Rachel Grindlay

The forecast for the weekend was excellent, and I had Friday off so we decided to make the most of it with another three day trip. It almost got stymied on Friday morning. The alarm went off, we’d both slept poorly, Tom had appeared uncertain on our route when we’d gone to bed. I floated the idea of going back to sleep and making a 2.5 day plan later that morning. But given the amount of agonising we’d already done over this trip we couldn’t face starting again, so we ended up just getting up and getting on with it.

We had a last minute change of starting point, as the road seemed more accessible compared to our original launch point. But that meant Tom hadn’t looked at the spurs on the aerials so we were going on the basis that the topo looked like it went. What could possibly go wrong? The road access was straight-forward and after some prevaricating over whether to park just inside the park (and thus not on the private property just outside it) we were on our way.

I felt very jittery as we started our first steep descent. I put it down to a heavy pack (3 days of food – and we do like to carry fresh fruit & veg), lack of sleep, plus two coffees. We briefly got out of earshot while pass finding on the way down. We’ve had a few times recently where it’s been apparent sound really doesn’t travel very far in the bush. That or Tom is going deaf.

After morning tea we then had a big climb which was straight-forward, before some flattish but quite scrubby ridge walking. When we finally got to some more open sections I seized on the first rocky outcrop for lunch. I was happy with it, it was big, flat, had a choice of sun or shade, and had a nice area to sit. I was pretty happy with it, until almost straight after lunch we walked past a very similar rocky outcrop which also had expansive views! Next time.

We were pleased to find the ridge was a lot less scrubby post-lunch so we made better time as we navigated our way through the wiggly turns.

Then there was a straight-forward, far less jittery feeling, descent into a creek where we loaded up on water to get us through to the middle of the next day.

We should be getting good at carrying these heavy packs having had so many high camps in recent weeks, but it doesn’t seem to get any easier.

It seemed to take a lot of time to get to our intended camp spot – due to more scrubby ridges and us being tired. We seem to have made a habit of racing the sun to camp… Fortunately there was both somewhere to put the tent and a cliff edge for happy hour and photography.

I had optimistically planned out our second day. 4km for 2 hours seemed reasonable? Apparently not, more like 3 hours. The fires had not affected this area as much and we got to reminisce about what walking pre-fires was like….

Already an hour behind schedule we seemed to be making good time getting back to the creek. Until we were stymied by a 3m drop from the side creek into the main creek. So back out of the side creek we climbed and bashed away towards the next side creek hoping we’d be able to get down there! Finally we found a way into the creek and at 1:30pm (only 2+ hours behind my optimistic schedule) thought we should probably have lunch.

Of course since we were now in a different part of the creek Tom hadn’t studied the passes out on the aerials. Once again we had to trust to the contours on the topo. I proclaimed there was a dirt ramp out of the creek and the contours looked ok on the spur right next to us. Of course looking up at the cliffs, which were nowhere to be seen on the map, was slightly daunting. Tom managed to get up a small climb and put a rope down to haul my pack. To thank him I scraped his knuckles across the rock as he gave me a hand to get up the drop. Fortunately for me he suffered through the pain rather than let me topple down the 10m drop!

Fortunately the rest of the spur did resemble the contours on the map and we got up it with no further issues (except once again we were hauling water for the next 24 hours).

It was nice to settle on a campsite by 4pm giving us time to set up in a somewhat more leisurely fashion.

The campfire was in a very satisfactory situation with backrests for both of us! So it was a comfortable night around the fire.

As always Tom was up early to photograph sunrise, while I was content to watch the early light from the tent.

There was just the right amount of valley cloud – unlike like last week (too much) and the day before (not enough). Unfortunately that meant there was a lot of photo-faffing, and since we were camping where we had intended to have lunch we needed to get going!

Fortunately the first section was seriously burnt so we made good time.

Our next challenge was another ridge that we didn’t know if it ‘went’. We’d checked it out from afar two days earlier and it looked like it could have some intrigue to it.

We made our way through two clifflines and were feeling pretty good. Until we realised the ‘second’ cliff-line wasn’t the final one. Soon I was standing at the edge of a large cliff. To my right was the side creek where a pretty impressive waterfall plunged into the valley. There was no way down that. Our earlier viewing had suggested there was a treed ramp to the left… We contoured around and around, me leading the charge hopeful of finding a gully we could get down. Tom less enthusiastically following me, especially after I yelled out “I think we’re stuffed” (or perhaps something slightly less polite). Fortunately he did eventually follow me some way, and while I was retreating he went investigating. Some time later he declared we had a way down.

It involved some tape, a crawl, and a step across, but eventually we were through the cliff line! This was a great relief because it would have been a very long way to get down any other way.

The rest of the descent passed without incident and we were glad to have lunch next to the river.

We had one more unknown spur in our route. Once again I proclaimed the contours looked fine. In fact it was a most enjoyable spur to climb – a very nice gradient which felt a little like climbing stairs, with some scrambling right at the top.

The ridge itself was gorgeous and had great views. But by this point Tom was worn out (I was doing slightly better). Unusually he was less than enthused about a small detour to visit a trig.

Eventually we arrived back at the car after 3 pretty hard days. We were a bit surprised on our drive out to find a gate across the road which we hadn’t noticed on the way in. It was shut but automatically opened for us to exit. Not sure if we got exceedingly lucky that it was open when we drove in at the start – certainly would make the access a lot trickier!

The forecast had been pretty adamant, and unfortunately unchanging, all week. Rain was coming and it was coming on Saturday and Sunday. Surely it would move out a day, or diminish, as rain forecasts so often so in NSW. But no. So, we seized the weather window and headed out early on Friday morning. We probably would have left a little later but for workday traffic to contend with! Subsequently our earliest walking start in a long time – packs on and on our way by 8:15am.

It was somewhat disconcerting walking in cloud. We were expecting it to burn off fairly quickly but eventually we got underneath it and began to be able to see a bit further than a few metres. We hadn’t walked Starlights Track since the fires, and it was almost like walking a new track. Being able to see the creek was definitely new. (which maybe had also had a bit of a scour-out from the floods?)

We’d heard a rumour that Emmetts Flat (or the area which everyone refers to as Emmetts Flat which isn’t technically Emmetts Flat) had been ‘destroyed’ by the floods. I’d taken that to mean it had been washed away. However it is still there. It looks a bit different. The weeds are on steroids and taking over. It’s not quite the place I visited back in 2016 on a day trip which made me contrive an overnight trip just so I could camp there! It’s obviously still getting plenty of use judging by the amount of campfire ash.

After filling up water at Troys Creek we headed downstream on the Nattai. We were now in new territory. The going was pretty easy, alternating between walking on the sandy river bed, or following wombat trails on the slopey embankment. The cloud had gone, the sun was shining and there was no wind. Another stellar day in the Nattai.

We liked the junction of the Wanganderry and Nattai so much we had an early lunch. Though to be fair breakfast had been at 6am. It felt a little like those magical places in books where a sleep spell has been cast and all you want to do is lie down and have a nap. (Un?)Fortunately for Tom I was there to break the spell, crack the whip and keep us going!

Having descended into the valley we didn’t plan on staying there. We had to climb back out again for our intended high camp. It was a warm winter’s day, and a drink was welcome when we found a flowing side creek just before the climb started in earnest.

I felt like I was crawling but eventually we plodded our way up the spur. These high camps definitely have their downsides with needing to lug water!

As far as 500m climbs go it was a pretty good one, with some easy scrambling to get up through the cliff line. At the top we headed out to the end of a point where there was a fabulous rocky outcrop. Once again the combination of sun, no wind and sleep was mixing to cast a spell of inertia. But we still needed to find a campsite for the night, so back to the packs we went. (In retrospect I wish we’d just taken the packs out with us and camped there!)

We were both pretty tired by now. The spot Tom had chosen from the map for a camp didn’t seem that far away, but my legs felt differently. It was relatively slow going as the fire had been of low intensity. Then we missed the turn-off and ended up on the next ridge.

Backtracking we found an amazing happy hour spot. Just lacked any good camping near by… A few minutes away we found a flat spot amongst the trees which would do. Despite our early start we didn’t have long till sunset. We enjoyed the views and lack of wind before retreating to our camp for a surprisingly mild evening around the campfire.

We were woken by the planes overhead, presumably on their way in to land as soon as the curfew ended at 6am. I don’t know how many planes it would have been pre-covid but it was only 2 this morning. Tom got up to go and check out pre-sunrise, but from what I could see it wasn’t worth getting up too much before sunrise. As I arrived at the cliff-edge the cloud apparently rose out of the valley when previously the cliffs were visible.

The cloud obscuring everything at least meant Tom was focussed on eating breakfast rather than taking photos! It teased us for a bit, revealing cliff tops and then hiding them again. Eventually some good views opened up.

We had agreed to get moving fairly early since the BOM forecast was for rain to come through from late morning (though the Norwegians didn’t have anything in the area till after 6pm). But with the “atmospheric conditions” (i.e. photo faffing) we didn’t get moving till 9am.

We headed out to another viewpoint before following a series of ridges to a fire trail we’d walked on a previous trip. You don’t realise how slow you’re moving, even on relatively easy, off-track until you get onto a fire trail! The fire trail was a slog which we broke up with lunch. No sign of any rain by the time we got to the cars in the early afternoon, though it was on the radar in the north.

Another great weekend in the bush, very confusing to be home mid-afternoon on a Saturday despite being out overnight.

Originally I had proposed this trip for a bit later in July, but somewhat presciently I decided to move it forward since… “I’m keen to get out there sooner rather than later just in case we end up with a return of any Covid restrictions.” That was in an email back when Victoria was only getting < 20 new cases a day!

Covid-aside, there was an East Coast Low brewing due to hit on Monday. When we went in there was 80mm of rain forecast for Sydney – though this was substantially downgraded by the time we got out on Sunday. Given the unsettled weather we were pretty lucky – a beautiful day on Friday, a little bit of rain on Saturday afternoon, but it only really set in about an hour from the cars on Sunday afternoon.

Another top weekend in the bush, though somewhat sobered by the full-scale views we got on Sunday of the scale of the desolation from the fires.

 

In 2018 when we were partially based in the upper mountains I spent quite a lot of time looking at blobs of green on the map. One of the blobs I found was Winburndale Nature Reserve. After putting an exploratory club trip on the program for Nov 2018 I discovered water was likely to be a problem – so I was not too unhappy when most of the sign-ups withdrew and I had to cancel the walk. Fast forward to 2020, bushfires decimated many areas but Winburndale escaped. It seemed the perfect opportunity to resurrect the walk, particularly since there has been decent rain. I rescheduled the trip for May 2020 – with a full contingent signed up – but then Covid-19 arrived.

Determined to get this bunny off my back I rescheduled for July 2020. At last we would see what Winburndale had to offer. Most of my May sign-ups were back, plus a couple from the original 2018 trip, so we had a full party scheduled to go. It was a pleasant drive through the mountains to Lithgow where most of us met up. We lost one to over-sleeping on Saturday morning, so we were down to 7. My well-planned meeting point was a fail since the cafe didn’t open until we were meant to be leaving, and the toilets were having maintenance done on them!

The forecast was for a cold front with possible snow flurries on Saturday morning. By the time we got to Yetholme the visibility was low, it was lightly sleeting and if I didn’t know it was forecast to clear I would have been wondering why on earth we were heading out. Picking up our 7th member from Yetholme we ventured into Sunny Corner State Forest – I was glad we had an AWD & 4WD as the precipitation meant the dirt roads had little traction. It was a magical drive out through the pine forests which had a light dusting of snow. Lauren must be the lucky (!?) charm as the last overnight walk Tom & I did with her it also snowed!

By the time we started walking the weather has lifted. Lauren even optimistically applied sunscreen before we left the cars. Blue sky poked through and it was really quite a nice day if the wind wasn’t blowing. Eschewing the fire trail we followed the cliff line where we could – though the conglomerate rock proved rather slippery under foot.

A solid 300m climb warmed us up prior to morning tea – I suspect the first decent ascent many of us had done in a while. We saw our first (but not last) goats of the trip not long after this. I am pleased to see the Reserve will be closed in a couple of months for pest control.

Arriving at a potential camp a bit too late for a side trip I had planned I ummed and ahhed about whether we would camp high. Having had some spectacular high camps recently I was keen on the idea – but also aware it was a lot colder than the previous weekends we had been out. In the end I decided it was a nice spot and I didn’t have a certain low camp spot in mind, so better to stick with a known one. Keen to keep moving to avoid getting cold everyone came on a water run despite only half of us needing water. There was no problem finding water in the creek we dropped into. We saw a wild dog (probably trying to catch a goat!) just before we headed off to get water so were glad to see our gear was untouched when we got back.

Getting back to camp it was almost sunset so we headed out to the cliffs. I had barely put together 3 crackers & cheese before my fingers could hardly hold the knife. The wind was biting and after about 10 minutes half of us decided we couldn’t hack the cold and headed back to the relative shelter of the trees.

There was some grumbling about the lack of fire – they are not permitted under the Winburndale Plan of Management. Everyone had been warned in advance so should have come prepared. Gas canisters were being nursed inside our down jacket to improve their performance. Vivien’s metho needed the same treatment as it wouldn’t light initially. There were some very early retirements to bed and sleeping bags to try and get warm. Alex, in somewhat typical fashion, had forgotten his usual sleeping “mat” (ratty piece of foam). Fortunately for him Vivien had gone exploring when we first arrived at camp and miraculously found an almost brand new compact foam mat in the bush.

I think we all had a fairly cold night, and getting up wasn’t a particularly enticing idea when we were engulfed in cloud. The advantage of not having a fire was that I felt no guilt in boiling the billy in our vestibule and having coffee and breakfast in the tent. I replanned the route given the weather. I ditched a loop to the north and added few more fire trails instead of creeks given the general damp feeling. Vivien & Lauren suggested we go for a short walk along the cliffs as there were good views (or had been the night before!). We started off in the cloud with no views but by the time we got to the edge it had lifted enough to see what was out there.

Back with our packs we headed off soon heading down, down, down into a creek. Being the upper reaches I wasn’t expecting much but it was flowing and had some interesting conglomerate rocks in it. There were some helpful wildlife tracks along the edge but after a few hundred metres I decided we’d seen enough and headed up a spur to meet a fire trail.

We had a short morning tea at the top, the cold didn’t lend itself to lingering, then followed the fire trails for a while.

Eventually we headed off the fire trail down a spur. It wasn’t that steep but after several descents already in the trip I think most of our stabilising muscles were protesting from lack of use. Finding a lovely lunch spot near the bottom my legs were glad for a break.

From there it was one more hill back to the cars for a mid-afternoon finish. Winburndale is unburnt, beautiful bushwalking country – very little scrub, mainly open eucalypt forest. There’s definitely a few more adventures to be had there – hopefully in slightly warmer weather though!

My employer “asking” me to take 4-5 days of leave a month to assist with the economics of Covid provided a perfect opportunity for a 4 day walk. Initially I’d thought Nattai or Morton but having been there the previous 2 weekends we decided something a bit more unachievable for a standard weekend was needed. Tom suggested the Bylong Labyrinth which fitted the bill being a longer drive than we’d normally contemplate. Unsurprisingly there weren’t any other takers so it was just me and Tom who left Sydney early on Thursday morning.

The trip had a fair amount of adversity in it, and it started during the drive up. We passed the Wallerawang Power Station to find a barrier across the road. The Castlereagh Highway was closed near Ilford due to a semi-trailer crash, we’d have to get to Rylstone via Glen Alice. So somewhat later than intended we left the car at 11am.

Walks in previous weekends had shown that there was plenty of water around. Rock pools with water had been in abundance on the tops in the Nattai. We knew the Bylong area was problematic for water but given our heavy packs at the start of 4 days we opted not to load up on water at the start, hoping we’d find some.

We skirted around the first pagoda and then some grunt work got us up onto the start of the range we hoped to traverse. Things were quickly more technical than anything done in the prior weekends, with pack passing and exposed scrambling. Soon we arrived above a saddle. Unfortunately it was a reasonable drop to get into the saddle, and we couldn’t see any other ways to get down into it. The lack of suitable anchors was a moot point since the rope we had with us wasn’t long enough to get down anyway. Retracing our steps we didn’t find anywhere we could drop down and sidle, so it looked like going back to the bottom and skipping this section was our only option.

Bylong Labyrinth 1 – Tom & Rachel 0

Having accepted defeat we had lunch before dropping back to the valley floor. It was a warm day and the pagodas didn’t seem to form pools so there had been no water on the ridge. Water was needed before the end of the day. Given our circumstances we opted to follow the dry creek until we found water. The walking was relatively easy and we covered the ground quickly until we reached the spot Tom had expected water might be above ground. There was water. Yay!

We found a cleaner flowing source in a small side canyon, so after an explore downstream we sculled a few cups each, then filled up with enough to get us through the night and part of the next day.

It was a slog up the nearby spur to get back onto the spine of the main ridge we had been spat off earlier in the day.

Late in the afternoon we viewed the main top we were hoping to camp on. The ascent options looked somewhat imposing but a treed ramp had promise so traversing under the cliff line we sought a way through the cliffs. As we approached the ‘treed ramp’ it became clear it was more of a slopey rounded cliff line. No go. Then we attempted to get to the point. Massive drop-offs. No go. Retreating as the sun rapidly approached the horizon we had another look at a couple of options we had walked past earlier. Maybe one of them was doable, but we were running out of light and retreated back to the saddle and sought out a flat-ish space that would fit the tent.

Bylong Labyrinth 2 – Tom & Rachel 0

We watched the sunset before settling on a slopey spot for the night. It was a very still night and pleasant around the campfire, though I was exhausted after our early start, the warm day and challenges we’d encountered.

The next morning we had a look at the alternative ascent options in the light of day. If we traversed in the opposite direction maybe we’d find a way up. But after the fires there were few trees and on the slopes everything was loose, rocks were de-laminating, and in the end we decided to give up on the mountain and find a way around it. Tom had intended us to drop into a gully, but I led us down the ridge we’d come up the day before. Assuming we’d be able to drop off the side of it as we descended Tom wasn’t too fussed about my route choice. We kept hopefully walking the right-hand side looking for a ramp down, but nothing except cliffs. Eventually accepting defeat we just followed the spur all the way to the base – in the opposite direction to where we were aiming.

Bylong Labyrinth 3 – Tom & Rachel 0

By this point I was pretty frustrated with how things were going. Perhaps Tom had created a rod for his own back – normally his analysis of aerial photos and maps in advance meant that the routes we attempt are successful. I found the 1:25k map confusing and it gave little detail in the way of pagodas – contours which in other parts of the Blue Mountains we’d be able to get through were cliffs and rounded pagodas. Tom had made some detailed 5m contours maps using LIDAR data, but even those couldn’t reveal all of the obstacles. I wasn’t used to this sort of defeat. This was meant to be a fun weekend and it all seemed like a disaster. After a council of war we agreed to stick to the creeks for a bit to hopefully give us enough time to make an assault on Goat Mountain.

The creeks were (comparatively at least!) easy going. We finally achieved some (secondary) objectives by making it to the foot of Goat Mountain for lunch, loaded up with water from one of the creeks we’d descended, which was just as well as the Growee River was wide, sandy and completely dry.

The slog up the unburnt ridge with water-laden packs was more typical of the terrain we were used to in other areas. A minor victory – we’d made it onto the ridge line, but there was still over a kilometre of ridge to traverse before we were on Goat Mountain. Tom assured me there were still plenty of things on his 5m contour map that looked tricky. Great.

However, one by one the obstacles were overcome. At one point above another saddle that looked like it require a rope to get in we managed to find a narrow ledge to scurry along. And so it was with much relief we made it on to Goat Mountain.

Bylong Labyrinth 3 – Tom & Rachel 1

My one request for the day had been we would make camp at 4pm so that we had time to set-up and enjoy the sunset (just before 5pm in this darkest time of the year). So a 3:40pm arrival was over-achieving! We found a lovely cliff-edge spot to watch sunset and have happy hour #1. It had been a unseasonably warm, still day, and that stillness extended through the evening which made for a relaxing night around the campfire. I was pleasantly surprised when for happy hour #2 the quality of the port went up a few price points. As it was my birthday the next day Tom had carried in some Rutherglen Grand Port. Yummo.

Knowing there was a change in the weather expected late on the third day we didn’t dawdle in the morning. The plan we’d discussed around the fire was to continue our traverse a short way but then drop down off the tops. However, when we saw the ridge line ahead of us we decided to keep going with our traverse. Some scrambling up the pagodas eventually got us to the top of the next peak. The crumbling rock post-fires added a level of difficulty which I suspect didn’t exist previously.

Winding our way along the ridge we came to a knife-edge saddle that we wanted to cross. Who would have thought saddles would cause the biggest difficulties of a trip? It looked easy enough to cross if we could get into it. Tom managed to scramble down a few levels on the right side with the use of our rope, but was stymied above the final drop.

In the meantime I’d scoped the left and thought it might allow us to traverse on steep slopes. But after descending a loose gully we realised we needed to get down another level and an even steeper gully was the only option. If we’d had a longer rope we might have given it a go but in the end beat a chastened retreat.

Bylong Labyrinth 4 – Tom & Rachel 1

A review of the map showed a couple of other ridges were options for getting off the mountain, but Tom had not anticipated us going that far north so there were no detailed 5m contour maps! Easy walking soon got us to the ridge with the widest contour lines on the 1:25k map and we started making our way down. A perfect lunch spot caught our eye just above the saddle we were aiming for. We enjoyed lunch, the views and Tom looked at the aerial photos. His prediction: “it’s going to be a sh*t to get into the saddle”. Great.

Sure enough we ended up on a pagoda about 10m above the saddle. I was about to embark on a sidle on the side of the ridge we didn’t want to be on, before Tom pointed out we might be able to work out way round on the other side. Fortunately with a couple of small drops negotiated we had made it to the saddle! One minor objective achieved but we had 3 more for the afternoon; make it down the side creek to Lee Creek, find water, find a campsite. The only one that was causing me any (minor) concern was the water, whereas Tom was thought our side creek could turn into a canyon.

Soon enough we hit water so another big guzzle was had to make sure we were hydrated, though we weren’t inclined to load up at this point with still a 1km to go down the creek. Next minute the creek was dropping into a pool that was rather large and possibly quite deep. Skirting around it the creek dropped away and we were soon many metres above the creek floor. Fortunately I was able to climb down through a quasi-canyon in the side creek.

Having hit more water we decided we should just fill up, and then not long after we arrived at the Lee Creek junction. Two more minor objectives achieved. Surprisingly, given our experience of the the water courses so far on the trip, Lee Creek was flowing healthily. I was keen to ditch some of the water in my pack but Tom didn’t want to… so instead we carried 7 litres of water while we walked alongside a healthy creek.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the extra weight took it’s toll and by 3:30pm I was ready to find a campsite. We still had a lot of distance to cover the next day but we hadn’t come across many good sites, so when we got to one we decided to stop for the day. Washing off the accumulated grime/ash/charcoal from the previous 3 days was a good feeling! High camps are lovely but camping next to a flowing creek definitely has some benefits.

There was no sign of the weather change yet. We hoped the rainfall models prior to the trip proved correct and the rain would all come during the night.

The rain did arrive during the night, but a bit later than the models had suggested 3 days earlier and so when we woke it was still raining. It didn’t seem close to easing so we ate breakfast in the tent and packed up in the rain. This meant our earliest start of the trip – 8am. Fortunately not long after we started the rain stopped.

Early on we’d gone with the wet feet option in the river which made progress pretty quick. Lee Creek was lovely and easy walking, though sections of quick sand existed for the unwary. Tom’s useful advice to me: “walk like an ant, not like an elephant”. I think that’s up there with “think light thoughts”. We both got stuck in quick sand a couple of times, Tom the worst of it up to his mid-thigh.

I needed coffee having skipped it in the morning so we had morning tea and boiled the billy in a small overhang stocked with dry leaves.

From there we powered up the rest of Lee Creek and hit the fire trail around 11:30am. We dutifully skirted the inholding rather than following the road and then had lunch on a small pagoda.

Eventually back at the cars at 2:30pm, with time to get to Rylstone before all the cafes shut!

Final tally?

Bylong Labyrinth 4 – Tom & Rachel 2

We’ll be back for a rematch!

A second weekend in a row we were out the house! Yay! This ended up being a pretty bludgy trip – probably wouldn’t have been the case pre-fires. The walking was super easy everywhere, other than the nasty little burnt off spikes waiting to trip you up or pierce your shoes when you’re not paying attention.

Tom spent hours photographing this waterfall so I went exploring downstream. I would have liked to have gone further but I hadn’t discussed my plans with Tom so thought I shouldn’t go too far.

When I got back I couldn’t find Tom so ended up climbing up on the cliff to try and spot him. Turns out he’d still been photographing the waterfall…

We were fortunate it was a still night and we had a pretty good night’s sleep. It poured (as forecast) overnight but had cleared by the time we got up in the morning. The morning also brought a bitterly cold wind – we were very glad that was nowhere to be felt the night before it would have made for a miserable night.

Another lovely weekend in the bush. Long may it last!

It’s been a long time between overnight walks. I’ve been surprised at the number of people who have said to me “but you’ve still been able to do your bushwalking during Covid haven’t you?” Well. There was that restriction on non-essential travel. Oh yeah, and that other restriction on no camping. So, if you think “my bushwalking” involves an hour on local bush tracks then yeah, sure, I’ve been able to do my bushwalking.

We went 2 months without using the car – a weekly visit to the supermarket was done on foot or bike, we were both working from home, and when we left the house for exercise (as permitted!) it was locally on foot, bike or pack-raft (or a combination of all 3). Now that NSW travel is permitted the options are still limited as many of our usual bushwalking haunts are closed due to the devastating bushfires and floods that occurred during summer.

On our first week of permitted travel/camping post-Covid we struggled to come up with an option for a 3-day walk because of the limitations of park closures. I didn’t have particular hopes for our intended route other than I was pretty sure we were unlikely to bump into other people – something I treasure and has been limited of late. This may sound ironic given I’ve been isolated at home with days at a time where the only person I spoke to was Tom. All our local bushtracks were well used during lockdown (which is a good thing), and I was searching for isolation in the bush, something I haven’t been experiencing locally.

So my heart was filled with joy as as we discovered sensational vistas, solitude and promising signs of regeneration after the fires on Wanganderry Tablelands.

The first day the weather came to the party. It was sunny, still, a brilliant temperature for bushwalking and I don’t think it could have been any better. After a couple of hours of pleasant enough bush tracks we emerged onto a rocky ridge reminiscent of the area near Point Cameron. The views stretched as far as the eye could see with familiar features of Mt Colong, the Blue Breaks and maybe even Kanangra Walls.

So pleasant was the walking and amazing the views that we lingered perhaps a little longer than we should have. Eventually I gave Tom the hurry up. We still had a few more kilometres to go before the spot Tom had picked out on the map as the campsite for the night. It was a good thing we got moving as we left the rocky platforms and made our way onto a flat featureless ridge we slowed down significantly. The scrub was never dreadful but even with the fire there were slow sections with numerous entangled burnt out trees. The first walk in almost 6 months with an overnight pack was also telling on us and we were very happy to get to ‘the spot’ at 4:30pm. The light was golden, so there was no thought of setting up camp, instead we dumped packs, retrieved cheese, port and cameras and settled in for nature’s show.

As we set up camp in the fading dusk we were treated to a spectacular moon rise. The full moon was fortunate as Tom discovered his head torch had no life in it. The stillness which we had enjoyed all day continued through the evening, capping off one of the best days I’ve had in the bush.

It was a perfect night’s sleep to cap off the perfect day. I don’t remember a thing between falling asleep and waking up 5 minutes before the alarm was due to go off. We were up early for sunrise, and coffee on the cliffs.

The previous evening we’d mulled over the options for day 2. Eventually settling on an option which maximised use of the daylight hours and our location. With significantly lighter daypacks we headed further along the ridge to see how far we could get before our turn around time. The going was much easier than the previous afternoon, mainly on cliff edges with constant views.

We reluctantly turned-around after morning tea and headed back to camp for lunch. Friends were also in the area and we were hoping to meet up with them to camp for the night. There was a slight chance they might day trip out to where we’d camped. Neither of us gave them great odds on turning up, and so it wasn’t surprising there was no sign of them even after we’d had lunch and packed up. Our faith should have been stronger as we did bump into two of them not long after we set off.

Thanks to the recent rains in the last couple of months there was a lot of water about, and we didn’t have to drop far down into the small creeks to find some when needed.

A few hours later we had no trouble locating the rest of our friends and quickly set about getting settled in so we could enjoy another sunset. The wind had come up and was bitingly cold but that seemed a small price to pay for the views. Toasted marshmallows and chestnuts finished off the evening, and we mostly made it to bushwalkers midnight.

I’m not sure our friends were quite so happy we camped with them after another pre-dawn wake-up (and associated bag rustling) for sunrise viewing.

Despite the early wake-up breakfast was leisurely and we didn’t go our separate ways until 9:30am.

We took our time at morning tea… and at a lunch… which was a nice change from the previous two days where it had been a bit more go, go, go. The weather was more akin to the first day so it was a pleasure to sit in the still sunshine.

Eventually it was time to head towards the cars, enjoying all of the signs of recovery as we went. A wonderful long weekend in a new part of the bush.

 

Walking in the last few months has been pretty lean, firstly with the fires, and then with ongoing National Park closures to allow the parks to recover from the fires. Budderoo National Park was largely unaffected by the fires, with the bonus it is near our annual Club camping weekend.

Despite an increasingly dire weather forecast, which unfortunately did come to fruition, it was great to get out in the bush. An unexpected benefit, being away from news and updates even for only a few hours, was the mental relief from the current bombardment of updates about Covid-19. I would highly recommend it as a strategy if you’re finding the current state of affairs a little overwhelming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the cars, soaked and cold, we beat a hasty retreat to the Robertson Pie Shop. Fortunately the rain did stop and we had a wonderful evening at the Club’s annual camping weekend.