Flying over the Escarpment.

I went flying with Jim, late in the afternoon, today. It was very pleasant weather, with just a bit of "cotton-wool" cloud at first, but the fluffy clouds did not develop into solid cloud. Jim was keeping an anxious "weather eye" out, but the clouds which gave an indication of possibly developing, actually dispersed.We started by going over the escarpment, near Macquarie Pass. Jim had hoped to show me a small waterfall which he had spotted several days ago. But the late afternoon light did not assist is, as the shadows were very dark, in the deep gullies. So we could not see the falls. But from other landmarks, such as the old ruined farm-house nearby, we were able to identify that it must have been the Clover Hill Falls which Jim had seen.

Towering above Macquarie Pass one can see the clifflines of Mt Macquarie. Today I was able to take several images of this bluff, which I have pasted into a "panorama". The merged image is imperfect, but it does at least show the severe line of the cliffs under which the road line of Macquarie Pass runs. It also shows the prominent bluff (on the eastern end - right hand side) which is so prominent a part of the Escarpment skyline. This hill dominates the coastal plain below. This mountain outlines the deep valley which goes back towards Robertson from Albion Park.

We flew back towards Knights Hill (southern edge of the valley of Macquarie Pass). My friend Rose has a property which includes the two left-hand clearings which are visible in this image (centre and left). The TV towers on top of Knights Hill are visible to the right. Rose's property runs from the bluff at the far left, along the edge of the escarpment, (which runs from bottom left to centre-right, just beyond the first line of ridges), right up to the first TV tower. The forest is a combination of true rainforest, and heavy Eucalypt forest, with some rainforest undergrowth. Several other ridges are visible in the middle and far distance, which run down towards Albion Park. The very far distant horizon would be the ocean, on a clearer day. Today it is sea-mist and cloud.A small St. Andrew's Cross Spider chooses to live inside the heavy metal door of Jim's hangar. I'm not sure why, with all the trees around, just outside. But it seems happy on the door. But it has not built the trade-mark "diagonal cross" heavy reinforcing webs which is the feature which earns the spider its name. But its colouration, and the pale bands on its legs are distinctive. The way it is holding its left legs in "pairs" is also diagnostic.