Another Gardens of Stone epic

Last week's Thursday bushwalkers' outing was once again to the Gardens of Stone area, starting and finishing near the amazing Temples of Doom. We did a circuit to the east of the Temples, including an exploration of Temple Creek.

Legalistically we were in the Newnes State Forest, but in a better future world it will be part of an enlarged GoS park.






It was another cracker of a trip, with perfect bushwalking weather despite all those wet periods in the days before and the days after.



Fabulous views into the Wolgan Valley.

Some moderately dense scrub to bash through.

An easy walk out along Blackfellows Hand Trail, and then a wet drive home.

Ethereal Canyon

Ethereal: extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world.

And that sums up Ethereal Canyon quite nicely. My Thursday Survey bushwalking group explored it the other day. We were, as so often before, indebted to the Bush Club adventurers who have bravely pioneered the route in recent years. Thank you so much, Bush Club.





It takes a good half day to cover the 7 km or so round trip, and you get wet, and you have the usual adventures finding safe spots to descend into and climb out of the canyon, but it's so worth it!















It's in what's now the Newnes State Forest, which in a better future world will be the enlarged Gardens of  Stone National Park.





















At one point the creek disappears into a tiny hole, and reappears about 100m away, coming out unexpectedly as a rather beautiful waterfall.



After emerging out onto the plateau again we drove around to a spot where we could survey the canyon from above. Here's part of it.