Wilson Glen

Location:  Start at Buena Vista Rd in Woodford at the sandstone memorial opposite Woodford Station

Grade: Easy, although a bit overgrown at times and some uneven rock steps to negotiate

Duration: 1hour

Features: Creek, Cave

Trip Notes:

A pool in the middle of beautiful bushland, lined with sandstone blocks and surrounded by ferns - a place for families and friends to gather on a sunny afternoon and enjoy the therapeutic atmosphere and clear cool water. This is how we imagined Gypsy Pool to be, as a friendly fellow walker described this man made pool and the days he spent at the swimming hole years ago. Now the pool has sadly been allowed to fall into disrepair - the sandstone walls broken, with silt and overgrown vegetation hiding the glory of days gone by.

Nevertheless, Gypsy Pool is a fascinating place to visit and the trip there makes a great afternoon bushwalk. The memorial at the start tells us that in 1932 Thomas M. Wilson dedicated this area to the Blue Mountains in memory of his wife, and as we descend the well-formed steps we are grateful for this generous gift. Lush green ferns surround the path and a few old seats provide some places to sit and observe. A wooden bridge takes us over the small creek which winds its way down the escarpment and we soon come to a curious little sandstone structure with water dripping into its moss covered cup shaped surface. A silver sign above it tells us it’s Tealby Spa – we later find out that this is a natural spring and there was once a metal lions head here with the water running from it.

A few meters away a large shelter with picnic tables provides a nice spot for a break before descending down into Wilson Glen. Angophora trees dot the landscape with their orange trunks standing out amid the glistening green of the ferns. The track takes us over a number of bridges through the rich rainforest type vegetation of Wilson Glen and brings us out into more open forest. As we walk past the hand painted sign pointing to Gypsy Cave, we soon come to an old fire trail. Turning right at this T-intersection and following the track for a few minutes to another path on the right takes us to Gypsy Pool. Crossing the old pool, we enter Gypsy Cave – it’s more like an overhang than a cave but there is room in there for a picnic table, and I imagine it would have been a wonderful shady spot for swimmers to rest and picnic, long ago when the pool was in its prime.

A set of steps heads off to the right and this is our return route. Ascending the steps we soon come to a small track on the left which leads to a lookout and is a peaceful spot giving clear views of the surrounding bushland while looking down onto the ferns of Gypsy Pool. Continuing on, a fork in the path is eventually reached - making a sharp left here takes us up a few more steps, past young Banksia trees and eroded rocks bringing us finally out onto Railway Parade. To complete the round trip a short road walk has to be done but care must be taken as the road is narrow and there is no footpath.

DH

This article has been published in the May/June 2011 edition of The Mountains Blueberry. 

Mt Victoria

Let's start right at the top. Mt Vic is a town seemingly not going places. People go through it on their way to elsewhere. The two empty shops on the highway just stay that way, with businesses intermittently trying and failing to stay open there. The Old Post Office is...I don't know what - quiet, shut up. Is there even a resident. Ooh, spooky!

But Mt Vic has a lot going for it. Bikers (of the nice variety) stop at The Imperial Hotel (beautifully newly refurbished); locals post their letters and buy their lunchtime sushi at the General Store (greetings Ronnie and Nolene); cinema enthusiasts drive for miles to enjoy the experience of the old time Mt Vic Flicks; abseilers abseil; snow falls; it is the first and last and highest town of the beautiful Blue Mountains

This spot is dedicated to celebrating in vibrant images the village of Mount Victoria. There's life in the old dog yet!

Mount Vic Flicks is the local cinema open Thursdays to Sundays. The building was originally the town's public hall and was built in 1934. It is now one of eight 'significant cinemas' listed on the Australian cinema map and is twinned with another 'old time' cinema in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. It offers a cinema experience of times gone by complete with pre-movie enterainment, namely an organ player who works her way through an entire repertoire of movie music, accompanied by her partner on maracas, ending with a rousing rendition of "That's Entertainment". There's a snack bar with choc tops, soft drinks and mugs of tea. The seats aren't the most comfortable in the world but that all adds to the experience. What's more they put on art house, foreign language and alternative movies with less of the action blockbusters. And at a cheaper price and a more intimate experience than the big chain movie cinemas could ever provide.

You can book ahead and it's highly recommended for the more popular movies - I queued for half an hour to get the last seat in  the house for "The King's Speech".

 

Ronnie and Nolene run the Post Office and General Store. Ronnie also makes sushi and you can get a warming tea, coffee or hot chocolate. Despite their long hours they are always cheery, knowing all the locals and having a joke with (or on!) them.

One shop success story is the interesting gallery and toy shop, Trains, Planes and Automobiles still surviving in this little town since 1997. Occupying the old bakery on the Great Western Highway, it houses a countless array of toys, games and memorabilia and the brick oven can still be seen hiding behind the shelves. It is certainly worth a visit for both the young and not so young, with authentic antique toys lining the cabinets as well as shelves of currently popular toys. The shop is full of colour with it's walls packed with toys from ceiling to floor and is a great place to find an unusual or interesting gift.

Faces of the Blue Mountains

We hope to capture some of the friendly and unique faces of the people who live in this special part of the world.

Musician Steve

Musician Steve Bevis who uses his music to speak out - he addresses  important social justice issues and brings awareness of how we in the West can be so apathetic to our brothers and sisters in the developing world. At the same time he brings a message of hope and life.

George, Murphy & The Chickens

Our new and very cute little pup Murphy whom we got from a rescue organisation called Aussie Desert Dogs. Murphy is a Chihuahua cross although he's growing fast, and is now 3 months old.

George, our 6 yr old rabbit is a bit apprehensive of Murphy and Murphy wants to eat George. George is a sweet bunny whom we got from the Blue Mountains RSPCA about 5 yrs ago. He is quite content to hop around the yard and relax on the rocks.

Our pretty chickens add a peaceful atmosphere to our garden and have a therapeutic effect as we watch them wander about. After an initial protest by George, they are now content to forage about together in the garden.

DH

animal passion

Animals are our passion. We love to photograph them and show their beauty whether at rest, play or something in between!
Oscar is 13 years old and has spent almost all of his long life sniffing out the Blue Mountains. He is a gentle soul with a crazy spirit and is the source of all my animal portrait inspiration. Quite simply he is my non-human soul mate. LB

Beautiful Birdwood

The orange glimmer in the clear pool caught my eye, as after days of rain I finally got a chance to do my favourite Springwood bushwalk. I had heard stories of years ago when the streams here were full of yabbies, but as I had looked at the urban growth in the Blue Mountains I had given up hope of ever spotting a yabby – at least one so close to civilisation. Maybe there still is hope for the streams of Birdwood Gully and Madoline Glen.

The Birdwood Gully/ Madoline Glen area on the north side of Springwood is a lovely area of bush, surprisingly unspoilt by the development near it. (I’m sure this is due to the team of bush carers who look after this area). A walk down the stone steps to this gully causes the business of life to be long forgotten and one can enjoy the peacefulness of this quiet bushland.

As we walk along the old paths, past towering gums and ferns, we hear unusual bird calls and watch little lizards dart along the rocks.  The walk here takes approximately one hour for the round trip and you can start it at the intersection of Bednal Rd and Lucinda Ave in Springwood. (You will have to do a short road walk at the end to link up the round trip). It is a perfect walk for children (or for those who need a bit of encouragement to get out into the bush) because of the variety of natural scenery to enjoy.

Explore the waterfalls and creeks and maybe catch a glimpse of the wallabies that inhabit this area, but watch out for leeches after rain! The vegetation here is rich and varied and as I point out an interesting shaped mushroom to my eight year old godson, a bower bird catches our eye … but that is a whole new story.
DH


This article has been published in the September 2010 edition of The Mountains Blueberry.

Knapsack Park

The distinctive crack of a Whip Bird broke the stillness and promised us an interesting afternoon stroll as we entered Knapsack Park – a section of interesting bushland in Glenbrook with several tracks running through it.  This area contains a lot of early convict history and we chose the Olivet St entrance to do a round trip to Lennox Bridge and back, hoping the bush would give up it’s secrets of days gone by.

As we walked along the wide, open trail, a cyclist gave us a wave and fellow walkers were also enjoying this piece of bush close to their suburban homes. The afternoon sunshine lit up the old quarry - a large rock shelf of orange, brown and cream layers of sandstone, providing a fascinating spot to explore and an old eroded five trail took us through the quarry and up onto the escarpment. A flash of blue caught our eye as a pair of Superb Fairy Wrens leapt and danced with each other. The Rosellas darted beside us and Common Bronzewings fluttered along the path as we made our way out of the quarry, to the top. There is a maze of unsignposted tracks in this area, but by keeping to the main path you will soon come to a track on the right which leads to Marges Lookout. This is a curious old lookout with a huge tree providing some shelter as we looked over the plains below. The landscape here is covered with “Egg and Bacon” flowers, and this expanse of yellow dotted with bright red Mountain Devils and pale pink Grevilleas surrounded the path as we made our way along the cliff and down to Lennox Bridge.

Lennox Bridge is a quaint old sandstone bridge tucked away in the bushland of the Lower Blue Mountains. The Bridge is a semi circular arch bridge built in 1833 by David Lennox working with a team of convicts and took just 12 months to complete. It was the first of its type, and now the oldest remaining bridge on the Australian mainland. This peaceful spot is an inviting place for a break and an impressive place to explore. A multitude of birdcalls rang through the air and we drank in the serenity and watched Brookside Creek below. A Sacred Kingfisher landed on a nearby branch, its beautiful blue-green colours glistening in the light. The shy Eastern Spinebill also darted to and fro. This seemed like a birdwatcher’s paradise and as we made our way back along the creek a confident Noisy Friarbird gave us its performance. The frogs, hiding in the creek lined with ferns, croaked along with the birds. A bright Eastern Yellow Robin and a Golden Whistler also came and perched nearby and the ever-present Laughing Kookaburra watched with us as a large Eastern Water Dragon sunned itself on a warm rock.

This walk which should have taken us at most one hour, took about two as we couldn’t help but stop and watch the amazing wildlife around us, making this somewhat ordinary trail into a wonderful walk.

DH 

This article has been published in the November 2010 edition of The Mountains Blueberry. 

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