WhatWorkedForMe

Some Bushwalking Notes mostly from NSW

Blue Mountains National Park is one of New South Wales' best known parks, and at over 247,000 ha is also one of the biggest. It is just 50km to the west of Sydney, and is part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area which protects over a million hectares of land. It offers much to both the keen bushwalker and the casual tourist. The edge of the park is relatively developed in areas with information centres, constructed walking tracks and picnic areas. Yet in the interior there is a huge amount of rugged, relatively unexplored country with spectacular gorges and canyons, soaring cliffs and forested ridges.

The trips described in this blog explore that spectacular and rugged country. Many not well documented or often visited. They are mostly off track. Most require more than just bushwalking skills. Most have a combination of serious route finding challenges, a degree of exposure, requirement for scrambing or climbing skills, strong judgement of abilities with prior experience of similar trips, suitable gear.

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Western Arthurs

Western Arthurs is a mountains range in South West Tasmania. This trip completed the range from A to K in a little over 24 hours.

Trip date: Dec 06, 2024

Rookery Nook

Rookery Nook is a historic cave (or two) on the Mount Hay Plateau

Trip date: Oct 24, 2024

Mount Barney

The Mount Barney Massif has ten named peaks. This trip completed six of them in a day.

Trip date: Jul 14, 2024

Govetts Creek

The Horsetrack has recently opened and access to the upper reaches of Govetts Gorge is a lot easier. It's had some rain lately but not enough to close the valley, so I took the opportunity to revisit Edenderry Falls and Hilary Falls, ad head up towards where Arethusa Falls cascades into the valley.

Trip date: Jun 13, 2024

Megalong Creek

Megalong Creek is fairly short, unassuming, and little visited. However, the last 1km before it meets the Coxs River is a delight. After rain it is a turmoil of cascading waterfalls that descends the last 100m.

Trip date: Jun 08, 2024

Larapinta

The Larapinta Trail is an iconic 230km route over the West Macdonald Ranges in the Northern Territory. We didn't do it all. But we did do four days covering 130km covering the highlights.

Trip date: Aug 08, 2023

The real Bennett Lookout

NSW Topo has Bennett Lookout located right on the cliff edge. On the ground there's nothing there to indicate anything special or unusually spectacular that location. However, a couple of hundred meters back from the cliff edge is a flat rock platform with an old cairn and excellent views from West and North right around to the East.

Trip date: Mar 30, 2023

16 Kosciuszko Peaks

The sixteen highest peaks in Australia are all close to each other in Kosciuszko National Park. This trip completed them all in a single day.

Trip date: Nov 30, 2022

Lessons from 100km Trail Run

Since the subsidence of the track after the 2021 rain event, Narrowneck is now a 25km return trip. This trip did the return trip four times in a single day.

Trip date: Nov 11, 2022

David Crevasse - the long way round

David Crevasse is a slot near Mount Banks. It's used as an abseil route by canyoners with an exit back to the plateau nearby. This trip accessed it from the South of the Grose Valley, instead of the more usual walk in from Mt Banks car park.

Trip date: Sep 01, 2022

Burra Korain Western Pass

Burra Korain is one of the lesser travelled ridges. The track is indistinct in places and has a couple of options to miss the main ridge and follow a side ridge. This half day trip visited the nose and descended the cliff face on the western side close to the nose to find a new pass. The return to the plateau was via the previously visited nose chimney.

Trip date: Aug 22, 2022

Longer Runs in Blue Mountains

A collection of longer runs around the Blue Mountains, including UTA options, Hanging Rock, Grand Canyon, Narrowneck, a few around the Grose Valley.

Trip date: Jul 07, 2022