For many many months, bushwalkers have mourned the temporary closure of Ruined Castle. The days of crying ourselves to sleep after viewing the NPWS alerts page are no more. Ruined Castle is back open, and what better way to celebrate than climbing it at sunset? So, from Katoomba station at 11:11am, our party of 11 set off bound for the newly reopened track. We began…
One of the best-loved bush adventures near Sydney is a lilo drift down the Wollangambe River. On hot summer weekends the gorge is full of groups paddling pool toys down the river between the sandstone cliffs, jumping from rock ledges, or giggling as they drag unicorns and flamingos between boulders into the next long pool. But all…
The Newnes plateau stands around one thousand meters above sea level, separating the catchments of two wilderness rivers, the Wolgan and Wollangambe. Part state forest and part national park the plateau drops to the east into the Wollangambe Wilderness, with many fine canyons along Bungleboori and Dingo Creeks. To the…
Attendees Abseiling and camping Ashley Burke Olivia Carolan Jag Ganti Han (Vicki) Long Carrie Ke Isla Shen Lin Wang Yuxin (Clara) Liu Danniella Larobina Randi Horstrup Vincent Lai Tim Hanigan Cowen Zhang Jiankang Dong Camping Only Aidan Pollock Eszter Coombs Victor Caxala Qiuyue (Moon) Hu Bill He Yiming Zhao Walked in from Katoomba Sean Armson Vyom Arya Sunil Jassal Turned up Independently Jo Boyd Joe Brischetto Roger Lembit David Noble Robert Hynes Jiri Svec Catherine Svec Cameron and Jayden Svec (children) Mitchell Isaacs Chantal Bronkhorst Trip Report The Christmas Dinner Walk is an annual SUBW tradition dating back to the 1970s. I have…
My hiking trips come at only inopportune times. We were looking at doing some canyoning on Saturday but the threat of lots of rain and thunder had me thinking about a bit of exploratory walking instead. The only real parameters I had for the trip were that it should involve a bit of rough walking somewhere new and that it should incur a bit of suffering. In the…
Nothing gets you through the exam season like the promise of a night by the Coxs River. So, on the very next day after all of our exams were over and 3 months of freedom loomed, we set off from Katoomba station for the Six Foot Track. Off we went, eager to spend the night away from any form of university commitment. Through the…
Several people are free over the weekend and thought it’d be a good idea to do a camping trip. A rough plan of going somewhere around the Capertee area on the Castlereagh Hwy was devised, and an Expression of Interest was published yet with no solid plan. It was when my friend came to my place for laundry that I asked him to plan the trip for me in exchange for free laundry. Putting together…
With a party of 7, we set off from Springwood station for the Magdala Creek track that would take us around to the base of Martin’s Lookout. The track was as spectacular as any in this area, heading through Fairy Dell with the tall trees shielding us from what was a pretty hot and humid July day. Fairy Dell…
Walk in Mount Victoria area; Tuesday 2nd July 2024. This walk was intended as a relatively easy walk to Blair Athol Mine, and then to Mt Piddington. It turned out to be anything but. Read on. Four of us met up at Central for the Lithgow train, which being a normal weekday was unusual in stopping at only four stations along the way, so it took only 2 hours to get to Mount Victoria. Along the…
Katoomba to Leura via Prince Henry Cliff track. Sunday 12/5/2024. There were some concerns that this walk might have had to be cancelled because of the long stretch of rainy weather we had, which didn’t look like ending soon. What’s more, delaying the walk until the following weekend (18 &19 May) was not possible beause there would be no trains to the Blue Mountains that weekend. So it…
This was a lovely walk through the western side of the blue mountains. Our group took a 7:30am train from Central Station and arrived at Blackheath Station at 10:15am. We walked through the neighborhoods and onto Perry’s Lockdown Road after a little while. We enjoyed the views from the lookout points, despite the fog covering much of the mountains. We made…
At 9am we met and set off from springwood station. Unfortunately, I received a message from eric that he might be 30 or 40 minutes late due to traffic. I told him about another option. Park at martins park and then we could probably meet at shark’s head cave or lost world. The five…
This was the second trip that I ran this weekend, after the first one filled up really quickly. Even though I had just done a trip to Wentworth Falls yesterday, this trip had also filled up in less than a day, and I took a group of almost 20 people! I had asked everyone to meet at platform 5 at Central for our Blue Mountains Intercity, but when I got there, there was no train! The helpful staff there let me know that the platform had changed to number 3. This caught…
We had a big group today, with almost 20 people! I led two trips this weekend, and both got completely filled in under a day! This walk was originally going to meet at Central at 9:30, but due to forecast rain in the morning, I moved the meeting time later. Unfortunately, Xuying didn’t realise that the meeting time had been changed, so she did not end up attending the trip. Joe, who…
Preface This trip started in true SUBW style, with a last minute trip post and some even more last-ditch efforts to get gear from the locker. Thanks Sunil and Aidan for your help, and thanks Ian for lending some additional gear too. Day 1 On the first day after Christmas…we did Serendipity. Rebecca, Andrew…
A “bit” late but here we go (blame exam season) This was definitely the oddest timed trip I’ve led. We met at Central at 11:00 pm to catch the 11:24 Blue Mountains train. Although I would have usually joined from Blacktown, I thought it would be better to be with everyone at the start given the time of night. Turnout surpassed…
This was my first time leading a trip since I moved out west, so it was also the first time I led a trip without actually meeting everyone at the start. Thankfully this went without a hitch, everyone caught the 10:24 Blue Mountains Intercity from Central, and I got on later at Blacktown, and we all got together once we got off the train at Wentworth Falls. The ride,…
Centennial Glen & Porters Pass Loop, West Blackheath. Saturday 16/9/2023. Because I have to get up quite early to go on a Blue Mountains bushwalk, I was up early enough to see Venus shining very brightly in the pre-dawn sky. As I walked to my station, I passed a flock of cockies (White Cockatoos) with the rising sun giving a golden sheen to their feathers. (See Photos)….
Katoomba to Leura via Prince Henry Cliff track. Sunday 20/8/2023 This promised to be a great day out in near perfect winter weather, and 17 had signed up. As usual I had to catch a must earlier train from my Central Coast station and thus had a view of Jupiter shining in the pre-dawn sky (see photo). A Powerful…
Mount York has been somewhere I wanted to check out for quite a while and since no one is doing trips I might as well get it off my bucket list. It’s a cold and cloudy Saturday with a reasonably early start at Central Station into Blue Mountains. With a lot of last-minute signup and dropouts we’ve got a group of 13, to which only 11 showed up. Most of…