Monday, December 5, 2011

First Step Taken to reduce Street Lighting costs

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Council unanimously supported my call for the preparation of a report costing out the benefits of changing street lights to LED bulbs.

The City of Sydney Council have adopted a plan to reduce the Cities carbon footprint and LED lighting has been part of the strategy. They conducted a lighting trial to collect data and to test effectiveness.

Street lightening is considered one of the easy targets in the campaign to reduce our carbon footprint but can be costly and of course is controlled by the energy supplier. Rate payers pick up the enormous tab for lightening our streets and intersections and finding the balance between lighting for safety reasons and unnecessary waste can be tricky- even the timing of when lighting comes on and of.

I hope that the report back to Council shows that with an investment in LED lighting that we can not only reduce the amount of carbon we are dumping into the atmosphere, but also save money in the long term as electricity prices rise.

I expect that it will be quite costly to convert the lighting to LED but if so I would be very supportive of Council raising a loan to pay for such change as it will pay itself of over time through electricity savings.

Council has also made a commitment to have a sustainability fund were funds that are saved through reduced consumption of electricity can be banked and then used to purchase products that contribute to the saving.

So sustainable issue keep moving forward and the Waste and Sustainable Fund gives an income stream back to Council that tackles these big issues.

Looking forward to reading the report in the new year.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Community Consultation and a Council change of heart.

So back to things political.........

For Councils November meeting I raised a motion that requested Council make further deliberations on the Local Environment Plan as open to the public forums, meetings etc and also that a summary of all submissions be placed on the web for consideration by the community as part of the ongoing consultation.

The motion was voted down in a hail of verbal bullets basically accusing me of proselytising Green rhetoric.

Actually I was just asking for what the community desires and that is to work with Council to finalise the document while seeking better outcomes, especially since it is the principal planning document for the next ten years or more.

Support for my motion came from Clrs Ward and Fergusson which wasn't totally unexpected but

Mayor Paul Green, Deputy Mayor Andrew Guile clrs Proudfoot, Brumerskyi, Bennett and Watson were are strongly opposed to having community members present as they felt that they would' take our words and release them to the media before any final decision is made'.

I think it's very important to have the community present for if Council is of a mind to change zoning and give 'spot rezonings' then Council should be held accountable and the reasons behind such moves aired in public not locked behind secret doors.

back to Tuesdays meeting.........

Staff put up a report on the Local Environment Plans progress which clearly requested that Council conduct all further deliberations in an open forum AND that no 'spot rezonings' will be allowable without the appropriate community consultation and test for appropriateness- which doesn't mean that nothing will be rezoned, just that it won't be done without a strategic aim that meets expected demand and fits with a growth management strategy.

I'm glad that I didn't hold my breath but I was concerned that the Liberals were going to remove these important parts from the motion.

It seems that a month is a long time in politics and whatever lobbying that has occurred during that period has had some effect for lo and behold the staff recommendation was supported in its entirety and unanimously ...

the cynic in me is burning as to why this sudden change of heart!

but I am prepared to attempt at optimism and think that their support was for their belief in the benefit of community consultation.........

Nah that is just too difficult to believe, and Ill let you the reader arrive at your own opinion as to why the change.

Happy days...we are in for an intense period trying to get through the changes and get them back out on exhibition which will be for the short time of 28 days, but for now at least the community are involved and I feel a sense of elation that good process won through in the end.

Wog Wog to the Castle Walking Trail- a spring time jaunt.

So we are home- my legs feel slightly detached-not particularly sore just that faint hint of jelly legs- you know the sensation you get when you have been travelling downhill for a while. My hip joints feel sort of loose, my shoulders definitely feel light now that my pack has been removed, and I'm carrying a general sense of fatigue.Yep three days walking in the Budawangs is a bit taxing!

We started out on Saturday morning from the Wog Wog camping ground which is about 650 m above sea level and accessed from Northangra Rd of the Kings Hwy on the way to Braidwood.


Map one shows the beginning of the track and the first 8klms of the walk.
The first set of tears were shed at Wog Wog creek when skinny miss twelve (Tannar) couldn't get the pack adjusted to suit her body and all the weight was on her shoulders. I was built like that when I was wee and nothing that should fit does. I swapped packs with her- the one I got as a skinny teen adjusted to her waist size and from there on in it was good walking.

The beginning of the track winds its way through lovely open woodland that has that high country feel to it with small pale barked gums that look a little like snow gums. It doesn't seem to take long though before you are up into escarpment heath and it was spectacular.

It opened up before us in  flowering glory, tea tree being the dominant at this point- the one with the giant pale pink flowers, Epacris, Tetratheca, yellow melalueca and the remnants of Pattersonia were in abundance.I love the soft curling furls of new growth on ferns.




 The walking path showed signs of the wet winter with soft spongy spots and some great puddles for jumping. The duck boards seemed to be floating and a step in the middle would end up with a submerged foot. The first 8ks were fairly easy going with some great views emerging the further into the plateau we got, especially around Korra Hill and Corang Peak.



This second map joins the previous and is marked at the 8k mark the x is our first night camp in caves.
The Corang Arch is a spectacular feature we stopped here for a while and soaked up the ambiance and watched a storm coming in on us. The break was a good opportunity to fish out the wet weather gear and fill up on fuel. Unless you have hours to wait for the right light and a fantastic wide lens its difficult to capture the grandeur of the place so the pics end up just a reminder of good times with good friends.


Corang Arch


Mick on top of Corang Arch
The storm came in on us and we got wet but not drowned as it wasn't too heavy- I felt kind of vulnerable being the highest thing at the highest point but we did descend fairly quickly into the valley below Profile Rock which was  fairly thick with grass  and sedge. We pushed on through the rain rather than take shelter and headed for the caves where we camped the night. It was a big overhang, nice and dry and plenty of sandy spots for sleeping mats. we arrived fairly early and we couldn't wait for the sun to go down so that we could go to sleep. The storm kept up for a little while but the lightening was obscured from our view. Kiah and I checked out the little creek and brought back some extra water for cups of tea. The moon was just of full so it was certainly a bright night -it almost felt like daylight when I woke up and seemed to be beaming straight into the cave. I like sleeping outdoors the temperature was good- cool enough to want to snuggle right down into the bag but still have that hint of a breeze on your face. We all slept long but not always deep.

Day two we wanted to get into Monolith Valley and then around to Cooyoyo camp site just below the Castle. We left camp and got warmed up nicely on a not to steep rise, but that didn't last long as the ascent became steep but not vertical. Its lovely to stop at the vantage points along the track and look back at where you have come from. The ascent up Mt Cole was tough going as parts where almost vertical and a nice long break in a cave served us well for the hard push through the gap into Monolith Valley.

The pass between Mt Cole and the South west corner of Donjon looks much worse than it is- but a chicken like me is very glad of the vegetative cover which somehow makes the height/steepness so much more bearable than just naked rock. I'm not particularly agile on rock hops but I hope I make up for it in my ability to just keep going no matter how slowly.

Monolith Valley certainly has the WOW factor, a relic of milenia ago- seeing the little sign in the middle of nowhere extolling the ancient connections is out of context - but then again it is a national park. The valley of the monoliths really is something prehistoric, its been a wise move to try and minimise the human impact by restricting visits to day visits only. The moss and lichens look like take ages to grow but then there is a feeling of rain forest vastness which again seems out of context at 800m- I guess because we are so used to looking at dry eucalyptus forest it seems so weirdly green.



And just when you think you cannot gasp anymore at the beauty another spectacular sight opens up for you. With the moisture levels higher than they have been in a while there was a metronome of drips creating the background beat. It certainly was a highly pleasant few hours and warrants a return trip just to soak up the bits that we know we have missed. But with all deadlines we had to move on.

We got to the fork in the road well its more like a major intersection but without any signposts! I think we tried every option before we almost decided to camp, but we bumped into two gents who seemed to be going for a jog who told us that our first choice was the right one. So we headed back onto one of the most twisting turning parts of the track, which is quite difficult to get landmarks and bearings on when tackled from our one way direction- it seems more obvious on the reverse journey to what we were doing. Its an extraordinary track and really makes you think -how did it get there in the first place!

The last 500m of that 11 hour walking day felt soooo loong and as we fell into Cooyoyo camp we didn't feel like taking a single step more so forgot about the comforts of the cave and set up on the ground hoping that the weather didn't turn sour during the night.

Luckily it held and of course we had a very early sun up start for the descent down the Castle Cooyoyo face. Its like a giant stair case with not many landings every step is downhill with very little on flat ground certainly a test for the thighs and knees. But the real prize is the surroundings you are forced to go carefully and savour each new bend in the landscape and the early morning mistiness just made the landscape look like the quintessential Australian postcard all blue eucalyptus forest and a dramatic landscape.

We made it to the saddle before the riping hot westerly started tearing down the valley and spent the last part of journey making sure that we were well marinaded in our own juice! The cool river was tantalisingly close and something to look forward to- soaking our manky selves and feet. We passed some other walkers who were feeling the effects of the hot wind but had such a long way to go, we hoped they had plenty of water.

The final part of the walk takes you down through magnificent rain forest on the banks of the river its so dense and cool it inspires you to stay. When we arrived at the river we all silently stripped of our weary outer layer to revive the inner and only opened our mouths with a woop as we hit the icy cool water. It was like ice therapy on worn muscles, sheer delight and a great way to end a fun filled, magical few days. Cant wait for the next adventure

http://youtu.be/CYth-Hn43t4

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