Climbing Mt Majura

 This is a small mountain in Canberra - the equivalent of a 44 story building from the carpark to the summit.  On the top is the major approach radar for the Canberra region.

It takes about an hour to climb to the top and it's a pleasant and not dangerous climb.  There are no cliffs to fall off.  You'll need water and good shoes as the trail can be quite steep in parts.

Today I took my OM-5 with a 40-150mm telephoto lens as its one of my lighter lenses.  The downside was that I often had to move back quite a lot to get the image I wanted into the frame.

At the bottom

View half way up

The gradient you are climbing

View from the top

Trig station at the very top

Heading back down

Little Mullligans

 This is a nature reserve close to the Mulligans Flat nature reserve. While not as large as Mulligans Flat, it seems to offer a wider variety of scenery to photograph.

I particularly like the fact that there aren't any prepared trails through the reserve, so you have to find your own path through the reserve.  This means that when climbing the ridge, you have to plan your path to avoid the more dangerous ground.  According to my smartwatch the climb to the top of the ridge is the equivalent of about 20 stories.

We hadn't had any rain for a while

There isn't a lot of scrub to fight through

Some of the dams still held water for the wildlife

Tree sap illuminated by the sun

The view from the ridge line

The border with NSW - the state to our north.

Heading down from the ridgeline

Tong's Hole

This is a new trail that has been opened up that takes you down from West Belconnen to the Molonglo River.

I had a quick trip there to explore its possibilities, so I just took my OM-5 and a 12-100mm f4 pro lens.

The trail starts off with a slow descent but then becomes steeper as you approach the river.  The trail takes you to a swimming hole that seems quite protected.   There isn't a lot of beach space, but it looks like it would be good on a hot day.

Next time I will take my tripod to take a panorama.  Because of the steep cliffs opposite, you'd need to take the panorama in portrait orientation with a wide angle lens.

Looking up-river

Hand-held panorama

  

Looking down-river