This is my favorite place that I have been in Australia - I have been here so many times I cant even recall. I have spent so much time on all the hiking trails around - but I would never have done so if I didnt have a GPS! I could walk down any trail I want and get back to the car with no problems! If you want to see GPS, look at 4X4books - Personally I have a Garmin GPS12XL - but the ones that are out today are cheaper, smaller and better!

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Just to the west of Sydney lie the Blue Mountains. If you live in Sydney, just look to your west. Hey there they are! Once seen as an impenetrable barrier, there are now roads, rail, and towns that lie all through the mountains.

There are lots of great walking trails in New South Wales - I would recommend the book 100 Walks in New South Wales. Click here for more info on the book or to order the book.

Euroka Clearing is an extince volcanic crater. It creates a huge valley which is surrounded by hills on all sides. In the area you can see gum trees, lyre birds (if you are observant), sulpher crested cockatoos (man are they loud in the wild!), and lots and lots of kangaroos. You notice this because you are stepping constantly in kangaroo crap.

This is also the first place in Australia where I noticed a sign that was about 2 metres tall and had height marked off on it. When I inquired about it I was told it was for when the river floods over you can see how deep the water is before you drive through it.

In the area near the clearing lots of people camp here. It is a very beautiful place. Nearby on the extensive walking trails you can visit Red Hands Cave, where in times gone past, aboriginals have spit red ochre on their hands to leave an imprint of their hand on the walls of the cave. Ancient graffiti artists!

	Joey : The Story of a Baby Kangaroo (no photo available)
What do you do with a kangaroo	Joey : The Story of a Baby Kangaroo	Life Cycle of a Kangaroo

On January 1st 1996, which is also my birthday, I decided to go up to the mountains with Rhonda. With us came our friends Jamie and Jodie. When we arrived there (the clearing was crowded as always) we found a quiet spot to have lunch. A gentleman in the area pointed out a huge monitor lizard, abot 6 feet long. He was just hanging onto the tree, not moving much. I was able to get some great pictures of him (about 30 over the day). He was staying relatively still and I was able to see the huge claws they are equipped with. The next thing I knew we spotted another one walking along the ground. The lizard was nervous with all the people staring at him and proceeded to walk to the gully where the other one was up in the tree. He walked to the base of the tree and proceeded to hiss at me if I got too close. I kept my distance and used my zoom lens to take some photos of him.

The next thing I know the other lizard in the tree is climbing upwards. These lizards will climb up trees and eat the eggs in a birds nest. There were some birds up the tree who were going absolutely apeshit because they saw this huge lizard slowly moving upwards. They were very tiny birds, only a few inches in size (I'm not sure of the species). They starting chirping very loud and I was not prepared for what happened next.

Cockies to the rescue

First of all, a bird of a different species, a PeeWee (sort of like a small Magpie) started to fly around the lizard and peck at him. Thjs was amazing enough for me... But wait, the story gets better.
The little birds were still, as I mentioned earlier, going apeshit up in the tree. About 4 cockatoos landed in the tree and started sdreaming at the lizard with their wings spread out and their crests raised while their were in the tree. The lizard kept on climbing upwards.
In total, about 30 cockatoos showed up and started screaming at the lizard, and the peewee was still attacking him. The cockies flew closer to him and were still screaming.
Eventually all of the birds drove the lizard back down to the bottom of the tree (where the second lizard decided to hide in a bush). The birds were still screaming and eventually the lizard walked over to another tree. The birds all flew over and still kept screaming. The lizard was eventually chased about a mile into the bush (at least that's when I stopped following).
It was very interesting since it was hard to see the lizard in the tall grass. All I had to do was to look for all of the screaming cockatoos and the lizard was just below.
I had never seen such inter-species cooperation, if I can call it that. Cockatoos and peewees literally flew in to chase away a common predator from the nest of a bird of another species. If anyone knows more information about this, please email me.

I have checked into this. According to Konrad Lorenz, founder of ethology, this behavior is quite common and is known as mobbing

I'm just joking. He was only yawning (just as you probably are right now!)