Bagging the Wild Dog Mountains

Bagging the Wild Dog Mountains

After we needed only 46 emails to sort out our car pooling and meeting arrangements we enjoyed our Friday night dinner at the Blue Mountains Hotel and continued to Dumphey’s Camp in the Megalong Valley. We were delighted to see that the camping ban that was in place last time I visited the area had been lifted and pitched our tents for the night. [caption id=”attachment_9052″…

Otford to Burning Palms

Otford to Burning Palms

The weather forecast for this day had changed almost hourly, from cloudy to “a few showers”to “morning rain” to “mostly sunny”, so it was hard to know whether to bring sun screen lotion or umbrella. As it turned out is was all of the above; read on. Most of us met up at Central with Cathie getting on at Sutherland and Josephine and Phil meeting us at Otford Station. Then is…

Blackheath – Pulpit Rock walk

Blackheath – Pulpit Rock walk

The weather forecast said “a snow shower or two” for Blackheath this day, but it was more like “a snow shower or ten”! Even so, the weather on departure from Sydney gave little clue as to what to expect; it was cloudy with sunny breaks all the way to Leura. After leaving Katoomba however, we looked out and saw a heavy snow shower over Mount Solitary and the Hampton Ranges, so it gave an idea of what we might expect. The ride…

Malaita Point & Wall

Malaita Point & Wall

Emma on the first pitch   On the way down I thought I’d try abseiling down tandem style with Emma and then my brother. This was the first time I’d done this so we created some rules to follow to ensure we didn’t have any accidents. The first…

Whale Watching Walk: MacMasters – Kilcare

Whale Watching Walk: MacMasters – Kilcare

We all met up at Woy Woy Station, with Siva and Tharani driving up (and who were surprised to find that the train is faster than a car getting to Woy Woy from Sydney). We split the walkers into 4 per car, and then set off for the walk start at MacMasters Beach (the suburb not the beach itself). Then Siva…

Wicked Witch Walk

Wicked Witch Walk

Hoping to get 13 people (since it was a Wicked Witch walk) 12 signed up but at the start we only had 8; two absolute “no shows”, and two others (more about that at the end). Most of us met up at Central Station and set off on the train to Leura. At Leura we met Owen who had dressed up as a wizard (or was it Gandalf? See for yourself). It was…

Koombanda Canyon

Koombanda Canyon

Koombanda Canyon runs from Bells Line of Road down to an abandoned mine, from where an old road leads up the Darling Causeway. Effectively, the trip cuts the corner between the two roads. We met at Bell on a cold Saturday morning on the weekend of the winter solstice, did a car shuffle and headed off into the bush at 8.30. It was…

A Gambol to Gosper’s

A Gambol to Gosper’s

Martyn had dreamed of visiting Gospers Mountain in the middle of the Wollemi National Park in the NSW Blue Mountains for the last 20 years, and a SUBW (Sydney University Bushwalkers) party with some experience in the area held promise. He had sought permission from the landholder, undoubtedly assisted by a past common contact and being a local Kandos boy himself. The weather…

Wondabyne – Pindar Cave

With exams looming as well as not the best weather, only 4 people applied and turned up. Still, it was worth a chance as although it was raining in Sydney, it appeared to have eased off over the Central Coast. So after the train trip to Wondabyne (where we noticed other walkers both getting on AND boarding the train (overnighters). we set…

Mt Kuringai to Berowra via Cowan Creek

Mt Kuringai to Berowra via Cowan Creek

It was a rather overcast morning when we all met up at Berowra Station, and we took the train back to Mt Kuringai Station, the start of the walk. On the platform at Mt Kuringai there is a clear view of the Blue Mountains, so we tried to see if we could spot Ashley’s Navigation weekend group, but we couldn’t see them. After crossing…