Bugged out

In winter, Puss really likes to stay inside on a bed. (A hot-water bottle is underneath the doona).


Some of us made a (finally successful) last-minute effort to visit Lauren's "Yen for Thirty" exhibition at the Canberra School of Art.


Jen, Phil and I commune with strange insects at lunchtime. Identification of the wingless soldier fly was tough. This time, we may need to call in some big guns. I have never, in my twenty-six years, seen a bug like this! (This photo is for real and the bug has not been tampered with). I tried to hold the insect but it can jump as well as a grasshopper. In the end, I lost it on the soil because it camouflages so well.

Hiking and Camping in the Grose Valley

Last weekend, Emma organised for our contingent to spend most of the long weekend in the Blue Mountains. Phil, our expert navigator, points the way.


Emma carries a pack of sensible size and Wolfgang hefts a ton.


This photograph was taken on Saturday, along Lockley's walking track, as we approached the climb down in to the valley.


Wolfgang and I surveyed the valley from our rocky precipice.


I pitched my hootchie at the Acacia Flat campground. I hadn't learnt how to tie many useful knots when I was a child. I had to learn a few before we set out, to make the hootchie so successful. I learnt the Siberian hitch, the taut-line hitch, the clove hitch and Penberthy Prusik knot.


Jenny poses in front of a waterfall on the Grose river before we carelessly quench our thirsts in preparation for the very steep ascent.


Phil, Wolfgang and I clambered up the rocks to shower underneath a waterfall. After climbing down, I was thrown into a brief panic as a small leech had latched onto my exposed ankle.


We look west, here, over the Grose Valley as we make our ascent of about 300 metres via Govett's Leap (near Blackheath).


Here is a short panoramic video that Jenny filmed.