I was heading up the Mountains with Bob, and our plan was to do the Zig Zag Walk at Clarence. Bob had not been on the walk, and I was keen to visit the area again, and as I expect the train to running soon – the way back via the tunnels will be closed off to walkers. I also thought there may be pink Flannel Flowers on the tops.
We did the walk and enjoyed it, and finished before lunch. So we had plenty of time left. We decided to visit some lookouts on the way down he mountains as we headed home.
We starred out from the Zig Zag carpark by walking a short way down the tracks towards the tunnel. A short way along we turned off and followed the trail to the right. It starts as a rough road, but you soon turn off this and follow a track. The route is marked on Open Street Maps.
The track section is nice and wanders along a heath which offers fine views. You can see the old railway formation on the far side of the valley. That was he way we intended to walk back. Even though it looks the right habitat, we did not see any pink Flannel Flowers.
We soon started descending towards the Zig Zag Station and workshop. Here there is some very old carved steps. I would suspect these date back to the 1920’s when the Zig Zag had been closed to trains and it became a bit of a tourist attraction.
We soon reached the main western railway line, which we crossed with caution. Next, we visited the old station and started walking up the Zig Zag railway line.
Not far up is the first tunnel. It features some amazing old stonework.
This brings you to the viaduct area. There were two bridges ahead, then the zig zag, and another viaduct above.
Ahead of us some were some workers restoring the old stonework. One informed us that it was a worksite, and we could not walk through, so we walked back towards the tunnel, and followed a track that took us up to the higher viaduct.
On the way up, we passed this old tank.
The top viaduct is very impressive.
And you can look down and see the lower viaducts.
We then followed up the railway line.
It did not take too long to reach the top tunnel.
More amazing stonework.
This tunnel is quite long and dark – so needs a torch to walk through.
Back near the Clarence Station we examined a derailer – used to stop any rolling stock accidentally rolling down onto the main line.
We had carried food with us, but it was too early for lunch, so we headed next to Govetts Leap Lookout at Blackheath. We visited the lookout and then had lunch at a picnic table, then visited the Fairfax Track.
At the lookout, we could see this new seahorse shaped rockfall on Lockleys Pylon. It looked like it would block a new pass out of the Grose Valley that we had recently visited.
Govetts Leap was in good flow –
I spotted one orchid on the Fairfax Track –
We next stopped at Leura. I was keen to visit the Golf Link Lookout, a place I could not recall visiting before. I wanted to see if you could see Microstrobos Falls. You could – but the flow was so little that it is not really evident.
The Gordon Falls Lookout, is on top of the cliffs to the left in the above photo. Microstrobos Falls is to the right of the lookout.
In this telephoto shot – you can just see some water falling –
Bob was keen to see the floodplains from Hawkesbury Lookout near Springwood. So that was our next stop.
I think most of the water you can see is Penrith Lakes, but they are very high.
