Blue Mountains Archives - Wild Blue Wanders

Vandalism on Lindeman Pass

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Jo — 3 Comments ↓

After a leisurely start to the morning, I headed out to Sublime Point just before 11am. It was a picture perfect Autumn day in the mountains, with clear skies and sunshine. I wanted to revisit the western section of the Lindeman Pass, between Sublime Point and Leura Falls. My first trip was on a cool and misty day about a year ago, and I had immediately fallen in love with this beautiful track. The route into the valley from Sublime Point is called Copeland Pass. It begins in a somewhat Continue Reading →

Wentworth Falls to Blackheath

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Jo — 7 Comments ↓

This walk was the culmination of many hours spent exploring the bush tracks to the north and west of my home in Wentworth Falls. My first goal had been to find an easy way across Wentworth Creek and up to Mt Hay Road. But then I discovered the track down to Henson Glen and started reading about the historic Bruce’s Walk. The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when I found the track across Katoomba Creek. Today was my first attempt at linking it all together. I headed Continue Reading →

Wildflowers at Mount Hay

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Jo — 1 Comment ↓

Despite having spent much time walking in the vicinity of Mt Hay, I had never actually been to the top before. I arrived mid-afternoon to find just one other car in the carpark – another green Subaru, which looked to be almost exactly the same vintage as mine! There was also a very fancy, new information board with notes about Butterbox Canyon and several photos by Dave Noble. And the wildflowers were out! I was surprised by the big difference in variety and abundance compared with our visit to Kanangra last weekend. There were Acacia, Continue Reading →

Boyd River Camping

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Jo — 4 Comments ↓

It had somehow been ten years since I’d visited Kanangra. Many of those years I was living interstate, but now that we’re only two hours’ drive away it seemed like a visit was well overdue. Joel’s birthday straddles the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and has become a traditional camping weekend. It’s a good time of year to dust off the camping gear and head for the bush as the weather warms up. This year we decided to stay overnight at Boyd River Campground. We headed off on Continue Reading →

Perrys Lookdown to Blue Gum Forest

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Jo — Leave a reply

With a few spare hours up my sleeve, I decided that in the spirit of more hill climbing a quick jaunt down to Blue Gum Forest via the most direct route would be a good test for the legs. I have it on good authority that local mountaineer Allie Pepper used this route as part of the training for her successful Everest expedition, loading herself up with a dozen or more litres of water for the climb back up the hill. I had no intention of making it that hard for myself, Continue Reading →

Wentworth Falls

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Jo — Leave a reply

After a challenging day looking after sick children, I was lucky to be offered enough time for a quick stroll to the base of Wentworth Falls. This is a nice, accessible option with lots of steps and beautiful views all the way. It seemed like a good place to stretch my legs, as judging from my fitness climbing out of the Grose Valley last weekend, I knew I needed to walk some more hills! I tend to avoid this area on weekends as it can get extremely busy, but even today (Friday) Continue Reading →

Govetts Creek Waterfalls

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Jo — Leave a reply

The wind was howling when I awoke and it looked like a wild day to be out walking. It was enough to make us question the sanity of heading into the bush, but not enough to stop us from going! Kaz and I drove to Medlow Bath and started down the Pilcher Track shortly before 9am. I was puzzled when we arrived at a transmission tower a few moments later as it didn’t look at all familiar. Nevertheless we continued on our merry way, with the track descending more sharply than Continue Reading →

Ruined Castle

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Jo — Leave a reply

I arrived at Katoomba Falls Kiosk around 8am expecting to beat the crowds, but there were already quite a few people out and about. My plan was to head out to Ruined Castle, but before that I wanted to do some exploring on and around Furber Steps. It was a clear morning and there was another decent frost, particularly heavy around the top of Katoomba Falls. Overall it has been an unseasonally mild winter so far though. Never having done the Round Walk before, I started by heading towards Vaniman’s Continue Reading →

Crossing Katoomba Creek

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Jo — 6 Comments ↓

The crossing of Katoomba Creek had been a goal for some time. It was the missing link in my exploration of the western part of the historic Bruce’s Walk. This time I started from the end of Minnehaha Road and headed down the track towards the falls. Before long I took a fire trail off to the right and onto the ridge between Katoomba and Govetts creeks. I’ve been exploring short sections of this track as time permits, and over a number of previous trips had made it from Wentworth Falls to North Katoomba. Continue Reading →

McMahon’s Lookout

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Jo — Leave a reply

We were going a bit stir-crazy at home, so I bundled the kids in the car and we headed out to McMahon’s Point for a short walk and a picnic. This spot is out on Kings Tableland, about 20km past the old Queen Victoria hospital. From the carpark it is an easy 800m walk through damp fern forests to the lookout, where there are panoramic views into the Kanangra-Boyd Wilderness Area and out over Lake Burragorang. We ate our homemade sushi while perched on a rock, soaking up the winter Continue Reading →