A while back I had suggested to Bob that it could be worth visiting the old Mullet Creek Culvert, near the western portal of the Woy Woy Railway Tunnel. And separately, I had also suggested a visit to the “secret waterfall” near the eastern portal of the same tunnel. The time had come to visit these places, and it did not look too hard to visit them both on the same day.
Bob had also researched some Aboriginal art sites that we could visit along the way.
Bob parked on the Woy Woy Road, at the start of the Tunnel Hill Firetrail (which is just past the large quarry). And we were soon walking towards the top of the Woy Woy Railway Tunnel.
We visited two Aboriginal engraving sites along the way. The first was not much, but the second was a large open rock outcrop. We found this possible engraving –
And these engraved lines –
Back on the fire trail, we continued on our way.
The top of the tunnel is easy to find, as there is a powerline above it, and an access road. We tuned left and followed it towards the eastern portal of the tunnel.
The road ends just above the portal, and we followed a track down to a nearby creek.
In the creekbed was a section with lots of sharpening grooves –
And short way further down is their “secret waterfall” with its infinity pool perched below.
The track goes to the bottom of the waterfall.
The infinity pool has been constructed and is quite small. It has been built on pledge at the bottom of the waterfall. Some old pipes suggest it was once used to collect water for some purpose.
We returned the way we had come, back to the fire trail, and then back to the junction, and then we kept on walking towards the western portal.
The trail descends towards the water of the bay where the railway line passes.
We found old steps –
We followed the path down through the cliffs.
The track goes down to the bay, and to the Mullet Creek Culvert.
This culvert is very interesting, and was built to allow water from Mullet Creek to pass under the railway line into the bay. This page has some of the interesting history of the construction of this culvert and the Woy Woy Tunnel (which, when built was the longest railway tunnel in Australia).
It is easy to walk through the culvert. It is very similar to the one near Lithgow that we visited on a canyoning trip last year.
After visiting the culvert, we then look for an Aboriginal art cave. We found it.
It contains some old graffiti and rubbish (bottles), but also some ochre art and white hand stencils.
At the drip line was a midden containing heaps of old shells –
Walking back to Bob’s car, we spent a fair bit of time looking for another Aboriginal art cave, but had not success in finding it. The year was very scrubby which made searching very taxing.
One last photo – we found some of these concrete structures on the top of the railway tunnel. They dint seem to have any large openings. We wondered what they could be for.
