Two Puffers
Australia Febuary 2008

I traveled to Australia in March 2008. Here are some pictures I took on my free time.:
Photographs and comments by Charles Puffer.
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
On my First weekend I walked the Elvina Trail.
smaller plants dry plants growing in sandy soil This is the dry top land. From here the trail leads down to sea-level.
Monitor lizard sitting in tree I scared this Monitor lizard and it ran up a tree.
water falling down cliff water falling down cliff As best I can tell, this is a waterfall in the Salvation Creek that drops from the top land down to Lovett Bay.
While it has been said many times, the sun is almost unnaturally hot in Australia. Combined with my northern European completion, and the opposite seasons (it being winter in England, and therefore, summer in Australia) it was much too easy to get sun burned. So take my advice, wear your sun protection.

Blue Mountain National Park
A picture from route 40 north of the park.
From Evans Lookout, the views are vast and only a two hour drive from Sydney. I suggest taking the Grand Canion Trail first, climbing out of the valley befor seeing these sights give an appreciation for the scale.
This is a picture from the flight home. You can see some of the cliffs in the other pictures.
Much of the lower parts of the park are closed off since the bushfire damage that occurred a few years ago. The fires raged up the valleys, leaving behind injured trees.

Here are a few other pictures from my trip.
Picture from my hotel room, looking west out over the suburban Sydney.
The last place on earth. On my flight home, there was a view that I have long hoped to see. I think this is the only time I have looked down from a plane, over land, and not seen any man made artifacts.
Spiders in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.