Return to Dharug

DHARUG NP – 24-25 August 2024
Now that I’ve been training for over a month, it was time to test whether the “getting fit” plan was working.  So, Trish and I decided that we’d tackle the fire trail in Dharug (and its biggish hill) to test our fitness.  We had planned for 3 days walking but as it looked like rain at the end of day 2, we called it quits (and that’s a story in itself).

John G and Jim C joined us for the walk, John had plans to photograph some aboriginal art and Jim came along for the ride.

We left the cars at the bottom of the hill and started at 9am.  Trish and I were both thrilled that we climbed the 200m (1k) hill without stopping (that’s a first for me lol).

Then it was a 6k slog on fire trail to our proposed campsite which, based on previous experience had water close by.

We passed by Aboriginal art sites, 8, 9 and 10, this is probably around group 9, I love the rock formation here the art sites are at the back of me when I photographed this.

We were at the campsite by lunch, set up camp and Trish sussed out the water … and the creek was DRY, not ideal but we had other options.

We decided that, as half the day was gone, we would walk out onto a nearby ridge looking for some art sites (group 23).  The 2k walk was relatively easy with little or no dense scrub.

Along the way we came across this echidna (hiding from us).

We didn’t find anything other than great views and then decided that we would drop down into the headwaters of a major creek to pick up water for the night.  Neither Trish nor I was happy about doing this (thinking more of the uphill climb after crossing the creek).  At the end of this rock slab was a small soak.

Trish getting some water out of the soak before we headed down to the creek.

Filling up at the creek.  In actual fact, the walk up to the ridge to return to camp was pretty easy and we were back at camp by 5pm.

We set up camp, collected firewood and then sat around until some of us had dinner.  Once it was dark, Trish, Jim and John set off back to groups 8, 9 and 10, so that John could take photos of the aboriginal art using torch light.  I stayed in camp, not willing to do the 5k round trip to go back to the sites, Trish and I think we’ll do a walk one night in the future to see groups 9 and 10 (Trish visited 9, but not 10).

This gives you an idea of what you can see at night, we would not have seen this detail in daylight. You can see where the first nations people drilled holes and then joined them up, this is how you can determine with it’s an engraving as opposed to a natural formation of the rock. (photo John Gray)

They got back around 8 or 9pm by which time I was in bed.  Next morning we decided that we would go out to look for engraving site Group 1, which was a good 5k there and back.

We found this cairn along the way which we hadn’t found before.

And another engraving in the area of groups 1, 3 and 4 which we hadn’t found before.

And an interesting hole in the rock (thanks for posing Jim).

The hole in the rock, Jim did a “through trip”.

I entered from the top (whereas Jim went in from below), not sure Jim could have extricated himself.

Not finding anything in the area of Group 1, we headed over to Group 2, so that Jim could see the amazing engravings there (where we’d have lunch).  Unfortunately, the artwork at Group 2 weren’t as visible as they were the first time we went there.  A big disappointment.

By now we were thinking about what we’d do next.  The wind was picking up and it looked like rain coming in from the north-west.  Jim was only staying the one night so he’d be walking out when we got back to camp, so Trish, John and I decided that we’d probably call it “over” and walk out too.  Depending on how we felt when we got back to camp.

We were back by 2pm so Trish and I decided to pack up (we’d already said goodbye to Jim), we’d just wait for John to return and then make a decision as to whether we’d walk all the way out or camp somewhere along the way if we got tired.  After all, we’d already walked 10k today and it was another 7k to the cars.  We set off, picking up some water at one of the creeks along the fire trail.  By this time we’d decided that walking 17k was probably doable (despite carrying our heavy packs for the last 7k LOL).  And we were back at the cars (at almost dark) at 6pm.

So, Trish had achieved her goal (her first overnight walk after having new knees), and I’d achieved my goal, did the first day easily and then surprised myself with the 17k walk out.

Thanks to Trish for putting the walk on and to Jim and John for your company and enriching the walk.

Stunning display of wildflowers … here’s what we spotted

Terrestrial orchids, these ones were about the size of a 5cent piece, very small (1/2″), there were loads of them around, I hadn’t seen them before, plus a couple of larger varieties, but didn’t have my camera for them LOL.  One of my followers, Maureen, has let me know that this is probably a Small Waxlip Orchid (Glossodia minor).

This very weird native flower had never seen it in the bush before.  Maureen has researched this and it’s probably Bossiaea walkeri (Cactus Pea), thanks Maureen!