More lovely walks

It was a great weekend after the busy week - Saturday I took myself off for a walk around the hills slightly to the east. It's the same stretch of nature reserve as immediately behind the house but, after fifteen years here, I haven't explored it at all. Pandemic benefits! It was a cloudy and windy day on Saturday, but good for a brisk walk, a bit of sewing, and round to friends for coffee and cake in the afternoon. Lovely to see them and how they're coping - like most Canberra people work has become five times busier and ten times harder but we are all quite happy to have secure jobs at the moment. 

More scrappy bush. I think they're all weeds or pest species but the little bit of yellow for autumn makes it pretty. I adjusted the lighting becasue it was dark and now it looks much more interesting that it does in real life.

On Sunday my husband and I went for a walk around Lake Tuggeranong - another artificial lake in the suburbs to the south. It is about 9 km around, so a good flat stroll, and heaps of people out and about. This is the view from the top of the lake down towards the shops and bridge.

This is the view from the bridge back the other way. It was a beautiful  morning - clear and completely still. There are no filters on these photos, the sky was that blue and the water was completely still. I didn't mean to get the bird in, that was a happy accident. Even the lake looks OK (Lake Tuggeranong is always under warnings for algae and general disgustingness, I wouldn't swim in it and I have pretty low standards ... it also smells). But we did see some pukeko (Eastern swamp hen) with beautiful little fluffy chicks, so it can't be actually toxic. Maybe just for humans.

And here is today's lunchtime stroll to the top of the hill and then back down. We were complaining about how cold it was as we all sat hunched over our computers ... no need to turn the heater on I said, easily fixed I said, we just need a brisk walk up the hill and back. I did it and it warmed me up no end. Did anyone else listen to me? No. Have I turned into my mother? Yes.