CENTRAL COAST - dharug national park - october 2012

I spent a night at Dharug National Park and had a long walk and a cycle.

I arrived at Mills Creek Camping area, which was a short turn off the Wisemans Ferry Road. No one there! So I drove a little further to the picnic area and the start of the grass tree circuit and the 11km walking track.

The walk took about 4 hours with 5 rest spots. There was a lot of up the hill and down the hill walking. Some parts were steep and some were also slippery due to leaf litter. The rocks (sandstone) had some amazing shapes and in one section large rocks had fallen forming a walk through cave. At the bottom of most of the gullies were waterholes that weren't suitable for swimming but they looked pretty. The higher parts of the walk had very, very dry vegetation and the gullies and lower slopes were lush (in comparsion). The views at the top were limited being obscured by vegetation. Parts of the track were quite overgrown and in two sections the track became hard to follow. On one occasion, I lost the track. The highlight was the lace monitor that was sunning itself on the track. Very nice but it took ages before I could persuade it to move on so I could pass (there was nowhere to go around it safely). It was a great but tiring walk!



I stayed at Mills Creek camping area that night. No one else was there. All I could hear were the sounds of the bush. The camp area was flat and spacious with toilets, BBQ, bins, info signs, fireplaces and wood. My company was a brush turkey that stayed near me all afternoon and was there to greet me (bludge) in the morning.



I drove to the start of Devines Hill just pass the ferry to Wisemans Ferry. This was to be a mountain bike ride. The hill was very steep but I managed to cycle all the way to the top (well almost). There were a lot of info signs along the way regarding the building of the road. Very interesting. It certainly was an amazing feat of construction and human endurance. At the top of the hill, the road veered to the right and became more rough. After 1/2 kilometre, I reached Finchs Line which was a rough road that followed the ridge line then dropped very steeply in a zigzag fashion down to Wisemans Ferry Road. The last part was not for bike riding but in sections it wasn't too bad. Along the way, there were views of the Hawkesbury River. At one point, there was a series of large sandstone rock platforms with an unobstructed awesome view of the river and valley below. At another point, there was a view looking north over the thick bushed inland valley. It was a great bike ride though very hard and fast in sections!



It was a great two days at Dharug National Park! I 'll be back in the future to do the Dubbo Gully for a cycle.