Teddywombat's obsession with bushwalks

Living in Sydney has been such a merit that without going far from home, you can enjoy the beauty of the wilderness. There are no less than 600 walking tracks (according to wildwalks.com) meandering across pristine national parks, reserves and bushlands around Sydney. After a week of busy work, you can easily clear your mind and lungs by diving into a walking track or two during the weekends - keeping away from the crowds, leaving your cares at home and getting closer with Mother Nature.

In Australia, we don't normally call it "hiking" mostly due to the fact that we don't have many high mountains to climb. Plus, Australian native plants have a rather "bushy" feeling, though we do have big trees. With this in mind, hikers tend to call their hobby "bushwalking" rather than "hiking".

I've been addicted to bushwalking since 2006. My initiation was Bill Bryson's best seller "Walk into the Woods." Hence, after completing the book, every weekend the beautiful sunshine would tempt my wild heart to take a walk into the Aussie bushland.

At the beginning, I was studying the street directories to search for the closest tracks. It was exciting to find those green tentacles of Mother Nature stretching among building blocks, roads and railways. Following the traces of dotted brown lines (indicate walking lines) to see where they were heading was just as much fun.

After accumulating more experiences, I started exploring tracks with mid- to high-level difficulties. Finishing all the tracks around my area, I searched for those within moderate driving distances. But the first thing to consider was if the track could be finished within a day. Here is a short list of what I've prepared for a day hike, just for your reference.

• Bring a map with the track you are going to walk through (or a hand-held GPS). Do a bit of research before you set off--otherwise you'll waste some time in doing so along the way.
  
• Wear sturdy hiking shoes - remember, don't wear sneakers on rugged tracks, or your feet will complain!
  
• Drink plenty of water in any weather condition, no joking.
  
• Use sunscreen and sunglasses if you walk under the blazing Aussie sunshine.
  
• Bring a torch in case you miss your turn and schedule - blundering in the dark night forest is one of the most miserable experiences (it hasn't happened to me yet, but you can imagine how it would be).
  
• Other beneficial add-ons include a cap, camera, walking stick, a bag and some snacks. If you feel bored, an iPod may help you kill the silence.
  
• Wear fast-dry hiking pants rather than jeans. This is what I learned from Bill Bryson's experience--it's a very practical suggestion.
  

To list a few of my most favorite walking areas which I've been waded through:

1. Garigal National Park and Middle Harbor area: Located in the Lower North Shore area of Sydney Metro, Middle Harbor area provides probably the most delicate views, with lush native plants and expansive harbor inlets. Most tracks are well maintained in this area. One of my favorite is Two Creek Track. There are swift drops, leafy glade territories, wooden bridges hanging over babbling brooks, small waterfalls bumbling over black rocks and marshy mangrove banks--and the views across upper reaches of Middle Harbor are just sensational. Located right between residential blocks, Garigal National Park has no shortage of wild animals. There are flocks of cockatoo and rainbow parrots; mysterious water dragons (a kind of lizard) taking sun baths on boulders along the bank; wild cockerels wandering across the bushes. I once saw a mother fox playing with cubs along a secluded creek.

2. Berowra Valley and Hornsby area: There are plenty of picturesque tracks here, and they are far more difficult and wilder. A long section of the Great North Walk (Sydney to New Castle) runs through the whole region along the deep valley and Berawra Waters. But I rather prefer another thread of tracks from Gibbergong, passing Bobbin Head to Berowra Track before reaching Brooklyn Station. The view is just spectacular - very dynamic terrain alongside the tracks and very expansive valley water view. It's said that once a humpback whale entered the Mooney Mookey Valley in 1950s. It's a pity I missed the whale, but I did bump into a huge goanna of 1.5 meter long. Without any preparation, I was scared out of my wits at the first sight--but he was rather calm in seeing me.

3. Central Coast: This is a bit far from the Sydney Metro area, probably a 2-hour drive to the north, so I could go all day and hardly meet a soul. One highlight is the Bouddi Coast Walk stretching along the coast line of Bouddi National Park. Any angle of the ocean view on the track is just immense. Besides the cliff top walk, the track also strings up a couple of small beaches. Just imagine that a full kilometer-long, sandy beach is totally yours. Every time while passing an empty beach, I would be totally immersed in the beauty and calmness of Mother Nature. Not long ago, I met a big snake along the Bouddi Coastal Walk. That was another calm animal of decent size that I met alone in the wild. He even posed for me to take a couple of photos, and his cool, brown gaze was quite unforgettable.

Beyond Sydney bushwalks, I would target New Zealand for world-famous tracks such as Milford and Routeburn Track. I once hiked Kepler Track alone last September when I traveled to New Zealand South Island. With the enormous alpine view, none of the Aussie tracks could compare. The best thing about walking New Zealand tracks is that every different piece of scenery is vividly spread in front of your eyes - cold, white alpine mountains; far and expansive pastures dotted with pearl-like sheep; the huge mirror of a glacial lake; colorful layers of mountain vegetation ... Without the thrusting mountains, the meandering green land would be too sweet; however, without the prosperous colors of vegetation, the mountain themselves would feel too cold. Does Mother Nature teach us a vivid lesson on how to treat our own life?

Walking the Wentworth Tracks

I have been to Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains for no less than 5 times. However each time was a short lingering without hitting the bottom of the Fall.
Last weekend I finally made up my time to walk a full circle from so called “Valley of Waters” to Wentworth Falls.

The planning was a bit painful because there are so many side paths on map. To decide which track to take needed a bit study. A website called “Wild Walks” became a great help. It maps out some most popular tracks as well as very specific track notes.

So my trail was something like this: started from the end of Fletcher Street, followed the track along the side of Conservation Hut descent all the way to the Valley of Waters, then trudging through the long Wentworth Pass to hit the bottom of magnificent Wentworth Falls. Then climbing up the Slack Stairs to the top of the Fall (rising up around 900m), then follow the Undercliff Walk and Overcliff Walk until hitting back to Conservation Path.

I drove off from home at 6am when stars were blinking. Though the traffic was dead thin, it still took me around 1.5 hours to reach Wentworth Falls. The sun rose from the back while I was about to arrive, tinted everything with a golden fringe, looked like a promising day.

The track starts off with no drama at all – well paved and maintained. However covered by foliage there were no much breath-taking scenes until Queen Victoria Lookout and Empress Lookout. Sounds Aussies are quite reminiscent about their Anglo-Saxon roots. Though the scene is nothing like England.

A few more minutes later I arrived at Valley Of Waters. It was a series of small waterfalls, nothing gigantic but very delicate. Since it’s hiding deep in the valley, I could even feel the waves upon waves of moisture rushing through the atmosphere. And of course no short of vegetations, no naked rocks can be seen – they are all covered by thick moss.

Passing the Valley of Waters was the joint of National Pass and Wentworth Pass. National Pass is said to be a “easier” walk. Of course I would choose the more difficult one, which is marked as for “experienced walkers only”.

Since the sun was blocked by the cliff, it was rather chill and gloomy along the whole track. Though I didn’t find it’s very difficult comparing with tracks I walked before. I didn’t make any mistake at all in finding the track. A couple of spots need a bit climbing but nothing major. Oh well, I think I must be in the “experienced walkers” group now. I was longing to meet a wild animal along the way – a stout wombat would be ideal, but to my disappointment no ground animals appear at this season except ants. The relief was that there were never short of birds chirping, all song birds, no coarse songs of cockatoos or magpies.

Soon I hit the bottom of Wentworth Falls, and it’s for sure much more majestic than those in the Valley of Waters. It is said the water to be falling from 800 meters above the top of the cliff. Standing at the bottom, I was not able to see the top, the fall has been segmented into 3 steps. Every time I came to see the Wentworth Fall, there were plenty of people up on the top, where you could drive to arrive. But now sitting on a big boulder at the bottom of the fall, I didn’t see a single soul for half hour. There are sure some steep climbing on the cliff.
And that was true, the beginning of the Slack Stairs was quite steep, 4-5 sections were almost vertical. At one spot there were no stairs, just a thick rope dangling from above. This part is definitely not for faint heart.

However after elevating from the Slack Stairs, there was no drama at all. When I was about to reach the top, a lady talked to me considerably “You still got long way to go, young man!” “Oh really? I think I’ll be fine” I said. And I was sure to be fine.

The Undercliff and Overcliff walks loop back to Conservation Hut were no challenge at all and I got back to top within half hour.

Looked at my watch, 3.5 hours I spent, including all the stops. Though no much excitement, I finally conquered one of the most famous Blue Mountains tracks. Now I miss New Zealand, the alpine view was just sensational.