Normanhurst to Thornleigh the long way

I took my bushwalkers the long way from Normanhurst to Thornleigh the other day. It's two minutes by train, or 20 minutes walking along the street the quick way. 

But we did it via a nice little four-hour circumlocutory bushwalkerly way. Creeks encountered: Waitara, Dog Pound, Berowra, Tedbury, and Zig-Zag.

 Upper Waitara Creek

One slightly tricky bit along Waitara Creek: you have to use a (thoughtfully provided) rope to descend a small cliff.

We're down now. The scenery is a bit dominated by the sewage pipe above our heads. Its contents are destined for the West Hornsby wastewater treatment plant, and it smells appropriately.

 

 

 

 

(Photo: Karen T)

Up the Dog Pound Creek Hornsby-Westleigh link track now, emerging near the Westleigh Fire Station.

After following the Great North Walk for a while, we head up onto Stringybark Ridge, and across the paddocks that used to be the Hornsby Pony Club.

 

 

Then it's a leisurely afternoon tea at Thornleigh's Monday Morning Cafe.

Covid countdown - Thornleigh's Brickpit Park

Continuing our Covid lockdown local explorations today.....

Sustainable House Day

Today was Sustainable House Day. I visited the Thornleigh house, which I'd been watching take shape over the last few months. It's said to be Australia's first certified passive solar house. (That's because the certification system has just arrived. Not because it's the first passive solar house - I built one myself 35 years ago.)

It's very impressive. Very well insulated and draught proofed. Triple glazed windows. And a rather beautiful array of solar thermal water storage tubes. My house had black-painted concrete ones. Water's a better storage medium too. I want some!

Clivia!

Today was the great Spring Clivia Show in Thornleigh. It's put on by the Clivia Society of NSW. A very colourful affair!
 

Thornleigh to Parramatta via the scenic route

 

I led a group of bushwalkers on one of my classic walks the other day. We did Thornleigh to Parramatta, not along busy Pennant Hills Road, but mostly along a series of bushland corridors. You can do this sort of thing all over Sydney.

It had rained overnight, and the Darling Mills Creek was a little higher than usual. Some of the creek crossings were a little challenging, but it takes a lot to stop the All Nations Bushwalkers. The same couldn't be said for some of the other groups we encountered. One group stood transfixed as they watched us show them how it's done. They stayed transfixed there too, and didn't follow us.





Another challenging creek crossing, and some of the party opted for a less conventional technique.

And what about this for a barrier? It's the 'North Rocks Dam', officially the Loyalty Road Flood Retarding Basin. It was built about 20 years ago to protect Parramatta from floods, by slowing the flow after extreme rainfall events. So far it's never really been tested, but one day it will be.

The retarding tunnel through which the creek flows, serves also as the walkway for bushwalkers, most of the time at least.

It was a little bit wet in there this time, but fortunately quite negotiable.

You emerge out the other side, and tip-toe along a narrow walkway, before heading up a concrete stairway to dry land above.

Then it's on again downstream, past some striking sandstone cliffs. The suburb of North Rocks was named after one of the local sandstone outcrops, from which the stones for Parramatta Gaol and Lake Parramatta Dam were sourced.

















There's a bit of a weed infestation going on in some spots. Needs a bit of attention from a Bushcare group maybe.

Here's Lake Parramatta. When I'd first heard of it, I'd thought it must be something within Parramatta Park. But no, it's an entirely separate place, a few kilometres to the north. It's got a cafe. picnic and barbecue facilities, and a swimming area. And it's very popular on sunny Sunday afternoons.



Below: my intrepid group 

Some photos courtesy Paul Monaghan & Molly Huang

Upper Lane Cove River ramble

Back home in Sydney now for a while, and I've been getting out into the bush a fair bit. Sydney's great in that there are a vast number of terrific little bushwalks to be had without even leaving the metropolitan area.

The Lane Cove National Park is a case in point. A few weeks ago I took part in a rogaine, which went by the name of  'Lane Cove Rivergaine'. (A rogaine is sort of competitive treasure hunt for bushwalkers.) I thought I knew all the tracks around this park, but the map supplied by the organisers showed lots that were new to me, and by utilising a few of them, my team excelled itself and achieved a very respectable score.

So I went back to the scene last Sunday, this time with a group of regular bushwalkers in tow, and we did a nice little circuit walk, starting and finishing at Thornleigh station. We had morning tea at City View Lookout, with, as you'd expect, a good view of the city's CBD, 20km away.














When I went back again today to get more photos, the view was somewhat obscured by fog or smog or the Southerly Buster that was on its way.

We also watched some sulphur-crested cockatoos feeding their young in a nest within a fine old angophora tree. And we posed for pictures at Whale Rock, which is of course, a very whale-like rock!