A walk around Bicentennial Park in Homebush Bay

The next major walk is around bicentennial Park in Sydney Olympic park. This used to be an industrial and military area. With the Olympics in 2000, the land was reclaimed and rehabilitated. These images are thumbnail images that point at medium size images on Flickr and there you can also see full sized versions of the images.
As in the map I did a bit of back-tracking as I discovered, that while is was a bright day, I needed the tripod and had to go back to the car to get it. However, I will do the walk as once around the park.

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The first thing I find, and it was not expected is a transmission building and tower. There is no information about the facility, but, being an Electronic Engineer, I am interested in the high voltages, satellite reception dishes and insulator on the base of the mast. I have not seen such insulation before and wonder, it is porcelain, holding up a very heavy object. Most unusual.
Further down the path, I cross a high pressure gas pipe line. I hope that there are not any leaks.
At the start is the first of two bridges across Powells Creek. It is quite a modern design. To the north is the view towards Homebush Bay, which is part of Sydney Harbour. To the south is the view of Homebush Bay Drive with it’s endless traffic.
The path heads north between a picnic area and the mangroves of Powells Creek.
A small tributary runs from the east, under the path to Powells Creek. The mangrove has grown to become the creek bed, filtering all the water that flows down the sea. I suspect that this is the high tide mark, but as the tide is out, I cannot tell.
Another small tributary crosses the path. Again flowing from East to West. In ths background you can see the next bridge.
This is another modern bridge. This time it arches over. There are cyclists passing here form time-to-time.
Heading further to the north, there is a small billabong off to the right. I find the name a little unusual as this is a salt water billabong. All of the ones I have come across before are fresh water and located on rivers. It is quite pretty and seems to not have a name.
Past the Billabong there is a dry mangrove forest. It is only dry because the tide is out. It is quite surreal, very wet and damp, but not submerged.
The road is clearly still used, but only by park management staff. The public cannot use it. It is very muddy. There has been lots of rain in the last week. The mangroves growing over the road, make it into a tunnel and it is also quite pretty.
The mangrove is on the harbour side of the road. It is quite different in nature to the land side forest.
At the end of the path is a lookout. I did not get a good shot, so I have not uploaded the image. It is the same as the lookout we will see later. By the side of the road I stop to take some close-ups of the mangrove floor. There are many decaying shells on the ground.
This is part of the harbour, though it looks like a lake. There are many stumps of mangroves in the past. Maybe they are dying back?
This is the end of the road. Beyond this is Sydney Harbour.
Back along the muddy road and overarching mangroves.
This is a close up of some of the waxy leaf plants growing by the side of the road. There is mold and moss everywhere as we are in a wetland, powered by the ocean.
Back at the second bridge, I take some shots before crossing over it, leaving Liberty Grove and entering Homebush Bay.
A quick check on the map confirms that I am in the correct location and heading the right way.
There are some signs, there are lots of cyclists and pedestrians, but dogs are not allowed.
This is the field study center according to the map. However, it is a mystery up close as there are no signs and it is closed.
Anther tributary, flowing from the west this time. This is a much more substantial waterway. It come complete with anther map as this is an intersection.
Some background information on the local history and the attempts to clean up the local environment. There appears to be some uncertainty about the effectiveness of the clean up.
I do not follow this path, it is the way I will return to my car.
I used this seat as my first HDR experiment. It did not work as the three shots have too much difference between them. I am not sure I want to learn how to do HDR. Though some people think I am already doing so, when in fact I am using other techniques to create a similar effect.
Most golden orb spiders build their nests at the level that you will walk into them and be eye-to-eye with the spider. But this one, on a major thoroughfare, has learned better and has built a web 3-4 meters off the ground. It also makes for an interesting shot as there is sky for the background.
From the ground this ship looks like it was sunk on the island, from the satellite it looks like it was sunk in open water and has trees growing inside it, thus the ship is the island. I wonder who owned it and what it was used for?
This is an HDR image. I am not sure you can tell. Maybe one day I will come to understand the technique.
As the sun starts setting an unusual event occurs. The golden orb spider webs are actually golden. To see it properly you need to view the image in a larger size. There is 5 webs in the spider equivalent of high density living. Must be lots of food in this site.
Here is one of the lookout towers. The next shots are from the top of the tower looking out through the portals. The images on the right are looking over to Concord and Rhodes.
Anther map telling me where I am located.
By the side of the water bird refuge is a bird hide. There are a handful of birds on the lake. Only the closer photos work, because the light is fading.
There is a short walk to the north, heading up to the water away from the main path. The photo on the right is the first multi shot panorama I have tried with this new camera and with the photo stiching software that came with it.
Hidden in the mangroves is another abandoned ship. This time it is a barge. I am thinking that this is what ships hiding in the tropics during WWII would have looked like. Again no indication of what the ship was, who used it or what it was used for.
At the end of the point, are some wooden barges sitting on the ground. In the background of the image on the right is IKEA.
Heading back inland, there is a little area which has been replanted with an array of, I presume, native plants and mulch. Some of the plants and grasses are in flower.
Yet another map. I now start following Bennalong Drive, walking along the footpath.
Some of the bottle brushes are limping into flower. Behind this tree there is a small number of cars driving past. With the tripod I experiment with one of the long exposure shots with car lights going past. There is still a but to much light to get very long light streaks.
For some reason they have closed off this section of the road. I know not why.
At the southern extreme of the walk, I turn to the east. There is a small foot bridge over a creek. The creek is not marked on my map. Upstream there is a swampy area.
I walk past the administration block of the park.
Past a place to have a rest.
Past some steel sculptured sports men or women competing in the park. You will need to look at the larger view to see the statues.
The path now heads north again and back into the mangroves.
Off to the west are a group of mobile telephone towers with lots of antennas.
The sun has gone down. So I am now using my head band lamp. There is a sing explaining the local mangrove environment. I was worried for a while about mosquitoes, there are none. I guess they do not like salt water.
I am now walking along the board walk. The first shot is lit by my flash and the significantly edited to increase the lowlight sections brightness. I have to say I am pleased by the camera’s low light response.
This shot is lit by my head-band lamp. The bars of light are me walking around in front of the camera and looking back towards the camera.
The shot is also lit using my head-lamp. But this time I stayed behind the camera and spent 20 seconds bobbing my head up and down and from side to side.
The thumbnail is broken as there was a problem, with the upload. I have fixed the main image. This one is a head-band lamp lit image of the mangrove forest.
These two shots of this bridge are lit differently. The one on the left is lit by the flash on the camera. The one on the right lit by my head-band lamp. In this case I walked up along the left of the bridge, but was careful not to look towards the camera.
This is the sign I saw before, but now lit only by the flash on the camera.
Nearly back to the car, I discover to my surprise that the first bridge is lit with yellow and purple lights.
Finally I return through the BBQ area to my car.