After the walk set down for here on 31st August was cancelled due to rough seas, this was put on on the next available day for a low Spring tide at the right time on a weekend. Even then, it was originally set down for the previous day (28/9), but a sea swell of 2.3 metres again made it too unsafe to go to figure 8 Pool that day. The forecast…
Quite a long report but I think you will find it interesting. This trip was originally planned for Coolah Tops but that park put on a local fire ban on the weekend intended for the walk, so that would mean no camp fire. So instead I decided to do Mount Royal National Park instead, as there was no park fire ban there, so a camp fire was allowed in their campfire sites (but not elsewhere). It also…
A planned mid morning departure from Strathfield got delayed due to my being delayed by a car breakdown right in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge on the M1 (F3), causing an initial half hour delay. Of course the delay meant I ran into heavier traffic on the Pacific Highway and Ryde Road which meant I was 45 minutes late getting to Strathfield. Eventually I…
Valley Heights steam tramThings didn’t work out quite the ideal way I had planned it. Most of the group had turned up 15 minutes before train departure time, so I got them to go into the second front car to get seats in one group before the tourist hordes arrived. Unfortunately just 7 minutes before train departure, the train staff discovered a broken window in the second car and moved everyone out of it and into the remaining cars (two of which were “quite carriages” not suitable for our group!). And it…
We all met up at Central for the long train trip to Mount Victoria, except Zhong who met us up there. I think that a few of us had had a late night the previous night as some of us dozed on the way up. We got a later train than normal for a Mount Victoria walk, as I wanted to get to One Tree Hill – Elevation above sea level 1111 metres – at 11.11am on 11/11. The date…
Couranga TrackA computer “meltdown” affecting the rail system the previous day caused some anxiety about whether the trains would be mucked up on the Sunday. As it turned out the trains on Sunday (walk day) were OK. Not so OK for me though, as in the government’s usual wisdom it closed down all trains running between Strathfield and Brisbane for trackwork, thus requiring me to meet everyone at Hurstville Station instead of Central. While waiting…
We set off for long gully campground just after 7:30am from the Bhundoo Bush Cottages which was our basecamp for the budfest weekend. After a brief examination of the map to make sure we were on the correct track because the Byangee Walls track also departs in the same vicinity we set off. We slowly started gaining elevation of a few hundred metres on the Kalianna Ridge trail which then continues as the castle walking trail once it hits the cliffline. From here…
This trip was planned to give both experienced and novice bushwalkers a chance to get together and have share a great location and some good company. The Budawangs have lots of walking options ranging from the seriously strenuous Castle Walk to the more moderate but equally stunning Pigeonhouse Mountain track. Nestled between…
On Saturday 11 August 2018 I led a walk along the Kiama Coast Walk on the South Coast. Although not technically a difficult walk, it is 22km in its entirety. What I think makes it unique is it’s relatively “Un-Australian” landscape (I hear cries of Maaate, that Un-Australian!) being more like scenery you might see on the Irish or English coastline. It’s quite…
As you can see, a cast of thousands. I had overbooked like the airlines do, expecting a couple of people might drop out on the Saturday evening. As it turned out there was not a single “no show”! This walk was also on tracks often shunned by tourists, especially Federal Pass beyond the Scenic Railway, so there was little risk of causing a traffic jam on the more popular tracks. The Constellation…