Centennial Park Loop Walk

Ten walkers met up near Central to take a bus to the Randwick main gates of Centennial Park, where we picked up our eleventh member.

The plan was to walk the main inner loop of the park, and then take a more ad hoc perimeter loop in the reverse direction. The inner loop was heaving with runners, walkers, dogs, bikes and at least one horse. By Busby’s Pond, we moved in to the pond, where we started to see lots of birds and it was much quieter. We mostly stayed inward from the main loop from there. The views were better, too.

We had a pause while we reported an injured goose to rangers, and then tracked around the ponds. The ranger later caught up with us to let us know WIRES had taken the goose into care, and also to tell us we were walking too fast lol.

Taking the reverse direction, as close to the perimeter as possible, gave a quieter experience, with some beautiful old trees. Despite the heavy use, there are some beautiful views through different areas of the park. We had lunch back at the cafe and Fearnley Grounds picnic area.

We finished by walking around the Kensington Pond to the bus stop. We saw quite a few birds around the water: Eurasian coot. purple swamphen, whitefaced heron, Pacific Black duck, black swan (nesting) crested pigeon, dusky moorhen, pied cormorant willy wagtail, bin chickens and a very big gaggle of domestic geese.