Because the walk was listed 3 weeks before the walk day, it was not too surprising that there were some dropouts in the week prior due to sickness. Still, every time someone had to drop out, I was able to replace them off a wait list. So, thanks to those people who gave me sufficient notice that they could not come. Most of…
An early start was needed to do long gully so I proposed a relatively early meeting time to be at Hungry Jacks Marulan. I carpooled with Marc at the Bunnings crossroads carpark with Marc driving his Subaru forester. We then drove down to meet the rest of the group at the Southern bound Hungry Jacks in Marulan. Eve got…
Trackwork on the Northern Line caused a slight change of routine for me, needing to drive to Gordon Station and picking up Candice at Wahroonga on the way. At Central we got off that North Shore Line train and waited on the same platform for the Blue Mountains train to Mt Victoria which was only 5 minutes behind (unusually starting from North Sydney due to more trackwork at Central). Here we…
The Friday morning started off with my Samsung mobile phone dying as it stubbornly refused to recognise that it had a SIM card installed. With a vital need for a working mobile phone for contacting walk people later that night, the morning was spent buying and then figuring out how to work an Apple iPhone. So the…
As can be seen, a good turnout including some who joined up in 2nd Semester. We all met up at Woy Woy Station and I got everyone onto the bus for Umina Beach. All that is except Gong who had dozed off on the train and forgot to get off at Woy Woy, so he got carried on to Gosford! It was fortunate for him that I had decided to drive to Woy Woy instead of taking my local train there, so I was able to collect him off a Sydney bound train 5 minutes after the bus had gone. So I,…
In the leadup to this trip I was expecting subzero temperatures at Newnes on the Friday night and a frigid but clear night on the Saturday. But in the end surprisingly mild conditions awaited us at Newnes when we arrived late on the Friday evening. A train delay meant that my carload arrived rather late, and it was midnight before we settled into our sleeping bags. Next morning…
6 people was not a bad turnout for a saturday walk in the middle of exam period. I originally had 11 sign up but 3 pulled out for health reasons, and 2 just pulled out – didn’t give a reason. At least there were no “no-shows”. It was not really “mid-winter”, being just 3 days after the winter solstice (June 21), but that’s the name given to the festival at Katoomba on the closest saturday to the winter solstice. (Some people…
Some mountains are so remote , they can remain on your “to do” list for a long time. Such is the case with the Cobberas Mountains in far north east Victoria. Although the area can be accessed by road, it’s a long way from pretty much everywhere. But the Queen’s Birthday 3 day long weekend allowed just enough time to drive down there, have a go at the summit of Mt Cobberas Number 1, then get back home again. Having found…
It all began with a random phone call from an engineer friend – a Usyd research team is looking for someone to retrieve a high altitude research balloon that crashed in the Blue mountains. A moment later, a GPS coordinate was sent to my phone. I plotted it in, well, not too bad, just a few kms northeast of Mt Hay. After studying…
The group met at Blackheath station bright and early, a bit smaller than anticipated with 2 pulling out in the days leading up and 2 no shows. With a lot more space in the two cars than anticipated, we set off down the megalong road, managing to avoid some enormous potholes on the way. Arriving at…
We all met up at Strathfield and set off in Victoria’s car and mine for the drive to Mount Victoria. The railway station loos were used for our comfort stop. After a short break there we then set off for the start of the track which was once a narrow gauge oil shale rail line to the top of the escarpment above Hartley vale. This was…
Most of us met up wuth me at Wondabyne Station – except Natalia, who found herself in the front 4 cars of the train and couldn’t get off at this small station. She was unaware of the requirement to be in the last car, and also the usual recorded announcement about having to be in the last car was not played by the train guard. So Natalia…
The walk out along the ridge dividing the arms of the Boori is easy, long, and a bit boring. A rough footpad took us nearly all the way to the pass we’d used last week, and then it was a short vague bearing across a saddle and a few slabs to get to the next high point. With ropes considerably shorter than Jamieson (trust issues) we figured we’d aim at the obvious break marked on the map and at worst deal with the cliff not being as high there, although about 20m from where we first peered over the drop, Damon was able to connect two easy scrambles with a ledge, and we were down. We ended…
Given the short notice of the walk (just 36 hours) I was only expecting a couple to come. Yet we ended up with 6 walkers, and there were two others who enquired but decided not to proceed for health reasons. Most of us met up at Central for the train with Ségolène getting on at Strathfield (we met up with her at Wentworth Falls Station). From that…
After receiving advice several weeks ago from Alex Allchin that the Metropolitan Tunnel was flooded due to the constant heavy rain in March, which caused a date change for this walk, I decided that a pre-walk reconnaissance of the tunnel was advisable. Therefore on the Thursday (6th April) before the walk, I went to Helensburgh and found that the flooding in the tunnel had hardly receded. I also…
26 people had signed up for this trip before I managed to mark it as full, and then even after marking it as full on the walks programme the emails kept coming and a waitlist grew. The waitlist never got used though, because even by the morning of departure I had 23 confirmed participants. Martin and…
Again, very good luck with the weather, with a near cloudless sky and warm weather. Most of us met up at Woy Woy Station, with myself and Victoria meeting people off the 9.25am train. Unfortunately Cathy’s group coming up from Sydney in her car were running late, not reaching the station to 10am. Apparently she…
Ron and I to be were joined by two more, then four more, then ultimately nobody as the weather came and went through the week — but the fog lifted to blue skies as we dropped by the Mt Wilson campsite to say hello to Tony’s group before deciding on Serendipity and Water Dragon canyons. I don’t…
Before I start the walk report, a reminder that if you intend to visit the Royal Easter Show at Olympic Park this year (6-19 April), go to the wool pavilion where there are stalls selling woolen socks for about $8 a pair. These socks are really good for bushwalking in both summer and winter. Woolen socks…
Packrafting is a great alternative when there has been too much rain for safe canyoning. We chose to do the 16km stretch of the Shoalhaven between Great Horseshoe Bend and Bungonia Creek because we did not have time to do the classic Colo Gorge trip, which really needs two days, and we were after ‘bushwalking on water’ rather than adrenalin-filled whitewater, which can be found closer to Sydney. This section…