This was my first time leading a trip since I moved out west, so it was also the first time I led a trip without actually meeting everyone at the start. Thankfully this went without a hitch, everyone caught the 10:24 Blue Mountains Intercity from Central, and I got on later at Blacktown, and we all got together once we got off the train at Wentworth Falls. The ride,…
Umina to Pearl Beach & Warrah Lookout, Saturday 7-10-2023. It will be a surprise to some that this walk was advertised as “Mount Wondabyne” on the trip list, but the closure of the Great North Walk where it passes through Brisbane Water National Park required an urgent change of location. I decided…
Centennial Glen & Porters Pass Loop, West Blackheath. Saturday 16/9/2023. Because I have to get up quite early to go on a Blue Mountains bushwalk, I was up early enough to see Venus shining very brightly in the pre-dawn sky. As I walked to my station, I passed a flock of cockies (White Cockatoos) with the rising sun giving a golden sheen to their feathers. (See Photos)….
Newcastle – Fernleigh Track and Glenrock Conservation Area, Sunday 10/9/2023. Most people got on the train at Central, and a couple at Hornsby, to settle in to the two and a half hours train trip to Adamstown. Tiantian only just made it because of a late running bus, yet another example of the unreliable Inner West bus service post privatisation. I got…
Katoomba to Leura via Prince Henry Cliff track. Sunday 20/8/2023 This promised to be a great day out in near perfect winter weather, and 17 had signed up. As usual I had to catch a must earlier train from my Central Coast station and thus had a view of Jupiter shining in the pre-dawn sky (see photo). A Powerful…
Mount York has been somewhere I wanted to check out for quite a while and since no one is doing trips I might as well get it off my bucket list. It’s a cold and cloudy Saturday with a reasonably early start at Central Station into Blue Mountains. With a lot of last-minute signup and dropouts we’ve got a group of 13, to which only 11 showed up. Most of…
This was a fairly straightforward coastal walk in the Eastern Suburbs. Everyone managed to get on the 9:45 ferry we were aiming for, with one person just barely making it. View from the morning ferry After meeting up with Terence at Watson’s Bay, we first made our way to The Gap Lookout, before getting back on track to head south towards Rose Bay. The Gap…
First time doing a sunrise walk after Chloe gave me the idea, this was aso a bit of an experiment to see if people would show up this early. Sample size was small, but out of 4 there were 2 no shows (who still haven’t responded to my texts, oh well). We caught the 533 bus without any rush, and reached Bondi by 5:30. Even though…
Hey everyone! This was a trip I had been wanting to lead for a while now since the Fairfax Lookouts were closed for renovation, and only recently got the chance to do so. A number of people dropped out last minute, I had 15 people signed up the day before but that dropped to 8 by the morning. Luckily, Terry…
Sydney introductory walk: Hyde Park, Botanic Gardens, and The Rocks 27/7/2023. This walk was intended as an introductory walk around certain well known (and less well known) sights around central Sydney for members joining in Semester 2. Although only three people attended, it was still a worthwhile walk (after all, we have done trips with only 3 people before and they have been OK). I recall…