Totem Pole Walk

Date: 3/10/2020 - 5/10/2020

Participants: SUBW and me 

 

Day 1:

I went with SUBW on another trip to the Wollemi for the long weekend! Before that, I'm happy that I finished all my assignments prior to the trip! Aidan, the trip leader, offered me a lift from Richmond station so I decided to get there earlier and had breakfast at McDonald's which was next to the station!

We began walking from Newnes campground, the first quarter of the day was very easy. We walked along the fire trail which followed the Wolgan river in the Wolgan valley until we reached the Rocky creek and had lunch there. The walk was long and we didn't take any break but it was still easy because we were walking on the fire trail. We passed through the ruins walk, the ruins of the abandoned Newnes town never stop amazes me.

We found many ruins along the fire trail

The Wolgan river

A goanna trying to hiding itself among the trees

The walk was lovely 

Having lunch 

After having lunch at Rocky creek, we crossed the creek to the other side, with shoes and socks in our hands. 

We crossed the Wolgan river next, before reaching a part where the fire trail ends. 

That was also the end of the easy walking part.We took a turn and bush bashed up to make our way to our camping creek.

The bush was very thick in this area of the Wollemi, and there were a lot of Needle plants lying around as well. Along the way, when I was trying to scramble up some rocks, my pants ripped! I had to continue walking in pants that were falling apart, which annoyed me quite a bit. In this part, we also didn't take any break to make sure that we arrived at our campsite before dark. 

There were a lot of ascending and descending with rocks everywhere! 

I was actually felt quite happy when we reached a gentle part, still very dense, but had very few rocks. We walked and walked until we reached the creek. I haven't felt this tired for a long time! I also had a cut on one of my heels, maybe that's why it felt harder to walk.

We reached our campsite beside the creek just before sunset. So lucky! 

We set up our tents and quickly did a water run to fill up our bottles. For dinner, everyone gathered and we had a long chat while looking at the starry sky. I forgot about all the tiredness and the cut on my heel .

 

 

 

Day 2: 

 

Crossing the river back and forth

We started the day at 8:00 am.

 As we were gonna go back to the camp, we decided to leave our tent and packs at the campsite, bringing only small packs. We headed to the Wolgan River and began our walk to find the totem pole, the main part of our 2 days trip. 

The sun immediately hit us with its intense hit. 

We walked along the river for 2 hours before reaching what seemed to be like a large rock pile with a smaller rock attached to its sides. Aidan - the trip leader, recognised that this is the totem pole. The formation looks very interesting. We headed back after having snacks and drinks at the rock. 

Before we reached our camp, because we were right beside the river, we decided to take a dip. The water was so cool and clear, it relieved the intense hit that the sun hit us. 

I sat on a rock and dip my leg in, we also found a huge huntsman spider.

We had lunch at our campsite before packing up and going back. 

Crossing an enormous log

This time, Aidan decided to take another route back, staying beside the river instead of climbing up the ridge again. The scrub was still very thick, but this time, there were rocks! We had to cross the river back and forth a lot of time, and I scratched my knees during one of the crosses as I tried to jump to a rock. Climbing up the rock was no easy, however, I started to get used to it now. We ascended and descended back and forth as well. We also had to walk in the river for quite a bit. This is my first time walking in a river, it felt very nice. Everyone was tired and it took us 5 hours to cover 5k. Well, it is expected since this is an off-track, bush bashing walk. 

 

Found another totem pole?

We reached the end of the fire trail and hurriedly walk to our campsite for the day before it got dark. 

After all those bush bashings, the fire trail felt extremely nice, we crossed the river and creek again, reaching the campsite just before sunset again. 

We set up the tent and had dinner while talking out the shooting stars that we saw. I enjoyed moments like these a lot. 

 

Day 3 - last day: 

 

This was an easy day going back to the car park on the fire trail. We started the day a little bit earlier, taking our time to pack everything and hit the trail. 

I enjoyed the view while walking - it took us a really short time, only roughly about 3 hours back to the car. We saw an iguana on the way back as well! 

Another fun trip ended, my favourite part was walking in the Wolgan river! The water was so cool!