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…
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…
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…
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…
Umina to Pearl Beach & Warrah Lookout, Saturday 7-10-2023. It will be a surprise to some that this walk was advertised as “Mount Wondabyne” on the trip list, but the closure of the Great North Walk where it passes through Brisbane Water National Park required an urgent change of location. I decided…
Newcastle – Fernleigh Track and Glenrock Conservation Area, Sunday 10/9/2023. Most people got on the train at Central, and a couple at Hornsby, to settle in to the two and a half hours train trip to Adamstown. Tiantian only just made it because of a late running bus, yet another example of the unreliable Inner West bus service post privatisation. I got…
Wondabyne to Mt Wondabyne and Woy Woy, Sunday 28th May 2023. I got up early this morning and I took the opportunity to spot the planets Jupiter and Mercury in the predawn eastern sky, as per the first 2 photos. Before I get into the trip report, I will mention to any students who are from the Northern Hemisphere for this Semester only, to get up early and have a look, as it might be your only chance in your life time to see Mercury. It is…
Cowan to Brooklyn Walk ANZAC Day 2023. With earlier worries that adverse weather might cause the walk to be shortened to just around Brooklyn (like last year’s) the weather turned out almost perfect on this ANZAC Day, not too hot and no rain at all. A dozen members arrived at Cowan Station and off we set for the walk to Brooklyn along this section of the Great North Walk (GNW). Some people…
Umina – Pearl Beach – Patonga Walk Sunday 4th December 2022. This walk is similar (but not exactly the same) as the one on 19th November; this one put on for people who couldn’t attend the earlier one because of exams or whatever. We all met up together at Woy Woy Station, and I decided on a small change of plan to save us some time waiting for a bus to Umina Beach. Instead of…
Umina – Pearl Beach – Patonga Walk Saturday 19/11/22 Industrial action by train staff that weekend required a change of plan made with a day’s notice to everyone, as train services were reduced to one per hour at Woy Woy. With the walk starting half an hour later than planned, I decided that a car transfer to Umina Beach, and then a car shuffle leaving one at Pearl Beach would save us some time at the end of the walk. So I…
Combined Hike & Bushwalk: Newcastle – Fernleigh Track and Glenrock Conservation Area. First of all, thanks to this group who took a chance with the weather to come, and got rewarded. I was concerned that I had made a mistake in changing the day of the walk to Sunday instead of the previous day, as the rain radar showed Saturday as being mostly free of rain in the Newcastle area, but a rain front was approaching overnight. And on…
Wondabyne to Mt Wondabyne and Woy Woy 18/9/2022. I planned this bushwalk (NOT “hike”) for early spring to take advantage of the mild weather as well as the wildflowers being out in display at present. Anyone who has done this walk in summer knows how hot and exhausting it can get then. I made…
This walk was intended as an easy day out having a look around Brooklyn and doing a few short tracks in the process. It essentially replaced the intended walk along the Great North Walk which was cancelled as that track was closed. In the process I actually found a new track! The five of us met up at Hawkesbury River railway station during a short rain shower, which the radar showed seemed to be targeting Brooklyn in a narrow rain band! The shower didn’t last long so we set out for our first of 3 short walks. This walk…
Trip report for the SCASS X SUBW Walk of Art bush walk We had a great group of people come on the Walk of Art bush walk, with myself, Chloe (SUBW president), Angela, Danah, Peggy and Eric. After catching the train from central we had a short ride out to Hornsby station, where afterwards we walked for 10 or so minutes to the start point of the track. The track…
Umina – Pearl Beach – Patonga Walk. Nature threw up some unexpected challenges on this normally straightforward walk. A plan to get the bus to Pearl Beach instead of starting at Umina to avoid the high tide there was thwarted also. All the group met up at Woy Woy Station and headed down to the bus stop where the bus to Pearl Beach as just arriving. To my…
Newcastle – Fernleigh Track and Glenrock Conservation Area. This walk was always going to be touch and go because of the constantly changing weather situation. Thankfully the forecast a few days beforehand stated that the Saturday of the walk will be clear in the Newcastle area, with only a possiblity of showers late afternoon. As it…
Newcastle – Fernleigh Track and Glenrock Conservation Area. 8th May 2021. This is about the limit of where you can go for a day walk from Sydney before it has to be an overnight walk. The aim was to do the final leg of the Great North Walk (GNW), but starting from Adamstown and not Charlestown. Two reasons…
Wondabyne to Mt Wondabyne and Woy Woy, 27th March 2021. Most of us met up at Wondabyne Station to cover this interesting section of the Great North Walk. Initially there was some some puzzlement from a couple of people Wondabyne and the snake sign.at the very small size of Wondabyne Station (which is why you must ride in the last car to get off there). There we…
Brooklyn from Cowan via Great North Walk (part) 7th March 2021. With the forecast looking like a mostly sunny day with temperature of 26 degrees C, the weather looked promising for this walk. I Included in my pack a packet of Lamingtons ($2.50 from Woolworths), and a litre of staminade as well as hot water for coffee and more plain water. The first…