Strickland Tour

I had walked a lot of the trails in Strickland State Forest before and my usual "day off" before a night shift gave me the chance to string all the tracks together for a tour of the park. I had not yet walked the new Ridge to Rainforest track . This well designed and constructed track, by The Friends of Strickland Forest, is superb. Passing through a range of of environments before coming to the the bottom car park. I then took the Arboretum Loop and the Bellbird loop before taking the Stoney Creek Track and the Strickland Falls Loop back to the car, a total of 9.4klm in just under 3 hours.

Well constructed track leads you down from the ridge across some steep gullies, to the creeks and rainforest.

Hoop pine plantation  

Forest giant 

Boulders at the creek Crossing 

Heading to The Arboretum 

Cabbage Tree Palm (Livistona australis)

Narara Creek 

Stoney Creek on the Bellbird Loop 

Strickland Falls. Always just a dribble here. Would love to come back after some good rains to see a bit more volume. We haven't had rain for a while and the creeks and falls were as low as I had ever seen them. 

I really enjoyed this walk and will be back regularly.The vibe in the forest changes with the seasons and the weather.

 Back home in time for a late lunch and a good afternoon nap before work. 

Tomalpin and Werakata National Park

A day in the Hunter Valley before meeting my daughter and her partner for dinner in Newcastle. 

Tomalpin is a isolated hill overlooking Kurri Kurri near Cessnock. It is now part of Werakata National Park. 

Parking the car off Hebburn rd I walked along a fire trail until the steep and eroded track to the top of the hill.

Views from the top over Kurri Kurri towards the coast 

West towards Cessnock and the Brokeback Range

East to Sugarloaf Mountain

looking up at Tomalpin from the hebburn road over an old coal mine.

Then on to another part of Werakata National Park near Cessnock. 

Lunch at Astills Picnic Area before a walk around the old forestry roads there.

On the way across to Maitland an old forestry hut just off the main road.

Pipeline Track, Fitzroy Falls

An easy walk along a well maintained road to a Powerline Lookout over Kangaroo Valley. 13klm return, might have been better as a bike ride.

A good dirt road that heads down along the Fitzroy canal to the pipeline and the Bendeela surge tank.

Pipeline surge tank 

Cleared cliff edge around the pylon. 

Kangaroo Valley 

The town of Kangaroo Valley 

The plateau of Yarrawa, Budderoo and Wattamola 

Wallaroo, Yeomans and Salvation Tracks

On West Head in Kuringai Chase National Park. The Wallaroo track and Yeomans track run off from Salvation Loop  and go out to 2 separate viewpoints over Cowan Creek. 13.2klm all up to do the Salvation Loop and walk to the end of both tracks. Fire Trail walking with only a little up and down.

Looking west over the park from the Wallaroo Track.

Open woodland with a grass understorey on the ridgetops 

First views of the water as you descend off the ridge. Looking up Refuge Bay through the mouth of Cowan Creek and across to Croppy Point on the Hawkesbury River. 

From the end of the Wallaroo track looking down at Cowan Creek. 

A surprisingly busy day on the water with quite a few boats and this sea plane. 

From the end of Yeomans Track looking at Yeomans Bay on Cowan Creek. By this time of the day it was getting hazy from the smoke of the many hazard reduction burns west of Sydney as the Hawkesbury River acts like a funnel/drain and channels the smoke to the coast.

A pair of immature White breasted Sea Eagles were working the track as I came back.