can - they destroyed $50 worth of seedlings in an afternoon. All attempts to erect fences to keep them in or out of a certain area have failed. They always find a way in/out. Partly because I use only recycled materials to build our chook runs, rather than buying some big fancy fully enclosed chook run.
My next suggestion was to move the veggie garden to the front yard, where the chooks are not. This failed because of social reasons - ie., the missus thought that was a stupid idea. However, we have fresh eggs and manage to supplement the odd meal with fresh herbs, fruit or the occasional surviving veggie that we have managed to coax through its life. Latest research on urban sustainability emphasises that we NEED our farms - we cannot live in the cities without them.

Demitarianism

This new term, meaning to eat less meat than you did previously, is one of the most consistent messages coming out of the sustainability movement in the past decade. Let me make this clear. I am not a vegetarian. I love the taste of meat, and don't particularly have a problem with the humane treatment and killing of animals for my or your sustenance. However, the consistent message from environmentalists the world over is that the world cannot sustain the amount of meat being consumed by Australians. It has been said repeatedly that one of the biggest things we can do for the environment is to just eat "one meal less" of meat a week.

Why I failed

I failed to "bring the family along" with this change. My wife, who was suffering from an iron deficiency, was very upset by the change. "You care more for the environment than for us," she said. My son reacted counter-culturally by going the other way, craving meat for every meal, and now cooks his own sausages for breakfast. My daughter has become semi-vegetarian, and says she will become a full vegie over time. Lesson is that change requires social change in all those affected.

Transport

We had always been a one-car family, and I generally either cycled to my clients, walked or caught public transport. Our Camry, using non-sustainable, polluting fuel, was still clocking up a lot of kilometres a year, just with the general toing and froing of kids to things, the annual family holidays, and yes, my many weekend trips to the beach or the mountains or some national park.

Why I failed

As I travelled more and more for work, and needed the car to get around the state, my wife decided we needed a second car. Of course, once you have two cars, you use them even more, and our transport carbon footprint has gone up rather than down. We are currently back to one car. My use of E10 fuel has been slammed by my mechanic, who says it is dirty fuel and results in more need for maintenance of the car. He has requested (repeatedly) that I stop using E10.

Water

According to Sydney Water, we use considerably less water than the average four-person household. With limited budget, a household recycled water scheme was the least of my priorities, and we have not installed a water tank or a secondary recycled water plumbing system (e.g, from the shower to flush the toilet). So I guess we have failed completely on this measure. But it still is the least of my priorities.

Environment

The backyard, showing henhouse in its winter position, on what should be the veggie patch.

Nearly every shrub or tree that we have planted has been native and I installed a frog pond, initially in the backyard. It did attract frogs within a couple of years. A blue tongue lizard and about five other skink species visit the garden, along with a range of urban birds. We have ring-tailed and brush-tailed possums at night.

Why I failed

When I introduced the chooks, they ate all the frogs. I therefore moved the frog pond to the front yard, and although a frog is occasionally seen there, there are not the numbers there used to be.
Also, once when I was away for work, the family fell in love with a kitten in need of a home. It became our home, and although the cat (which is white) is meant to be an indoor cat, and has a bell, it escapes outside enough to negatively affect the skink population. For an urban greenie, this is particularly galling.
Urban murderer.


The positives

Although I can't in any way pretend that we are a "sustainable" household, I know we are more sustainable than we were, which has to be a good thing. I will continue to work at solving some of these issues, and hopefully we will continue to make improvements and modifications. One thing I need to get better at is bringing the family and/or neighbours along for the ride. So much of this would be easier if they were allies and actively involved, rather than passengers being towed behind the sustainability bus.
Got any sustainability tips?
www.kensbigbackyard.com.au