Ku Ring Gai National Park, Sydney

Today, Sue Jones took me to the Ku Ring Gai National Park, which is about 5km North of Wahroonga. This was one of the first things I saw in Sydney, and it demonstrated how the complicated water inlets on the coast here make this such a beautiful city - like the city itself, Ku Ring Gai has a long tongue of water at its heart. Around this are rolling hills covered with forests. Its very beautiful.

Sue and I went bird and tree spotting. Like elsewhere in Australia, there was amazing birdlife here. I saw the first Kookaburra in the wild here (a large carnivorous bird with a distinctive profile).





Cockatoos are everywhere in Sydney. The park was full of the Sulphur-Crested variety. I loved their handsome looks, but apparently the gnaw up everything they come across and have a loud raucous call. The ones I saw kept their beaks shut. Was lucky with this photo of one in flight.

Sue is creating photo montages of macro-scale photos of tree bark and flowers; they're so close up that they're abstract, and the composite is beautiful. Here she is in front of a 'Scribbly Tree', a gum in which a worm borrows out scribbles under the bark.

And more unusual Australian plants: this is a "Flannel Flower"; a kind of daisy both the petals and leaves of which feel like flannel.