Meryla State Forest: The Top of Bundanoon Gorge

General Information

Grading: easy

Distance: 8.8 kilometers 

Total climb: 158 meters 

Time taken: 2 hours 20 minutes

Map: Bundanoon 8928-1S 1:25 000 

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  163 kilometers

Start point map grid reference:  56H KG 57554 64299

Destination:   First Lookouts 56H KG 56930 63203

                      Second Lookout 56H KG 57586 63136

                      Third Lookout 56H KG 58602 63645

                      Fourth Lookout 56H KG 59358 64040

End Point:  Same as start

 

Route

 

Description 

 

This walk is through a quiet corner of Meryla State Forest near the village of Exeter in the Southern Highlands. The walk used to be around the perimeter of a pine forest, but the pines have now all been harvested, probably after the 2020 bushfire. Unfortunately this means that the left hand side of the track throughout the walk is pretty ugly...

 

 

...so it's all about the lookouts over Bundanoon Gorge.

 

The start of the walk is at the end of Rosedale Road, before the entry to Filbert's Farm. There are “no parking” signs along Rosedale Road, so we had to cross over into the State Forest area; easy to find because there are no fences there. You can pretty much park anywhere, but we decided to find a shady spot off to the left and round a sharp bend.

We followed a counter-clockwise route around the management trail that borders the former pine forest. Along this trail it's just a matter of looking for minor tracks on the right, which invariably led to lookouts. The first lookout was over the Stonequarry Creek Gorge, but the remainder were all over Bundanoon Gorge, which became narrower as we progressed. Plenty of great views from all lookouts, but be aware that there are no protective barriers and it's a long way down...

To return to our starting point we just continued around in a loop around the former pine forest.

Barren Gounds Nature Reserve: Cooks Nose and the Natural Stone Bridge

General Information

Grading: easy

Distance: 10 kilometers 

Total climb: 239 meters 

Time taken: 2 hours 50 minutes

Map: Kangaroo Valley 9028-4S 1:25 000 

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  200 kilometers

Start point map grid reference:  56H KG 90433 60727

Destination:  Cooks Nose 56H KG 88801 58583

                      Natural Stone Bridge 56H KG 91044 59371

End Point:  Same as start

 

Route

 

 

Description 

 

Barren Grounds Nature Reserve is to the south of Jamberoo Mountain Road, about 14 kilometers from the Illawarra Highway (at the Robertson Pie Shop).

 

This walk commenced at the Barren Grounds Picnic Area, about 1 kilometer to the right off Jamberoo Mountain Road. There are two trailheads at the Picnic Ground, but both are well signposted.

Naturally we followed the trail to Cooks Nose at the southern end of the Picnic Area. This took us initially through some flat, fairly open terrain with many varieties of wildflower still in bloom.

The trail starts to go up and down a bit after a while and is quite rocky.

Eventually we came to a walking track off to the right which took us to Cooks Nose, and some very good views into the Brogers Creek and Lamonds Creek gorges, and down towards Kangaroo Valley in the distance.

After taking in the views for a while we headed back the way we had come, but turned off at the Stone Bridge sign to have a look at the natural stone bridge about 1 kilometer away. The stone bridge itself is interesting without being spectacular, but the area around it (Lamonds Creek) is quite nice despite many mosquitos coming to feed on me.

After a break down by the Creek we retraced our steps back to our starting point.

Gibbergunyah Reserve

General Information

Grading: easy

Distance: 6.9 kilometers 

Total climb: 307 meters 

Time taken: 2 hours 30 minutes

Map: Mittagong 8929-2S 1:25 000 

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  175 kilometers

Start point map grid reference:  56H KG 62016 85533

Destination:  none

End Point:  Same as start

 

Route

 

 

Description 

Gibbergunyah is a small reserve that sits between Mittagong and Bowral. It can be accessed from either town, but we started our walk from the Mittagong side. The access point is a locked gate on Howards Way, about 4 kilometers west of the centre of Mittagong. There is a sign here with a map of the walking tracks in the Reserve, and it's a good idea to take a picture of it before setting out. It should be noted that there is traffic noise from the nearby Hume Motorway on the Mittagong side of the Reserve, so this really isn't a walk for people who like the quiet sounds of the bush.

We started up the walking track to the right of the locked gate (shown in yellow on the guide map) and gradually climbed through forest until it met the Gang Gang Track. There were still plenty of wildflowers about, even though it was (notionally) Summer.

 

We followed the Gang Gang track to the right until we came to a walking trail on the right leading up to Ninety Acre Hill lookout, which has limited views to the northwest.

Returning to  Gang Gang Track, we followed it to the end and turned left onto Goanna Track, which we followed around until it turned sharply left. Here we left  Goanna Track and followed a walking trail down into a rainforest gully.

Unfortunately we found the trail a bit difficult to follow and soon lost it altogether. We were able to bush bash our way out of the gully and back to the Gang Gang Track, which we followed back to our starting point.

Mount Alexandra Reserve: Forty Foot Falls and Box Vale Mine Walking Track (2)

General Information

Distance:  11.2 kilometers

Total climb:  235 meters

Time taken:  3 hours 05 minutes

Map:  Mittagong 8929-2S 1:25 000

Guide:  link

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  171 kilometers

Start point map grid reference:  56H KG 62381 86348

Destination map grid reference:  Forty Foot Falls - 56H KG 64236 87304

                                                    Box Vale Track Tunnel - 56H KG 63867 88724

End point:  same as start

Route

http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/

Description

This was the same as the walk completed on 31 August 2017, except that we turned back at the railway tunnel and did not proceed to the lookout.

Mount Alexandra Reserve: Forty Foot Falls and Box Vale Mine Walking Track (1)

General Information

Distance:  12.8 kilometers
Total climb:  302 meters
Time taken:  4 hours 20 minutes
Map:  Mittagong 8929-2S 1:25 000
Guide:  link
Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  171 kilometers
Start point map grid reference:  56H KG 62381 86348
Destination map grid reference:  Forty Foot Falls - 56H KG 64236 87304
                                                    Box Vale Track Lookout - 56H KG 63985 88991
End point:  same as start

Route

http://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/

Description

The Box Vale Mine Track  follows the path of a historic railway line between Mittagong and the defunct Box Vale coal mine. There is also a side-track to Forty Foot falls on Nattai Creek. The trail starts at a picnic area about 250 meters off the Hume Motorway near Welby. Before long the trail conforms to the first of the embankments and cuttings of the old railway line.




Soon after passing through the first cutting (The Casuarina Cutting) there is a management trail to the right that leads to Forty Foot Falls. After a few hundred meters the trail forks and there is no clear sign of the correct path to follow - presumably it has been removed or vandalised - but the left hand road is the right one to take. About one kilometer further on there is a picnic table on the side of the trail and it is here that the walking track down to Forty Foot Falls begins. The track is very steep, descending about 100 meters in elevation. Much of the track is stepped and there are one or two ladders as well. The track takes you down to the base of the falls, and it is relatively easy to clamber up behind the falls where there is a substantial overhang and a shallow cave - a good place for lunch.





The climb back up to the management trail gave us a good cardio workout, but only took us about 15 minutes. We retraced our steps back to the Box Vale Mine Track and headed roughly north and northeast along more embankments and through more cuttings.



Eventually we reached the most unique aspect of this walk, an old railway tunnel. This is about 84 meters long and quite dark, so a torch is needed to fully appreciate it.




About 400 meters after the tunnel the old railway ends, but from there there is a 600 meter track going down to a lookout over the Nattai River gorge with an excellent view to the northwest.



At the end of the old railway it is also possible to take another track that leads down into the Nattai River gorge and back to Mittagong via Forty Foot Falls. We didn't have time to do this, but have bookmarked it as a possible future walk.