This trip was planned to give both experienced and novice bushwalkers a chance to get together and have share a great location and some good company. The Budawangs have lots of walking options ranging from the seriously strenuous Castle Walk to the more moderate but equally stunning Pigeonhouse Mountain track. Nestled between…
On Saturday 11 August 2018 I led a walk along the Kiama Coast Walk on the South Coast. Although not technically a difficult walk, it is 22km in its entirety. What I think makes it unique is it’s relatively “Un-Australian” landscape (I hear cries of Maaate, that Un-Australian!) being more like scenery you might see on the Irish or English coastline. It’s quite…
As you can see, a cast of thousands. I had overbooked like the airlines do, expecting a couple of people might drop out on the Saturday evening. As it turned out there was not a single “no show”! This walk was also on tracks often shunned by tourists, especially Federal Pass beyond the Scenic Railway, so there was little risk of causing a traffic jam on the more popular tracks. The Constellation…
What is it about the Red Rocks and eclipses? In just under 10 years from now we’ll be heading to the Red Rocks for my total solar eclipse Red Rocks birthday party, and here we were late on a Friday night scrambling up Donkey Mountain to get ready for the longest total lunar eclipse for the next 100 or more years. Yes we…
The Southern Highlands contain some nice bushwalks of all grades, and can get you into some quite wild country, yet still close to civilization. One of my favourites is the Box Vale track just outside of Mittagong. It has a number of highlights along the way, with just enough challenge for beginners to get some experience without getting too epic. A total…
I was late putting this trip on the calendar so was pleasantly surprised to have Penny keen for a 2 night trip in the middle of winter and with only 3 days’ notice! The forecast was for 10 degree days getting down to -1 at night with winds ranging from 20-40km/h. So we knew the trip would be a bit more challenging than normal. Walking along…
One of the coldest June days ensured we would stay moving for most of the day in order to keep warm as we explored the waterfalls south of Lawson. The day began with 4 of the 12 attendees not putting in an appearance or notifying me of their absence. Their loss. After a brief visit to the monthly market at Lawson and the renowned artisan bakery, the chocolate shop, and the cake shop, our group members were in a hurry to move to a more wind protected path. The descent…
Our latest trip to the Budawangs arose from Paul’s long held ambition to climb Donjon Mountain which guards the western end of Monolith Valley. He had unfortunately missed out on Tim and James’ trip up the Mountain earlier in the year. We were also thinking about climbing Byangee Walls which we had been admiring from the top of The Castle on our previous trip. The Walls…
A very interesting trip with lots of unusual things to see: Kangaroos, sheep, a Black Chook, horses, bats, a steam loco, and something very rare: a steam-powered road traction engine. After gathering most of the team together at Central Station, we settled in for the long train ride to Mt Victoria, spotting the bat colony at Clyde on the way. On arrival…
Wow! There is no doubt this trip is one of the most popular SUBW trips of the year. I had 36 people sign up before I managed to mark the trip as full. You really can’t take more than 20 at the absolute maximum and in the end it was 21 people including myself who presented. This year’s…