Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Monday, August 27, 2007

Clover Hill Falls track - under Macquarie Pass.

Here are some photos I took on the weekend, along the track known as Clover Hill Falls track. This is half way down Macquarie Pass. See the link at the bottom of this post, for David Young's blog on these Falls.

Here is the old farm house - which looks very romantic, except that the house has been abandoned, so clearly there is a lost dream here.

This is the view which the old farmer would once have enjoyed. The early settlers cleared the forest trees, but left the Cabbage Tree Palms. The ocean is just visible in the far distance, which would be near Shellharbour (south from Wollongong).
I took too long looking at Greenhood Orchids along the way, to go right up to the Falls. At this stage I have not yet identified this particular species - it is a tall Greenhood, with a very narrow front (not a wide sinus like Pterostylis hildae or P. curta).
Here is a lovely Tree Fern Glen, where large tree ferns overhang the track, on the way down to the Falls.
I got to within hearing distance of the Falls, but I did not allow enough time to scramble up there, and the track was blocked by fallen trees. In other circumstances I would have persevered, but the leeches were driving me back with their persistent exploratory endeavours. Only one of them got past my defences, leaving me with an itchy left foot (it went down into my shoe, where I could not see it, while walking).
Here is a nice shot of a very wet gully, near the falls, with Birds Nest Ferns growing in tall Coachwood Trees (with distinctive spotty bark).
This is the cliffline along the side of the escarpment, near Knight's Hill. Robertson is just 5 Kilometres from the top of these cliffs, but it is on a series of basalt caps above this cliffline (which is sandstone). The amount of water running off these cliffs is quite heavy, with decent flows in all the small creeks. From memory I crossed 6 creeks on the track in. Only two of these creeks have "named falls" that I know of.
Here is a link to David Young's recent post about a picnic at Clover Hill Falls. He has some lovely photos of the Falls and the creek.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

G'Day Dennis, Chris here...The bloke who owned this property was Ben Turner. He died a few years back. Ben was a pioneer in the avaiation industry and was involved in the development of the parachute(as a test parachutist would you believe). He was a close friend and we spent many very enjoyable weekends with him as well as at the falls and the "hanging rock just before the falls. He has quite a history behind him, including development of the bikini industry with June dally watkins I believe. Ben built his house on the side of the rock as you can see. He actually had another house that was burnt down in which his family lived before his wife divorced him. If you'd like to know more ask me about it next time you see me using my Telescope. Regards.....Chris

Anonymous said...

Chris this message is for you - a small documentary group is about to make a doco about Ben Turner - we would love to hear from you and details you have about the man himself - please email us at managethis@hotmail.com