by | Nov 11, 2012
Not having been down since the old track was closed, it was nice to return to Claustral, and have to think about the way in and way out! Our way in involved a short walk to a very pleasant fern filled gully to enter the Canyon, with blue skies and a cool breeze. The canyon itself was fantastic as usual, with a few things that stood out to me: the water level in most of the pools is much lower than previously – similar to many canyons since the rain over the past year or 2 has flushed out a lot of debris A lot of bolting action has occurred. Mostly unwarranted,…
by | Nov 3, 2012
Eleven of us got together at Central Station and headed off in the train to Helensburgh Station, where Tran was waiting for us. I got some confirmation for the direction to Metropolitan Tunnel from the station staff, which was where I thought it was – underneath the aptly named Tunnel Road, and we all headed off there. At first…
by | Oct 31, 2012
From time to time people ask me what I do if I run into other people while on a nude bushwalk, or more importantly, what the attitude of the authorities is to some casual nudity in our national parks. This walk managed to answer both questions, quite satisfactorily, with a group of rather amused National Parks and Wildlife staff saying their only criticism of our walk was the lack of gender balance! Spring has been nicely warming up, and a forecast promising plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the high 20’s in the mountains the conditions seemed perfect for a naked stroll through the mountains. I obviously…
by | Oct 27, 2012
Butterbox, Empress, Geronimo & Horseshoe Canyons It was a very sunny Saturday morning when I met Mary and Adrian at Leura. Not long after Ulla and Matt rocked off the train. I had been waiting for it seemed years (actually, only 11 months) to go down Butterbox Canyon, and this weekend was the perfect time for it. We excitedly drove out to the end of Mt Hay Road, only stopping shortly to give a couple of walkers a lift out to Lockleys Pylon. Heading down…
by | Oct 20, 2012
The later start time was great for a weekend sleep in, however, the trade-off was the crowded spaces and long lines. Additional bus services from Bondi Junction train station to Bondi Beach was running on the day, however, this could not keep up with the demand. The queue was about 30 m long. A few of us chose to do the 3km journey to Bondi beach by foot. It took…
by | Oct 14, 2012
We gathered everyone together at Woy Woy Station and set out in the three cars (with just enough seats for everyone), for the 20 minute drive to the Little Beach Car Park, the start of the walk. Then a car shuffle was made, leaving my car at Killcare Beach. The walk took us initially towards Little Beach, and then branched off to become the Bouddi Coast Track. Starting in…
by | Oct 13, 2012
Although I ran this walk as “Explore Mt Jellore” I was tempted to rename this trip report “Jellore, The Hard Way”! It was a lovely blue morning after a cold snap had dumped 15cms of snow in the Blue Mountains the day before , which would have certainly affected our walking location in the Southern Highlands. So with…
by | Oct 8, 2012
EDIT: FYI, the canyon called Penrose Gully in this trip report should actually be named “Crooked Crevice”, which is the name it was given by the first descent party. There’s no better inspiration for revisiting a canyon than the chance to show it to someone new, and be able to rediscover it through their eyes. I’d organised…
by | Oct 7, 2012
With extensive trackwork affecting much of the Cityrail network over the weekend, I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout for this trip. The first challenge of course being to navigate through the ‘rabbit warren’ of Central Station and find the bus stop for the South Coast line. With this…
by | Oct 4, 2012
Dargans Creek Canyon is one of those easy day trips that had been left on the back-burner for ages: too short to be worth spending a full day on; a far enough drive to make it an slightly impractical half day; and no abseils, so no good for teaching beginners rope work. I’d been to the area as a kid — nearly 20 years ago I worked out — and leaped off the water jump into the lower dam (a somewhat terrifying rite of passage for local kids for decades). I’d even…
