MUNMORAH BEACHES - OLNEY SF HIKE/MTB - HEATON, HUNTER AND MACLEANS LOOKOUT - 26 NOVEMBER 2017

25 November 2017

I drove over to Avoca Point to catch up with my old mates one more time. It was another great catch up with some drama the night before involving attempted strangulation ... ah boys will be boys even at 60+.

I had a swim at Avoca Beach then headed home for a nap before Jacinta and I set off for a night camp at Munmorah SCA.

At Munmorah, we unfortunately discovered that the camping area was full. We headed down to Red Ochre Beach and had a few swims and a sit in the sun.

Next, we tried the small camp area at Frazer Park but that was also full. We had lunch and decided to head to The Pines Camping Area at Olney State Forest about an hour drive away.

A good decision. We parked between a couple of tall pines and settled in for the evening - reading and having dinner with a few beers and wine.

26 November 2017

We had parked the van on a slight angle so I spent most of the night rolling. Not the best sleep.

When we woke, Jacinta and I had a bush hike along the tracks near the camping area. A great hike as I did this one a few weeks ago on my own so I knew where I was going. There are a lot of tracks leading in a number of directions in this area so it can become very confusing. On this hike we walked in the opposite direction to my last hike.

After the hike, we had breakfast and then I went for a mountain bike ride. I don't know the names of the tracks but I had a fun time exploring and testing myself. Most of the tracks had been highly eroded by dirt bikes so it was a challenging ride with unexpected obstacles.  I found the start of the Abbots Falls Track which I rode part way but will do more on another occasion as I didn't have a map and the ride was going to be long.

Back at the camp, we packed and then hit the road for a number of lookouts located on the dirt roads. the first was Heaton Lookout with a vista across the east to the ocean. It looked like a future camp spot as there was two walks in the area.

The next lookouts were Macleans and Hunter. They both were great views looking out over the valleys to the west. the road on this section was relatively flat and a track ran sort of parallel.  A possible mountain bike ride on a future trip.

We had lunch then drove back home.

OLNEY STATE FOREST - THE PINES HIKE - 25 OCTOBER 2017

Today, I drove early to Olney State Forest for a hike on the The Pines Track.

It was a bit of a drive - along the main highway, a series of country roads then dirt roads to The Pines Camping Area.

The camping area was huge and a possible camp site for longer hikes.

The track was suppose to be signposted but most of the signs had been removed by vandals. Still, a general map and the major feature of a creek made it relatively easy not to get lost. Well, a couple of times, the tracks ended but I knew that if I kept in my general direction I would come across an intersection of a track. One problem here was the amount of tracks in the area. As it was, I was fine and I enjoyed the bush bashing.

The track meandered through some very pretty areas. In my opinion the best was at the start. The creek lightly cascaded over a few rock drops with moist vegetation growing at the base. The creek flowed over a rock base which was relatively free of vegetation. The trees were tell and shaded most of the direct sunlight. It was very rainforest looking and generally, the fallen trees and rocks were covered in moss.

The rest of the hike varied from roads to tracks to dense vegetation to wide cleared areas.

It was an adventurous hike that took me in a number of directions. I was surprised that at the end, I had only covered 2 km.

Back home and I had an ocean swim at Terrigal Haven.