It was a few days before FreezeFest when the weather forecast arrived: the chance of showers, falling as snow above 800m. Given we’d be camped at just over 1000m above sea level, I thought it was pretty exciting news. Not everyone saw it that way. A few emails started arriving, asking if we were still going ahead. “Of course”…
Although there was a possible forecast of cold weather or even snow earlier in the week, the day itself turned out to be a fine sunny day. After meeting up with most people at Central Railway, with Andres and Martin meeting us at Mt Victoria Station, we set out from Mt Vic along the unavoidable road bash to the start of Lawson’s Long Alley. This is…
I had a bad feeling no one would come to this trip . . . But it was not be. Helen Smith is studying a PhD in something to do with the bush. She learnt to unicycle a number of years ago and though she hadn’t ridden for quite a while she was willing to have crack at a pretty intense mountain bike track. So Helen,…
There may have been a deluge in Sydney that weekend, but further out it was only the occasional drizzle and haze, which made for some lovely, atmospheric walking. The party was coming to the campsite in three groups to suit everyone’s schedules- Dave, Tom, Albert, Peggy and myself met mid morning and took the usual path up the Blue Rocks. The fog…
My run of luck with good weather on recent walks held up again as I left home on saturday morning under a clear starry sky, despite the radar showing a rain cell sitting on inner Sydney. I met up with Anne at Central Station, and with one person calling in sick, and other with urgent family business, and unfortunately a couple of simply no-shows, we boarded the 8.18am train along with what seemed to be a coven of wicked witches heading to the Mid Winter Festival at Katoomba that day. At Strathfield…
The weather forecast wasn’t great. In fact, with each passing day conditions seemed to be getting worse. Predictions of clouds turned to showers which then became rain. So much for my inspired plan to admire the “supermoon” from the stunning surrounds of Wollangambe Crater! Despite deteriorating conditions we pressed on, setting off early on Saturday morning. We probably…
The June long weekend always means bushwalking to me. Sure, it’s my wife’s birthday, so I probably should spend it with her, but the thought of three days in the mountains breathing the crisp winter air is always too alluring. With Myles Dunphy’s classic sketch map of the Kowmung hanging on my study wall, I knew I wanted to explore a new section of this stunning wild river, but it wasn’t until a couple days out that I finally made up my mind. The section…
Having anxiously watched the weather development over the weekend, things were looking hopeful on saturday night when the radar showed an area of immunity to the rain around Katoomba and Lawson. Early on sunday morning it took an ominous development when the radar showed heavy rain in the same area. Still, we…
We were minus one person who sent his apologies, and another who realised too late that she was supposed to be a Wondabyne by 9am, not at Central by 9! We all met up at the little Wondabyne Station around 9am, and proceeded up the steep hill to the top of the ridge, then along the local section of the Great North Walk, reaching the track junction with the Girrakool track. It promised…
Mount Harvey is an unassuming local high point in the Capertee Valley somewhere between the Red Rocks and Pantoneys Crown. Many’s the time we looked out from Mt Dawson or over the Ben Bullen sheet and fingered it as a weekend target for a walk with Pete Harvey, but in his absence it seemed a suitable tribute. There was…