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…
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…
Trip Report: Gooch’s Crater Hike from Old Bells Line of Road (near Clarence) I recently embarked on an exhilarating hiking adventure to Gooch’s Crater with likeminded people, starting from Old Bells Line of Road near Clarence. The journey took us through gravel roads, fire trails, and off-track bush bashing, leading to fascinating pagodas, caves, and ultimately, the breathtaking Crater Lake. Here’s a…
Katoomba Winter Magic Festival walk, 24/6/2023. Note: My photos are below (with 3 by Matthew where shown), and Matthew’s are in the link above. As I have to catch a somewhat earlier train at 7.30am from my station, I was up early enough to see the planet Jupiter rising in the morning sky (yes, it’s large and bright enough to been sighted shortly before sunrise). See the…
A Saturday was chosen for the walk despite the less optimal weather conditions. A cloudy day with a lower temperature made it easier for a long walk without all the hot summer conditions. The group was quite diverse with some exchange students from the US and New Zealand and some international students. Most members…
Mt Victoria-Fairy Bower-Mt Piddington- Pulpit Rock tracks walk (a more accurate description of the direction we took). Most of the group got on the train at Central for the 2 hour 15 minute trip to Mount Victoria, although I got on at Strathfield. We got to Mt Victoria Station at 11.07am, which is a later start than normal for walks in this area, as the plan was to do only 5 hours including lunch. A couple…
Awe – Inspiring Cliffs Socheat Soth Sunday 14 August 2022 (T) = paragraphs by Terry, the trip leader When two cars full of hikers leave different parts of western Sydney and arrive at the destination three hours away at the same time, I know I am going to have a good day of bushwalking. Logistically, the…
Written By: Socheat Soth I visited Magdala Creek in the winter of ’22, which turned out to be a glorious day with four other outstanding individuals: Sunil Jassal (trip leader), Nicholas Whyte (Nic), Rachel Ng, and Kwun Ming Shum (Ming). I wanted to do something different that day because my life had become too repetitive. I misread…
What an eventful day! When we met at Windsor that morning, the plan was to head out in search of Clews Cave. But no plan survives contact with reality, and in this case, “reality” took the form of a deceptively deep puddle on the fire trail. Hindsight is 20/20 With a tyre deflator and a bit more right-boot failing to move the car, Ruby went to Putty Road to flag down a passing vehicle and returned mere minutes later with an F100 truck, whose driver kindly recovered us and saw us on our way. Being the…