Saturday 14 Sep 2019. St Peters and Newton Urban Walk.

After meeting at St. Peter’s railway station at 10 am, about a dozen of us spent an hour exploring nearby Sydney Park. This historic site was originally the first brickworks in the colony and then a landfill site known as Tempe Tip. Sydney Park is now a superb, well established blend of open space, sporting and youthful entertainment, a fabulous wetland full of abundant bird life and the historic landmark tall chimneys.

King Street was the venue for our morning tea and coffee. Parliament on King is a tiny coffee shop that serves up a fabulous cuppa.

We then embarked on a leisurely 2.5 km stroll through Newtown investigating street art, not graffiti. Of special interest was a muralist, Fintan Magee, who has given Newtown much to look at, enjoy, laugh with and think about. Lunch was in the Young Henry boutique brewery.

Behind King Street is the historic St Stephens church, with a cemetery dating from the 1850s. This was of interest to several members of the walk who visited their relatives.

Some of us finished up at Newtown railway station and others extended the walk to admire a interesting mixture of architecture at Lifehouse, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the Perkins Centre, and the Great Hall at Sydney University. By then we were exhausted so jumped on a bus to Broadway and home.

Thanks to Annette Fitzallen for doing the research to make this an interesting and different outing.

Saturday to Saturday - 31 Aug to 07 Sep. Nordic Week, Charlotte Pass.

Another successful week away at our beautiful lodge at Charlotte Pass.

Here’s a day-by-day summary of our XC Nordic Week activities:

  • Sun 01 Sep - Spencers Ck, Betts Ck, Betts Camp, Johnnies Plain - 10.6 km

  • Mon 02 Sep - Kosci Rd, Clarke Trees 1, The Junction, Snowy Gorge, 2nd Rd Ck - 11.1 km

  • Tue 03 Sep - Foxhole Saddle, Restaurant Ruin, Trapyard Ck (contour descent) - 10.1 km

  • Wed 04 Sep - Stilwell Saddle, Kangaroo Ridge, Spencers Cairn, Andys Cairn, Merrits Ck, Middle Ridge, Andys Leap - 14.4 km - good firm snow

  • Thur 05 Sep - Trapyard Ck (climb spur), across to pole line and down Wrights Ck - 7.9 km

  • Fri 06 Sep - deteriorating weather - 250 mm new snow o'night

Show these snaps to your skiing friends and get them to join SASC if they haven’t already. This terrain on the Main Range and Snowy River valley is the best XC skiing in Australia.

All photos David Dalwood.

Sunday 04 Aug 19. Callicoma Walk, Cherrybrook.

On a rather cool August morning, twenty-two of us set off from the Cherrybrook home of our leader Ron McCann.

It was not long before quiet suburban streets gave way to the beautiful Callicoma Walk in the upper reaches of Berowra Valley National Park. There were plenty of Acacias out in flower, and the noise of sulphur crested cockatoos was quite deafening at times. We were lucky enough to spot a couple of these beautiful birds feeding their young ones nesting in a rather large tree stump.

We all followed a tributary of Berowra Creek, happily chatting, before half of the group missed an inconspicuous right turn, and continued on along the flat for about 15 minutes. The error became clear when the straying group emerged from the bush onto busy Boundary Road!

Mobile phones worked to reestablish contact with the front-runners, and soon those who had made the small navigation error were on the right path, following the track uphill to a wonderful sandstone platform with views back down the gully - a perfect morning tea spot. The front-runners had, by now, done with morning tea and continued on ahead of the second group. Now it was midday, and the weather had warmed up so that we could discard some layers as we continued on this most pleasant walk.

Ron was now guiding the second group, so there were no short cuts home, despite that possibility arising! So eventually, three quarters of an hour after the front-runners made it to Ron's place, we all met up for wine, cheese and biscuits before a BBQ lunch.

Incidentally, this walk is named after Callicoma, an Australian genus with only one species, Callicoma serratifolia, whose common name is (rather misleadingly) Black Wattle.

Many thanks to Ron for organising the walk today and for having us all back at his place for BYO lunch.

Sunday 07 Jul 19. Royal National Park - Wattamolla and Marley Beach.

Sunday 7 July started with thick fog blanketing much of Sydney. However, that didn’t deter 24 keen walkers from heading to Wattamolla in the Royal National Park for the July bush walk.

A beautiful clear sky revealed itself by the time the group commenced walking at 10.15 am heading north for Marley Beach. Just about half of the walkway is on constructed platform allowing easy walking. The group stopped on the cliff tops for morning tea and for the balance of the cliff top walk to Marley we experienced viewing of countless whales as they headed north. Some breached, while others splashed tails or simply blew spray into the air.

Lunch was taken on the rocks nearby Marley Beach overlooking enthusiastic surfers catching tubing noisy waves.

The return journey back allowed more whale watching and viewing of the spectacular coastal scenery. Overall it was a great day which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Sunday 02 Jun 2019. Coal Loader.

Meeting place for today’s walk was Wollstonecraft Station. We then walked around Berry Island and across to the Coal Loader for morning tea. After a circuit of Balls Head we walked though Carradah Park and around to Sawmillers Reserve for lunch. After lunch we headed for Milsons Pt Station via MacMahons Pt and Wendy Whiteley's Garden. A great walk with fabulous harbour views and lots of history.

It’s actually an interesting piece of history that Berry Island was part of a grant of land made by Governor Macquarie to Alexander Berry and Edward Wollstonecraft in 1820. Over the years the island became linked to the mainland, first by a stone causeway over the mudflats, and then by a program of reclamation during the 1960s.

Thanks to Geoff and Ursula for your leadership.

You can see a map of our walk by clicking here. (Please be aware that this map link may not work for some Apple mobile device users)

Sunday 05 May 19. Lane Cove River Park.

We met near De Burghs Bridge and completed a circuit of the Lane Cove River from the bridge to the weir and back. This was a fabulous 10 km walk, with a mixture of flat sections, steep bits and rock scrambles. Best of all there was even a coffee shop for lunch. Thanks to Sharon, Chris and Harm.

You can see a map of our route by clicking here. (Please be aware that this map link may not work for some Apple mobile device users)

Easter 2019 at Kahane Lodge

Thirty-three members joined us for our annual Easter walking weekend based at the Kahane Lodge. We organised several walks each day including the Porcupine, Illawong, Bullocks Hut, Paliabo Track, Lakes Walk, Rainbow Lake and Thredbo to Kosiuszko.

The annual Lakelight Sculptures in Jindabyne were a popular destination. This popular event grows bigger every year with 137 entries this year.

The Thredbo River and Rainbow Lake attracted our fishermen with Steve and Jackson each returning with a fine catch.

A few members brought bicycles and enjoyed the return ride to the Charlotte Pass turnaround. This is a challenging ride both ways but you can rely on a good tailwind for the run home.

Our shared dinners on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were a great success. Huge thanks to all members who were involved.

Even though it was a late Easter this year we experienced mostly fine weather, with just a few windy days.

We look forward to our next Easter weekend in 2020.

Our great outdoors.

Some four-legged park dwellers.

Lakelight Sculptures down in Jindabyne.

Good company at meal time - plus a couple of strange visitors.

Feb to Mar 2019 - Cootapatamba Hut Rebuild

Cootapatamba Hut was built by the SMA as a hydrographer's hut during the planning for the Snowy Scheme. As a founding member of Kosciuszko Huts Association (KHA) Rex Cox became the caretaker and over the years he was assisted by many SASC members. Eventually SASC became the official caretaker, and the XC and Bushwalking group began organising 2-yearly painting and maintenance trips.

The hut sits below Lake Cootapatamba in the shadow of Mt Kosciuszko and it is exposed to the full force of the Snowy winter. If you have walked from Thredbo to Kosciuszko, then you will have seen the little red hut sitting in the snow grass next to the Swampy Plain River just below the lake.

In early 2019 NPWS inspected the hut and decided that it should be rebuilt. However, since the hut is heritage listed the design had to comply with strict heritage guidelines.

In the winter of 2019 the new frame was constructed at the NPWS Jindabyne depot and exterior cladding boards were cut and painted.

During Feb and Mar 2019, the old hut was moved off its base and the new frame concreted into position using steel supports. Over the next several weeks the new hut was built as a replica of the old hut. The original project plan was interrupted first by bushfires (NPWS staff were called away from the hut project to assist) and then by gale force winds which grounded the helicopter being used to ferry workers and materials.

To assist in the rebuild NPWS asked the SASC caretakers to provide two volunteers each week. The volunteers would be required to hold a White Card, travel to the site via helicopter and camp there for the working week. We originally had 6 volunteers ready to assist but due to weather delays only two members managed to make the trip - Ian Griffith and Jonathon D'Arcy.

By early April the hut was completed and is now a fantastic replica of the original even including its infamous power point.

A great result thanks to the hard work of NPWS, KHA and our SASC volunteers.

Along with our photos from 2019, there is some good history in the first two photos from 1990 and 2007.

01 - 04 Mar 19. Wyangala Waters Camping Weekend.

We had 21 members join us for a camping weekend at Wyangala Waters (near Cowra).

On Saturday we walked from the park to Elliot’s Lookout via the Elliot’s Fire Trail. Morning tea was taken on a ridge overlooking Wyangala Dam, and we returned via the Drovers Fire Trail and Balancing Rock Lookout.

On Sunday there was a variety of outings including the Koorawatha Show and the Cowra Japanese Gardens.