Every time the wind gets up you will find these crazy buggers out on Ettalong Point getting some air time on kite boards , found this video on YouTube that deserves a few more hits
A while back there was an unfortunate chappie who got blown into the beach at high speed , dragged up to the road and face planted a No Standing sign at 80km/ph , the poor bugger had half his face cut off .
Friday, January 6, 2012
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Basalt Railway Trek
From my old blog January 2008
I was going to use my mum's photo's for this story but they are old colour photo's from 1976 ( before Gwen Dundon's photos ) and are not really scanable ( did I just invent a new word ? ) So I decided to go get some updated digi pics and set off on a small hike up Woy Woy Tip last Sunday morning.
Packed a small pack with supplies : water , map , mobile phone , knife , 2 x Chomps ( sugar hits ) , body parts bag ( hey you don't know what you may find ) , digital camera and a lighter.
Headed to Woy Woy tip and parked outside of gates and notified garbage guy at the weighbridge of my intentions and possible return time , then set off up the track to Dillions Farm , once you hit the first corner just go along a bit and look over the right side and start looking for the raised soil that was the foundation for the small gauge railway that ran from the top of the tip ( the old loco shed site is now buried under tonnes of landfill )
Once you are on this raised path you will get familiar with it's shape and you will hit the first creek crossing soon after , here it's just a small bridge with some retaining stones still there and a concrete foundation , also some nice red yabbies and some kind of lizard that can hold it's breath longer than my patience !
About 30 metres further through some really dense and scratchy bushes you will come to the best bit which is the big trestle bridge that crosses a creek , here there are several foundation blocks and 2 large piers made of concrete spanning across the sandstone creek bed ( you can see this from Google Earth ) I then climbed up the other side and continued to follow the raised path again through some spectacular bushland as it wound its way round the mountain curves.
Another couple of small creek crossings and after about 15 minutes I was at the end of the top line at the crusher chute site , here you can see the old remains of the crusher chute which ran down a 45 degree slope to the crusher bin just near the sewerage treatment works ponds , I bit the bullet and headed down the steep incline ( knowing I had to come back up argh ) and checked out the crusher bin site , the cutting for the lower line and the other big trestle bridge site , here it is thick with lantana so take a machete ! As I was heading back I went down a different path and found the last remaining piece of rolling stock left , an old skip car - the same one my mum had pics of , so a took a few piccies and headed back up that bloody hill !
Then off to part 2 of the mission - to investigate an alleged ammo dump from WW2 that the NPWS mention in a tour brochure , heading down and across another valley I came to the top of the tunnel and began to work my way down when I came round a corner into a large cave on the hill overlooking the railway line, the first thing I see is an army ammunition box ! geez talk about bingo I thinks before seeing the rest of the cave contents - it was obviously an old hobo's home and from the items around I'd say he was living there around 10 years ago, the ammo box was from 1953 and had a newspaper from 1998 in side so that discounted it being WW2 vintage , I scratched around in the dirt on the floor and found a Halfpenny from bloody 1942 to confuse things even more !
I then set off to look at the intended area , a small tunnel directly above Woy Woy Tunnel , here I took more pics to send off to Pete from Ozatwar.com who I annoy every now and again and who was interested in seeing it as there were actual plans to blow certain tunnels and bridges in WW2 if the Japs ever landed.
By now the old legs were getting like jelly so I headed back along my original path and stopped for a breather at the first trestle bridge , sat in the creek with my feet in the ice cold water and had a Chomp , filled my water bottle up with new cold spring water and hit the scrubby bit on the way back , all the time being circled by evil looking crows
I was back by about 1.30 so it was about a 5 hour journey and without the tunnel detour you could just do the railway walk in under 3 hours if you wanted to , just be careful to get out before they shut the tip gates at 4pm !
Woy Woy Files article on the Basalt Quarries Ltd railway here
Blog entry on the WW2 Woy Woy Tunnel Demolition plan here
I was going to use my mum's photo's for this story but they are old colour photo's from 1976 ( before Gwen Dundon's photos ) and are not really scanable ( did I just invent a new word ? ) So I decided to go get some updated digi pics and set off on a small hike up Woy Woy Tip last Sunday morning.
Packed a small pack with supplies : water , map , mobile phone , knife , 2 x Chomps ( sugar hits ) , body parts bag ( hey you don't know what you may find ) , digital camera and a lighter.
Headed to Woy Woy tip and parked outside of gates and notified garbage guy at the weighbridge of my intentions and possible return time , then set off up the track to Dillions Farm , once you hit the first corner just go along a bit and look over the right side and start looking for the raised soil that was the foundation for the small gauge railway that ran from the top of the tip ( the old loco shed site is now buried under tonnes of landfill )
Once you are on this raised path you will get familiar with it's shape and you will hit the first creek crossing soon after , here it's just a small bridge with some retaining stones still there and a concrete foundation , also some nice red yabbies and some kind of lizard that can hold it's breath longer than my patience !
About 30 metres further through some really dense and scratchy bushes you will come to the best bit which is the big trestle bridge that crosses a creek , here there are several foundation blocks and 2 large piers made of concrete spanning across the sandstone creek bed ( you can see this from Google Earth ) I then climbed up the other side and continued to follow the raised path again through some spectacular bushland as it wound its way round the mountain curves.
Another couple of small creek crossings and after about 15 minutes I was at the end of the top line at the crusher chute site , here you can see the old remains of the crusher chute which ran down a 45 degree slope to the crusher bin just near the sewerage treatment works ponds , I bit the bullet and headed down the steep incline ( knowing I had to come back up argh ) and checked out the crusher bin site , the cutting for the lower line and the other big trestle bridge site , here it is thick with lantana so take a machete ! As I was heading back I went down a different path and found the last remaining piece of rolling stock left , an old skip car - the same one my mum had pics of , so a took a few piccies and headed back up that bloody hill !
Then off to part 2 of the mission - to investigate an alleged ammo dump from WW2 that the NPWS mention in a tour brochure , heading down and across another valley I came to the top of the tunnel and began to work my way down when I came round a corner into a large cave on the hill overlooking the railway line, the first thing I see is an army ammunition box ! geez talk about bingo I thinks before seeing the rest of the cave contents - it was obviously an old hobo's home and from the items around I'd say he was living there around 10 years ago, the ammo box was from 1953 and had a newspaper from 1998 in side so that discounted it being WW2 vintage , I scratched around in the dirt on the floor and found a Halfpenny from bloody 1942 to confuse things even more !
I then set off to look at the intended area , a small tunnel directly above Woy Woy Tunnel , here I took more pics to send off to Pete from Ozatwar.com who I annoy every now and again and who was interested in seeing it as there were actual plans to blow certain tunnels and bridges in WW2 if the Japs ever landed.
By now the old legs were getting like jelly so I headed back along my original path and stopped for a breather at the first trestle bridge , sat in the creek with my feet in the ice cold water and had a Chomp , filled my water bottle up with new cold spring water and hit the scrubby bit on the way back , all the time being circled by evil looking crows
I was back by about 1.30 so it was about a 5 hour journey and without the tunnel detour you could just do the railway walk in under 3 hours if you wanted to , just be careful to get out before they shut the tip gates at 4pm !
Woy Woy Files article on the Basalt Quarries Ltd railway here
Blog entry on the WW2 Woy Woy Tunnel Demolition plan here
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Woy Woy by Night
Taken back in 2008 , much to the amusement of by-passers who thought I was some kind of pervert with a camera lurking around in the dark corners of town ..
I have long been a fan of the art of Jeffery Smart , I discovered his work when I was an apprentice working at the Art Gallery of NSW , I have tried to emulate his style in these photos.
This is the new Catholic church on Blackwall affectionately known as the " biscuit tin " , you can't see the tin bit in this photo , this is a side view of the air conditioning ducts that had nice shadows of the trees on them.
When the church first opened I had to add a little commentary to my old blog
The Sentinel , lamp post with rarely monitored security camera K-Mart carpark
Silo 8 - well Fire Stair 8 K-Mart carpark
Air Lock - top of staircase K-Mart carpark , sorry to the lady I scared the shit outta while taking this pic hehe
Car Park - I like the colours in this one , I should of taken the time to walk down and move those bloody trolleys outta shot :|
I have long been a fan of the art of Jeffery Smart , I discovered his work when I was an apprentice working at the Art Gallery of NSW , I have tried to emulate his style in these photos.
This is the new Catholic church on Blackwall affectionately known as the " biscuit tin " , you can't see the tin bit in this photo , this is a side view of the air conditioning ducts that had nice shadows of the trees on them.
When the church first opened I had to add a little commentary to my old blog
Recently the new church on Blackwall Road was opened and the new set of bells were brought into action for the first time. For years the local parish saved up and purchased the mammoth set of 3 bells that first roared out over the Peninsula just before Christmas.
The beaming Reverend John Hill was quoted as saying " These bells kick arse ! for years my poor parish has been bombarded in their homes by the local heathen population playing Black Sabbath and Megadeath at ungodly hours , but come Sunday there will be final atonement as these babies kick in ! "
Obviously the bretheren had done their research as the pastor detailed...
" We had the bells cast overseas in the same factory as the bells used by AC/DC on the Hells Bells Tour and Sister Mavis was trained to use the state of the art computer controlled bell ringing software that drives the 3 bells we have nicknamed
" Big Bopper " " Left Scrote " and " Right Scrote "
The Sentinel , lamp post with rarely monitored security camera K-Mart carpark
Silo 8 - well Fire Stair 8 K-Mart carpark
Air Lock - top of staircase K-Mart carpark , sorry to the lady I scared the shit outta while taking this pic hehe
Car Park - I like the colours in this one , I should of taken the time to walk down and move those bloody trolleys outta shot :|
The Shaking Poles of Woy Woy Town
Inspired by the last story and in need of some better pics , I headed into town last Saturday night to do some shooting.
It's hard to get some different looking pics to the usual fare , so I figured no one had taken night photos of Woy Woy before and set about my task , much to the bewilderment of some locals ( it's called art not stalking ffs )
Anyway when I get to this building my memory comes back and I am reminded of a tale from long ago ............
It's brisk and bitterly cold winter morning at Woy Woy station , waiting for the 5.17 am train to Central , my fellow travelers stand fast on the platform with backs to the waters of Woy Woy Bay in hope that the sun may come out just a tad earlier and warm our souls up.
There is always one lark who will wear shorts to work everyday ( even in mid winter ) , he stands there grinning as folk say to him " Aren't you f#@king cold mate ? " and replies " nah it ain't f#@king cold enough mate ! "
One morning this lark says to our assembled group " check out the flagpole on that building across the road , one is wobbling all over the place " and it was true , one of the twin flagpoles was going berserk wobbling like a giant had just flicked it with it's thumb !
Mind you there was no wind present and the wobbling did not slow down , we noticed this event for many mornings over the next few months. Theories abounded on what caused the pole to rattle , there was no wind or passing heavy traffic , it shook in cold or warm weather - maybe some sort of magnetic influence ?
The shaking became so evident that the staff inside the building noticed it and the pole was secured according to another bystander on the platform at Woy Woy , so that's the story of the shaking poles - only known by a few until now !
June 2008 - This is an old post from my Woy-Woy.net blog , I need to clean up that web space so I will be moving selected stories from dat one to dis one over the next couple of weeks
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