Once more unto the......... Kanangra-Boyd!

Four years ago I  had my first Kanangra-Boyd experience. I was there for three days, a mixture of leisurely day walks, convenient car-camping at Boyd River, and an extremely arduous day walk down to  the Kowmung River and back.

It was time to explore the area a bit further, so when some good bushwalking friends suggested a little Easter long weekend full-pack walk there, I was ready to join them.


I wasn't quite ready for the arduousness of the venture though. Maybe I'd just forgotten what these big adventures can be like. But gee it was a big one.

And a rewarding one too. That which doesn't kill you.....

Off we went, down past the Dance Floor Cave and up onto the Plateau. From there you look down several hundred metres below the cliffs of Kanangra Walls, to Kanangra Creek below and to the north. But we're headed east a few kilometres to Crafts Wall, and then sharp right, past the Pinnacles, and down a ridge to a hoped-for waterside campsite at Gingra Creek.

It's all a bit further than we'd expected though. It's about to get dark, so we camp high up in a flat spot on the ridge. Completely waterless, but beautifully remote and quiet and rather comfortable. We had emergency water supplies, and survived the night well.

The next day's walk was one of the most uncomfortable ones I can remember, though memory is rarely a good guide in these matters. We bashed our way down that Gingra Creek, and by hook or by crook, got to the other end, near its junction with the Kowmung, and magically found another idyllic private campsite, this time with water and all!

Day three was almost as bad. Foregoing even a glimpse of the sacred Kowmung River, we commenced a big long slog up a very long ridge, 900 metres of ascent plus a few hundred more because of all the extra downs and ups caused by 'Sixth Top', 'Fifth Top', 'Fourth Top', etc that you find yourself climbing over. With the 18kg full packs on our backs, it was calculated to be a Grade 5+ by our Club's grading system, as was the previous day's effort.

Nearly out now.

And here's the finish line.

Kanangra skies

I spent the Easter long weekend in the Kanangra-Boyd National Park, doing an unexpectedly gruelling (but ultimately satisfying) 3-day bushwalk. More on that in subsequent posts, but here are some night sky shots from the Boyd River camping area.

We amazingly had an Easter of excellent weather, both bushwalking-wise, and astronomy-wise. And with reports of a possible nuclear winter to come, it was very much time to put my wide
angle lens to good use on the clear dark sky.

An exposure of a few seconds (first picture) yields the brighter stars (Southern Cross, Pointers etc) plus a hint of Milky Way. Click on the picture to see it a bit better.

Give it a full minute, and enhance it a little, and we get a very bright Milky Way indeed, though you have to work a little to distinguish that Cross. You see the Coalsack dark nebula well. It's otherwise known as the head of the Emu constellation - the enormous dark-patch constellation of indigenous astronomy. More of that in a few weeks time hopefully, when it's fully visible, nuclear winters permitting.







Here are my fellow campers, enjoying a nice warm campfire.

Upside down map rant

The geography of Port Stephens and the Myall Lakes is complicated enough without this extra impediment. On a map on the waterfront at Tea Gardens they've made the map UPSIDE DOWN!

And to confuse us even more, the other side of the signboard has it the other (ie the correct, north up) way round.

So what's going on? I've been seeing more and more of this recently. I assume the relevant authorities have decided the punters can no longer handle the north at the top convention, and that we need to have the thing oriented for the way we're looking.

I for one don't find this useful at all. Hawks Nest is to the east of Tea Gardens, not to the west. STOP DOING IT PLEASE!

Tea Gardens

We took the ferry from Nelson Bay over to Tea Gardens. It's on the north side of Port Stephens harbour, and it's just across the Myall River from Hawks Nest, famous (among other things, perhaps) as the holiday home of choice for ex-Prime Minister John Howard. It's also the gateway to the complex Myall Lakes system, and the Myall Lakes National Park.

Somewhere in the Myall Lakes, my friend Paul's boat sank recently. I haven't been able to establish what exactly happened, except that "it went down backwards", and it went to the bottom, where it remains, and all aboard were rescued by another boat.

Pelicans are everywhere. They seemingly run the police and the fire brigade!

Fishy business in Nelson Bay

The great Trailerboat Fishing Tournament of Nelson Bay. The tension was palpable, as they say, as the results were posted.

Camels and pyramids - and it's not the Middle East

It's actually Birubi Beach at Anna Bay in the Port Stephens area, and it's at the northern end of the Stockton Sand Dunes.

The pyramids are World War 2 tank traps, and the camels are rounded-up outback Australian ones, $30 for a sedate 20 minute ride.

It was an unexpected and surreal sight, and we had little idea this is what went on here.

You can do 4WD bus rides too if the mood takes you.

Birds of Port Stephens

Red Wattlebird

Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike

White Faced  Heron (I think)

Australian Pelican