Kuring-gai National Park - Towlers Bay Walk.

This park (established in 1894) is where the Hawkesbury River meets the ocean and was the home of the Guringai people. History tells us that in 1790 a smallpox epidemic almost wiped out this tribe.

We met at the McCarrs Creek car park and then drove about 5 km to the trackhead.

This walk explores one of the ridges in the Kuring-gai National Park and leads down a steep hill to Towlers Bay.

In the first section. we walked on a fire trail, which was bordered by masses of wild flowers and grass trees We saw many wattles and the native roses were out in all their glory. Our first stop ( for morning tea) was at the Morning Bay lookout - this affords walkers wonderful views across PIttwater. (Our photo only shows a small section of the panoramic view.) We continued walking - a reasonably steep descent, but fairly easy going. We took a side track to inspect the local Youth Hostel. Those who had not been there before were very impressed - so much so, that there was a suggestion that the group might consider having an overnight stay up there some time. We continued close to the foreshore, but at this point, our plans were altered as the weather changed quite suddenly - what had been a lovely blue sky turned into a rather threatening one.

Had we continued further south to reach Lovetts Bay, we would then have been able to view the exterior of “Tarrangara” - the sometime home of our beloved poetess - Dorothea McKellar (“I love a sunburnt country....”).

We climbed back up the track and had our lunch at what had also been our morning tea spot. Without the sunshine, the view was still quite stunning, but so very different.

Fortunately for us, we were able to return to our cars, and get part way home before the strong winds and rain arrived.

Popran National Park

The park is 65 km north of Sydney and we reached the starting point of this beautiful walk by driving on the F3, and then through Peats Ridge and on through Central Mangrove.

The park’s original inhabitants were from the Dharug and Guringal tribes of the Aboriginal people.

From the very early days of settlement, until 1980, limited logging of red cedar and large hardwoods took place.

The area was declared a national park in 1994.

The park’s geology is predominately sandstone, and at this time of the year there are masses of flowers. Although we have visited the park quite a few times previously, we all commented that it was the first time when we could recall seeing waratahs in bloom. The flowers appeared to be slightly smaller than those we see in other places.

A short walk from our parked cars took us to the official start of the tracks in this section of the park. There was a large information board from which we were able to check our proposed walk.

Our morning tea stop , at the top of Mount Olive ( 309m above sea level) was reached by an easy ascent. From there we had wide views of the surrounds, including the Glenworth Valley. Then onto a fire trail - slightly tricky in parts, simply because of loose stones in some places, meaning that we needed to watch our steps carefully. We were then onto a single file track which took us to Hominy Creek ( this flows into Mangrove Creek, and ultimately the Hawkesbury River. ) How beautiful ! Fed by a small waterfall, this wonderful pool ( shown in Di’s photo) was clear and very inviting. So much so, that three members of the group decided to “test the waters!” The majority of the group was happy to accept their report about the temperature!

After lunch we set out to complete the circuit. The terrain was different to that in the first section - more open and grassy ( as opposed to bushy) and then we walked through Donovan’s Forest on a fire trail again. There were a few “ups” but they were all quite manageable.

On arriving back at our entry point, we re-checked the information board. As we had some in the group who had not done the walk previously, it was interesting for them to see how our day’s effort fitted into the bigger picture.

On the day, the weather was glorious and helped to make this a very pleasant visit to this lovely park.

Artarmon -Milson's Pt. via Berry Is. and Ball's Head

This is always a very popular walk with our members - possibly because it makes us very grateful for the opportunity to walk so close to everything, but yet to be, in another way, so far removed from the busy hubbub of Sydney.

Most of the group met at Artarmon, and even from that point, we were able to walk through the bush before crossing the oval.Then some street walking took us to St Leonards, where we met up with others . We walked through the park and crossed River Road. At this point we entered the bush - Smoothys Park , followed by Gore Cove Park, which naturally, follows the Cove of the same name.

Our morning tea stop was taken at Berry Island Reserve. The next part of the walk passed HMAS Waterhen ( an establishment, not a ship.) At this point we were adjacent to Balls Head Bay. We had our lunch at the most southern point of the reserve - this has Berrys Bay on its eastern boundary and also has the most amazing views across the harbour - we could clearly see Balmain, Pyrmont, the Harbour Bridge, and then the Opera House in the distance. After lunch we followed the shoreline - right around McMahons Point and then onto Lavender Bay.

We were intent on visiting Wendy Whitely’s Secret Garden ( as it is known) - having walked almost right next to it (on a number of previous occasions ) but hadn't known its exact location.

Di’s lovely photo gives you a glimpse of the garden. The story behind it is - after Brett (Whiteley) died in 1992, Wendy started to clean up a large patch of derelict land, overlooked by her home and owned by the NSW Rail Authority. Before she commenced, it was choked with weeds, including lantana, and had loads of junk in it.

She has worked in it constantly since that time. There are benches placed randomly in quiet spots, and spectacular views to the Sydney Harbour Bridge can be enjoyed.

Although the name may give a different impression, the “secret” garden is open to all.

We had a little more street walking before arriving at Milson’s Point. This ended a lovely walk on a sunny winter’s day in Sydney.

Garigal National Park

This park is in the northern suburbs of Sydney. It has two main sections separated by the Forest Way in Belrose.

We were in the southern section ( formerly known as the Davidson State Recreation Area.) This section mainly covers the areas directly around the waterways - all the creeks feed into Middle Harbour.

We met at Stone Parade, Davidson and set off down the fire trail, which is reasonably steep in places. The surrounding bush is thick and very beautiful. Flowering wattles and boronias again dominated.

We reached the Cascades for our morning tea stop. Di’s photo was taken just as we approached them. We saw ducks in the deeper parts of the creek - apparently this used to be a very popular swimming hole for the local children, but is now not considered to be suitable owing to pollution.

Although our plan was to walk towards Davidson Park, it was suggested that perhaps we could do a “reccy” in the opposite direction. Following old ( perhaps out of date?) maps provided by the Park office, we set off on the fire trail. It would appear that a turn-off track was missed and we followed the Quarry Track - which, strangely enough!, took us to the quarry ( the far side of which is on Mona Vale Road). We turned around and walked back down to the Cascades for our lunch.

During our stay there, a group of walkers had a brief stop for nourishment. One of our group spoke with them. She discovered that they were training for the up- coming Oxfam Charity Walk. They had already covered a long distance in the morning and still planned a long afternoon section.

We completed our walk by returning on the fire trail to the cars .

Although we had not achieved what we set out to do, a very pleasant day was spent in the beautiful winter sunshine, with good friends, and in magnificent surroundings.

Historical note: About halfway between the Cascades and Davidson Park ( Roseville Bridge) is an area named Bungaroo, This was the camp site of Governor Arthur Phillip and his party on the first European contact with this area in April 1788. The explorers walked overland from Manly to Middle Harbour Creek. From there they walked to the west as far as Turramurra and then retraced their steps to Middle Harbour Creek.