All posts by Christine Yates

The weather was perfect as 8 walkers set off at a good pace to walk the constantly undulating fire trail for the first five kilometres which has been lately resurfaced. We then joined the Great North Walk and stopped at a little waterfall to have morning tea before we crossed the historic Steele Military Bridge and climbed to Tunks Ridge campground and then descended Galston Gorge using the step irons. We walked under Galston road and crossed the creek on stepping stones. The next section of the trail was on bush track with beautiful views over the valley, scribbly gum trees, many different coloured bush plants and flowers. We climbed up and had lunch on some rocks overlooking the valley. The final 1.4 kilometres was all uphill, but we finished the walk before it became too warm and then went to the “Blue Gum” pub to rehydrate.

A group of 16 walkers strolled down to view the Sphinx scrupture before heading down the trail. At the bottom as we walked along the Warrimoo trail we were rewarded by a couple of red-tailed black cockatoos taking to flight and giving us an excellent view of their bright red tails. We had the delight of seeing four Goanna’s. Three of them on the ground blocking our path which then either moved to the undergrowth or climbed slowly up a tree. One was sunning itself by the picnic area at Bobbin head. Colour is coming back to the bush; we spotted a Plain Sun Orchid (Thelymitra Nysa) among the grasses. The trail was in good condition with only a few muddy spots. We stopped on the Warrimoo track to have morning tea with another short rest stop at Bobbin Head then travelled along the Mangrove Boardwalk with a detour to visit the rainforest section before continuing onto the Gibberagong track as it follows Cockle creek stopping in a sunny spot on route to have lunch before heading up Murrua track to Murrua road. This steep uphill challenged the 15 remaining walkers. We finished the day with coffee in a local café in North Turramurra.