Murphy's Haystacks, A Group of Ancient Wind-Worn Rocks in South Australia

Murphy’s Haystacks are a picturesque group of ancient, wind-worn rock of pink granite situated between Streaky Bay and Port Kenny on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. The Murphy’s Haystacks placed in the middle of a wheat field and surrounded by mallei scrub, they’re one of the most prominent and photographed magnetisms on the Eyre Peninsula. Therefore, Murphy’s Haystacks are what geologists named it “inselberg”, which are well isolated rocky hills or ridges that rise briskly from a gently sloping or particularly level surrounding plain. An inselberg forms when a body of hard rock surrounded by a layer of soft rock becomes uncovered to erosion. The less resistant outer layer is eroded away to form a plain, leaving the extra resistant rock behind as an isolated mountain.

The procedure that formed Murphy's Haystacks initiated somewhere 1,500 million years ago when hot magma filled crevices below the earth’s surface and then ventilated, laying down a granite base. The current formations you see at Murphy’s haystacks were shaped 100,000 years ago and were buried beneath earth until around 34,000 years ago when they were exposed by terrible erosion, which uncovered them in their current state as pillars or boulders. The “haystacks” carry on to be eroded till this date, giving them bizarre shapes. The haystacks are situated on a private property belonging to Dennis Cash, the grandson of “Denis Murphy”, who actually buys this farm in 1889. The inselbergs were famous with friends and family, and could be seen from the void by the passengers of the local mail run stagecoach. However, many legends say that once a protuberant agricultural proficient was passing by the farm when he saw the landmark from the road. Though not realizing that they were rocks, the man remarked “the farmer must have plowed his land to create such an inspiring profusion of hay”. The mail coach driver, being a local man be familiar with they were on the Murphys' property. Although from then on the amused his passengers by referring to the isolated inselbergs as ‘Murphys Haystacks’.Source: Amusing Planet

Melbourne 2015 - Travel Timelapse

A travel timelapse / hyperlapse video (holiday in Melbourne) - visited 23 to 31 March 2015

Facebook - fb.com/thetimelapseguy
Instagram - instagram.com/pettypoh13
Twitter - twitter.com/pettypoh
Prominent locations include
Queen Victoria Market, Yarra River, Flinders Street and Train Station, Federation Square, Bourke Street, Docklands, Southbank, Eureka Skydeck, St Kilda, Luna Park
Equipments include
Nikon D7100 (Nikon 10-24, Sigma 17-50 and Nikon 75-240)
iPhone 5S (testing instagram hyperlapse)
Samsung Galaxy S5 (testing 4k video)
Music - Chasing Time, licensed from Premium Bea

Melbourne 2015 - Travel Timelapse from pettypoh on Vimeo.

The Exotic Mushroom Tunnel Farm in New South Wales, Australia

Well, do you’ve any idea where is freshest Mushroom available? What do you think about exotic mushrooms are grown; probably your first answer will be in the forests, in basements, somewhere dark? But here we’d like to inform you at one place in New South Wales, Australia, where you can find freshest exotic mushrooms are grown in a tunnel. Li Sun Exotic Mushrooms has been a long part of Australia’s history. In the start of 19th century, the Great Southern Railway ran from Sydney to Picton. However resources such as marble, coal, sandstone, shale, timber and farm produce were carried to Sydney through this railway.

The Persons who’re also traveled through here and by the 2nd half of the 19th century; it became an troublesome mode of transportation for all. However in 1863, the railway has decided to extended southwards that included Mittagong, Bowral, Moss Vale and Marulan.  Thus in 1869, the railway was successfully completed with a massive distance of 224 kilometers, from Sydney to Goulburn. This is a tunnel which was then needed to be made at the side Mount Gibralter, located between Mittagong and Bowral. However, it took two years to complete the excavation work.

Then in 1866, the single-line tunnel was completed, when the construction of double lines for the main Sydney to Melbourne line was completed in 1919, the original tunnel was abandoned. Therefore; in mid-1942 during the WWII, the unused tunnel was used as storage for explosives by the Royal Australian Air Force. Though after the war, stocks of explosives were slowly vacated from the tunnel. Then later in 1953, all stocks were cleared and the site was closed. In the post-war years, the abandoned tunnel became one of the first cultivated farms in Australia. In 1987, Dr. Noel Arrold took over the tunnel and produced new mushroom varieties for the Australian market. The cool, damp, and the dimly lit environment of the tunnel resemble well the mountainous of China, Japan, and Korea. Now, the tunnel grows some extensive varieties of exotic mushrooms such as

Chestnut: One of the oldest species of mushrooms cultivated from the Ancient Greeks. 

Nameko: A very popular mushroom in Japanese cuisine, the name describes a sticky substance on the cap of the mushrooms which adds to the flavor.

Enoki: A traditional Japanese mushroom grown in bunches with long thin stems.

King Brown: A superior mushroom by comparison due to its long shelf life. It offers a superior flavour and texture when compared to other species of Oyster mushrooms.

Oyster: Mushrooms are fluted, oyster shell shaped varieties found on rotting tree stumps and fallen trees. They are common throughout North America.

Shiitake: First cultivated in China about AD1100 and later introduced into Japan also known as Black Forest Mushroom.

Shimejii: A Japanese mushroom that grows from fallen oak, beech or elm trees, there are many varieties but only one is cultivated in Australia at the moment

Swiss brown: One of the most widely cultivated mushrooms; they are the strongest, richest and most robust of the white and brown mushrooms.

Woodear Mushrooms: An essential ingredient in Asian cooking, this mushroom provides a texture contrast and is ideal in soups.

In recent times, new methods of cultivations of mushrooms have been industrialized which require more specialized environmental controls so these mushrooms are grown in climate controlled cropping rooms.

If you’re interested to view the tunnel itself, you can book tours that are conducted three to four times in a year. Just visit Li Sun Exotic Mushrooms Tunnel’s website for further details.

Source: li-sunexoticmushrooms.com.au

Russell Falls Tasmania Australia

One of the most accessible, and beloved, waterfalls in Tasmania and could have been one of favorite spot. It is definitely the best known and most popular waterfall and was often a contest between this waterfall and Liffey Falls for the title of Tasmania's most beautiful waterfall. It is actually consisted of two main drops, but it was the satisfyingly segmented and vertical appearance along with its size that really drew the camera clicks from us and just about every other visitor who shared the experience at the falls. Russell Falls is located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The Russell Falls are situated on the eastern boundary of Mount Field National Park, 100 metres downstream of the Horseshoe Falls, around 70 KM northwest of Hobart via the Brooker and Lyell highways. The nearest populated place is the village of Maydena which is 11km away with a small population and nearest sealed road to Russell Falls is the Lyell Highway 15.2km away.

They were first named the Brownings Falls when it was discover in 1856, but were recognized as the Russell Falls after 1884, by at that time they were already a popular tourist attraction. The Falls Reserve was established in 1885 and in 1899 the Russell Falls were selected as one of eight images to be used on a set of pictorial postage stamps, aimed at promoting the then colony's growing tourist industry. The Russell Falls is popular tourist attraction which is accessible by a paved walking track. The Russell waterfall descends over horizontal marine Permian siltstone benches, while the vertical faces of the falls are composed of resistant sandstone layers. Moreover at night time glow worms can be seen among the vegetation on the approach to the falls, however, you will need to turn torches off. A handrail will help you move along the track in the dark.

Wentworth Falls, New South Wales Australia

Wentworth Falls is a town at an elevation of 867 meters in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, located about 100 Kilometers west of the Sydney central business district, and approximately 8 kilometers east of Katoomba, Australia on the Great Western Highway, with a Wentworth Falls railway station on the Main Western line. Wentworth Falls is home to WFCC or Wentworth Falls Cricket Club, which is established in 1892 and one of the Blue Mountains' longest serving cricket clubs. There’re number of festivals and events hosts at Wentworth falls, some of popular events are Wentworth Falls Autumn Festival in April, the Wentworth Falls Public School Art and Craft Show in October and the Task Force 72 Annual Regatta in either November or December.

Wentworth Falls had a population of over 6,000 originally called The Weatherboard after the “Weatherboard Inn” built in 1814. Therefore in 1879, the village took its name from an adjacent system of waterfalls, which was in turn named for William Charles Wentworth, one of the men that headed the exploration to cross the mountains in 1813 and a friend of John Jamison.

Kings Tableland, a plateau located at the south-east corner of Wentworth Falls, contains areas of major archaeological importance, including the Kings Tableland Aboriginal Site. This area is highly significant to the Gandangara, Darug and Wiradjuri people. Used as a gathering place for at least 22,000 years, the region comprises of multiple cultural features, consisting of engravings, axe-grinding grooves, modified rock pools and an occupation shelter. Ingar Picnic Ground, one of the most picturesque picnic grounds in the Blue Mountains, just only 8 kilometers further east along Murphys Fire Trail. On the north side of the town is Pitt Park. The Bathurst Traveller, later renamed Weatherboard Inn, was built here in 1826.

The site, adjacent to the railway station, is now the location of the village war memorial. Charles Darwin was reported to have stayed there in 1836, walking from the inn along Jamison Creek to the cliff’s edge, about which he wrote ‘an immense gulf unexpectedly opens through the trees, with a depth of perhaps 1,500 feet’. The route he took was formally opened as Darwins Walk in 1986 and leads from Wilson Park opposite the School of Arts building to the northern escarpment of the Jamison Valley.

Moreover south along Kings Tableland are sunset lookout and McMahon’s Lookout, both of which offers long views over Lake Burragorang. The Kings Tableland area also once hosted a deer park that closed down in the late 1980s, with the site consequently falling into private ownership. Several deer were sighted around the area for some time until they were culled by National Parks rangers. This vicinity is also home to the site of the former Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, once a major facility for the treatment of tuberculosis. Therefore ownership of the site has shifted between Government and several private interests over the decades since it was closed in the 1980s. Intermittent development proposals for the former hospital have been the source of some local concern, but the observatory is no longer in operation.

The other noteworthy point of local institutions includes the historic Grand View Hotel, the Wentworth Falls School of Arts, the Kedumba Gallery and Wentworth Falls Lake, a beautiful artificial lake formed in the early of 20th century to flow water for steam locomotives, which has been now turned into a reserve and recreation area. The School of Arts is a standard venue for local community events and theatre productions and also houses the local library. Well, there’s another landmark is Yester Grange, a heritage home in Yester Street. A sprawling, timber bungalow with extensive verandas, Yester Grange is now used as a function Centre for events like wedding receptions and is not open to the public.

There are many natural lookouts in the area including Breakfast Point Lookout, Princes Rock Lookout, Wentworth Falls Lookout and Rocket Point Lookout. A track through the Valley of the Waters leads to Empress Falls, Sylvia Falls, Lodore Falls, and Flat Rock Falls and, near the junction of Jamison and Valley of the Waters Creeks, the sheltered Vera Falls. Empress Falls is one of the most admired beginner commercial canyoning trips in the Blue Mounatins, and canyoners can be seen abseiling Empress Falls from the visitor track.

Moreover the most trendy walks in the region is the National Pass, skirts the top edge of the Valley of the Waters, sideways a narrow clay stone ledge perched halfway down the cliff, and then ascends the ridge through a series of sandstone steps built by Peter Mulheran and a group recognized as "The Irish Brigade" in 1908. The Conservation Hut is an information Centre and restaurant in Wentworth Falls leased from the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, and serves as a starting point for several of these walks.

Hopetoun Waterfalls Victoria Australia

The gorgeous natural Hopetoun Falls is located in the Otways region of Victoria, Australia. It is well across the Air River and approximately five kilometers south of the locality of Beech Forest at an elevation of 1,030 feet above sea level and range between 148–161 feet in height. Hopetoun Falls nearby to the Apollo Bay Beech Forest Road around four  kilometers south of the Beauchamp Falls turnoff and approximately 20 kilometers northwest of the coastal town of Apollo Bay.

Hopetoun Falls was certainly one of the more pleasing waterfalls that had a healthy flow and the rainforest setting was misty, green, and lush. Furthermore to allowing ample access to tourists, extra attention has been given to preserving the natural characteristics of Hopetoun Falls. The Hopetoun falls have a large set of well-built and maintained stairs that lead down a natural patio to a seeing platform very close to the foot of the waterfall. Hopetoun Falls plunges 30 m in a classic rectangular shape. There’re countless visitors come every year to look at its natural beauty.

When you’ll see this waterfall, you’d realize the amazing beauty of waterfall, and would be a great place for a picnic. From Lavers Hill, follow the Colac-Lavers Hill Road east until you see a turn-off to the right to Hopetoun Falls and Beauchamp Falls. Then after a short distance down this road there is another junction where you will need to turn right to continue on to Hopetoun Falls car park is signed from here.