Date: 8/6/2025
Trip leader: Bruce Stafford
Party: Fredo, Jiayin, Kristina, Leesa, Shibo, Shirley, Theo, Vishal
Brooklyn Area walk (part of Great North Walk) Sunday 8/6/25.
Because of the looming exam period, I made this a (mainly) afternoon walk so as not to use up too much of students’ study time; just enough of a break to relieve the stress.
So we met up at Hawkesbury River Station at just 5 minutes before midday after a one hour train trip from Central (and 20 minutes for me coming from the north). On arriving I was dismayed to find only four others waiting for me on the platform. Someone said that there are a few others but they “went off somewhere”. There was just 4 minutes separating their train arriving and my train arriving so I figured that “somewhere” can’t be too far away. Then a few minutes later Shibo sent me a text asking “where are u guys”. I replied that we are on the platform where they were supposed to be. So back they came, having earlier left the station and were on the adjacent street. Thus having gathered a total of 9 members, and thus seeing that there were four apparent “no shows” (although two sent me emails saying they had missed the train, more on that later).
So we set off on the first leg of the walk towards Brooklyn Dam. This meant walking through village streets for a short distance until comng to the official local start of the Great North Walk and the steep climb up the concrete “Railcorp Road“. This trail rises quite steeply going from almost sea level to 110 metres over a distance of 440 metres, and the first 200 metres is even steeper than that. Still, it gets the steepest climb out of the way at the start of the walk (like at Wondabyne), There was sign at the front gate stating “fire trail closed”, but I had checked the National Parks website earlier which advised that the trail is not closed to walkers. So up we went. After 500 metres or so the track levels out and the concrete section ends and the trail stays mostly undulating for the rest of the way to Brooklyn Dam. We came across some others going the opposte way who had probably started the walk at Cowan. Being on top of the ridge we collected some of the brisk cold wind that was still blowing but it was as strong as it had been earlier that morning.
On arrival at Brooklyn Dam it was lunchtime and we sat down at a picnic table to eat. Theo was there and he was also on the “Castle Trip (Round 2)” Walkand he talked about a few things that are in Terry’s Trip Report such as the tent on a cliff ledge. We also brought up Terry’s comment in that Report about “the country (Australia) as a whole promotes dumb behaviour”. Well, in the recent federal election, Australia convincingly trounced the Opposition Parties that in their election campaign had copied the Orange Buffoon in the White House. I would not call that “dumb behaviour”. An Aboriginal Elder calling a prawn a “shrimp”? I don’t think so. “Mongolian Beef (or Lamb)” has been the name of that dish in Chinese cafes here for about 150 years, and it sells; I can’t see them changing the name anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Shibo showed a couple of the girls a curious collection of rubber bands and he said it was a “sling” (I almost called it a “slingshot” here which would have got Shibo into hot water as Slingshots (or “shanghais”) are illegal in New South Wales; Slings are legal). Shibo said that they can be used for hunting small game and then demonstated to the girls how it worked by placing small stones in the sling and propelling them over the dam water, I asked Shibo what would happen if he picked up a stone and there was a Scorpion under it. He said “er, well…”.. Scorpions are very elusive and avoid sunlight; bushwalkers can go a lifetime without seeing one, but they are actually fairly common. Australian scorpions are not very venomous but they can still give a very painful sting if annoyed. Best way to avoid them on walks is not to pick up stones.
As for the Sling itself, it’s legal to have one on you in a national park but not legal to use it for hunting in a national park. If a Park Ranger sees you with one there could be awkward questions about why you have got one on you and what are your intentions. Best to leave it at home on walks, Shibo.
Note that the National Parks have in the past two years built a “long-drop: “dunny” (U.S. English: “bathroom”) there near the picnic site, and it looked very clean.
Brooklyn Dam has a concrete wall and was built to supply water to steam locomotives at Hawkesbury River Station; is water is not recommended for swimming or drinking. After lunch we set off across the little creek which is the dam’s outlet below the wall and then back on to the Great North Walk fire trail which circles the dam. The walk was straightforward until reaching a sign which says “Brooklyn Station” 1.3km (actually that’s the distance from there to Brooklyn’s pub). At this point we turned off the Great North Walk to follow railway access trails which also until about 15 years ago were the only track to Brooklyn until the Railcorp Concrete road trail was built. Some sections looked like they haven’t seen a vehicle for many years (because of the Railcorp Trail bypass) and had quite steep sections with loose stone on them, and I slipped on some. There are several side tracks which look as good as the “main” track and if not navigating carefully could lead you down one of these which are all dead ends usully ending near power poles. That’s why I reminded Shibo and Theo not to get too far ahead.
We eventually came to a spot on the trail which was near an overhang and a sort of cave, which is handy in wet weather for shelter (and in fact was used for that on a walk a few years ago). Some of up climbed to the top but the view was not as good as down on the track as trees partially obscured the view. Coming back down my day pack got jammed on a small overhang and I had to release it to get back down. Then we went a short distance further along to where the original track down to Brooklyn left the trail. An old decaying direction post that was once there has now gone, but someone has left an upright rock there as a “clue”. The view across to Long Island and Dangar Island was very good and clearer than on top of the “cave” earlier. As we took photos a Blue Mountains coal train headed north across the causeway to Long Island Tunnel, and then we saw behind it on a siding a steam train. We waited a bit, taking in the view until the steam train departed also heading north. Then we proceeded down the old track which is becoming very vague now as it sees little use now and also recent heavy rains have caused some erosion. Eventually we came out at Brooklyn Road near the railway bridge. (By the way, this old track is NOT now part of the Great North Walk despite what “Google Maps” says). Also, Theo had by then gone on ahead to catch an earlier train back to Sydney.
This was however not the end of the walk. We walked to the end of Brooklyn Road, passing the Pub and pointing out to the students some Banana plants in someone’s front yard, and then went up a short steep path to evenetually reach a park, “Upper McKell Park“. As the day was getting colder with a wind picking up, all the picnickers had left by now (it was now after 3pm), leaving the place empty apart from some Turkeys (Bush Turkeys). Then we went down a path to a lookout over Lookout Bay (I wonder which was named first?). On the lookout there is the remains of the base of an anti-aircraft gun installed there in 1942 after the scare of the Japanese midget submarines entering Sydney Harbour earlier that year. No warplanes ever attacked Brooklyn, but in late March 1941 the Brooklyn based steam trawler “S.S. Millimumul” was sunk when it hit (or actually hauled on board) a German Mine when it was a few nautical miles off Palm Beach north of Sydney. (Incidentally it raises the possibility that there are a few German Mines STILL offshore along the Central Coast, stuck in the depths and hopefully unreachable).
From the lookout we descended down a stairway to the track which follows the shoreline back to the Railway. There were a couple of people fishing and braving the cold wind which had again sprang up in this late afternoon period. The day was still perfectly clear and the sun shone brilliantly on the Hawkesbury River as we approached the sunset period (the Moon could also just be seen rising inthe east).
On arrival back at the railway station my train going north came first. I told Leesa that their train to Sydney would unfortunately be a Marayong, er ‘Mariyung” D set with the non-reversible seats which she and we dislike Also a dumb idea to give these trains the same name as a railway station on the Richmond Line (first stop after Blacktown); different spelling but same pronunciation. While waiting for my train we discussed how, when it was first known that these “new” trains would have non-reversible seats and complaints about that started on social media and elsewhere, some of the transport mob retorted with “Ad hominem” counter-attacks calling the complainers “sooks, whingers, whiners, entitled”, etc. “Ad hominem“; there’s a new term for our students who speak English as a second language. It’s actually in Latin and often seen in logic and legal arguments. It means “to the person”; if someone is using “Ad hominem” attacks in their responses, it means that they have lost the argument!
So we all departed from Hawkesbury River Station, and everyone seemed to enjoy the walk in cold but sunny weather. Not a drop of rain. As mentioned above there were two “no shows”. Two others had sent me emails stating they had missed the train. I did ask people to text me if something like that happened as sometimes there can be a “fall back option” to catch a later train and catch up which is often possible on Blue Mountains and South Coast trips. Admittedly this option was not possible on this walk. And a reminder to “no shows” that you could be put on the “reserve” list for future walks. There were also two people who told me the previus day that they had sprained their ankle at the gym; interesting how often that happens to some people in the days before a walk.
People might have noticed that I rarely give links to various walk websites when advertising my walks. The reason is that for ALL my walks this year, NONE have exactly followed any of the standard walk descriptions on websites, including this Brooklyn walk. Coming with the assumed track path “pre-loaded” on to your mobile phone (as some have done in the past) is a recipe for causing confusion and getting lost on my walks. All I can do is to repeat the advice: “Google is not your trip leader!“.
On Friday afternoon of 4th of July I plan to do another Mercury-watching walk (weather permitting) so look out for that in the coming weeks.
Scorpions: https://australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/scorpions/
Bruce Stafford.
