Views of Arethusa and visit to Darks Cave

It was a wet and misty Sunday and I was keen to explore out along Mount Hay Road. Having recently walked some of the tracks that drop in to Govetts Creek around the Henson Glen area, I was keen to go a bit further north and check out the ridge that forms the junction between Arethusa and Alpheus canyons.

This was more ‘off track’ than I usually go on my own, but there was still a reasonable footpad all the way and a well-defined ridgeline made navigation very straight-forward.

Part of my inspiration for this walk came from seeing Tom Brennan’s photo of an impressive cairn perched upon the cliff edge, right at the end of this ridge. The views into the gorge were impressive, but I was unable to locate the cairn. From comparing photos I suspect I was still a hundred metres or more too high, but I was uninclined to scramble down clifflines on my own and so will have to see if I can find the cairn another time.

The bush was glistening after the recent rain and I enjoyed the abundance and variety of colours as I headed back along the ridge to my car.

Not yet ready to head home, I decided to make a quick visit to Darks Cave. This is a magical spot which was a favourite haunt of the Dark family back in the 1930’s and 40’s. Eleanor and Eric Dark were both keen bushwalkers and their adventurous spirit led them to discover this large shelter cave in a gully off Fortress Ridge. Eleanor named the cave Jerrikellimi and it became a very special place for their family.

My photo doesn’t do it justice but it is a magnificent camp cave that is split into two distinct ‘rooms’. There is simple furniture hewed out of sandstone, and many old relics leftover from a colourful past which saw this place being used to train guerilla forces during WWII.

The beautiful waterfall at the far end of the cave provides a permanent water supply and during their visits the Dark family would build a temporary dam to create a bathing pool.

Recent rain meant the water level in these small creeks was higher than usual and the ferny vegetation along the banks was particularly lush.

A ledge on the other side of the cave provides good views across to Carne Wall, and down into Govetts gorge where the unnamed falls below Arethusa were really pumping after all the rain.

I finished my walk with a little wander out to Fortress Lookout and another slightly different perspective of the valley below. Arethusa falls are tucked away between these two walls of sandstone, only a short distance upstream from the section of creek which is visible. The ridge I was standing on earlier is (I think) the rounded bump in the middle distance.

The Mount Hay area is one of my favourite areas in the mountains and such a beautiful place to explore. This is the view out along Fortress Ridge.

As a tribute to the Dark family, I will finish by saying they left an incredible gift to the Australian public in the donation of their family home, Varuna, to become a writer’s centre. For the past 25 years this stately residence in Katoomba has been used as a writer’s retreat, with a year-round residency program catering for up to five writers at a time. Eleanor Dark was one of Australia’s finest writers of the 20th Century, and her husband, Dr Eric Dark wrote books of a political nature, as well as being a medical doctor. It was their son, Mick, who generously decided to transform their home into the National Writers House, in memory of his parents.

It is rather special to be able to visit both Varuna and Jerrikellimi – the two places that were most deeply woven in the hearts and minds of this fascinating family.