We all met at the service station at the start of Wolgan Road (cnr Castlereagh Highway) on Saturday morning at around 11:00am. We left one of the cars in Lidsdale and then travelled along the dirt track beside the upper Cox’s. We parked before the big drop on the trail and set off. Along the…
It’s been many years since I’d heard of and driven by Macquarie Pass Rivulet. Over time, more and more stories about the scenery and adventures within the rivulet have convinced me of the need to complete it. Finally I have. Most canyon purists would not classify this as a canyon and they would be mostly correct. It has…
From the moment the trip went up on the walks programme a few weeks ago, interest in this trip was huge. 35 people had signed up for this trip before I marked the trip as full and more people emailed me after that wanting to be added to the waiting list. The limit is really around 20. Unfortunately in…
We met up at Boars Rock at 08.00 on a warm, windless but overcast Sunday morning wearing close to the full range of Suboir T-shirts colours. The straightforward abseil behind Boars Rock soon had us at the justly famous slot, where we discovered we had left the bolt plates in the car! However, there are enough ring bolts there and we soon had a safety line rigged and Adrian out at the end of the traverse to set up the two-stage abseil down the slot. This was…
The Coast Walk is is a 30 km hike (includes a few detours) meandering along the spectacular coastline of The Royal National Park south of Sydney. We chose to start at 06:00 am from Otford Station in order to catch the twilight and sunrise over the Australian East Coast. We were rewarded with mild conditions and cloudy views. The skies…
We set out along the Asgard Swamp fire trail around 11am, heading for Thor Head. After a quick visit to the coal seam cave, for which some clever people had brought head torches without any prompting, we enjoyed a lovely lunch on the cliffs overlooking the Grose valley. After lunch we took the scenic route along Asgard Head towards the car, and explored Pyramid Rock overlooking the swamp. Although we…
The weather forecast for Sunday was not promising – Max 9 and winds gusting to 60kmh – a march of folly indeed. Despite this, nine brave souls arrived outside the Main Quad to share cars. At that point there was no wind at all in Sydney, and in fact it turned out to be a nice day in the mountains – bright and sunny, reaching a tropical 12 degrees at one point, and nothing like those windspeeds. Clear Sunday…
We had one person having to drop out due to an unfinished assignment, but there were no “no-shows”. After most of us met up at Central Station we set off, collecting Sophie at Strathfield, Conrad at Parramatta, with Andrew and Zachary waiting for us at Katoomba Station. At Katoomba we were greeted with a crisp clear Blue Mountains day, and after a stop off at the Hatters’ Café for some coffee for some (and thus helping the local economy), we did the road bash to Echo Point. There were…
What does one do when you are thinking about a weekend walk, but really can’t decide where you want to go? Have a Magical Mystery Walk, that’s what! So I put it out there, hoping someone at SUBW would be game enough to come along, and sure enough, a few folk were… It turned out to be the coldest day of this year so far with a max of only 9C predicted. But no…
Saturday’s weather forecast had been for windy, cloudy conditions, with a chance of rain. As it turned out, while the cloud was with us the whole day, the temperature was mild, and the only rain we experienced came from Wentworth Falls being tossed around in a gentle, warm breeze. The absolute…
Even after a long cool drink at Dex’s, I as pretty much down with lugging my pack up hills so I pitched my tent in the choicest spot then carried just a few essentials for the short stint up to Cloudmaker, where I was just in time to act as official photographer for a party that had ascended from the Kowmung via Compagnoni Pass. The late…
Yes, yes, I know this was a while ago, but I promised at the time to write the trip report, so here it is. Hope you are happy. If I have misremembered anything, I take no responsibility. Mount Kaputar is an extinct volcano, and the area surrounding it is full of basalt plugs, lava terraces and volcanic dykes, making for a very different landscape to our usual haunts in the Blue Mountains. The plan…
The mostly untracked Tinderry Ranges are just south of Canberra, near the small village of Michelago. If you are on your way to the Snowy Mountains they are a prominent feature to the east of the Monaro Highway. I have wanted to climb 1619m high Tinderry Peak ever since I saw it about 12 years ago. On Saturday…
Through out the weekdays I was tightly keeping my eyes on the weather forecast hoping the pathetic raining days could be gone in the weekend, even the last day I even called Chantal to asked her whether I should postpone or press on regardless, although up until saturday morning weather report of Glenbrook showed there will be 5mm rain fall each day during the weekend, the god of luck actually treated us well, no strong sun, no crazy wind, no rain. Temperature was…
This was a ‘suitable for beginners’ trip to learn canyoning skills. We assembled at the Browns Siding Café in Medlow Bath at 10.00 for coffee and second breakfast before the short drive to the beginning of the walk. It had been raining heavily in Sydney, but by the time we got to the mountains the skies had cleared to a pleasant day of drifting cloud and patches of sunlight. We began…
Sunday morning dawned with a clear sky on the Central Coast, but it wasn’t to last. By the time we arrived at Woy Woy Station around 10am the rain was teeming down. Nevertheless it was “press on regardless”, as Martin, Marta and myself set off for the start of the walk above McMasters Beach where Ali was waiting. A car…
If you are a parent, you get to have more fun in the bush if your kids are having fun in the bush. And I have learnt a few things about how to get my kids to have fun in the bush, including: Never describe what the planned activity as going on a walk. Walking is boring! But caves, pagodas, creeks and waterfalls are all lots more enticing. Apply small…
We all managed to get off 9:30 train at Otford and sorted out gear which Tony had kindly picked up and brought from the club locker. Starting our ascent of the hill out of Otford, Alex asked if it was going to be like this the whole way. I reassured him that it wasn’t but started to get worried myself, I always forget just how long you have to go uphill at the start of this track. Heading down…
The trip began with a quick scramble off down some steep but short rocks to test the groups abilities and went without incident. We got some spectacular views of the Three Sisters backsides and a fantastic landscape shot for any shutterbugs out there. After the scenic view came a series of minor home invasions as we attempted to find our way out only to discover numerous side trails leading to various the backyards of the area. After alerting…
With the destination of the walk altered from the Blue Mountains due to trackwork, 11 of us found each other at Central and bundled on to the train for the hour-long trip to Otford. The climb up from Otford to the Pie Shop is the steepest part of the whole walk and it was good to get it over with right at the start. From there…