Bob and myself had planned a walk in Royal National Park, but a total fire ban resulted in all the walking tracks in that park being closed, so we decided to head up to the Blue Mountains. I had wanted to do a walk near Mt Hay to look for Doctor Dark’s Other Cave for a while and this could be a good opportunity.
Doctor Eric Dark and his wife Eleanor Dark, had found a cave near The Fortress that they used for family camping trips. It also had a second planned use – as a bush base to launch guerrilla operations against Japanese invaders, if that eventuality occurred. But Eric Dark had also found a second cave, apparently near Mt Hay. I was wondering where that cave was, and on an earlier trip had seen some possible overhangs below The Butterbox. So that provided a reason to head up that way.
Bob drove to the end of the Mt Hay Road, and we set off along the track towards The Butterbox.
The views here of the Grose Valley are outstanding.
We walked down a rocky ridge to see the overhangs –
From this angle they did not look like suitable caves to camp in, so we ended our search.
The side ridge we were on has some amazing rock formations.
Back up on the track, Bob checked out a higher cave.
That cave was not very good, so we then decide to walk up Mt Hay.
Glossodia minor – Small Wax-lip Orchid
There were more views as we climbed past some track workers towards the summit of Mt Hay.
Once you reach the basalt, the views end. Here is Mt Hay summit –
And then we headed back down.
At one spot, we got a good view of not only the city CBD but also Parramatta –
Driving back, we stopped off at another spot for a view of Mt Banks –
Glossodia minor – Small Wax-lip Orchid
And then we visited another rock outcrop near the road looking for any Aboriginal sites.
Glossodia minor – Small Wax-lip Orchid
And then we visited a third location – a side ridge that I had camped on a few years before, that we had called “Kestrel Ridge” on account of a Kestrel hunting above us. On that trip we had seen a number of Aboriginal sites, and Bob was keen to see them.
Here are some sharpening grooves –
And on a different rock platform are three Kangaroo footprint engravings –
And a stone arrangement –
This cave has some more recent chiseled inscriptions –
Looking for Heritage Horse Troughs
Like on some previous trips, we decided to visit some of the many heritage horse troughs of the Blue Mountains. It was not far from Leura to Katoomba to see two examples.
This historic horse trough, on the corner of Camp and Victoria Streets has been repurposed as a garden bed –
The second horse trough is located in Katoomba Show Ground near the Men’s Shed –
