CENTRAL COAST - BRISBANE WATER NP - ROCKY PONDS - MTB/HIKE - 3 december 2014

I parked at the speed camera in Woy Woy Road. It was an early start as it was predicted to be a hot day.



The ride started well along the service roads. The quarry is always a welcome watery break from the dry scenery. There are a number of pools in the quarry remains. On a previous ride, there was a group of girls swimming in the quarry pool. During a conversation, they informed me the water was nice and clean and that they had swam there a number of times.

Further along the ride, there were a number of steep and rocky descents. The second descent ended with a flat tyre. It took 10 minutes to change the tube. Later, I stopped at the top of one descent and admired the flowers along the edge of the service road and the hussle and bustle of the ant colonies.

Finally, I reached the turnoff for the track to Rocky Ponds. I rode for a short distance but found the going too hard with large water filled ditches. I put the bike into the bush and continued by foot.

It was a pleasant hike along a narrow, rough and vegetation clogged track. It had rain the night before so the bush was very damp. By the time I reached the start of the cascades, I was drenched.

The cascades were pretty and very slippery. The water flowed shallowly over the flat sandstone then fell over the drop to the next tier.

The highlight was Jeannies Pool. The water fell about 10 metres to the rocks then flowed into the pool. The pool is surrounded by thick vegetation and a concave cliff. The cliff dripped of water and could be walked under.

I put my wet gear on a sunny rock and waded into the water. The bottom of the pool was sand and gradually got deeper closer to the rocks at the base of the falls. It was a pretty sight and I enjoyed sitting on various rocks and soaking in the vista.

Not much in the way of birds toady... heard a lot but saw only a couple briefly. There were a few flowers about in various locations where they could get enough sun.

I did see a small lizard!

The journey back was harder. The hike section was hard due the damp bush and me now becoming the steamy bush and the steamy me. Once I was back on the bike, the temperature was quickly rising and there were a number of places where I had to push the bike due the service road steepness.

All in all, a great ride and now I'm a mite tired.

bike - 14.8 km
hike/swim - 1:14
bike - 1:25
av bike speed - 10.45 km/h
max bike speed - 33 km/h