With some nice stormy weather around I thought it worth heading back to Royal National Park for some more photo opportunities.
I had never been on a walk starting or finishing at Helensburgh, nor had I walked along the Burgh Track before – so I thought that may be a good place to start. Continue reading
Birdwood Gully is a short walk on the north side of Springwood. I was very familiar with this track from my childhood. It was good to see it is still in very good condition.
I started from the trailhead at Lucinda Avenue. The track climbs down to quickly join the creek. This is a delightful section. It is mainly rainforest. There are many tall turpentines. Continue reading
A few days of rain meant that Glenbrook Gorge should be in good condition for some photos. It was! Water levels were not as high as I had hoped – but they were still quite good.
I walked down from Glenbrook Station. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the park entrance and then another 10 minutes to walk to Glenbrook Creek at the start of the Gorge. Continue reading
The Blue Mountains Conservation Society were having a special meeting on the Wollangambe River. My friend Wendy was going to the meeting and asked if I wanted to join her. I suggested a short walk before the meeting. Recent rain, the first decent rain for a while, would mean that local waterfalls would be worth visiting.
We started down the track to Fairy Falls and Dantes Glen north of Lawson. The rain had just stopped – conditions were nice. Its a only a few minutes walk down to Fairy Falls. These falls are delightful after rain. Continue reading
I had some business to attend to at Springwood and was finished by noon. That left the afternoon free for a walk.
View from Bunyan Lookout
I set off from behind the shopping centre down the Fairy Dell Track, through the dell and then along Magdala Creek. It is pleasant walking down to join the Sassafras Gully Track at Glenbrook Creek and the Perch Ponds. One thought had been to head from there, up Glenbrook Creek and out the Victory Track to Faulconbridge. But instead I opted to head downstream. Continue reading
John and Chuin Nee had invited me to go climbing with them at Thompsons Point at Nowra. It helps to have a third person – so one of us can look after their young son Jasper.
The weather was perfect – and we and a nice drive down through Wollongong to Nowra, with a pitt stop at Berry. We then drove out to Thompsons Point. Continue reading
On a recent trip, I had been to Kellys Falls at Helensburg with Digi Dave. On that trip, I had suffered a careless misfortune. When rotating a polaroid filter off the camera lens it had unscrewed and fallen down a waterfall. It hadn’t gone all the way – and had rested on a small slippery and sloping ledge about one and a half metres down. Since then, with no recent rain, I thought the filter may still be there – so was keen to see if the filter could be rescued. So, I returned, again with Digi Dave, and this time we had a rope, harness etc. The filter was still there and was quickly descended to and grabbed. It seemed OK. Now what to do with the rest of the day?
The Helensburgh Tunnel
I was keen to check out some of the six old abandoned railway tunnels in the area.
We headed to nearby Helensburgh and drove down to the station. Near this are two old tunnels. Both are very easy to access – and indeed can be seen from the road to the station. Continue reading
An interesting occultation occurred last night. At 9:22 pm Saturn went behind the moon for about an hour. I managed to get a few photo using a telephoto lens.
Saturn just before the occultation
Unfortunately some clouds obscured the moon just when Saturn went behind the Moon. Continue reading
It was time to head back to Donkey Mountain in the Wolgan Valley. This time we only had a small party – John, Chuin Nee, their young son, Jasper, and myself. This would allow us to only need a small campsite – and we could camp high up on the south western end of the main peak.
I had long wanted to see what sunset would bring from that end of the mountain – with low light on the two towers that lie to the south west. Continue reading
I had read about this pass many years ago. Father Frank Bendeich had written an account of its first ascent in The Waysider, the magazine of the Catholic Bushwalking Club of Sydney (No 131, July/Aug 1975).
Dog Face Gully from the Landslide
According to the article, Father Frank had attempted the route a few years earlier, but had turned back part way up when he found his party were unwilling to follow him any more. He had set out again with Tony Boyd and this time had been successful. Continue reading
