Thursday 27 October 2022

What about that view

One for the botanists

Taking a break

A good walk

Up on the ridge (almost)

And another for the botanists

Glenn, Barry and Rob check out part of the original Clyde Mountain Road built in the 1850’s

Barry, Glenn and Donna tackling one of the steep bits

Checking out the fire damage

Maybe they are planning another walk!

Photos courtesy of Amanda, Donna, Ian and Barry

The Downfall Firetrail is a 7km ridgeline walk in Currowan State Forest. It is a club favourite, scheduled about every 5 years.

The trail runs parallel and south of the Kings Highway between Black Flat Road and Western Distributor. The initial climb to the ridgetop and a few ups and downs along the ridgetop opens up the arteries, but otherwise the route is very pleasant.

The area is a part of the Moruya granite batholith and supports a beautiful open forest of Spotted Gums and Burrawangs with patches of Yellow Stringybark, Maidens Blue Gum and Silvertop Ash.

The ridgetop itself, protected by steep side slopes and large rock slabs, is largely undisturbed by human hand so there are lots of large trees, many showing ample signs of age, and more recently the aftermath of the 2019/20 bushfires

On this warm, sunny and breezy day, 6 Club walkers started at the Western Distributor end and soon were inspecting the impressive dry-stone wall which, to this day, still holds up a part of the original Nelligen to Braidwood Road constructed in the 1850’s.

Climbing 250mtr in elevation to the ridgetop we passed through a significant area of Maiden’s Gum (Eucalyptus Maideni). It is one of the southern blue gums and occasionally found in southern NSW, predominantly on granite soils of higher ground with good rainfall.

Along the ridgetop, with its great views to the south, we looked for, but was unable to spot, the unusual yellow bellied feed tree which we had identified on previous visits. Alas, it may have fallen or burnt in the fires.

We lunched in the sun on a large sloping rock slab and challenged ourselves with identifying the many mountain peaks and ranges to the south and west. We even had a glimpse of The Castle and Pigeonhouse to the north.

The final 2km, downhill, brought us to the cars by early afternoon.

Ian

Wednesday 7 September 2022

Heading down to the beach

Track through shade and trees

Glenn, Neil, Sue, Niamh, and Rob

Walkers on the platform

Walking and learning

Great view south

Wild passionfruit

The walkers

Photos courtesy of Brian and Mary

It is always a pleasure to walk this section of the coast, which is so rich in natural beauty and history.

Seventeen walkers set off in bright sunshine from the Marine Rescue carpark at Kioloa and headed north along the beach. Firm sand made for easy walking along quite a few largely deserted beaches, including Racecourse, Murramarang, Gannet and Cormorant.

Morning tea was enjoyed at pretty Bull Pup Beach, after which we entered the Murramarang Aboriginal Reserve, which holds a very special place in our Indiginous history. Numerous interpretive signs along the track informed us of the long record of human occupation and of the area’s use as a meeting and burial place. Beneath our feet lay the highest concentration of middens to be found anywhere on the South Coast.

Leaving this beautiful haven of bush, we continued north towards more populated areas, passing the rusting remains of the local timber industry, before arriving at Bawley Reserve for a relaxing lunch.

Brian

Sunday 4 September 2022

Mary leads at a cracking pace

Peter, Susan and Elizabeth by the creek

A pleasant spot for morning tea

By the creek – this could be a Turner painting!

Ed, Karen and Sharon at morning tea

There is always a hill when you go back!

Photos courtesy of Karen G, Mary and Denise

Grey cloudy skies did not deter 13 Batemans Bay bushwalkers from embarking on an 8km walk on forest tracks in the South Brooman State Forest to the north of Batemans Bay.

The trek was pretty much a long hike downhill to a clearing by a creek where an enjoyable cup of tea could be had. There the hikers could see a track heading off to right giving rise to a lot of chatter as to where that might lead; the possibility that it might offer a longer walk or a link with other trails and a create a circuit. All yet to be explored for another day!

The walkers, although having planned to lunch at Ingold Knob Lookout, the grey skies led to the decision to have their lunch back home.

After resting up, the group headed back to the cars, mostly following the way they had come. But, as the weather can be these days – unpredictable, as the hikers reached their cars, the sun was now out shining.

Nevertheless, it was a very pretty walk and thanks to Mary for leading it and giving the walkers a great start to their day.

And not to be outdone by unusual sightings, just at the turn onto the Princes Highway, the walkers spied a very handsome black and white rooster scratching away in leaf litter. His back story no doubt, of having to find a new home after a disagreement with his previous co-occupants, who did not always want to be awake every day to see the sun rise, as he did! So here he was now exploring alternative South Coast real estate options.

Denise

Thursday 1 September 2022

Donna, Glenn and Mary in deep discussion

Up hill with determination

Down hill with dexterity

Dressed for Spring

Down and up through a creek

Donna leads the way

One of the creek crossings

Gay resting at one of the (many) creek crossings

Nice of someone to have left a chair!

Regrouping after a climb

Rob heading into Snake Gully

Mary & Donna

Photos courtesy of Amanda, Tom, Mary, Peter and Karen McL

Ten walkers set out on the first day of spring for a new walk in the Wandera State Forest. The walk initially followed bike tracks, winding up and down some gullies, before tackling various ridges in this mountain range just to the west of Moruya.

Whilst it was a lovely sunny day after so much bleak weather, the novelty soon wore off as it became hotter and the hills ascents started in earnest. The irony of the walk name, Duntroon Road, was not lost on a few as it was starting to feel that we were pushing out drills at Duntroon military college!

This area has quite a prevalence of spring flowers during the season and it was nice to see the very early signs of this beginning. Hardenbergia and various pea flowers are just starting to appear. As known, almost all of the area in our region was affected by the 2019/2020 fires and the Wandera State Forest is no exception. The regrowth is prolific and has completely erased the views that were once available from the ridge lines.

Morning tea and lunch were strategically timed after hill ascents but there was no avoiding the final slog up Eastern Boundary Road. Fortunately, if a little too late in everyone’s opinion, cloud cover arrived for that ascent and we were able to make it back to the cars in one piece with the same amount of walkers that began. Always a bonus in my books!

Donna

Saturday 27 August 2022

The interesting, if not a little rough, drive in

Walking single file on the not so wide new boardwalk

Morning tea amongst the wattle

The morning tea falls

The scramble into Gaolhouse Pass

Glenn in Gaolhouse Pass

Pat, all smiles at the bottom of Gaolhouse Pass

The Gaolhouse group

Back to the track from Gaolhouse Pass

The boardwalk ends

The magnificent cliffs

Wildflower hunters in action

Those wildflower hunters on the cliff top

Before the rain

That view

Rain gear on to head back

Not sure a short sleeve poncho is ‘fit for purpose’

Photos courtesy of Donna, Karen G, Amanda, and Mary  

Fifteen of us headed up to Mount Bushwalker for an easy hike on the Mt Bushwalker walking track. The road in, was itself an interesting journey and by far the most difficult part of the outing.

For most this was the first time back to Mt Bushwalker after the 2019/2020 fires and it was nice to see the area with all its new regrowth. We were also keen to check out the work done by National Parks with upgrading the track after the fires.

The views from Mt. Bushwalker lookout are said (by some bushwalkers) to be amongst the best in NSW. The lookout gives 180-degree views across the Clyde River Gorge and its mountainous backdrop – the Shrouded Gods to the north west, the Castle, due west, and Pigeon House to the south west. We were banking on the weather staying fine to enjoy the vistas, and it seemed promising with BOM’s forecast of a 75% chance of no rain.

We set off in what seemed to be perfect weather. We were greeted by a renewed track of board walks, making the walking more than easy, even if we had to do it in single file! Morning tea had us sitting on the board walk near a waterfall in full flow due to the recent rains. The wattle was also in flower everywhere, providing endless photo opportunities of the yellow against the blackened banksias.

Our notes then had 10 of us detouring on a side trip down Goalhouse Pass. The Pass was a bit tricky to find amongst the regrowth, but well worth the search, and not too hard with only one rock scramble. We descended below the escarpment into rain forest untouched by the fires. There we marvelled at the moss and fern covered cliffs towering around us and, of course gathered for a group shot.

For the 5 that did not take the detour, they ambled to the lookout stopping along the cliff to enjoy the early spring wildflowers and the clear views.

Both groups met at the lookout and settled in for lunch. The weather though, only held out just long enough for us to enjoy the views for a few minutes. A squall came in from the east bringing mist and rain. This was, apparently, the 25% chance of rain!

Not wishing to get drenched, lunch was cut short and we all donned our rain gear (some more efficiently than others) to head back to the cars. But despite the wet, it was an enjoyable outing.

Peter

Wednesday 24 August 2022

The old Durras Road

The blokes lagging behind!

They caught up!

A bridge too far (gone)

Karen and Karen (with Peter in the background) spying the remains of the bridge

Well the notes said there was 400m of ‘no track’

A moss garden

Large wonderful trees

Photos courtesy of Glenn, Mary, Karen M and Karen G

Ten Batemans Bay Bushwalkers enjoyed a pleasant forest walk on a lovely sunny day among the trees and vegetation that one comes to expect to see in Durras. This included part of the original Durras Road and the remains of the old wooden bridge.

Karen M, of course, found orchids, many still not yet in flower. Mary received the ‘leech award’. She collected (unintentionally) the most leeches for the day, whilst most of us got none.

Along the way we enjoyed sightings of abundant bird life – grey fantails, eastern yellow robins, and whip birds, but all too quick to photograph.

The walk ended with an added small loop on the eastern side of Skid Ridge Road, before home for lunch.

Thanks to all participants.

Glenn

Sunday 21 August 2022

Flowering orchids cascading from on high

A big specimen at eye level

Detailed study of these tiny flowers

Photos Karen McL

On this fine Sunday morning a small group of Batemans Bay Bushwalkers, opting not to do the scheduled medium/hard walk this day, instead headed to a nearby creek to scout for flowering Bridal Veil Orchids . These orchids are variously called Bridal Veil, Pencil or Rats Tail orchids. Even the botanic name has recently changed from Dendrobium teretifolia to Dockrilla teretifolia.

We were in luck. There seemed to be more orchids than ever flowering on the casuarinas lining the creek – possibly due to all the rain. These only attach to casuarinas and in some cases were flowering all along the trunk of the trees to the very top.

On the path to the creek, we noticed a number of burrawangs with dieback similar to that the Bay Walkers had seen on previous walks at Dark Beach in Murramarang NP. The dieback seems to be caused by a white scale covering the underside of the affected leaves, causing them to yellow and eventually die. The burrawang understorey is extensive throughout our forests on the south coast and we were concerned to see that the dieback seems to have spread to this new location.

Thank you, Joan for leading this walk.

Karen

Sunday 21 August 2022

Following Rodney

A few ups and downs

Di on the steep rough track down to the Bimberamala River

Thigh high crossing – reeds show the way

Rob testing the depth

Navigating the crossing

Mogood Trig

Photos courtesy of Amanda and Rod

The Bimberamala River lies in a deep valley between the Western Distributor and the Clyde Ridge Roads in the Currowan Forest area. It is difficult to access and, for bushwalkers, any walk in ends with a long climb out.

Four intrepid walkers set out from below Mogood Trig on a cheerful sunny Sunday enhanced by excellent walking temperatures.

After a long gradual descent the River proved to be a watery paradise with green rushes stretched out just below the surface in the current. With clear water it was easy to pick a route across the channel through knee to thigh deep water. Although chilly the river was refreshing as the day slowly heated up.

The looping walk took the group through areas in the centre of the 2019 bushfires. While a lot of regrowth had taken place the effects of the fire were still visible if patchy. Down by the river the impact was minimal, indeed more obvious was the vegetation and trees flattened by recent floods. On the ridges some areas appeared badly burned on one side of the road while on the northern and eastern sides burning was much less obvious.

Down by the river again, where the group stopped for lunch, it was obvious that the leech population remained healthy. However, overall there was little wildlife to be seen or heard, apart from a group of five trail bikers. Recent vegetation regrowth was dramatic, clearly enhanced by two years heavy rain and a few spring wildflowers were popping out in the wetter areas.

After a long and taxing climb the group reached the top of Mogood Trig where 4×4 drivers were celebrating a sunny afternoon. The views from the summit in all directions were magnificent!

Rod

Thursday 18 August 2022

Karen enjoying the track

The lake track was mostly above water level

Except in a few low lying spots

Looks more like a bayou

Karen, Rob, Donna and Simeon

Simeon and Rob at the Discovery Trail

And encountering a small obstacle

Durras Lake closed to the sea

Photos courtesy of Karen, Donna and Glenn

The purpose of today’s excursion was to walk the entire length of Durras Lake. The lake track starts on Mt Agony Road and joins the lake at its northern extremity. It then follows the lake all the way to where it meets the sea. Although at the moment, it doesn’t meet the sea and consequently the lake is overflowing its banks. The track was under water in a couple of spots, but not deep enough to worry our walkers.

We made a quick detour to explore the Discovery Trail located halfway along the walk. Judging from the amount of cleared timber, National Parks have spent a lot of time trying to keep the trail free of obstacles, but we still had to detour around a couple of fallen trees, and there is one giant spotted gum across the track which looks way too big to be removed. We found the location of the old observation tower and axe logged tree, which is now a pile of burned debris and fallen logs.

The walk ended at North Durras Beach where we paused for lunch and watched a pod of dolphins floating around near the shore.

Karen

Saturday 13 August 2022

Photos courtesy of Rob

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Seven walkers, including two entertaining visitors, braved an uncertain weather forecast for what turned out to a lovely day of walking around three historic gold and silver mines close to the township of Moruya.

Silver and gold was first reported in the area in 1839 however it was not made public for fear of sparking a gold rush. Word did eventually get out in the 1860’s and the first silver mine was opened. This mine yielded not only silver but also gold to a lesser extent. The ore was heavily impregnated with sulfides so it was sent overseas for both sale and processing. In later years the ore was able to be treated at a smelter in South Australia and an unsuccessful attempt was even made to treat it locally in Moruya. A concrete smelter was built for this purpose but abandoned soon after, in 1914. This roaster was our first stop and it was amazing that it was still in a remarkably good condition, having stood there for just over a hundred years. Although vines and fallen trees have now made their mark upon it.

We then visited another mine site where a ten head stamper, various sheds and a miners cottage were all located in reasonably good condition. Extensive mullock heaps and large holes reminded us of just what a thriving area it would have been in the day. It was great to see that the 2019/2020 fires had stopped just shy of this area, thus saving the wooden and iron constructions from becoming a pile of rubble like so much other mining infrastructure has sadly become after burning to the ground in the surrounding districts.

Following morning tea at the site, we commenced a walk along the nearby creek. The Myrtle trees and moss covered logs provided a lovely backdrop and almost made up for the treacherous creek crossing that consisted of slippery slimy rocks. One wet shoe was, thankfully, the only casualty. After leaving the creek we followed a ridge where we arrived at our third site. This site contained further artifacts and infrastructure from the mining era. Of particular interest was a boiler that had been part of HMAS Sydney (WW1) which was decommissioned in 1928 and scrapped the following year.

After spending some time investigating the area it was time to head back down the ridge to the creek where a pretty lunch spot was waiting. After lunch we followed the creek where further diggings were spotted. Then it was time to walk up the inevitable hill and back to the cars to complete a nice days walk.

Donna