Sandstone wall

0610 sandstone wall
Originally uploaded by rooruu.

The foundation stone of Sydney is sandstone, its warm colour magic in sunlight in some of the older buildings in the city, such as the Education Department building in Bridge St.

I've also seen cliffs of it alight in the late afternoon in the Cudgegong valley between Lithgow and Mudgee.

I only truly realised its warmth and light when I'd visited other cities with different stone as their foundation - granite, for example, which has its own noble beauty but not that warmth and light.

I once lived in an 1850s cottage with random stone walls like this. Very thick walls - you stayed cool for the first couple of days of hot weather, but then, once they warmed up, the house was an oven.

Even though this photo was taken as the light was ebbing, the stone still shows its wonderful variety.