Rookwood Cemetary

My holiday is coming to an end and I felt like I needed a bit of perspective before going back into the battlefield of work.  So what better place to look for it than in an old, peaceful graveyard.  A bit morbid I know but it kind of helped.

But then Rookwood Cemetery is not just any graveyard.  It is the largest multicultural cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere. It is estimated that approximately one million people have been buried here.  The cemetery covers an area of over 300 hectares (the size of 600 football fields!!).  Absolutely enormous, so much so that the cemetery is considered a separate suburb of Sydney.

Some older sections of Rookwood are overgrown with a riot of plants, some now large trees or groves, as well as an interesting array of remnant indigenous flora. It's peaceful and green and the graveyard stones often make for interesting reading (sometimes inspiring, sometimes sad).

Some of the gravestones in the older Victorian section of the cemetery have been completely "rubbed off" with age so it's impossible to know who's even buried there.  Long forgotten.  Makes you think.  No doubt, we'll be remembered through our children and grandchildren but within a few generations, most of us will likely be completely forgotten.  Our achievements, our dreams, our quirks, our woes.  All lost through the passage of time.  Kind of makes our daily troubles seem a little less significant and daunting.  But then, that's said by someone who's been on holiday for two weeks.  Ask me again on Monday...

Pylon Lookout (Sydney Harbour Bridge)

Surprisingly, I've never been to the Pylon Lookout before up on top of the Harbour Bridge. It provides a great view of the Opera House and city from a high vantage point. It also had some very interesting photos and information about the building of the bridge. Definitely worth a visit.

Photos of the building of the bridge

Some interesting facts about the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Vital statistics

• 1149 meters long
• 503 meters wide
• 131 meters high
• 181,000 cars cross a day

It took over eight years to build the Bridge, between July 1923 and March 1932.   Planning for the Bridge began as early as 1912.

Before the bridge was built, ferries transported 40,000 people a day from Millers Point to Milsons Point.

Ingredients to make a bridge

• £100,571,170
• 52,800 tonnes of steel
• 6 million rivets
• 95,000 cubic meters of cement
• 272,000 liters of paint
• 16 lives 

Boulder hopping to Canyon X (Narrabeen)

I read that Canyon X is great place to do photography at dawn. The only problem is that to get there, you have to get down a steep cliff using ropes. See here for a video of this.  In the dark (to get there at dawn), it's something of a challenge!

The other option is to do some serious boulder hopping from North Narrabeen beach.  I decided to do the latter - and do it in the daylight.  Maybe in the future, I'll try a dawn shoot, but for now I was just happy to scout it out and explore a new place.  It's pretty cool  place with sheer cliffs and a blow hole that sucks water in and then spurts it out.  My photos are very average because the light wasn't right but I really enjoyed it.

Here is how Canyon X looks like at dawn, shot by a really good photographer (Brent, a hero and photographic role model of mine.)

On the way back, I got some snaps of surfers and some gulls.

And North Narrabeen beach...

My balcony

I've moved up into the top room and rented the bedroom downstairs to a nice couple called Alex and Sue.  The top room isn't as spacious but it has one strong advantage: a nice balcony looking out onto the trees of Brennan Park.  I splashed out on a table and chairs (for the princely sum of $30 at Bunnings!) and a pot plant.  So now I'm set.  All I need is summer so I can sit outside.  And a girlfriend to share my other chair.

Two Creeks Hike (Garigal National Park)

I did a lovely three hour hike today thanks to a blurb I read on the Internet.  I've never hiked in the Garigal National Park before.  The beauty of this park is that it is right on my doorstep, just 15 - 20 minutes from Waverton.

As an article on the Internet so aptly said, "That's the beauty of living in Sydney. The bush isn't so much on the doorstep as parking its butt on the sofa. Study any map of Sydney and you can see the green tentacles of Mother Nature threading their way among the apartment blocks, the homes, the train lines and the shopping malls."

Here is the blurb on the Internet that got me interested in this hike:  

Lindfield - Garigal National Park - Roseville Bridge

Time: 2-3 hours. Medium going in parts.   Highlights: Seven Little Australians Park, spectacular views across upper reaches of Middle Harbour.

Possibly the most picturesque of all these walks, the Two Creeks Track drops swiftly away from the quaintly named Seven Little Australians Park (an explanatory sign is needed here, possibly) and quickly descends into what can only be described as your cliched leafy glade territory. There are wooden bridges over babbling brooks, small waterfalls tumbling over black rocks worn smooth with age, a spooky but excitingly modern tunnel under the Eastern Arterial Road and a worthwhile climb up and into the Garigal National Park. The track follows the line of Gordon Creek until it joins Middle Harbour and then follows the main river around to Roseville Bridge and the Roseville Marina (with cafe) at Echo Point Park.