For me, at least, the Coast Walk is developing a bit of a reputation as a “safe fallback” when there’s no time to organise private transport to more exotic locations, or when the four hours of train ride for a trip to Katoomba is too daunting. Regardless I have enjoyed the walk every time, in all manner of bizarre weather conditions and (on a couple of occasions) pitch darkness and/or weeping inebriation. Allegedly.
In the usual manner of such trips we met bright and early at the roundabout outside Strathfield station on Saturday morning. The drive to Deep Pass takes about 3 hours from Sydney taking into account, of course, a stop at the North Richmond Bakery to stock up on pies, pastries and caffeinated beverages. The weather looked promising at this point although the temperature remained somewhat on the cooler end of the spectrum.
After meeting at Circular Quay we travelled by ferry to Athol Wharf, below Taronga Zoo, and set out on the Harbourside walk on the first leg to Clifton Gardens. Past Bradley’s Head the track is through bushland which is still largely unchanged bespite 222 years of European settlement. We noticed a few artists along the walk sketching or painting views of the Harbour a la Tom Roberts.
By miraculous good fortune and coincidental timing no one got permanently lost in the labyrinth of forest trails that sprout northwards from the Zig Zag railway. It was Friday evening, dark, some had arrived early, others late, but somehow it was a single cohesive convoy of vehicles that eventually rolled into our pleasant open camp site after rendezvousing at various points along the way.
Alfred and I made our way out to Kanangra walls late on New Years Eve, armed with plenty of food and booze, and the grand plan to do Kanangra Main followed by a two day effort in Davies. From the lookout we managed to spot a smattering of tiny fireworks exploding more than 100 kilometres away, before making our way down to Dance Floor cave where some wine was drunk, tales told and the new year ushered in. The next…
With a Monday free from work, we decided it was the perfect chance to squeeze in a trip to Newnes Canyon on a day where we could pretty much be guaranteed the place to ourselves, giving plenty of time to investigate the wonderful tunnel section. We read that it was a decent length day, which is a concern when the sun is setting so early, but we figured it was perfect weather for a nice dry canyon.
My first visitation to Cedar Ck was earlier this year whilst on a training walk with Tom Murtagh for our upcoming New Zealand trip. On this walk we had dropped off Narrowneck Plateau, down Walls Pass and into Cedar Ck where, after heading dowstream for several kilometers, we happened upon what would have made some very fine camping spots. Clean deep pools of water, open flat grassy areas, and according to the map not too far from accessible fire trail. So, with this in mind I had hoped to return, on what should have been a fairly easy weekend walk with ample time for some swimming, bludging and enjoying the surroundings.
We walked south from the carpark towards Mt Townsend, which was looming out of the fog, and into a cloudy, and at times humid, windy, cold, calm, warm and exhilarating day in the Colo wilderness.
WHO: Fritz, Nicole, Kathleen, Jeremiah, Alex Moore, Michael, Christy, Jamal, Alex Meekin, Kirstine, Dayna, Kate Hayes, Ting, Ralf, Yuriko, Jana, Ashley, Karine, Albert, Jin Yi, Kim, Sausage, Falk, Sabine, Melanie, Pete Raines, Lauren, Kate Lord, Mitch, Pete Harvey, Tom, Kate Sullivan, Ben, Nina [list confirmed at least 70% accurate] HOW: Grassy Hill Firetrail down to the Colo WOH! I know, right?
Since Nicole is changing jobs and had the last 3 days off work, we decided to head out to Kanangra for some end-of-season canyons. I have never been out that way before, and Nicole had only done Kalang and Dione Dell, So we were a little bit scared at the thought of Kanangra main. The news that thee were fires burning not far from murdering gully didnt help either, so it was with more than a little trepidation that we headed out to the walls on tuesday night. We arrived at the walls 9:30 Tuesday night, and decided to head out to the lookout to check on the aforementioned fires. The smell of smoke was heavy in the air, and upon arriving at the lookout we were greeted with a fiery glow from the valley below. Fortunately, the fires had retreated several ridges back from murdering gully, so we headed back to the uni rover trail to camp, stopping to search behind the shelter for Robs pants and headtorch he had left behind on the weekend (they were sitting next to the water tank).
After meeting the party form the 9.50am train we immediately set off up the hill to the ridge above Wondabyne Station and then set off along the fire trail towards the track junction to Myron Brook. At this point I reminded whoever may be in front to look out for snakes, and that if we were lucky we might see a python.
First and foremost a big thank you to Lois who organised the trip, taking and answering emails from more than 20 people, organising, reorganising and deorganising cars and who was in them, who needed what gear and so on, right up until the last minute. In the end and after having done all that, Lois couldn’t join us on the trip due to a subluxed 5th metatarsal (whatever that is – something to do with foot bones).
Catching the 9.18am train from Central, we arrived at Wentworth Falls station shortly after 11 and set off walking down the Charles Darwin track. The weather was sunny and pleasant for walking, there was ample time to appreciate the views before descending down the falls along the National Pass.
We set out from Circular Quay on the 9.15am Taronga Zoo ferry after a last-minute slight panic when I realised that I had advertised its departure time as 9.20am (it actually left at 9.19am). On disembarking at Athol Wharf we took the Harbourside track to Bradley’s Head with its HMAS Sydney memorial, We noted a crow perched in the crow’s nest of the preserved mast on the headland.From Bradley’s Head we walked to Chowder Bay through bushland which remarkably is probably little changed since white settlement 211 years ago.
Miraculously Helen and I managed to escape the Sydney 9-5 vortex on Friday and headed up during the afternoon and enjoyed camping in the relatively cool shade as the burning sun receded towards the horizon at last. We were later joined by Glen.
Setting out from the carpark in perfect weather, we noted 2 parties totalling 13 people ahead of us in the logbook, so there was no hurry making our way down the ridge and into the canyon. We made our way along the upper reaches, and finally caught up with the party in front of us on the abseils. We decided to wait at the top for a few minutes to avoid being caught behind them in between abseils, and as a result were caught by James Bevan and his party as we began the abseils.
One thing the trip wasn’t was carbon neutral. Because each participant was either coming a different way or arriving or leaving at a different time, all 7 people on the trip had to end up taking their own car. And to make matters worse, Pete turned up not in a car but a one ton truck! Anyway, climatic considerations aside, back to the canyoning…
Chris and Peter drove from Mt Wilson with Greg and Tom driving up from Canberra, to meet at the Boyd River camping area on the Monday morning. We did a car shuffle, leaving one car at the Kanangra Walls carpark, and the other at our starting point at the King Pin Fire Trail. A quick walk brought us to Mount Thurat, and from there we moved quickly across the Thurat Tops to pick up the Burra Gunama Ridge. We walked east to Burra Gunama Hill, then descended the northern spur into Carrabeanga Brook. The creek was small here but was flowing nicely. A short walk brough us to the first waterfall which we descended on the left hand side. Spectacular views were afforded of Mount Stormbreaker and the Gangerang Plateau. We continued down a number of lengthy abseils before reaching Carrabeanga Falls itself, which we descened in three pitches on the left hand side. This involved setting belay points on trees which were growing on only narrow platforms which limited the amount of comfort and demanded an increased level of vigilance in terms of safety. Many other parties apparently choose to head aorund to the right and make two or three pitches from the cliff faces which may be easier with a bigger group. At the base of Carrabeanga Falls we made camp on the rock platforms below the falls next to a nice pool. We collected wood for a fire and enjoyed a nice platter before some dinner and some sleep.
We met up at North Richmond outside the bakery and then the convoy of cars travelled to near Bell where we met up again and got gear ready for a shot daytrip down the canyon. The start of the track was hard to find. It was a little overgrown and vague after recent bushfires. But is was not too bad and the big party made fast progress to the creek and soon got into the canyon section. This starts with a short abseil into a pool. With a large party – and not enough harnesses – we had to pass gear back up the rope a few times. A few of the party became impatient and decided to jump down the drop. Thanks to Albert (Al-Bear) for helping everyone with clipping on the rope and Rob and Lana for some bottom belaying.
We climbed up the Pipeline Track and visited Newnes Canyon. This involved one abseil to get into the creek valley and then one abseil into the canyon. To facilitate this we set up two ropes and had concurrent abseiling. Then followed a walk through the Amazing Wallaby Tunnel. Lots of glow worms were observed and Albert was rained on by a “golden shower” (see photos). After the tunnel – the creek was more of a conventional canyon until it opened up at a nice cave -a good place for lunch (jaffles)