Mittagong gets a tick

Today we decided we needed to get back into our NSW towns project so despite a fairly ordinary weather forecast headed off to the Hume Highway and Mittagong.  It was pretty cloudy/drizzly/foggy all the way to Goulburn, as suggested by this image on the Hume.

Things seemed clear when we got to Mittagong as evidenced by this image of the War Memorial.

The fire station in the background has a date of 1919.  There were quite a few old buildings - none very exciting in design - around the town, but somehow it seemed much more 'commercial than other places (eg Bowral, Berrima and Moss Vale) in the Southern Highlands.  I initially thought it was to do with the route of the Old Hume Highway, but then remembered driving through Berrima

There were some nice bits including a pretty park.  This eucalypt was very attractive as a result of the showers, which had retunred.

So were the flower beds around the sundial.

Having checked the place out we headed down to Lake Alexandra for a stroll.  We were greeted by a flock of Little Corellas, an early contender for Bird of the Day.

As you can see the weather was still afflicted by a social disease, but the fountain in the Lake was pumping well.

We then went to check out the Boxvale tramway walking track on the North West side of town. It is basially an excellent track - not least because dogs are allowed.

Soon after starting the track crosses Nattai Creek, which had a good flow of water.

I think this is sandstone, although the holes look a bit like the bubbles in igneous rocks, but it is definitely an attractive bit of rock.

We were then surprised to find the Mittagong Reservoir, which was built in 1930-31 to increase Mittagong's water supply.  (On googling this I found very little apart from a story in Trove, from 1909 about the collapse of an earlier foray into water storage.)

I was astonished to find a Musk Duck (Bird of the Day) in the Reservoir.

Apart from the water-kicking display this male was uttering piercing whistles as part of its performance.  Tough luck buddy, no females within cooey.

As it was a tramway efforts had been made to level out the track: this is a minor, un-named cutting.

This is the named Casuarina Cutting.  As you might judge by scaling up from Frances (about 1.65m) it is a pretty deep slice.

Here is one of the drill marks.

What do you do with spoil?  Build an embankment where that is needed.

There were a few flowers around.  We intend to come back in Spring when the place should be a riot.

Persoonia sp.

Casuarina sp, with raindrops.

The needles of the Casuarina with even more raindrops!

A fringe lily (Thysanotus sp: it didn't look like our normal spp so might be T. juncifolia).

Petrophile sp.  

Hmm: red berries!

Finally a couple of Fungi, because I haven't seen many recently.

This is the useful map of the walk, which showed we hadn't covered a great deal of ot!

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