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.

More Doom but no gloom!

Back to the Temples of Doom the other day - that wonderful playground of giant sandstone 'pagodas' that form a natural climax to any Gardens of Stone bushwalking adventure.









Here's my old friend, visiting from England, taking in the very un-English scene.







And here they all are, using the bathroom facilities.



We're in the Maiyingu Marragu Aboriginal Place (many spelling variations on that one). It's part of the area, north of Lithgow, which is still threatened by damage from coal mining, and which should rightly be protected within an enlarged Gardens of Stone National Park.

Maiyingu Marragu

An excellent day out recently with my Thursday bushwalking explorers group! We went to the Maiyingu Marragu Aboriginal Place. It's a special area within the Newnes State Forest, just off the Wolgan Valley Rd, and it used to be known as Blackfellows Hand Reserve.

It's also part of the Gardens of Stone area, and in a future, better, world, it will be part of an enlarged Gardens of Stone National Park.

Here we are, heading on up the fire trail at the start of the walk.


The area is another bushwalkers' paradise - full of terrific rock formations, canyons, slots, caves, labyrinths, pagodas - the lot. A bit like the fabled Donkey Mountain down the road, but easier to get to and a bit more spread out.

The features have all been named (by our Bush Club friends) after places in the Indiana Jones films. So there's a Last Crusade Ravine, as well as a Holy Grail Ravine. There's a Temple Creek, a Labyrinth, and a Sacristy, and there's a wonderful area of spectacular pagodas: the Temples of Doom. We found a bathtub formation too, so we named that.

The best known feature of the area though, is the big rock overhang known as 'Blackfellows Hand Cave'. There are lots of fine examples of hand stencils to peruse.