In 1997, your young and somewhat naive columnist grossly underestimated the drive time between Ottawa and Niagara Falls. A jack-knifed semi-trailer blocking the highway just out of Toronto didn't help my cause, and when I finally arrived at the Canadian side of the falls, the sun had already set. Worse still, in order to make a connecting flight back to Australia, I needed to high-tail it back to Ottawa before dawn.

So after driving for 10 hours to be awe-inspired by one of the wonders of the world, I was left disconsolate sitting on a park bench, listening to sound of gushing water, imagining whether the falls really were as majestic as I'd seen in photos. Sure, the thunderous roar was impressive, but I'm sure most people would agree that waterfalls are best appreciated by both hearing and seeing their grandeur.

Given my Niagara faux pas, I, probably more than most, appreciate artist Phil Ryan's creative way in which he has showcased our own region's waterfalls in his solo exhibition, High Country Waterfalls, at the Tuggeranong Art Centre.

"Waterfalls are both a visual and an audible experience," says the Batlow-based Ryan, who says his paintings are "presented with a soundscape to immerse the audience".

While Ryan has painted the falls in his trademark style (acrylic and mixed media on layered MDF to create a 3D effect), this is his first foray into combining sound with his paintings.

From just a cursory glance at the 15 different waterfalls featured in this sequence it's clear Ryan views each as the set of a natural drama. "The stage is the underlying rock, its sculptural form dictates the performance; the backdrop and wings are the vegetation and landscape, but the actor on this stage is the water, both in its dynamic flow and auditory performance," he says.

There is nearly six hours of soundscape played on three speakers, so unless you intend to bunker down in the Tuggeranong Arts Centre all day, you won't hear any looping of the audio. Although initially "concerned that every waterfall would sound the same", after a couple of days in the field, Ryan was relieved to discover "that each fall produced its own unique soundscape".

Avian aficionados will especially enjoy trying to identify the bird calls which occasionally permeate the white noise of trickling and gushing water. Meanwhile, Ryan's resourceful use of percussion to purposefully break up the recordings make the soundscape a real highlight in this refreshing expose on our region's waterfalls.

Ryan has featured a mix of often-visited falls (like Adelong and Paddys River) to secret cascades like Manjar Fallson private property near Tumbarumba which, according to Ryan, "was the inspiration for Australian author John Marsden in locating his 1993 award-winning young adult invasion novel, Tomorrow When the War Began.

This column's penchant for going off-the-beaten track will be well-known to regular readers, so it's little surprise my favourite of Ryan's 22 paintings is Three Mile Creek in the Green Hills State Forest near Batlow. "There aren't any waterfalls mapped or signposted along this creek and I only found out about it by local word-of-mouth," Ryan says. "There's actually no single 'waterfall' but rather a series of cascades flowing over dome-like outcrops."

However, for Ryan, the piece de resistance in this exhibition is his trilogy of the ACT's very own Gibraltar Falls. Having lived in Canberra for 11 years and always being "astounded at how few Canberrans are aware of this gem of Namadgi" it was a must in his waterfall series. To try to capture the scale and perspective of these falls, Ryan's vertical trilogy depicts the top, middle and bottom of the falls as seen from one single vantage point – the publically accessible lookout off Corin Road.

There's a map at the entrance of the exhibition which pinpoints the location of each the falls. However, if after immersing yourself in Ryan's audio-visual extravaganza, you do decide to visit one of these falls, I strongly recommend that you plan your trip to avoid arriving in the dark (oh, and and stay away from semi-trailers).

High Country Waterfalls: On show at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre (137 Reed Street, Greenway) until August 1. Monday to Friday (9am-5pm) and Saturdays (10am-4pm). Ph: 62931443 or tuggeranongarts.com.au.

Don't miss: Artist Phil Ryan will reportedly be roaming the gallery each Saturday between 11am-3pm. If you spot him, ask him what he did to keep himself amused while spending dozens of hours perched on rocks and semi-submerged while recording the soundscapes. His answer might surprise you.

Did you know? All of Ryan's waterfall series are painted from photos. Although he hiked to many himself, some are painted from the photo library of Harry Hill who has walked over a great part of the western Kosciuszko National Park and who has authored several high country hiking guides and history books, including Camping and Bushwalking in Northern Kosciuszko National Park (Envirobook, 2006).

Tim's tip: After visiting the exhibition, take a drive to Gibraltar Falls (Corin Road, Namadgi National Park). The 50-metre falls are a 25-kilometre picturesque drive from the Tuggeranong Arts Centre via Point Hut Crossing. If you are feeling peckish, drop into the cosy cafe at Corin Forest snow play area (1268 Corin Road). It boasts arguably our region's best open fire and serves hot drinks and scrumptious wood-fired pizza. Check opening hours (and weather conditions) before you leave at corin.com.au or Ph 6235 7333.

It seems that I'm not the only one to head west this winter to escape the cold (Head West! June 6). On a recent camping trip to Gundabooka National Park near Bourke, Klaus Hueneke, of Gungahlin got a little more than he bargained for when he went in search of some firewood.

"I circled off in ever-increasing diameters and finally found a decent termite-hollowed mulga log that might burn well into the night," reports the well-travelled hiker, who then "pulled off a flitch as the whole log was too heavy".

"There, lo and behold, were two ancient denizens of the outback - lightly clad Miss Jacky Jacky lizard snuggled up to shiny, dark-plated Mr Shingleback," says Hueneke, who "stroked them both but not a flinch or an eyelid roll, for they were in torpor for the night."

Thankfully for our canoodling couple, our walking wordsmith reports he "put the flitch back, carried another log to the fire," before watching "a million sparkling old suns come close enough to pluck out of the sky".

Have you spotted unlikely bedfellows (preferably non-human) cuddling together for warmth this winter? If so, please send in a photo to the address at the end of this column.

Following this column's account of an emu spotted in the bush near the Cotter (Emus Everywhere, June 20), Joy Liebke of Chifley adds that on a recent picnic at the popular reserve she "was surprised to see five emus grazing on the grassy area at the site of the old Cotter pub [razed in the 2003 firestorm]".

Meanwhile, while walking around Fadden Hills, Julie Lindner spotted this lone emu, (or is it an ostrich?!), "dashing through the bush".

Luckily, Lindner "was walking quick enough to get away from it".

Clue: Beware of the time machine
Degree of difficulty: Medium-hard

Last week: Congratulations to Charlotte Henderson of Bruce who was first to correctly identify last week's photo, sent in by Chris Blunt, as the highest acorn-shaped cubby at the pod playground at the National Arboretum Canberra. Henderson just beat a barrage of correct entries on the stroke of 10am, including those from first-time entrant Greg Divall of Kambah and Elfriede Budd of Nicholls, who often takes her grandchildren there to play, suggesting "it surely must be the most fantastic playground in Australia".

Not surprisingly, the photo was recognised instantly by a number of this column's younger readers, including seven-year-old Indiana Clowry and also Magnus Shaw of Stirling who says "if you want to be precise it is the highest acorn there". While some of this column's more mature readers including Dan Leslie of Hughes bemoaned the fact that the knockout playground wasn't around when they were growing up, age seems no barrier for Brigitte Tabuteau of Bruce who "plans to play on it one day when no one else is around".

Meanwhile, Christine Lawrence, president of the ACT Equestrian Association was quick to catch on that the clue of "neigh" referred "to the new horse yards just erected across the road from the pod playground" which are designed to make it easier for horse riders to visit the arboretum.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday, July 4, 2015 with the correct answer wins a double pass to Dendy cinemas.