Taronga (Athol Wharf) to Chinamans Beach 15th March (The Ides of March) 2025. This walk replaced one originally planned to go to Patonga near Woy Woy, but changed because of expected hot weather. It turned out to be a wise choice as the temperature on the mostly unshaded track at Patonga reached 33 degrees C in the day. It was…
There is a storied history of nude bushwalking in the SUBW, which is part of a broader tradition in which cultural figures such as Percy Grainger and conservationists like Myles Dunphy were among the best known participants. In recent decades there has been renewed interest in the practice, especially where it involves skinny dipping in wild places. SUBW’s nude…
Helensburgh-Burning Palms-Figure 8-Otford Walk 2/3/2025 This walk had some interesting turnarounds: weather being the opposite of what was forecast, a previously easy track now getting overgrown, leeches spooking some people, and myself forgetting to bring something important. Read on….
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…
Wondabyne Station is a halt on Mullet Creek on the north side of Hawkesbury River. The tiny platform is only long enough for one carriage so you have to sit in the back carriage and tell the guard you need the extra stop at Wondabyne. There is no other way to get there and apart from bushwalkers the halt seems to exist only for people with water-only access houses on the Hawkesbury. The tiny…
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…
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…
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…