For me, at least, the Coast Walk is developing a bit of a reputation as a “safe fallback” when there’s no time to organise private transport to more exotic locations, or when the four hours of train ride for a trip to Katoomba is too daunting. Regardless I have enjoyed the walk every time, in all manner of bizarre weather conditions and (on a couple of occasions) pitch darkness and/or weeping inebriation. Allegedly.
After meeting at Circular Quay we travelled by ferry to Athol Wharf, below Taronga Zoo, and set out on the Harbourside walk on the first leg to Clifton Gardens. Past Bradley’s Head the track is through bushland which is still largely unchanged bespite 222 years of European settlement. We noticed a few artists along the walk sketching or painting views of the Harbour a la Tom Roberts.
By miraculous good fortune and coincidental timing no one got permanently lost in the labyrinth of forest trails that sprout northwards from the Zig Zag railway. It was Friday evening, dark, some had arrived early, others late, but somehow it was a single cohesive convoy of vehicles that eventually rolled into our pleasant open camp site after rendezvousing at various points along the way.
After travelling up by various means and at various times the group coalesced on Saturday morning over an obligatory cup of tea. Then it was off to Mt Thurat and into the gorge fairly high up, entering in the lower part of Thurat Creek. This gave us the opportunity to see some of the upper gorge which was beautiful on this hot day, with several wades, short swims and downclimbs.
Alfred and I made our way out to Kanangra walls late on New Years Eve, armed with plenty of food and booze, and the grand plan to do Kanangra Main followed by a two day effort in Davies. From the lookout we managed to spot a smattering of tiny fireworks exploding more than 100 kilometres away, before making our way down to Dance Floor cave where some wine was drunk, tales told and the new year ushered in. The next…
With a Monday free from work, we decided it was the perfect chance to squeeze in a trip to Newnes Canyon on a day where we could pretty much be guaranteed the place to ourselves, giving plenty of time to investigate the wonderful tunnel section. We read that it was a decent length day, which is a concern when the sun is setting so early, but we figured it was perfect weather for a nice dry canyon.
My first visitation to Cedar Ck was earlier this year whilst on a training walk with Tom Murtagh for our upcoming New Zealand trip. On this walk we had dropped off Narrowneck Plateau, down Walls Pass and into Cedar Ck where, after heading dowstream for several kilometers, we happened upon what would have made some very fine camping spots. Clean deep pools of water, open flat grassy areas, and according to the map not too far from accessible fire trail. So, with this in mind I had hoped to return, on what should have been a fairly easy weekend walk with ample time for some swimming, bludging and enjoying the surroundings.
We walked south from the carpark towards Mt Townsend, which was looming out of the fog, and into a cloudy, and at times humid, windy, cold, calm, warm and exhilarating day in the Colo wilderness.
WHO: Fritz, Nicole, Kathleen, Jeremiah, Alex Moore, Michael, Christy, Jamal, Alex Meekin, Kirstine, Dayna, Kate Hayes, Ting, Ralf, Yuriko, Jana, Ashley, Karine, Albert, Jin Yi, Kim, Sausage, Falk, Sabine, Melanie, Pete Raines, Lauren, Kate Lord, Mitch, Pete Harvey, Tom, Kate Sullivan, Ben, Nina [list confirmed at least 70% accurate] HOW: Grassy Hill Firetrail down to the Colo WOH! I know, right?
Since Nicole is changing jobs and had the last 3 days off work, we decided to head out to Kanangra for some end-of-season canyons. I have never been out that way before, and Nicole had only done Kalang and Dione Dell, So we were a little bit scared at the thought of Kanangra main. The news that thee were fires burning not far from murdering gully didnt help either, so it was with more than a little trepidation that we headed out to the walls on tuesday night. We arrived at the walls 9:30 Tuesday night, and decided to head out to the lookout to check on the aforementioned fires. The smell of smoke was heavy in the air, and upon arriving at the lookout we were greeted with a fiery glow from the valley below. Fortunately, the fires had retreated several ridges back from murdering gully, so we headed back to the uni rover trail to camp, stopping to search behind the shelter for Robs pants and headtorch he had left behind on the weekend (they were sitting next to the water tank).