Due to move and renovation for the past several months, I stopped bush walking for a while. Last weekend I couldn’t hold my itchy heart as well as wandering feet, stepped back to the bush again.
This time I selected Gibberagong track. Meandering from the end of Grosvenor Street, North Wahroonga all the way to Bobbin Head, Gibberagong track stretches 8 kilometres (some say 6), and it’s marked as “medium difficult”.
I started from Wahroonga side. The beginning of the track was quite boring – short bush wings with a wide, straight 4WD track. Gee that’s easy. However my sweat hasn’t come out yet, the terrain changes abruptly. At the end of 4WD track, a narrow path plunges into the steep valley. The trees are so dense that make the visibility quite low (also because it was early morning).
The track is obvious far too wild comparing with the ones I walked before. I almost lost track for a couple of times. Morning fog was still not dispersed and the track seemed to be dark and fearful sometimes. I hurried up to cheer up myself. Fortunately with iPod ear buds in my ears, I was not able to hear the morning songs of forest ghosts.
After a long parachute, I was able to hear the trickling songs of creeks. Hence after, the track was all along water. Sometimes quite wide, sometimes narrow, sometimes quite and sometimes noisy, it is so called Gibberagong Waterholes.
The path is quite rocky and bumpy. I need to pay much attention on my footpath, so I might miss some gorgeous scenes or interesting plants and animals. Even though, I was occasionally stunned by sandstone caves, lush native plants and sudden rise of flocks of birds.
I thought the creek was fresh water, however gradually, there were saltmarshes and mangroves started to appear. The water became broader and broader, and the banks turned from rocky to muddy. Eventually, it joined the Bobbin Head Mangrove Broadwalk.
The Broadwalk is a wooden board paved path, hanging above mangrove saltmarshes. Thousands of baby crabs dig holes in the mud. They come out searching for food on the surface and hide themselves in the holes whenever there are interruptions. I sat aside quietly looking them coming out and in, using their front claws pick up foods from the mud and put into mouths. That’s so cute.
All the highlights came on my way back at the same track. First, I saw axe grinding grooves left over from early aboriginals. There are around 23 grooves. They are varied of depth, width, and length. Those grooves are made from shaping stone implements such as axes or hatches.
Approaching midday, native bush animals were all coming out for food or sunshine. Colourful lorikeets stood at the edge of branches greedily licking nectar from tree flowers. They were so abundant in terms of amount. So were cockatoos. Those big naughty fella made noises so unpleasant to ears. Cannot imagine such elegant looking birds sing so ugly songs, haha.
Turning to a quite broad water pond, I suddenly found a couple ugly looking lizards lining up at the edge of a huge boulder, enjoying sun bath. Noticed human approaching, they nimbly jumped into the pond as fast as lightings. Ahh, they are so called water dragons. I patiently waited on the bank for them to float to the surface, but strangely enough, they were just disappeared. So disappointed I couldn’t take a photo for them, I can only grab one online.
Dragging my sluggish legs back to the top of slop, I were dog-tired, thirsty and sweating all over. That’s why experienced bush walkers advise don’t do hiking during summer in Australia – it’s just so hot, and you can quickly run out of water and energy. Fortunately this is only a short track. I realised till now, I hadn’t met any other hikers yet.
Passed through a thick tree trunk, I suddenly heard an abrupt noise obviously made by some big animals. So frightened, I didn’t look back and dashed myself out to 10 meters. Turning back, I saw a gigantic lizard crawling at the tree trunk, looking at me with funny facial expression. Stalemate for a while, I realised I need to take a photo for this guy, then I gradually approached him, stopped about 5 meters away, and took this photo.
Being awaken by such shock and surprise, I was re-vitalised and back to my car in a short time.
A lesson draw from the bushwalking of this time – carefully study your track before you start, and estimate whether you can finish with your supply (I was almost run out of water). Also, don’t do long tracks in hot summer. In summer, only short tracks in the early morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment