Trip – Black’s Ladder to Esgate Pass

We did this walk on the 15th of December, using these track notes (which everyone seems to have used and I think they’re the only ones available) and the topo map I marked up with locations of the passes using this handy map. We arrived at the carpark around 9:30. Party of Izzy, Lucy, Luke and myself.

Finding the tracks to Black’s Ladder was tricky – we seemed to go too far on the section “700m till you get to the big bend at K472673.” and had to bushbash NE rather a lot until we found the power pole, which now has lines attached to it leading downhill making it easier to spot. One of them is lying on the ground downhill, we stepped over it rather carefully but inadvertently walked into it later on with no harm done! We then found the old track just next to it and followed the many cairns past a distinctive grove of twisted scribbly gums.

Very much a route that will be easier to find next time. Alternatively, some walkers have taken the old route through the more northern firetrail and found this not too overgrown. It may be that Alan Well’s recommendations are out of date. Either way, be prepared to find your own path and a map is essential.

Another misstep followed halfway down the low cliffline when we turned left too early (“down through a low cliff and on to a footpad which shortly leads down and around to your left, under the low cliff and just above the creek on your right”). We found an old fireplace in a potential camp cave, traffic to which has presumably created the footpad we followed. Of course we also bashed beyond it for quite some time, not helped by my having marked the pass on the wrong arm of the creek – it is on the eastern arm – and thus trying to reach the western arm of the creek.

After backtracking, it was 12:00 when we descended the spikes and had some sandwiches by the lovely waterfall. I refilled some water in the pool (with purification tablets just in case). This is the last reliable place to get water – I used another waterfall later on but it was very slow to fill and I imagine it would dry up to be unusable as summer continues. We each drank at least 2 litres on a fairly hot day.

Following the base of the cliffs took about 3.5 hours, with various stops. It’s only about 2.5km but there is a lot of scrub and backtracking. I was bothered by some bull ant bites, which as I did not see the ants, could have been a spider or a snake or a venomous beetle or….. Thankfully it is Tuesday and I am still alive!

Climbing down to a lower height (spot the 3 walkers). This way does not work.

We stopped for some water at the very end of Megalong Head and spotted a way we could potentially climb up the detached cliff. Izzy and I scouted it while Luke and Lucy dealt with a leech down below, then engaged in a lot of yelling “THIS WAY WORKS” “DID YOU SAY WE SHOULD COME” “YES AFFIRMATIVE”. We climbed straight over the semi-detached section and into the gap. It seemed shorter and more straightforward than going around to the south side as recommended, but there is no marker to tell you where to climb so it was just a bit of luck.

We didn’t have any problems following the instructions for the pass, with Izzy tearing straight up like there was no drop at all. (She was also the only one not carrying a pack at this point :p) We have been intending to see how we will deal with exposure prior to potentially doing the Mt Anne circuit later this year, and certainly no-one in the party seems to panic and become uncertain – or take too many risks. Moreover the party, which was a bit hot and bothered earlier in the day, was filled with a wonderful sensation of victory as we all reached the top and admired the views.

At the top many cairns led up a steep hill until the trail becomes very distinct. The walk back to the cars takes half an hour from here. By 4:30 we were all ready to go.

All in all it was an enjoyable day. For sheer pleasure and variety, there are other walks in the Blue Mountains I would do first. For our training purposes it was great, with challenges to our navigation, fitness and climbing skills.

Bushies Collection

So I took a few photos this morning and thought it’s time for a big photo post.

A mud day!

this is the other time people thank me for bringing the camera

yes they were all accidental

I believe this was also the day we went running from Sutherland and found ‘Cronulla Airfield’, if you are familiar with the Shire….

This particular morning I stopped to tie my shoes and got left behind. I couldn’t find anyone and had a pretty long run by myself, crossing the Woronora valley and ending up near ANSTO. It was so beautiful in the mist and I loved the way the power lines just disappeared. (I’ve actually been lost again on the same route from Engadine, it’s bad luck for me.)

crossing the river

couldn’t decide on one

Some photos of our dear leader, who is actually 70 and a sort of indestructible wizard geriatric. We went through a period of getting lost and doing a lot of bushbashing that inspired mutterings about dementia, but he refuses to give up the post and has simply moderated the bushbashing to the taste of the masses.

it’s a dead end dam and we’re walking it anyway

A couple of trips to the top of Mt Westmacott which is purportedly the highest point of the Shire. I’m not usually a fan of hills but I am really fond of the little mountain and so I always beg to go up it and then race to the top ahead of everyone else.

Highlights of a run on the Coast Track from Wattamolla. From memory this was 17km and took two and half hours on a rather hot day so the lagoon was very welcome.

Eagle Rock

Good drinking streams

The end

Random pictures!

it’s all go

oh no it’s a bit of a hold-up

A view that just snuck up out of nowhere

Where shall we go? The Coast Track….. somewhere.

The George’s River looking towards the Como bridge from whence we came.

My uncle and cousin. My uncle is very fast; my cousin is very slow.

The Ladders of Wollongong. We descend this precipitous cliff to sea level and then climb it again. It’s a killer.

And the end….

Aged rebels every one.

the parental unit kayaking home in the sunset

A Cave

Bushies at Bundeena, found an old gun emplacement in the side of the cliffs. First we went the hairy way then we found the right way.

 

Jervis Bay

I actually decided to go on a sailing club weekend, after having been totally over them for a while. It was a small one with about 18 which is always great, you can actually meet everyone and learn about them 🙂

Unigames the Third

How many people get to go to three of these things? Not many, that’s who. We got bronze again, after UWA (standard) and USA (newcomers). We could have beaten USA – shitty umpiring – but shitty umpiring is part of teams racing at most levels and you just have to accept that over multiple regattas it will even out. IMO we were lucky to beat Melbourne to make the top 3, they were very strong, so really it all worked out. There were 11 teams so almost double last year, which was awesome. It’s like doing a real sport!

Team drama? yes, can’t have AUGs without drama. But not as bad as some teams, or even us last year. We had a weight issue – we were always going to be very light, so prior to our first weigh in, I sculled nearly 2 litres of water. Aaaand weighed in at 58 which is what I was normally! Based off everyone’s results it seemed that the scales were about 2kg off. Towards the end of the regatta, some of the boys were playing around and found that if you stood at the very front of the scales, they read correctly. Too late!

If you’ve never force drunk water, it’s not fun, especially when the Adelaide water doesn’t taste very good! Our team drank a lot, one crew just to be allowed to sail – the officials decided to enforce the rule that more than 10kg under is not allowed. Oh, and they made everyone wear shorts to weigh in. It’s one thing making people take their phones and wallets out of their pockets, but a lot of us actually wore jeans that day as it was quite cool, so we were all running around swapping shorts with each other. Like…. your scales read low. You must know this. How about not also being ridiculous?

Anyway…. this is the sort of riveting thing that goes on at a sailing regatta!

The best thing that actually happened at the club was the pie floater contest. The canteen & volunteer ladies were really lovely and when we had a few hours break with no wind, they cracked out the South Australian specialty. It’s basically a meat pie floating in a bowl of mashed peas/pea soup. Not a bad thing to eat, slowly, when you’re hungry. To eat very fast, after drinking heavily for several nights in a row? Let’s just say it was too much for some. I think NSW won, in a team effort after the first eater sprinted off to find a bin.

There were no photos taken because people were too busy having fun, which is kinda awesome.

The rest of the week was just sailing and hitting the nightlife of Adelaide – every night this time. It’s better than it sounds. We didn’t get a lot of sleep between getting home at 3 and being at the sailing club at 8am, this is where teams racing is very relaxing as you just sleep between races 🙂

I had serious post unigames depression for a week or two, glad it’s cleared up now. Hopefully, I will get to go on exchange next year and this will be my last AUGs. If not, going to number 4 would make up approximately 5% of my disappointment at not doing exchange! My dream would be to play rugby 7s and be a reserve for sailing, but they haven’t had girls 7s for the last couple of years owing to lack of entrants. The whole Olympic thing is meant to be making it more popular so…. you never know.

I had made the decision to abandon this blog, and I’m also just lazy to write things, but I want to share these pictures from Bushies.

This week we started at Wattamolla and ran north on the Coast Track. The Coast Track is in the Royal National Park and is really lovely. As kids, it would have been one of the first bushwalks we did overnight. More recently we did the whole 26km route in one day in our hiking boots, to break them in before the South Coast Track, which confusingly is a week long walk in Tasmania.

I took lots of photos because the scenery is actually open enough to capture our group against it, and it’s also beautiful – my phone camera is pretty much the worst unfortunately.

I should crop out the ziplock bag I was carrying my phone in. But that’s how lazy I am.

Bub went and bought us this water belt after last week’s run was two and a half hours long and finished in about 30C. Literally struggling the streets.

We are going to da beach!

Apparently this is called Camembert Rock. I don’t know how you cut Camembert that sharp though.

Just people playing

People got a little left behind on this beach as our leader was trying to race the next faster group… (The people in the photo are lagging. I am waiting :p) I love the silly things these old people do. It should be so dorky. But I love them. And no, they aren’t all old, or all that old!

The funny thing about all this is I’ve managed to get Bub all interested in running, and she wants to do more races and for some strange reason a triathlon, at the same time that I’ve started lifting a lot and don’t really want anything to do with triathlons! Dear Bub.

sun, moon and stars brother, all sweet things

This is a big post with photos for your more extra enjoyment.

AND GOD SAID LO, I WILL REWARD YOUR WATCHING OF LEAGUE

But league was still boring. Honestly I would have found that game more exciting if I had not watched it, and just imagined all the exciting rugby that could have occurred.

and god said call me not a one-trick pony, I can put it on the post this time

 

(and then it started raining again)