One of the walks Bob and myself had been considering for a while, was traversing the ledges below the Oronga Ridge. It looked possible to traverse the half-way ledge between Oronga Gully and Banks Gully near Mt Banks. This ledge seemed to have been well explored by climbers and members of the Springwood Bushwalking Club. Bob and myself had earlier had a brief look at the ledge near the Banksy Climbing Area.
Bob parked on the Bells Line of Road at the top of Oronga Ridge, and we set off along the climbers track along the ridge.
I spotted one Caladenia sp. Orchid –
Along this ridge are some interesting Eucalypts. They are very small, almost shrub with quite small leaves.
Boronia sp.
Near the end of the ridge are fine views of the Grose Valley –
We could see Hanging Rock and the Brownes Path pass –
We soon reached the top of the descent gully.
Here Bob is climbing down the section aided by staples –
This took us to the half-way ledge. We decided to start by traversing east towards Mt Banks.
The traversing was quite interesting in places, but never really dangerous or difficult.
All the time we had amazing views.
We traversed all the way to Banks Gully, and then started back the same way.
On the way, we had passed this pool –
Looking back, you can see our exposed route poised above a huge drop –
And here we could look to Mt Banks and get good views of the two ledge traverses we had done on earlier trips –
See here for the lower traverse and here (and here) for the upper traverse.
Back at the climbers descent gully, we then started traversing west. The old access ledge to the Banksy Climbing Area is now blocked by the National Parks and Wildlife Service due to the presence of a rare plant. So to proceed, you need to follow a slightly lower ledge.
There is one very exposed via feratta section. For this, you need a harness and two tape loops with locking carabiners.
Once back o the main ledge, we could see the rare plants – Isopogon fletcheri –
And there are lots of other plants on the ledge –
We keep on traversing.
We saw some animal prints and wondered what made them –
Westward progress along the ledge was relatively easy.
We had seen some Wombat scats, but wondered what animal made these scats. Perhaps a Rock Wallaby?
And we also found some more Isopogon fletcheri –
We were soon on a ledge above Oronga Gully. We followed it in the upstream direction, passing some opening Waratahs –
We could then scramble back up onto the Orongra Ridge
We found shady place for lunch, and to admire the great views –
And we could also look down and see our traverse ledge –
Another Caladenia sp. Orchid –
This had been a very interesting walk. Now we know it is feasible, it would be more aesthetically pleasing to traverse from Oronga Gully all the way to Banks Gully and miss the climbers route down.