The Christmas Dinner Walk, a SUBW tradition that pre-dates even the PBT, has in recent years become the largest annual gathering of SUBWarians on the club calendar. This year was no exception, with over 35 people participating in the trip in one way or another. Some came primarily to learn to abseil and do the beginners’ canyon on the Saturday morning. Some came…
Hey guys, can’t believe this. It’s been going on in my head for the last week, and yes I had to leave it till last minute:( My holidays starts in 2 hours (providing, I manage to catch my flight). So, just briefly …. OK, arriving in 4 different cars (couple lone rangers, couple cars packed to the rafters), plus minus same time. The weather…
It was yet another lucky break with the weather, being a mild sunny day sandwiched between two very hot days. One complication though was the lack of trains to Circular Quay that weekend because of trackwork. A couple of people didn’t show up (apart from Javan who had to withdraw sick); whether they got confused with the replacement buses I just don’t know. Anyway eight…
The walk got to an interesting start as, although almost everyone got to Cowan Station at the start time, my train was a little late and I texted Mariana to tell people to wait for me on the opposite platform. The I got a call from Heloisa to say that she had been delayed by the interminable trackwork at Erskineville, and was on the following train. As some…
We all met together at Woy Woy Station on saturday morning, and as there were only 4 of us, decided to fit everyone in Tracy’s care (or rather, Tracy’s brother’s car, kindly lent for the trip). We then set off for the first stop which was lunch at Dungog at a cafe (see photo), which was pretty good. The staff…
A few people were caught out by the change-over to Daylight Saving the same morning, especially some overseas students, so we were a bit down on the numbers expected. Happily there were no “no-shows”. Still, we all met up at Woy Woy Station, and Linda left her car there and we all went in mine to the start of the walk at Umina Beach. As it…
Six of us met up at Central Station and proceeded west in the Blue Mountains train, collecting Conrad at Parramatta. On the way we noted the Bat colony at Clyde. We arrived at Wentworth Falls where Janice, Tim, Paul and Liz were waiting. They entertained themselves while waiting for us by watching the steam train which passed through there ahead of our train. So we…
The morning dawned fine as I left home, promising yet another fine Sunday – my luck still holding after the previous several rainy days. On arrival at Central I noticed that the down escalators to the platform weren’t working, so I hoped that no-one was leaving it to the last minute as they would be caught out. As it…
The walk was popular for an overnight walk, with many exchange students signing up and making use of the club gear supplies. Much thanks to Nat, Teresa and Tony for helping me pack and unpack the gear locker. The morning of the walk was eventful as our third driver Tim had a family disaster and had to pull out. Thankfully, he…
Some tried and noted walkers, volunteered from Sydney and afar. We mustered at the Ngarigo campground, for our overnight stay. For we loved the alpine challenge, where wild snow-capped mountains are. Firstly was Tom who organised, and led the trip from scratch. He meandered slowly forever, whilst keeping the weather at bay. And few…
We all met up at Thornleigh Station, with slight initial confusion caused by the presence of another smaller group doing exactly the same walk (although a little behind us). We were fortunate to have the first completely sunny day after two weeks of rainy days. We set off through suburban streets for about 1 km before reaching a clearing between two houses which oddly was not marked as being part of the Great North Walk (GNW) but rather Eloura Bushland Reserve. It could…
With the sun attempting to shine, we set off from Woodford station and cruised down the oaks, enjoying the sense of freedom that being on a bike offers. The trail was fairly well graded and crowd free and apart from the odd breather stop to rest our quads, we threaded our way along the fire trail, the single trail and then the new fun park trail at the end. Cat likened…
I have been to the Snowy Mountains many times but, being so large I still have many places that I have wanted to explore. With the great cover of snow currently, and spring fast approaching it seemed like a good chance to get back down there for some climbing and snow camping. Sadly, a…
The heavy rain overnight had eased to intermittent drizzle by the time we all assembled at Sublime Point Lookout. Since we had some new club members along on the trip I decided to start with a detour to the Sweet Dreams exit track to get a little bit of scrambling practice in. After everyone…
We all met up at Wondabyne Station, cramming all 14 (and a couple of other walkers of a separate group). On arrival Tony asked where the water was, and I showed him Mullet Creek (beside which the railway runs). Tony said, no, where’s the drinking water. But sadly, Wondabyne consists of a station and an old quarry and that’s about it! I advised Tony that he could take on water at Myron Brook about 45 minutes further on. So we…
Today, a small group set out along Rocky Knob Ridge today (Kings Tableland), The intention was to take the old logging road out to the end of the ridge, drop down to Rocky Knob Point, follow Erskine Creek downstream for a few KM then ascend to Mt Hall (aka Euroka Trig) then back along Erskine Range to the car. We did…
With a full moon looming, I couldn’t resist another night abseil, despite the season. Not surprisingly there was interest from the other keen abseilers that I sounded out to help run the trip, Mon and T2. The call went out and we quickly had a solid turnout of hardy, experienced abseilers keen for some adventure. With a…
We all met up at Woy Woy Station and everyone bundled into the three cars for the 15 minute drive to MacMasters Beach. While the drivers did a car shuffle to take my car to Kilcare Beach at the other end of the walk, the rest of the group set off for the most southerly of the three “Cape Three Points”” (so named by Captain Cook in 1770) to see if they could spot any whales. (They didn’t,…
It promised to be an interesting trip communication-wise when, after having sent several emails to participants over the prior week about trains, I had a call on friday night from A Certain Person who asked me what time train we had to catch. When I asked him had he read my emails, he said “ummm, no”. (He ended…
Timing is everything. In this case I had good and bad timing. Bad timing as I posted a trip during exam times, meaning hardly anyone had signed up. But good timing as I planned the trip to coincide with possible snowfall. And it did, as it turned out. On Friday night 20 June , Michael and Tom met me for the drive to Canberra. I am…