October Creek and the Zig Zag Walk – 26 – 27 November 2016

John and Chuin Nee and invited me to join them and their boys, Jasper and Sebastian, on a camping trip up the Blue Mountains. We discussed places to camp and decided to visit the campsite at October Creek.

October Creek is a tributary of Du Faurs Creek near Mt Wilson and is often used as an access route into Clatterteeth Canyon. The usual route starts from a fire road that branches off the from Du Faurs Rocks lookout road. But for our trip, we started from the other end of that fire road – where it meets the Mt Wilson Road before it climbs onto the basalt.

We set off down the fire road, then turned off on a fainter branch that headed more to the west. Not too far along, this petered out and we followed a faint foot track to a creek and a large flat area beyond that. The creek was fairly dry, but we could have got water from a pool. The campsite was in the flat area and sheltered on the west by a rock wall with a nice shady cave. The weather was quite hot and sunny and the cave was relatively cool. But there were also a multitude of annoying flies.

We had lunch, and spent the afternoon exploring the area around the campsite. October Creek lay over a small sandstone ridge about 100 m away and had plenty of pools of water.

Next morning we packed up and considered options for a walk. we considered some easy canyons nearby, but eventually decided on doing the Zig Zag Walk near the old Zig Zag Railway between Clarence and Lithgow.

So we packed up and headed out, back to the car. But our walk was almost “derailed” when we were stopped by a police barrier at Bell. It was blocking the Chifley Road. A police officer said there had been a fatal accident and the road would be closed for a while. We could see from all the vehicles that the accident was nearby, so we turned back over the railway line and bypassed the Chifley Road by taking Sandham Road to the Clarence Colliery and then back on the Chifley Road to the Zig Zag carpark.

We left the carpark and walked towards the railway tunnel. Well before the tunnel we tuned off along the bush track following some “bushwalker” markers. The track skirts around some private properties and then crosses a slope and climb onto a large area of heath. All the way, there were plenty of wild flowers. In the heathland there were more flowers and also great views.

The track then descends quite steeply to the railway line. Here it is the Main Western Railway Line at the Zig Zag Station. On the lower cliffs I was pleased to spot some nice rock orchids of a species new to me – Green Beak Orchid – Rimacola elliptica.

Rimacola elliptica

At the bottom, it would be quite hard to locate the bottom of the track – as much of the area is overgrown with blackberries.

We crossed the railway line and entered the Zig Zag area. There  is a large shed and some of the Zig Zag enthusiasts were working there. One person we talked to said they are planning to take a train up the line in January 2017 with a reopening plan for Easter 2017. With the line being currently closed, we were able to walk back to the top via the Zig Zag Railway.

This was a most interesting walk – as it took us through two tunnels and over three sandstone viaducts. Along the way are various signs pointing out the historic features.

There are two actual Zig Zags – one right at the bottom near the station and the second a bit higher up. We stopped for lunch at an old picnic shelter  near the signal box at that second zig zag. At the zig zags are an extra line to allow the locomotive to shunt from one end of the train to the other.

Higher up, the railway line follows the Chifley Road for about 1 km – this section is a bit tedious with cars and trucks whizzing past. But it finishes soon after with a long tunnel (torch needed) which takes you back to the carpark.

More photos from the day are online on my website here.