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Volume 38Volume 38Issue 2Issue 2

Autumn 2013Autumn 2013Berowra Waters from the Great North Walk,Berowra Waters from the Great North Walk,A pleasant day walk.A pleasant day walk.

Pagodas, Capertee region.Photo: Michael Keats, The Bush Club

Wouldn’t you like to be here?Wouldn’t you like to be here?

Hiking in the Zanskar region of Ladakh, from Padum to Lamayuru.Photo: Nina Gallo

Bushwalker T he

The Official Publication of Bushwalking NSW Inc

Volume 38, Issue 2, Autumn 2013


ISSN 0313 2684

The Bushwalker | 3

Walk Safely—Walk with a Club

Editor: Roger [email protected]

Graphic Design & Assembly: Barry HanlonProofreader: Roy Jamieson

Confederation Officers:President: David TrinderAdministration Officer:

[email protected]: www.bushwalking.org.auAddress all correspondence to:PO Box 119, Newtown, NSW 2042

Bushwalking NSW Inc representsapproximately 66 Clubs with a totalmembership of about 8,700bushwalkers.

Formed in 1932, Bushwalking NSWprovides a united voice on behalf of allbushwalkers on conservation, accessand other issues.

People interested in joining abushwalking club may write to theBushwalking [email protected] a list of Clubs, but a far moreuseful on-line list is available at theConfederation websitewww.bushwalking.org.au,broken up into areas. There’s lots ofother good stuff there too, includingthe Australian Bushwalking FAQ.

From the editor’s desk. . .

Front Cover: Berowra Waters from the GreatNorth Walk. A pleasant day walk. Photo: RogerCaffin.

IndexWouldn’t you like to be here? 2From the Editor’s Desk 3Mohawk Mtn. to Ovens Creek 425th Annual NavShield 5Raising Warragamba Dam Wall 9First Aid Training 2013 10Never too old. . . A Bushwalk Born of Nostalgia 11Grand Canyon, Blue Mountains 12Devils Throat and the Cliffs

of Camp Creek 14Book Reviews 15

Australian Rain Forest Fruits - a Field GuideThe Gardens of Stone National Park and beyond -Book 3

NAME CHANGE: The Confederation is now known as BushwalkingNSW. There is an optional ‘Incorporated’ at the end, but that is justa legalism and is not needed in ordinary use. However, I imagine

that we will continue to refer to ‘the Confederation’ for quite some time asit is convenient.

Articles for PublicationWe are always happy to receive pictures for the Inside Front Cover. If you would like tosee yours published, send them in. Note that I need the originals, straight from thecamera and uncropped and unretouched, so we can set them up for the printingprocess. We need high resolution for large pictures. In particular, photos embedded inDOC files are not accepted, and neither are scans of standard photographic prints - withthe possible exception of historical items where the print is all that exists.

Apart from that, please keep those articles rolling in. We need them. Plain textplease, and again the original unedited photos direct from the camera. If you want toinclude a DOC file or a PDF (in addition to the mandatory plain text file) to illustratethe sort of layout you have in mind, please do so as well.

Please note that opinions expressed by authors may not represent the official opinionsof the Confederation or any Club. The Editor’s opinions are his own, if he can findthem.

Roger CaffinEditor

Admiring the vista from the summit of Mount Strzelecki 756m, Flinders Island. CapeBarron Island in the background. Mount Strzelecki is one of the Australian ClassicClimbs. From sea level through at least five vegetation zones, there is nothing quitelike it on the Australian mainland. Photo: Janet Morris.

4 | The Bushwalker Volume 38, Issue 2, Autumn 2013

WOKE up at 0534 to another glo-rious but cold morning, the tem-perature was 4 C. We had heard

lots of animal and bird calls during theevening and the night, mostly comingfrom the deep rainforest gorge below. Inparticular I was fascinated and annoyedby a loud and weirdly sounding dialogbetween a couple of frogs that went wellpast midnight. The frogs were eithercourting or quarrelling, I am not surewhich. I thought about calling the policebut it would have been difficult to providethem with our address and the neareststreet corner. We had a few quiet hoursduring the night and now the birds wereonce again singing their heads off allaround us.

Abundant dew fell in the earlymorning, and because Ian and I had beentoo tired (lazy?) to put up the fly after amassive day yesterday, our gear now gotrather wet, particularly the sleeping bags.We even had a little fire going (somethingwe normally didn’t have time for), to tryto dry some of the stuff, but finallydecided that we would achieve muchquicker results during the day when thesun was higher in the sky.

The positive side of sleeping in theopen for me was watching the incrediblesky late last night, while falling asleep. Itwas then that I saw probably the brightestshooting star ever – it was orange and redand took a few seconds to traverse the skyabove me. Or was it a dream?

The sun was just coming out frombehind the hill to our east when we set offat 0710, moving south along the samenarrow ridge we had been camping on.Bearing in mind the amount of dew wehad during the night, all three of us puton full wet weather gear, but so far wewere not finding the vegetation all thatwet. Ian said it could perhaps be becauseyou get less dew under the tree cover.

In a few hundred metres, our ridgestopped abruptly by plunging down intothe rainforest gorge below. The last timewe had been here we had found a specialslot that provided an easy descent, so weused it again today. We were through theslot and at the creek near the spot wherewe camped last July at 0730. There was acomplete change of vegetation as weentered the rainforest, and the warm raysof the morning sun that had been pouringover us on the high ridge had only juststarted to penetrate the deep dark gorgewe were now walking in.

We moved along slowly but surely,now ducking under a fallen tree,

avoiding lianas and creepers, now walk-ing alongside wet, green moss coveredrocks, always keeping on the right handside of the creek. The first rays of sunwere casting a beautiful golden light overus, making it all feel as though we werestepping through an enchanted forestfrom a fairytale.

We passed a creek junction to ourright, with a narrow, sinuous gully thatlooked like a canyon. I wished we had

Wollemi Full North toSouth Traverse - Part 2

Day 8 — September, 2012(Part 1 was in our Summer 2013 issue)

Mohawk Mtnto OvensCreekYuri Bolotin

Deep in one of the gorges

Incredible rock formations


The Bushwalker | 5



THE NSW Emergency ServicesWilderness Navigation Shield(NavShield), is an overnightevent where teams attempt togain as many points as possibleby finding their way on foot,through unfamiliar wildernessterrain to pre-marked check-points. The course covers anarea of 80 to 100 square kilo-metres and only traditional mapand compass techniques arepermitted. The course is set bya team of skilled navigatorsfrom the Bushwalkers Wilder-ness Rescue Squad (the oldestland search and rescue unit inAustralia) - the official Search &Rescue arm of BushwalkingNSW.

The course will be set in asecret location (within 2 hoursof Sydney) and will take placeon the first weekend of July2013. It’s an ideal trainingopportunity for your clubmembers to learn and practicein a fun and enjoyableweekend. You can choose tomake it as competitive or asamateur/fun as you like!

NavShield is the primaryfundraising activity for BWRS, socome and support your Searchand Rescue Squad, whilstpromoting a great, fun event toyour Clubs. Proudly supportedby the NSW State Rescue Board,the event is open to rescueteams from around the world.Past events have seen entriesfrom a variety of Bushwalkingand Rogaine Clubs, Police,Ambulance, Rural Fire Service,State Emergency Service,Volunteer Rescue Associationand the Armed Forces.

Registrations for this year’sevent are now open and allinformation is available on theSquad’s website,www.bwrs.org.au.

25th AnnualNavShield6th & 7th July 2013

time to investigate but we needed to pressahead. Next, we went around andunderneath a headland that resembles atadpole on the map. Initially Ian haddrawn our course over the top of the it,but now we were here we realised thatthe sides of the ‘tadpole’ were in fact 50 mcliffs that didn’t rate a mention on thetopographical map. Such is Wollemi.

At 0810, we were at the junction ofour creek with another one, coming againfrom the right. Our plan was to climb outof the gorge at this point, which had beenidentified by Ian and I during our recce. Itwas time to fill up with water for the dayand also to shed our wet weather gear. Iknew it had to be done, but the feeling ofmy shirt, very cool and still wet from thelast night’s dew against my skin was notentirely enjoyable.

At 0814, we started our climb up tothe high ridge in front of us; the totalascent was in the order of 200 m. The firstbit of it was very steep and involved acrawl through debris of a recently fallentree, followed by a crawl on a tiny ledgeabove a fairly significant drop – all withthe full pack. Soon after the scrub becameless dense and we came upon a beautifuldry cave, with soft white sandy floor andtwo interconnecting chambers separatedby a single, jagged, intricately incisedcolumn.

Things got even easier as we emergedinto a drier and less inclined slope.

The ridge gradually swung from the southwest to the south and became rather flat,affording views of Mount Coricudgy in thedistance to our north north west. Next, wecrossed a large hanging swamp full ofmagnificent spring wildflowers.

At the far edge of the swamp, we sawwild dog or dingo scats on a small rock.Throughout the entire Traverse, we had

not seen or heard one but this proves thatthey are around. We continued to enjoygreat views of Mount Coricudgy, theKekeelbon Mountains and MohawkMountain to our north – all of them weregetting more and more distant, hazier,bluer in colour with every step and weresoon to become only memories.

As the old vistas were fading away,new ones were appearing to keep us

delighted and amazed. We stepped on anarrow, elevated, rocky ridge that hadamazing, expansive views in all direc-tions. In addition to the landmarks to thenorth, we could see all the way to thesouth, to the cliffs and mountains of Cap-ertee Valley, our next destination in twodays time, if all went according to plan.The place was right, the time was right, soit was morning tea at 0938. We also need-ed to use this opportunity to dry our gearfrom the last night’s dew. We unrolled oursleeping bags and spread them in thewarm sun. They were beautifully dry andfluffy within minutes.

Morning tea was over at 1000, thetemperature was 12 C, although it felt alot warmer in the strong sun. The ridgecontinued to delight us. It was different tothe rocky saddles of the Northern Wollemiwith their orange weathered rockoutcrops that form parts of the ridges.This spur was an almost flat, solid rockplatform of dark brown colour, with largeindividual boulder pieces scattered on itssurface in a very artistic and picturesquefashion. From our elevated walkway wecould see that the ridges, valleys, deepgorges and pagoda fields in all directionslook very interesting as well. This area isnot easy to access and I am sure athorough exploration would yield manyamazing discoveries. I called this longridge that extends for about one kilometre

Drying gear in the sun



and provides a wonderful transition fromNorthern Wollemi to Southern Wollemi,Scenic Ridge.

The splendours continued. On top ofthe opposite spur, across a deep canyon,there was a huge rock that looked like agiant cow, perhaps 20 m long and 5 mhigh. This was followed shortly after by arock shaped like a giant chicken. Walkingalong the Scenic Ridge, we crossed ontothe Coorongooba topographical map – our4th map out of the total of 11.

The weathered lumps of rock coveringthe ridge were generally dry but in manyplaces their southern side had moisturerunning on the surface, nurturingwonderful quilt works of mini-carpetsmade of tufted green grasses and brightflowering plants. These would often bepositioned next to large expanses of rustyred lichen.

A few minutes later, we came across anunexpected find in the middle of Wol-

lemi Wilderness - several (about 10) usedplastic blank cartridges scattered on theground. These cartridges would have beenfired many years ago. About a kilometrebefore this spot, we saw the remains of anold camp, so our theory is that the Armygroup that built the Army Road (whichwas only about 3km to our west) hadtheir manoeuvres here in the past and hadthe camp we saw earlier as one of theirbases.

Suddenly, we saw a tall column ofwhite smoke coming from a ridge severalkilometres to our west. The fire wasburning on a steep slope in an area thatwas probably outside the National Park.For the next few hours, while the fire wasin view, we kept a close eye on it. It didn’tseem to spread any further from therelatively small area it first appeared in.We never found out whether or not it wasdeliberately lit.

At 1215 it was lunch time on a highrock suspended above a stunning, deepgorge framed with hundreds of high

pagodas and running south from ourpresent position. Much further south, wehad an expansive distant view of CaperteeValley, and to the south west of the TyanPic. The map in fact shows that the gorgebelow us continues for more than 2 kmbefore joining Ovens Creek. If only wehad time to explore it, but our plans fortoday were different. The immediateagenda was to rest and to satisfy ourhunger, and the further one was to reachOvens Creek by the end of the day. As wehad had a very long and difficult dayyesterday, we didn’t want to do that againbut rather try to have a relatively earlycamp.

At 1244, it was the end of lunch time,and my routine temperature measureshowed a very pleasant 19 C. The areaahead of us looked particularlychallenging or ‘messy’ as Ian put it, bothon the aerial images and now in reality infront of us. First, we scrambled down ontoa rocky, narrow spur to the west of thegorge we had been sitting above atlunchtime. Very soon we found that thespur is not a contiguous one and is hardto read as it has lots of ‘orphan’ outcrops;you climb on one of them, walk for ahundred metres or so, then when facedwith an impossible drop you realise thatyou are actually not on the main spur buton an isolated high rock and so need tofully back out. This exercise had to berepeated several times in the course of theafternoon. Naturally, the 1:25,000topographical map cannot give you muchguidance in this terrain.

After about half an hour of doing this,we came to an abrupt gash in the

spur with a 10 m drop and no apparentway to get down. Of course, there is al-ways a way, or at least most of the time!We soon located a slot with a chockstonejammed in it about 2 m below a narrowledge where we could just stand, one at atime. This was a little similar to one of thedescents in the Northern Wollemi on Day

1. We took the packs off and, one by one,carefully lowered ourselves down onto thechockstone, then scrambled further down,squeezed ourselves underneath the chock-stone that was suspended in mid-airabove us and pushed our way through theslot that stopped at a tree before reachingthe bottom. The scramble down aroundand through the tree finally led us under-neath the cliffs.

The huge chockstone we had just goneunder was shaped like a guillotine, withits enormous sharp blade pointing down.It was held in the slot between two rocksby friction and didn’t seem all that stable.Whilst Rodney was squeezing underneathit, I asked him to pause for a photo. Hecomplied, but for some reason it lookedlike he didn’t appreciate my request,neither did he enjoy the experience ofstanding still at that location.

In the end, we all completed the descentsafely, and on the way I even picked up

a Sarsaparilla leaf to chew on from a vinegrowing in the slot. This helped in thenext section as it was an ascent on theridge that very soon became broad, scrub-by and viewless.

At 1340 we took a sharp turn to theright (west) and started our descent intoOvens Creek. After about 60 verticalmetres of descent the ridge we were onstopped at a sharp and very deep gully,not shown on the map. This meant wehad to get down and around the obstacle,then climb back up on the ridge.

At 1418 Ian located the gully he hadintended to take for the final descent andwe plunged into it. The gully was steepand covered with debris and fallen rocks.Very soon it developed into a very

The “cow”

The rocky ridge ahead

The Bushwalker | 7



impressive, cliff lined, broad gorge, about 60 metres across.This enabled us to choose the best course of descent byveering from one side of the gorge to another as we wentdown.

Ian accidentally dislodged a dead part of a tree, about 4m long, that dropped down from above, pointing verticallyat him, within a hair breadth from his head. He steppedaside nimbly, avoiding a more serious encounter with thesharp, pointy trunk. I heard a crash in front of me andwatched the whole action as though in a slow motion, eventhough it took seconds to unravel. Phew, that was close!

We carried on. The gorge now opened even more,becoming a very pretty looking valley, lined with majestic,high trees, their shining white trunks rising to the sky fromthe high grasses below. The bird songs here wereparticularly sweet and beautiful, welcoming us to thisworld that most probably had never before been visited byanyone that looked like us. The descent was slow, however,because of the debris and low level scrub.

At 1445, just over an hour since starting the descent, wewere finally on the valley floor, in the wild, dark, moist

and mysterious rainforest. Like many times during this jour-ney, I had a feeling that this is one of the last wildernessfrontiers and that we were stepping into a virgin, wonderfuland unexplored territory.

Although the creek itself and the rainforest around itwere beautiful, the gorge in the area where we ended up atafter our descent was so full of debris and lianas that itwould be impossible to have a camp there. But time was onour side today and we didn’t need to look for water, so wedecided to split into two parties and search for a moresuitable spot.

Walking through the gorge alone accentuated the senseof wonder, wilderness and isolation. The ravine itself is not

Rock, rock and gorge



very wide or large but it is full of oversizethings that fill it up – huge trees reachingfor the sky, enormous rocks that hadfallen from impossibly high cliffs above,thick lianas and vines that spread outover extensive areas to create an almostimpenetrable mesh, the dense, highmountains of fallen debris scattered allaround in a chaotic, frenzied way. Eventhe water in the creek is extraordinarilycold! All this gives this place an untamed,unvisited, undiscovered feel; it alsomakes for slow progress, wherever youmove.

After a while, and with somedifficulty, we found a reasonably flat areathat was a little further downstream thanwe would have ideally liked but thatwould have to do us for the night. Thetime was 1520.

After yesterday’s very tiring day andbefore tomorrow’s planned long day, itwas good to have an earlier finish. Whenthe camp was fully set up we had a littletime to look around, although it soon gotquite dark – we were deep in the gorgeafter all. It would be an interesting areato explore further, however one wouldneed to allow for the rate of progressbeing extremely slow.

During the evening, at dinner andsitting by the fire, as well as later atnight, we heard many noises, screeches,bird and animal calls very close aroundus, reminding us that we are only visitorshere. At one stage, an inquisitiveantechinus came within a metre or two ofour fire, had a brief look at us andscurried away into the bushes. Just incase, I had my food under my head thatnight. Dried noodles make a pretty goodcushion.

Went to bed at 2005, the temperaturewas a mild 8 C. Total distance for the daywas 12.1 km; total ascent was 579 m. t

Knife-edge chockstone

Camp in Ovens Creek

FOR many bushwalkers readingabout a proposal to raise Warragam-ba Dam by 23 metres will feel like a

bad case of deja vu. In the 90’s bushwalk-ers were at the forefront of the three-yearcampaign against this proposal — rallyingaround its impact on the lower reaches ofthe Kowmung River. Despite winning thatbattle, with the incoming Carr Govern-ment dumping the plan, it appears thewar is far from over.

Two decades on, and despite a pricetag of at least half a billion dollars, theproposal to extend the existing dam wallupwards by 23 m has been revived andnow comes with powerful politicalbackers. Infrastructure NSW took the lead,recommending the wall be raised for‘flood mitigation’ as part of the 20-yearState Infrastructure Strategy. Then TonyAbbott earmarked it in his '100 dams'water plan. Finally Julia Gillard pledged$50 million towards examining the idea.The O’Farrell Government is currentlyconsidering the proposal, the Oppositionisn’t opposing it, and the insuranceindustry and land developers havegleefully jumped on the bandwagon.

Despite all this attention, no one hasmentioned the plan’s most obviousimpact: the inundation of thousands ofhectares of World Heritage Wilderness.Worst affected will be spectacular reachesof the Kowmung, Coxs and Nattai Rivers.

Much has changed in the last 20 years.The risk of a catastrophic dam failure —one of the main arguments for the wallraising — has been removed by the $150million auxiliary spillway. Also, the landthat would be flooded by this proposal hasnot only been added to the National Parkestate, it has also been World HeritageListed.

None of these points have been ad-dressed by Infrastructure NSW in

their recommendation that the NSW Gov-ernment consider raising the WarragambaDam wall.

Their report estimates the cost of thedam proposal to be ‘at least $0.5 billion’and recommends it be funded not by



Tim Vollmer, SUBW

with some added opinions from The Editor

government, but by ‘users’, which likelymeans it would be paid for through a levyon water rates, council rates or insurancepremiums.

While there are many reasons tosuggest this plan is bad policy, forbushwalkers the most obvious must be itsdetrimental impact on thousands ofhectares of wilderness.

Stationary flood waters backing upbehind a raised dam wall would depositlarge amounts of silt and debris, coatingplants and clogging waterways. Unlikeshort-lived natural floods, the dam wouldhold back the waters for weeks or longer,drowning river bank vegetation. Once thebank vegetation is killed it will lead toerosion and weed invasion.

Up to half the surviving population ofthe threatened Camden White Gum wouldgo underwater during flood events,threatening the species’ very survival.Extra soil stripped from the 7,500hectares of land that would beintermittently flooded will silt up the damand smother the lower reaches of thepristine wild rivers that flow into the dam.River banks will be eroded and the slopeswill slump. This damage won’t just occurin remote, rarely seen places. At fullcapacity the waters of Lake Burragorangwould reach into the Kedumba Valley —past where the Mt Solitary walking trackcrosses the river — and even be visiblefrom the Three Sisters. Vegetationscarring would be visible from the mostpopular tourist destination in the BlueMountains.

Most worryingly, some of thosepushing this proposal see it as anopportunity to open up low lying ruralland on the fringe of the north-westgrowth area for urban development. If theraising of Warragamba Dam lowers thehypothetical level of the one in 100 yearflood level — the level modern housing isnot allowed below — huge tracts of landcould be developed. Infrastructure NSWadmits this, saying that approximately8,000 residential lots and 60 hectares ofcommercial and industrial land have notbeen developed due to concerns over

flood evacuation routes. On top of thoseproperties, their report states that thereare a number of other developmentscurrently in the planning phase whereflooding constraints will be a significantfactor. These proposed developments‘include more than 8,500 residential lotsand over 150 hectares of commercial andindustrial land.’

Clearly the ability to open up theselarge developments is a major driver

behind the latest proposal. Even with thedam raising, for the most extreme floods— one-in-500 and higher — the dam willoffer no protection. By comparison, theflooding of Brisbane in 2011 was a one-in-1000 year event - but it happened. Withthe current rapid change in climate wecan confidentially expect that soon ‘1-in-100 year floods’ will probably happen eve-ry ten years - but the public will be ex-

pected to foot the bill for the destruction.Essentially, a huge amount of public

money will be spent on anenvironmentally devastating piece ofinfrastructure so developers can open upvaluable tracts of land and make a hugeprivate profit. Never mind the tens ofmillions of dollars in profits to be madefrom ‘training mines’ and such: the privateprofits here could be an order ofmagnitude greater. And all funded by thepublic purse.

After the Brisbane floods - which werenot supposed to happen because theyhave flood control dams to prevent suchan event, one might have wished for agreater understanding about flood plains.They flood! Would insurance companiesbe willing to insure the area? Veryunlikely, because they are not stupid. Sojust like in some areas in America (egthose affected by Hurricane Katrina) there

The effect of flooding with the current dam:add 25 metres to this. Photo: RNC

Who cares if a bit of Coxs River gets flooded? Photo: RNC.

The Bushwalker | 9The Bushwalker | 9



will be a demand for the government toprovide insurance - at a loss.

Interestingly, dam experts say theexisting dam could provide floodmitigation without the wall being raised.By installing new flood gates, changingmanagement procedures and improvingflood monitoring, substantial floodmitigation could be provided at a fractionof the cost. Additional money could thenbe used for flood managementdownstream, such as the construction ofevacuation routes. This offers an effective,economically sound and environmentallyresponsible way of protecting human lifeon western Sydney’s flood plains.

A community campaign on this issue isalready growing, with people from

across Sydney and the Blue Mountainscoming together to fight this outrageousand damaging proposal. Central to theirefforts is the process of raising awarenessin the community about this very realthreat to some of the most significant wil-derness areas in Australia. As bushwalk-

ers, we have the abilityto share pictures andstories of our own ex-periences of some ofthe majestic rivers thatwill be damaged bythis dam proposal.

Bushwalking clubscan also run walks intosome of the areas thatwill be impacted —from day walks intothe Kedumba Valley tolonger journeys intothe Kowmung — tobroaden the number ofpeople who have seen

exactly what environmental treasures areat risk.

This proposal was stopped twentyyears ago, and it can be stopped again.There are thousands of people passionateabout protecting our environmentalheritage, and thousands more around theworld who have experienced the wonder

of the Blue Mountains. Together we canbe a formidable force.

Editorial comment:

Far more important might be raisingpublic awareness of the huge rip-off

scam this constitutes. There’s the up frontcost ($500M of public money), the subse-quent huge public costs for damageswhen the area still floods, against themassive profits to a few private develop-ers and their friends. We would of coursenever suggest that any individuals in In-frastructure NSW or in the governmentmight have any connections to such pri-vate developers which could create anyconflict of interest - just as we could relyon Ministers for Mining not having anyconnections to coal miners. Yeah, right. t

Putting 25 metres of flood and mud here wouldn’tmatter, would it? Photo: Dave Noble.

Erskine Creek—plonk another 25 m offlood in here too. Photo Paul Johnson.

First Aid Training - 2013A box of Band-Aids and a couple of Aspros

Could your first-aid kit handle this?Could your knowledge handle this?A deep cut to the bone from a skiedge, taped together with nothingmore than Band-Aids and toiletpaper and 3M Micropore tape.Good enough to ski out. 30 stitchesin Cooma Base Hospital. The victimrecovered 100%. Ed.

If this describes your comprehensiveFirst Aid Kit then you haven’t done anaccredited First Aid course as offeredby Bushwalkers Wilderness RescueSquad (BWRS). All conscientious tripleaders should have at least an ApplyFirst Aid Certificate (or better). ‘ApplyFirst Aid’ was previously known asSenior First Aid. Our Instructor haspermission from St John Ambulanceto demonstrate splinting / bandagingnot currently taught in other genericApply First Aid courses.BUT by the time you read this you willhave missed the May 26 ‘Apply FirstAid’ course offered by BWRS. Thenext course after that is Sunday,

November 10. Bookings (essential)via the Internet: see the BWRSwebsite www.bwrs.org.au and followthe link to First Aid Registration. The“Frequently Asked Questions” pageshould answer all your enquiriesabout location, timing etc.Apply First Aid training will give yougreat confidence to deal with simplefirst aid situations where an Ambu-lance is less than an hour away. Ifyour bushwalking tends to take youfurther afield then “Remote AreaFirst Aid” (RAFA) training is what youneed. RAFA training is far more com-prehensive and requires overnightattendance at TWO weekends. There

will be a RAFA course in October start-ing on the 12th / 13th. BWRS has agood Instructor so since remote areacan also mean inland Australia RAFAcourses are almost always full, oftenwith many non bushwalkers.

The Bushwalker | 11



I’VE been venturing into our Australianbush since I was a small boy. Seriousbushwalking, involving overnight

camping began in my early twenties. Inmy thirties it stretched to involve caving,the exploration of the best of our un-spoiled limestone systems – Tuglow, Co-long, Bungonia, Cliefden, Wyanbene, WeeJasper and others. Bushwalking has takenme everywhere, but the main focus hasbeen the Budawangs and the Blue Moun-tains, the latter also serving as ‘home’ formore than 24 of the 51 years of my mar-ried life.

I am close to 83 years of age now anda tapering off has been necessary. Afavoured rendezvous, since discovering itswhereabouts in ’94, has been DadderCave in the Erskine Gorge, lower BlueMountains. It boasts a fascinating historywhich can be read about in “A History ofthe Blue Labyrinth” by Bruce Cameron(privately published 1992). I was 64when I first visited the cave and last yearmade my tenth and probably final visit.Not a long or demanding walk – as I stillcontended on my ninth visit 9 years ago!– the trek there and back has frequentlybeen completed in one day. But anovernight ‘stop-over’ is what makes thevisit especially worthwhile – gives it point,purpose and colour.

For Dadder Cave must rank as the best‘camp cave’ of my experience (and therehave been many). A flat, sandy floor, anoverhang that means adequate protectionfrom sun, rain and wind, a nearby,unpolluted water supply (Erskine Creekitself), a lush surround of vegetation,firewood aplenty and a superb rock fireplace, first constructed possibly 100 yearsago! Just after the turn of the century(early 1900’s) the Hall brothers, Duncan,Machin and Lincoln (sons of a localMethodist minister) ventured into theseparts, found the cave, named it – in

honour of a Death Adder snake killedwithin its precincts – and established theplace as a rendezvous and refuge for theirfurther adventures and for generations ofbushwalkers to come. I tell everyone it isone of my favourite places in the world,and I am serious in that. So sad, then,that I doubt I will ever see it again.

Now, for the uninitiated: how to findDadder Cave? One motors out fromGlenbrook into the National Park, followsthe fire trail through to the Oaks Picnicspot, a swing left headed for the NepeanLookout. After some kilometres the Pisgahcar park appears on the left. Here thevehicle is abandoned and an easy 700metre walk is taken on a good track,bringing one to Pisgah Rock and animpressive view of the Erskine gorge.Here the easy walking ceases. The bestdescent is made away to the right and offthe end of Pisgah. It is known as Tierney’sTrail. It is a craggy descent, not toodangerous if taken carefully. At thebottom a distinct trail leads steeply downto the junction of Erskine, Lincoln andMonkey Ropes creeks (the Erskine beingthe main stream). One now movesupstream on the Erskine, keeping to theright hand bank until a crossing can bemade. There is a trail of sorts. The pointof crossing varies for me each time, and itdepends on the creek’s water level. Onceover, the trail-less walk cum scramblecontinues up the left hand bank for a kmor two until the cave is stumbled upon –and there can be no mistaking it, oncethere!

Now, these instructions are limited,but interested parties can make fur-

ther enquiries for themselves.My May 2012 excursion, this last visit

to the Erskine, was in the company of my

son Peter (47), my brother-in-law AlanIrwin (73) and a bushwalking friend ofthe years, Paul Johnson (62). We were allrelatively fit, but I quickly became awareof my loss of mobility and the rockhopping proved arduous. Nine years sincemy last visit had certainly made adifference! I persisted, and mycompanions were a tower of strength,supportive both physically and mentally.

The return journey the next day sawme a little more resilient, and that in

spite of a damaged knee from a fall. Forthe first time ascending Tierney’s Trail Iwas grateful to have someone take mypack and heave it up to me once I hadmade the unladen climb. But I have to say– the whole trek and accompanying camp-out was not only safely accomplished butthoroughly enjoyed, with constant hu-mour and no little ribbing from my 3 com-panions, laughing at this old codger stillinsisting on seeing himself as a bushwalk-er at 82 years of age!

Dadder Cave boasts a logbook in whichI have made many entries. The originalvolume is now safely ensconced, I believe,in the Mitchell Library. On the morning ofour departure I sat ruminating, trying todecide what best to write in the log book.I was distinctly heavy-hearted, consciousof how in old age one must constantly besaying ‘goodbye’. This is especiallytraumatic in relation to people, but itapplies to places too. Saying goodbye andthanks to this little corner of our timelessland, this place of distilled peace, of visualand audible magic, proved very hard.

At least I have my photographs, and,above all, my memories, and those whoshared them with me. I can only begrateful. t

Photos: Paul Johnson

Never too old. . .

John Giles

John, with his old bushwalking gear Dadder Cave, with friends Tierney’s Trail, down from Pisgah Rock

The view from Pisgah Rock Walking up Erskine Creek

A bushwalkborn ofnostalgia


Yvonne Lollback,

Springwood Bushwalking Club THE young girl baulked on the abseil every time she looked down: shejust kept freaking out at the height. Eventually a member of the partyclimbed down to her and slowly coaxed her to the point of no return.

Once he got her over the lip to where she couldn't pull back anymore, thenshe was fine. The look of sheer joy on her face, of knowing she'd brokenthrough her fear barrier was worth a million dollars. Still shaking shethrew her arms around everyone in sight.

This is one of the pleasures of bushwalking and canyoning - takingpeople who have never done these sorts of things before and opening up awhole new world for them. No doubt many of us can remember a certainperson who did that for us. I also think the chance to face your fear andconquer it is an invaluable lesson in handling life's problems in general. Ihope every person, especially every young person, gets a chance to do thisand I feel we oldies, who have a passion for the outdoors, are in a uniqueposition to do this.

We did this canyon last summer before the rain made canyoningimpossible. The day was perfect, weather-wise and the canyon at its bestwith beautiful light filtering through. Every corner revealed anotherfantastic vista. A trip at night is worth the effort too as glow-worms areeverywhere. You might even strike fireflies late in December.

Once back on the tourist track, the gorge is so beautiful with a lot ofwork being done on the track by the National Parks people.

It wasn't so much a club walk as justa group of friends, mainly fromSpringwood Club - but that's true formany club walks anyhow. We didhave one 15 year-old girl with uswho had only done a little abseilingand never gone into a canyon. Shewas the granddaughter of anotherparticipant.

Errr - straight down?Heading down the canyon


12 | The Bushwalker


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The abseil from below Sunlight into the canyon

Volume 38, Issue 2, Autumn 2013 The Bushwalker | 13Volume 38, Issue 2, Autumn 2013 The Bushwalker | 13


Volume 38, Issue 2, Autumn 201314 | The Bushwalker

[A lot of the place names used are unofficial andbelong within The Bush Club. The target is rough-ly at Cullen Bullen 430 072. Access is not easythrough the cliffs - Ed.]

When I named the Devils Throat on aBush Club walk in March 2007, andlooked down into the awesome void

from the cliffs above the encircling amphithea-tre, all attempts to descend the eastern cliffs ofCarne Creek to inspect it at close quarters hadproved impossible. What the walk todayproved was that access via the western cliffs,and crossing East Creek was possible and theunique geomorphology of the Devils Throatcould be experienced up close.

The Devils Throat is a challenge todescribe. It is part canyon at the top, howevernear the cliff edge a very deep sinkhole hasbeen cut by Camp Creek into a verticalcylinder to a depth of about 15 m. At the basethe force of the falling and swirling water hasfound a zone of weakness in some horizontalstrata and removed this, creating a ‘mouth’from which water flows out onto a slopingapron. The force of water has also overdeepened the sinkhole below the mouthcreating a pool estimated at more than 3 mdeep. Up close, the noise of the falling water isan assault to the ears. The feature has an auramaking it a world class example of its kind.This feature, like so much of the Carne Creekcatchment, is not protected and urgentlyrequires transferring to The Gardens of StoneNational Park. The Devils Throat is a feature ofinternational significance.

A high point at GR 422 072 on a trail biketrack defines the point where we headed dueeast. Each step east revealed increasing viewsof the cliffs of East Creek, so by the time wereached the cliff edge the view was stupendousas the complex cliff lines of the Devils Throatannex created a composite image of sequentialpagodas and amazing rock sculpture. Even thetopo map shows the cliffs here as 34 m high.We stopped here and just savoured the view.

About 30 m further to the south there isanother viewing platform where more than akilometre of East Creek imagery is a wonder.

Next how to descend? Hidden awaybetween the soaring pagodas there is a waydown, albeit with a few small slide and jumpsections. In less than half an hour we werecrossing East Creek and fighting our waythrough flood flattened ferns on our way northto where Camp Creek and East Creek join. TheCamp Creek – East Creek junction area isrelatively large and there was plenty of roomfor the party to spread out and enjoy morningtea. I spent some time gazing up at the cliffs tothe immediate north, as they looked scalable.They certainly looked no more intimidatingthan the cliffs we descended to reach EastCreek. After a leisurely 11 minute break westarted walking up Camp Creek.

Camp Creek in the lower reaches meandersfrom one side of the valley floor to the other,making multiple crossings necessary. TheDevils Throat feature is nearly 500 m from thejunction in a direct line and considerably morein actual distance as you negotiate themultiple bends as it wends its way. We shedour packs here so that we had greater ease ofmovement. A taste of the good things to comeis a small complex of waterfalls at GR 429 075,where we spent quite a few minutesclambering up adjoining boulders to get thevery best pictures. Getting around this featureinvolved a sloping tunnel crawl or a tightchimney option. Most of the party opted forthe tunnel crawl.

In the final section of the narrowing gorge,immediately before the enlarged amphitheatreterminus, there is a large cavern, tens ofmetres across together with several smallerones. It is an area of unrivalled magnificence.In the lower sections of the floor of the largecavern is a carpet of Hornworts Phaeoceros sp.These amazing organisms are rarely seen insuch profusion.

It was just on 1130 as we rounded the lastbend before the shimmering, inflated apron ofthe outflow from the Devils Throat came intoview. Everything about this site is special. Thefoot of the apron has a series of very largenegotiable boulders. These provide stepping(hopping) stones across the apron to thewestern side of the amphitheatre and thenegotiable route to the base ofthe throat. The way up is overslippery rocks, some flowingwith water. All around issculptured sandstone. There arescooped pools that are likebaths; shallow basins that inmid summer would invite aswim; there are treacheroussections where a false movewould see you tobogganuncontrollably down the waterslide.

Then there is the noise ofwater crashing down as it

discharges from the contortedcanyon at the top into thecylindrical tube of the DevilsThroat. Going up closer there isthis amazing horizontal slitwhere the faling water can beseen as a perpetual curtainbefore it races down the slopeand over the apron. The slot isperhaps 4 m long and half ametre wide. It is very hard tophotograph and capture thetotality.

Stepping carefully around to the easternside of the first pool below the mouth, it waspossible to take pictures looking down theapronlike water slide. It was also possible tophotograph the towering cliffs above. Throughthe camera lens, I spied Brian who hadclimbed up to the lip of the sinkhole to takepictures of the wild water inside. We would allgo up with some assistance so that we couldlook inside this rock and water wonder. Theslope up was so slippery that even goodgripping shoes were not enough to hold you inplace.

With Brian and Yuri supporting me frombelow, and grasping the rock lip of the

former sinkhole with one arm, I fished thecamera out of my pocket and took a series ofpictures. The top section where Camp Creekbriefly becomes a canyon is wild with whitewater swirling and churning before it plunges15 m or so as an almost solid sheet into thecylinder section. This is what we had come tosee, a unique natural wonder.

Leaving was hard because this place has acompelling fascination of its own. But we didhave to move along so after nearly half anhour of total enjoyment we reluctantly startedthe walk out. The tunnel crawl was reversed,the packs were retrieved, and we headed upand out.

FootnotesCamp Creek has its headwaters on Waratah Ridge at 425020 and flows generally south for 5 km passing throughMurrays Swamp. It then generally winds in a westerly di-rection between Fire Trails No. 1 and 2 until it joins CarneCreek at 425 071, Lithgow and Cullen Bullen Maps.Named after the road, Camp Road, which in turn wasnamed after the old Newnes Afforestation Camp, byMichael Keats on his Bush Club walk 7th March 2007.

There is a great deal of confusion about the naming ofCarne Creek above the junction of two of its majortributaries at GR 423 077. The topographic map namesthe tributary entering from the west as Carne Creek. Theother tributary is unnamed but has been called East Creekby the coalminers.

Devils Throat: so named as the water rushing downCamp Creek enters a circular 2 - 4 m diameter shaft ofabout 15 m in height and pours out at the base viahorizontal slot hole in the rock before cascading downanother 15 m drop. It is if the devils head is upside downand water pours down its throat and out of its mouth.Named by Michael Keats on a Bush Club walk, 22ndMarch 2007.

Devils Throat and theCliffs of Camp Creek Michael Keats, The Bush Club

Climbing to the top of the Devils Throat,Photo: Brian Fox

Looking stright down inside the Devils Throat. Photo: Brian Fox

The Bushwalker | 15



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Subscribe to “The Bushwalker”

Keep up with all the news and developmentshappening in the NSW bushwalking scene foronly $10 per year. This is to cover posting andhandling: the magazine itself is free.

Send your name and address and cheque ormoney order to Bushwalking NSW, PO Box119, Newtown NSW 2042. Phone: 9565 4005.Make the cheque or money order payable tothe ‘Confederation of Bushwalking ClubsNSW Inc’ as well: please do not abbreviate thename! (Yes, the bank account still uses the oldname so far. That may change - one day!)

Please indicate which issue you want your sub-scription to start with. We don’t want to dupli-cate copies you already have.

The Gardens ofStone National Parkand beyondBook 3, ISBN 9780 9870 5462 3

Micheal Keats and Brian Fox

This is book 3 in the ratherlarge series of Guide Books

planned by Michael and Brian.Glossy paper with good print andlots of very nice colour photos allthrough the book. It covers thegeneral Gardens of Stone area,with trips up Donkey Mountain, allaround the Carne Creek gorge, theGlow-worm tunnel area and a bitnorth of that, even up to Mt Cam-eron. Most of the walks are single-day walks, with a few overnighttrips as well.

The format for the 'guide' partis a series of actual trip reports,rather than a set of routedescriptions as found in mostEuropean guide books, so you get a lot ofMichael's enthusiastic descriptions. At theend of each walk there is a list of timesand GRs.

The section on Donkey Mountain isbrilliant. The top of the mountain is anincredible sandstone pagoda place withhundreds of features and high resolutionsketch maps for them. The features haveall (mostly?) been named, many by GeoffFox, who assisted the authors with thissection. Access to Donkey Mountain is stillOK, by arrangement with land ownersand/or the Emirates Resort.

Also included in the book is a quitelong section on the history of the area,with chapters covering aboriginal history,early white settlers (some of whom wererather bloody-minded), and a fewcomments about the modern politicssurrounding the area as well. The lattermainly focus on the coal resourcesunderground and the authors’ opinionsare quite clear:

‘The political reality is that royaltiesfrom ‘king coal’ lurking hundreds ofmetres below the surface, fund themendicant state of NSW distorting anddictating government’s decisions to thedetriment of our heritage.’

Indeed.There's a large index at the back, along

with extensive lists of references, mapsand bibliography. Mind you, some of themaps and reference go back to the 1800s.

The biggest problem with this area isin fact the very long drive from Sydney. Ifpossible, making it a weekend trip with abase camp is a very good idea.

‘Copies are available from BlueMountains book shops after Wednesday20th March 2013 or direct from Brian ormyself. Cost is $50.00 per copy pluspostage. This volume includes 20 walksto Donkey Mountain, contributed by Geoff

Australian RainforestFruits - a Field GuideWendy CooperIllustrated by William T Cooper

CSIRO Publishing,

ISBN 9780 6431 0784 7

A remarkable book, and a pure ‘fieldguide’ It is divided into 4 main sec-

tions plus an extensive index. The sec-tions give the colour of the fruits:pink/purple, blue/black, red/yellow,and green/brown.

The format is quite simple: the lefthand side gives the name and sometechnical description of a fruit, while theright hand side gives glossy photos ordrawings of the fruits, with scale marks.There are usually six fruits per page.

I had no idea that Australia has thatmany brightly coloured fruits! Granted,they are rainforest fruits so you won’tget that many of them in NSW, but thetext does let you know the distributionfor each one so you can see if you arelikely to find them around. yes, some dooccur around NSW.

I had hoped that the book would tellme which ones are edible, and when.Instead the author gives a very clearwarning: many species are extremelypoisonous and we strongly advise thatnone should be tasted without expertadvice. Ah well.

The book can be bought at fromCSIRO at http://www.publish.csiro.au/for $59.95. It is also available from awhole range of other outlets, includingmany of the usual web suspects.

Roger Caffin

Book Reviews

Fox, as well as walks to Carne Creek andthe area south of the Wolgan River.Aboriginal history and historical mapsmake this a very handy reference book.A-5 format, 448 pp in full colourthroughout.

Limited numbers of copies of Books 1and 2 are still available.’

email [email protected]

Roger Caffin

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