October 2026 – Up and Downers Bushwalking Club

17Oct

West Pymble to Field of Mars via Lane Cove River

by upleader Last Walk Report

Well the forecast was a bit sketchy, but the weather was certainly not! A lovely spring day met 13 walkers who started the walk at West Pymble rather than the advertised Christie Park start point due to Lane Cove River being up after recent rains.

The leader was somewhat distracted by her new and very nerdedly wonderful bird call detection app – Merlin by Cornell Labs, which identified 16 different bird calls during the walk. Bushwalks may never be the same. Highlights were definitely the large number of small birds now uncommon in the suburbs like variegated fairywren, yellow-faced honeyeater, Lewin’s honeyeater, Scarlet myzomeia, Brown Gerygone, Gray fantail, Golden whistler, and Eastern yellow robin. We heard all of them but saw none of them. Was still tops!

We made good time down to the weir and was reminded how very lovely the Lane Cove River Valley is in many parts despite its suburban catchment. We pushed on through Fairy land and the mangroves next to Pittwater Road before heading up the final leg past the Field of Mars cemetery where a swamp wallaby briefly outshone the bird life for attention.

Everyone had a good day, I think and the noisy drinks at the rooftop bar of ‘the Governor’ were of at least of interest to those who wondered why this enormous pub was tucked down in the backwaters of North Ryde on the way to the waste transfer station.

Thanks all for a great day and a warm welcome to our visitor Jonelle. Cheers to all, Julie and Garry

10Oct

073 Mountain Lagoon to Colo River

by Wendy Cairns Last Walk Report, Uncategorized

5 walkers undertook the challenge, meeting at Mountain Lagoon and then slowly driving 2.3km along the uneven fire trail to park the cars. There were some spots of rain falling as we prepared to set out- just enough to persuade us to don rain gear. The first 3km of walking was along pleasant fire trail, with tall trees shading the undulating track and some wildflowers adorning the sides of the track. There was quite a lot of accompanying bird song. With the rain reducing to zero, rain gear was packed away before we reached the end of the fire trail.

The bush section of the track took us down a ridge line, with wide views over the Wollemi National Park at the top (and where we stopped for morning tea) and then a series of drops over rocky edges with more gradual slopes in between. There were a lot of yellow bloodwood trees, and at times we were pushing through head high undergrowth. On reaching the lookout point, 2 walkers elected to wait while the other 3 continued the last 1.3km down to the Colo River.

At the view point-looking down to the Colo River

The last descent to the river was ill-defined in places and was slow going.

The last section of track is quite steep, and in places ill-defined, with some debris across the path, making it slow going. However, the river had a good level of running water, and walkers were able to take in the majesty of the cliffs above. The group re-united back at the lookout and all set off back up the ridge line, clambering up and over the rocky points and pushing ever upwards (or so it seemed). It was a relief to get back to the fire trail and we really appreciated having left the cars part-way along the fire trail. Coffee, cider, ice cream and muffins (with apple pie to take away) were enjoyed at Bells Mountain Cafe on the way home. Well done all on a challenging day!

3Oct

Long Track Duffys Forest – including off track exploratory

by Peter Tuckwell Last Walk Report

Six keen walkers attended the extra walk put on over the long weekend. With rain forecast, the U&D rain gods once again shone on us. No rain experienced all day! Raincoats were useful on the bush bash with wet foliage to negotiate.

The plan was to do the cancelled exploration of the Western ridge of the Mt. Murray Anderson trail (programmed for 5th Sept), to find more of the published Aboriginal engravings. Once again however, we had to modify that plan as the original Hazard Reduction burn was expanded and included both sides of that main track. Avoiding damaging sensitive burnt bush, we opted to explore some rock shelves to the north of Long Track instead.

With 2 options based on satellite images, we decided on trying the first section, 2.3km along Long Track.
This proved to be a true bush bashing adventure (as Matthew described it). Fighting through dense scrub with the odd reprieve of rock, we stopped about 350m in, for morning tea on a sunny and rocky outcrop with a view to the north.

Here we decided that we had had enough and would take a shortcut back to Long Track.

The 600m of bush bash took us an hour to get through, not counting our 20m morning tea stop!

We decided to now have an easy day by getting to the end of Long Track with great views of Cowan Creek.
Lunch back down the track at the other lookout, then back to the cars with the promise of coffee at Terry Hills.

It was a fun day out. Thanks to all.

Distance covered 10.5km

Peter’s photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/J2YYujxjjawMMxoP8

Archives October 2026