Blue Mountains

Dec

2016

Harrison Dobrowolski: Enduro MTB

I went up to the Blue Mountains and met up with Harrison Dobrowolski, one of the young guns on the Australian Enduro circuit. Harrison has been ripping it up on the tracks and walking away with the goods in the races. This last year he took out the Under 17’s Superflow Enduro series winning it outright. More recently, he stepped it up with his first foray into the Elite category for the Superflow Enduro Championships at Ourimbah and finished up on the podium again. Definitely one to keep an eye on in the coming years.

I met Harrison at his place in Katoomba and he showed me around one of his favourite trails in the mountains, No Friends near Mt Victoria. It’s a great flowy little trail with some really cool features. It would be quite a challenging trail in the wet as it runs down a small waterfall and along a steep slope under a prominent rock-band.

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: Only a trickle in the dry.

: Some great features on the No Friends trail

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

: Into the ferns near the bottom.

: Young gun Harrison Dobrowolski on the No Friends trail near Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

Sep

2014

Highlining Project Pulpit Pt2.

The crew have returned to Pulpit Rock near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains and given the big Highline another attempt. Under some beautiful weather, the lines were set. And the attempts at crossing began. We were up there the whole weekend which also gave me the chance to sneak in a few landscapes. Below are a few of the images I captured over the weekend. Enjoy!!

Jan

2012

Blue Mountains and Kanangra Walls

The early morning view looking out over the wilderness of Kanangra Boyd National Park

A trip over the New Year’s weekend to the Greater Blue Mountains and Kanangra Walls resulted in some shots that I am very happy with. It was nice to get out of the city for a short while. I had been in a rut lately, hence the shortage of recent posts, but a trip to a new destination always tends to crack the rut. A quick tip: If you find yourself in a creative rut take yourself out of your familiar surroundings.

Although I have been a few times to the Blue Mountains it is such a vast area that I think that I could take many trips up there without getting into a rut. They always seem to vary slightly whether it is due to a variation in light, visiting a different spot or a change in the weather. This was the first time I had been as far out as Kanangra Walls and without a doubt the walls look different at other times of the day. The shots from below were taken early morning but I think that late afternoon would be the best time to shoot the actual walls themselves. This is when the light would bring out the colours and light them up. In the morning the walls are all in shade as seen in the shot below (the actual are the cliffs on the right side of the picture).

One of the reasons I wanted to go on the trip was to visit a walk called the Grand Canyon Loop. It’s a beautiful walk that takes you down and along a narrow slot canyon. Inside of the canyon is mostly protected from the sun and is cool and moist with ferns lining the walls. If you leave early enough like I did you might be lucky to get a lot of it to yourself. Later in the day though plenty of people streamed through as it is such a popular walk. The walk takes about 4 hrs including plenty of photo-stops. It is an easy track to follow but make sure you take some food and water with you. The walk out get get quite warm.

: Kalang Falls in the Kanangra-Boyd National Park which is part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage area.

: Looking down on eucalyptus trees in the Blue Mountains National Park.

: The early morning view looking out over the wilderness of Kanangra Boyd National Park

: The early morning view looking out over the wilderness of Kanangra Boyd National Park

: The early morning view looking out over the wilderness of Kanangra Boyd National Park

: An early morning view from Anvil Rock in the Blue Mountains.

: The Grand Canyon walk near Blackheath is famous for being the only walk-able canyon in the Blue Mountains.

: The Grand Canyon walk near Blackheath is famous for being the only walkable canyon in the Blue Mountains.

: The Grand Canyon walk near Blackheath is famous for being the only walkable canyon in the Blue Mountains.

Jan

2010

Blue Mountains

For a change in scenery yesterday we decided to escape Sydney and head up into the Blue Mountains. Though they sit quite close to Sydney and can been seen from many places around the city I rarely seem to visit this beautiful area. This is something that I plan on rectifying over the next few weeks. Continue reading →

Jul

2009

Australia

So here I am back in Australia. Well, I have actually been back here for a while now. Its been an interesting trip back home despite the fact that I haven’t really gone anywhere since I have been back. Its been raining a lot since I have been back this year which is great. If there was ever a country that actually needs rain it is Australia. The water reservoirs have been sitting on low for many years now and that country has been under constant water restrictions. The recent rainfall has bolstered the water supply a little. However if there was ever a country that suffers from mismanagement of its water supplies it has to be Australia. As soon as the level of the dams had risen slightly so too were the water restrictions eased. The levels in the dams were dangerously low, to the point where some of the capital cities had less than a years supply of drinking water left. The people here have become so used to living under water restrictions that surely it makes sense to leave the restrictions in place until the water levels have risen to a safe and comfortable point and there can be no danger in the immediate future. Above you can see a photo from the Hume Dam situated in the Snowy Mountain region. The trees that you see were a sunken forest covered by water when they built the dam and now exposed by the drought.

One thing I do love about being in Sydney is the easy access to its surrounding waterways and the natural beauty. It seems that you never have far to travel in order to get away from the crowds and the hustle and bustle. To the west you have the Blue Mountains, to the south the Royal National Park and in the North is Pittwater and Ku-ring-ai Chase National park. Even closer within 10-15kms you have spots such as Middle Head, North Head and Garigal National Park. Its something I find that a lot of the great cities in Europe lack. I guess that’s the trade off for not having all the castles and great cathedrals like The European cities have.

I have been tossing around a lot of ideas and making a lot of plans for future although nothing is definite yet. I am hoping to get a quick visit in to New Zealand while I am here. Its somewhere that I have always wanted to go but just never seem to get there. My circumstances might dictate that I have to actually get there this year which will be great even if it is only for a few days.