Wednesday 17 November 2021
Photos courtesy of Max, Donna, Erika and Philip
Ten walkers set out on a lovely day with perfect conditions for bush walking. The Pollwombra Circuit walk is a brand new walk in the Mogo State Forest and it proved to be a great substitute for the cancelled Narrawallee Nature Reserve hike. Surprisingly, Pollwombra Mountain, on the northern outskirts of Moruya next to the Moruya industrial area, is an area that is seldom visited by the club.
We started the walk along a well maintained motor bike trail, north of Pollwombra Mountain, which has obviously been lovingly restored by the ‘bike boys’ following the fires. The regrowth along the trail is vigorous and extensive so it was a relief to be able to walk along a track without having to watch your every step. We continued on towards Pollwombra Mountain and stopped for morning tea alongside an old trench that was obviously evidence of gold exploration activities from long ago.
After morning tea, we headed along the northern contours of the mountain. This area of the mountain is really quite something. There are stunning granite outcrops everywhere with beautiful grassy gullies and healthy burrawangs, grevilleas and banksias, to name a few. We made our way to an area where the bike track meets an old cpt. road. We have nicknamed this area ‘death adder corner’ owing to the fact that the same death adder (pregnant female) was seen in the same spot on consecutive days just a month or so earlier on previous reccies. Thankfully on this particular walk none of her offspring or any other relatives, for that matter, were sighted.
We made our way uphill towards the summit, passing by more granite boulders, some with rock orchids that have survived the fires. We also observed a large vibrant green hawk moth caterpillar on a leaf, which was well spotted by Erika. Shortly after, we arrived at the Pollwombra trig and took in some lovely views out towards Broulee to the east. The obligatory group photo was taken at the trig and then we made our way back down the mountain.
When we arrived back at death adder corner, everyone was still feeling fresh and strong so we made the decision to detour back to the cars via the beautiful granite creek. We headed along more bike tracks where eagle eyed Phillip spotted quite a large echidna crossing the track up ahead of us. We walked down to a tributary of Lynches Creek that we have dubbed granite creek, owing to its stunning granite formations, hoping that the recent rains would facilitate a good flow. We weren’t disappointed. There were a number of cascades along the creek and it proved to be a great place to have lunch.
After lunch we continued on, past the remnants of a long abandoned drug crop, basically just a water tank and chicken wire, back to the cars. All in all, it was a great day with great company.
Donna G.