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…
Afternoon walk in Kamay NP La Perouse, and we did see Mercury, Fri 8/11/2024. There was a good turnout for a friday afternoon walk during exam time; maybe examiners tend to avoid friday afternoon exams! There were a couple of minor transport glitches but mostly everything was sorted out okay. And best…
Halloween walk: Dover Heights to South Head & Camp Cove. 31/10/24. The weather forecast for the evening of this walk wasn’t all that good, but things didn’t turn out too bad overall, and the weather did provide some dramatic photographic scenes at times. Most people met up at Macquarie Lighthouse on Old South Head Road around 5pm, and we then set out along the paths that followed the cliff line towards South Head and The Gap. It was…
Coalcliff-Stanwell Park Beach-Otford, Tuesday 1st October You might notice that the heading of this trip report is not the same as what was originally planned. That’s because a track closure required a change of destination. And the heading pic doesn’t exactly look like a beach. Read on….
Umina – Pearl Beach – Patonga Walk SUNDAY 22nd September. We had a fine mostly sunny day for this walk, and 16 members arrived off the train at Woy Woy Station, with Rickie and Ali driving up separately in their own cars. The train was a bit late, and I needed time to get everyone together and giving them a briefing about what we were doing. Therefore I…
Fernleigh Track, Glenrock Conservation Area, & Merewether Beach, Newcastle 1/9/2024. The rare unseasonable very warm weather this weekend gave me some concerns about this walk, because of the possibility a high fire danger, and even maybe a “Total Fire Ban” being declared because of the strong and dry NW winds. As it…
Helensburgh, Stanwell Tops, Kellys falls to Stanwell Park. Initially the weather didn’t look too promising, with possible rain forecast, but as it turned out, the day turned out to be OK with no rain although cloudy all day. The rain had gone north to the Hunter Region and left us alone. Most of…
A hotter-than-usual day in Ku-Ring-Gai National Park sees a beginner trip heading down Great North Walk down to Jerusalem Bay and up to Taffy’s Rock. We didn’t reach the rock itself but have been fairly close to where it is on the trail. The day started at Cowan where ~10 people came, many beginners while some have been on my other trips. Jin was…
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…
Brooklyn Area walk on ANZAC Day, 25th April 2024. It was a nice day for this walk (or rather a series of three walks), and we all met up at Hawkesbury River Station. A check of names showed that I had one person who initially I thought was a “no show”, but an email she sent at 11.20pm the previous night showed up, stating she was unable to come (more later). So with…
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…
Fernleigh Track and Glenrock Conservation Area, Newcastle area. 23/3. It was going to be good day for this walk, with weather not too warm, and a friendly quite low tide mid-afternoon making the beach and rock platform sections a lot easier. It’s quite a long day for the group; from start to finish at Sydney being just over 11 hours, but it still seems to draw members each time it is done. Anyway, most…
Helensburgh to Stanwell Park Beach 10/3/2024 A rather early start was required by me as locally buses were replacing trains as far as Gordon Station, from which I got an all stations train to Central. Still, I was up early enough to cacth the sunruise. At Central, eight people caught up with me there, with Sean getting on later at Sutherland. Shibo just…
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…
It’s midday and the group met up at Cronulla Wharf. A casual easy walk like this allows for a later start where other plans can be made in the morning or at night. The coastal track starts at Bundeena which is 20 minutes away from Cronulla on a ferry, running once every hour. Some T4…
Halloween walk: Dover Heights to South Head & Camp Cove. With a 30 degree C day earlier (and with a total fire ban), I was wondering what the weather would be like in the late afternoon for this walk. The five of us got to Christison Park at Vaucluse next to Macquarie Lighthouse in a rather cold southerly wind which had developed from a gentle seabreeze earlier that day into something fairly strong and cold by 6.30pm (50 minutes before sunset). In fact…
Otford to Burning Palms Beach/Figure 8 Pool, then Helensburgh, Sunday 29/10/23. This day was chosen because it supplied a combination of good swimming weather, and a very low tide in the mid afternoon. This would make a trip to Figure 8 Pool fairly safe. There was however a moderate 1.7 metre sea swell forecast, which meant that we would still have to be careful there. With people…