Yellow Rock - continued

Yellomundee Regional Park - continued

This is an update on my blog post yesterday.  Our friend has identified the artist we met yesterday as John Rice.  I discovered his facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/johnriceart/ and was thrilled to find he had put up a photo of his painting yesterday, so I have re-produced it here for you to see.  John is an energetic outdoor painter and enjoys painting landscape from life "en plein air" and makes regular painting trips around the countryside.  He also conducts regular workshops.

After leaving the Lookout yesterday we drove back along the bumpy road, negotiating the potholes very carefully, until we reached the bitumen and proceeded into the residential section of Yellow Rock.  We drove down Illingworth Street until we came to a little park.  We parked the car in the street and proceeded to walk into the Park.  We had been to this place before and we wanted to check out the mosaic wall again and make sure it was still intact.

Here is the painting Ken saw as John Rice was preparing to pack up and leave.   I was not able to walk down to the spot where John Rice was painting, but I did see the painting when we spoke to him on his walk back to his car.

 And here is the painting that John Rice put up on his facebook page today.  As you can see it is exactly just as we saw it yesterday.  He has not yet added any further colour to it.

Here is part of the mosaic wall in the little playground park in Yellow Rock.  I like the Black Cockatoos.  I believe there are Black Cockatoos in the area, but I have not yet seen any in real life.  Plenty of Kookaburras, King Parrots and Rainbow Lorikeets, of course.  There is even a little possum up in the left-hand corner!

This is a little tile path of stepping stones that takes you through a bush garden and leads to the mosaic wall at the back of the Park.

 Different animals were stencilled on to the concrete path.  I liked this one of a Kangaroo.  There was also an Elephant, Lion, rabbit, cat and cockatoo and probably others that I missed!

We had wanted to see some Wattle blooming and found this little bush by the side of the road.  We were a bit disappointed at the poor displays of Wattle.  Maybe, it is still a bit early for them to be out.  Another week or two and there should be plenty.  It reminded me of a song my dad used to sing when I was a child and later when I was in choir we also sang this song.  It is called  "The Wattle Song" written by Warren Fahey.

"The bush was grey a week today,
Olive green and brown and grey,
But now it's changing all the way,
With blossoms for the wattle.


It seems to be a fairy tree,
Dancing to a melody,
Sing a little song to me,
The graceful, swaying wattle."

Yellow Rock

Yellomundee Regional Park

Today we drove down Singles Ridge Road to Yellow Rock.  The end part of this road that leads down to the lookout at Yellow Rock has deteriorated badly, with huge potholes, and I was fearful for our car in negotiating these hazards.  We do not have a four wheel drive so we drove very gingerly along it.  I don't think we will visit here again for a while, not until the road is repaired!  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the view, as always, looked spectacular.  There was an artist painting the view and he had captured the scene very well.  He said it was his first time at this spot.  I was hoping to see some wattle blooming in the bush, but there was nothing visible.  I was not able to walk very far as the terrain is very rocky and I am suffering with a painful knee at the moment.  Ken did a little exploratory walk around the area.

Here is the spectacular view from the lookout, looking down to the Nepean River.  The Yellomundee Regional Park is located on the Eastern escarpment of the Blue Mountains

Here is the artist, all packed up and ready to head back to his car.  He lives in Mulgoa.  You can see the painting attached to his easel.  I thought it was very good.  He said he thought it was a bit too light and would have to add some colour to it when he got home to his studio.  I think he had been painting all morning.

This deep chasm between two rocks looks rather scary.  I always think of the movie Picnic at Hanging Rock when I see dark crevices like this between rocks.

Part of the badly potholed road that leads down to the lookout.  I think four wheel drive vehicles are partly responsible for the deterioration of this road, as I can imagine, when they see a dirt road, they delight in driving fast along it, with little regard to how they rip up the surface!

Here I am resting by a tree.  The terrain was very rough and I was not able to explore very far without hanging on to Ken for support!


After leaving the lookout area, we drove around the streets in the residential area of Yellow Rock.  Yellow Rock is quite an isolated settlement in the Blue Mountains.  There are no shops, but there are many nice homes in neat suburban streets.

Randwick

St. Jude's - 4th Sunday after Trinity 5 July, 2020

During these Covid-19 days, when all Churches have been closed for Sunday worship, we have had to make other arrangements regarding our church attendance.  In normal times we like to attend Christ Church, our local Anglican Church in Springwood, but during the pandemic the Church has had to conduct church services via Zoom.  Although the Ministry team is doing a great job in maintaining the continuity of worship, the zoom style of service has a few drawbacks, so we have looked around for an added alternative.  We found St. Jude's at Randwick on You Tube where our friend Andrew Schmidt is the Rector and we have been happy to partake in this online service every Sunday since the beginning of the pandemic.  Andrew was once an assistant minister at Anglican Churches in Springwood and we feel he is a good friend and we are familiar with his preaching, so we feel quite at home in this beautiful Church.  We have actually been inside this Church as we attended Andrew's induction a few year's ago when a busload from the Springwood congregation journeyed over to Randwick to attend the induction and supper afterwards in the Church hall.

Here is the beautiful church of St. Judes, Randwick.  There are differing views as to who was the Architect, among them being Simeon Pearce and Edmund Blackett.  The foundation stone was laid in 1861.

Rev. Andrew Schmidt at the beginning of the service on Sunday 5 July, 2020.  Every week there is always a beautiful flower arrangement beside the prayer desk, on the communion table and by the organist.

Kat Cowell, Women's and Families Minister, reading the Gospel.  She is married to Nigel Cowell, a student minister at St. Judes.

Rev. Andrew Goddard (Assistant Minister, Youth and Evangelism) delivering the sermon on Sunday 5 July, 2020.  Here, in the background, you can see the pipes of the organ. 

Andrew Schmidt giving the blessing at the end of the Holy Communion service.  There is also another Minister on the Ministry team, Rev. Jim Le Huray.

Angus Gilchrist the organist always plays a glorious postlude at the end of the service, which is a treat to listen to. Angus is also the choirmaster and every Sunday there is a small representation of the choir, socially distanced, to sing the hymns and vocal parts of the Dudman mass.

We enjoy partaking in this service on You Tube on our TV, sitting in our comfortable lounge chairs  with the gas fire on, joining in by saying the responses and singing the hymns.  We also appreciate the opportunity to take communion online and always have our bread and wine, in tiny glasses, set out on a little table in front of us.  Because the service is available on You Tube, we can watch it at a time convenient to us and we choose to watch it after we have watched our own church's service on zoom on Sunday morning.  We feel we are doing the best we can in these uncertain times and are just grateful we are fortunate enough to be able to access these meetings due to modern technology.