The Tablelands Bushwalking Club Newsletter – April 2018 The Tablelands Bushwalking Club Five National Parks to Put on Your Radar P O Box 1020 Great Walks enews 19 March 2108 Tolga 4882 www.tablelandsbushwalking.org Australia has one of the largest and greatest national park systems in the world, covering [email protected] almost four per cent of the country's land mass (or 25 million hectares). With over 500 President: Sally McPhee - 4096 6026 national parks on offer you'd imagine there might be few that don't appear on the public's Vice President: Patricia Veivers - 4095 4642 radar but are worth exploring, so check out these 5 unsung heroes. Vice President: Tony Sanders – 0438 505 394 Yuraygir NP, NSW Treasurer: Christine Chambers – 0407 344 456 Located less than an hour's drive north of Secretary: Travis Teske - 4056 1761 Coffs Harbour, Yuraygir is known for having some of the best surfing on the east coast. Activity Officers: Birdwatchers will find plenty in the late winter Philip Murray – 0456 995 458 and early spring between the heath and the Marilyn Czarnecki – 0409 066 076 forest areas. Health & Safety Officer: The 10km Angourie walk is three hours return Morris Mitchell – 4092 2773 along the northern edge of the park, giving access to a fragile coastline of rugged beauty. Newsletter Editor: Travis Teske - 4056 1761 Dolphins often can be seen offshore and in [email protected] winter you might spot whales. Shelley Beach is a great halfway point to stop for lunch or If a Walking Trip is Delayed – What Your camp. The southern end of the park provides Emergency Contact Needs to Know. some shorter walks including the Wilson Occasionally trips are delayed due to unforeseen Headland walk, an easy one-hour return walk circumstances. Before leaving on a Tablelands Walking along a constructed walkway. Club (TWC) outing you should tell your emergency contact (family member or friend) where you are going Click here for more info. and give them a copy of the phone numbers of the Committee Members as members of the Management Oxley Wild Rivers NP, NSW Committee will be the Contact Officers. Thia park not only contains Australia’s Contact should be with any member of the Tablelands highest waterfall, the very impressive Walking Club Management Committee. The phone Wollomombi Falls, but is World Heritage-listed numbers of the committee members are found at the for its rare dry rainforest. This gives rise to a beginning of the Walks Program or the Newsletter. Move diverse ecosystem with an abundance of rare down the list until you find someone at home. and unique plants and animals such as the If there were a situation that required a search or gorge wattle and the large forest bat. On the rescue, members of the Committee would liaise with valley floor the eucalypt forest create a rich experienced walkers within TWC and with the Police habitat for all kinds of kangaroos, wallabies, and SES. They will also hold membership details for all birds and bats, with platypus and frogs. TWC members, including the name of a family member or friend to contact in case of delay or emergency. While most of the falls such as Wollomombi, Apsley, Dangars and Tia Falls are accessible The articles and information in this document are printed in good faith. The club does not accept responsibility for errors or omissions in this by car and a short walk, there are plenty of document or for the manner in which the information contained in this rewards in remote gorges for the more document is interpreted or implemented. adventurous, including the Bicentennial National Trail. East Kunderang Homestead is a convenient historical starting point with 1 short walks to the Macleay River. Another millions of years. The gullies provide moist, challenging walk (14km return) is between cool conditions for rainforest ferns and Budds Mare and Riverside, where the hilly mosses while rugged woodland sits on top of trail passes through different landscapes. the peaks. Eagle- eyed nature lovers should Click here for more info. watch for platypus in the creeks and gullies. There are no campsites in the park, but there Murray-Sunset National Park, Vic are two family-friendly tourist retreats and This park is as close as many Victorians will campsites just outside. get to experiencing the outback. Tucked in the far north-western corner of the state, it's most There are a variety of interesting bushwalks of famous feature is the Pink Lakes, a series of varying length and difficulty, mostly leaving highly saline lakes that evaporate over from the main picnic area. The longest of summer, leaving a crust of salt that appears these is a 5.6km loop which offers excellent pink. As for wildlife, you may see one of the views of the gorge from Giant’s Chair and large nest mounds belonging to the threatened visits Fern Tree Pool, a permanent waterhole. malleefowl or some interesting snakes and Other walks to nearby interesting features are lizards. around or below 3km and are family friendly. The best of these visits The Overhang via the The Pink Lakes nature trail is an easy 2.5km wonderfully named Three Moon Creek and stroll around Lake Kenyon to Lake Crosbie. Dragon Caves. Go in the early morning or late afternoon to Click here for more info. best take in the colour of the lakes. Longer walks to Mount Crozier and Mopoke Hut, Five New and Unusual Walks which also have camping facilities, leave from Great Walks enews 19 March 2108 Lake Crosbie but check with the ranger about conditions first. The Great Blue Mountains Trail Click here for more info. The Blue Mountains in NSW is famous for its walking trails and a new trail that will connect Chiltern-Mount Pilot NP, Vic the towns and villages, is now under Just off the Hume Highway as you approach construction. The Great Blue Mountains Trail Wodonga from Melbourne lies this wonderful will be a scenic, safe walking and cycling route park. Chiltern is old gold mining country that runs across the Blue Mountains ridgeline complete with a sleepy township full of (from east to west), connecting the towns and heritage buildings. The park is north-eastern villages. The Upper Mountains component of Victoria’s largest remaining box-ironbark the trail will run from Wentworth Falls to forest, full of the flora and fauna that once Mount York and the first stage of the Trail covered the state. Further south, closer to (between Katoomba and Blackheath) has Beechworth, is the magnificent Woolshed Falls already been completed. and the abandoned workings of a gold rush region that produced four million ounces of Seventy-five percent of the Upper Mountains gold in 14 years. component of the Trail, a 30km stretch between Leura and Mount Victoria, is The pick of the longer trails is the White Box scheduled to be completed by 2018; this will Walking track, an 8.5km loop trail leaving include the sections from Blackheath to Mt from Honeyeater picnic area, which takes you Victoria and from Leura Cascades to Kiah through sections of box-ironbark forest. Lookout, Katoomba. Stay tuned for more Shorter walks include the Woolshed Falls updates. Historic Walk (2km return) and the Yeddonba Website: bmcc.nsw.gov.au Aboriginal Art site. The well-marked walk has info boards that point out caves, sources of Cross Cut Saw Trek bush tucker and aspects of Aboriginal culture. The Diamantina Touring Company recently It finishes just near Mount Pilot Lookout, launched a new 4-day luxury guided walking offering great views. tour that takes guests on the Cross Cut Saw, Click here for more info. an alpine ridge walk on the Great Divide in Alpine NP, Victoria. They will see a range of Cania Gorge NP, Qld scenery and historic cattlemen’s huts as they The main features of Cania Gorge are the follow the saw tooth ridge up into the High towering 70m sandstone cliffs and the caves Country, before spending their final night and overhangs that have been carved out over camping on the shores of Lake Cobbler and 2 descending down to the wineries of the King peaks and panoramic views. The first section Valley on the final day. of the trail – a 36km, 3-day/2-night circuit walk that departs from Halls Gap – is already Accompanied by the guides, guests walk only complete, taking hikers via locations like with a day pack, enjoy sitting around the Venus Baths, the Pinnacle Lookout and campfire in the evening and camp with luxury Mount Rosea. Hikers can walk this by swags on stretchers in spacious tents. themselves or go with a guided tour. Website: diamantina-tour.com.au Once completed, the full walk will take hikers from Mt Zero in the north down towards Cruise and Hike Tasmania’s scenic coast Dunkeld in the south, connecting some of the Coral Expeditions is offering a new seven- park’s most spectacular peaks on the way night ‘hike and cruise’ itinerary along over 13 days/12 nights. The 144km trail Tasmania’s rugged coastline. Guests can requires the development of approximately experience the island’s coastline both by ship 80km of new trail and the upgrade of 65km of and on foot as they walk some of the island’s existing trails, and is scheduled to open in late coastal treks with experienced local bush 2019. Stay tuned for more details on the next walkers Angus and Alison Moore – highlights stages of the Trail. of the trip include the Fluted Cape walk on Website: visitgrampians.com.au Bruny Island; Mt Beattie, located near Port Davey; and Cape Hauy, a slightly more Eleven Campgrounds Perfect for Your Next challenging walk that takes in a section of the Trip Three Capes Walk.