This afternoon Shao-Ping, myself and our two guests from Taiwan, Claire and Kelly, went for a drive south through the Illawarra, past my school at Albion Park and then up Macquarie Pass to the top of the Illawarra Escarpment. A new tourist attraction opened on the escarpment two weeks ago ~ The Illawarra Fly.

What is the Illawarra Fly you ask? A large insect of the order Diptera with dimensions not unlike the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour? Perhaps a massive opened zipper comparable in size to the Big Pineapple at Nambour? Well, thank goodness, the Illawarra Fly is not a kitsch piece of titanic tourist trash. It is a tree-top walk along the edge of the Illawarra escarpment.

We arrived at the ‘fly‘, bought our tickets and made our way through the temperate rainforest to the structure. It is quite high and I am not one for heights actually. Not sure why. I climbed Uluru when I was 14 and I have even been on two tandem skydives from 4000 metres but some heights still get to me. I ventured out on to the structure and began taking photographs. I will admit that I did not climb the tower. Perhaps next time.

The views north and east across the Illawarra escarpment are sensational. You can see all of the peaks conquered by my alter ego Larry as a member of the Adventurers’ Club. Mount Kembla, Mount Keira and Broker’s Nose are all there. The Illawarra looks like a nice place to live and work, eh? I car-pool with Diamond and Horse from the Adventurers’ Club.

Looking north towards Wollongong in the distance and the Illawarra Escarpment

Beneath us lay Albion Park and the Yellow Rock region. Due east is Shellharbour. The Pacific Ocean spreads out along the eastern horizon. The weather was perfect for the adventure.

Yellow Rock and Albion Park countryside

Following the tree top walk we made our way back through the forest and I took a few more photographs. I think I took 71 in all. I should create a new gallery.

A massive tree ~ I do not know the species…

Shao Ping, Claire and Kelly

After that we drove back down the mountain and through the dairy farms. Claire and Kelly jumped at the opportunity to photographs the cows in the late afternoon light.

Contented cows. They’re not thinking about joining a Diigo group.

Last September “Diamond”, “Horse” and myself went on a bush walk along the Mount Kembla ring track. Mount Kembla forms part of the Illawarra Escarpment. Our bush walk was an expedition of the Adventurers’ Club. I should update that web site now that I am on a break. This is also a good chance to try out the Pic Lens plug-in for Wordpress as alerted by Tim Lauer in his blog. [piclens-lite-link]

The adventurers went for a hike on the Mount Keira ring tack today. They took the walk up to the summit and then descended via the Dave Walsh track. The adventurers then took the ring track back around to the starting point in Mount Pleasant. Stay posted for the update on the Adventurers’ Club site.

My friend Larry just dropped a line to say that the The Adventurers’ Club has uploaded a gallery of images taken on their recent excursion to Botany Bay and Cape Solander on the 6th July. The adventurers took in the rugged coastline and paid a visit to the birthplace of European settlement in Australia. Why not have a look at the excellent photographs and historical mementos Diamond captured with his brand new camera?

The adventurers embarked on another expedition… a bush walk to the peak of Broker’s Nose. The peak was formally known as Brooker’s Nose however local historians believe that the miners at the Corrimal Colliery below the peak renamed it Broker’s Nose because they were always broke.

Read about the adventure here…. View the gallery of photographs as well.

Created a new web site today. The Adventurers’ Club. I hope this project proceeds as we hope.