[SUBW-A] Trip Report - Wondabyne to Pindar Cave, Sun 12 Aug 2007

[daniel.ryan at csiro.au]

Party: Dan, Adriel, Catherine, Eve, Sam

Eve and I took the train from Central and picked up the rest along the way to Wondabyne. The mildly scenic train ride involved being scolded by an elderly gent for talking too loud - "This is not your land, why do you talk so loud, I don't want to hear your story!". A good attempt at trying to wreck someone's day but I just convinced myself that he is just one of those old men who wouldn't throw your football back if it went over his fence. Also, it looked like the weather was on our side today.

So after crossing the Hawkesbury, the train arrived at the Wondabyne mini-platform. We got the day's ascending out of the way and came across a campsite where some bogans left us three cans of New. We left them there but picked em up on the back, you know, to keep Australia beautiful. 

We walked along the fire trail, after which you turn left and then it turns into a walking track. There were plenty of cairns and stick arrows along the way for those with a hankering for disassembling. We made it to the lookout for lunch. Here the spectacular views (who promised that?) were closer to "water glimpses", but nevertheless its quite a serene spot. Trundling off, we were then accosted by a couple who have recently taken to stalking Catherine on her bushwalks, but we managed to use our wits to escape.

We came across the pool, which was full of big tadpoles and a VB frog. Being rather stagnant, it didn't seem too inviting for a swim. The cave itself, is about a 50m long overhang, and is perhaps a quite romantic spot of an evening as there were a few scented candles about. 

Feeling a bit itchy, I decided to take the alternate return route back to the pool. This involves a nice little waterfall and then a bit of bush bash up the creek. The creek starts out as flowing over rock which you can just walk over and then starts to hide itself under the vegetation. The vegetation was starting to get a bit thick. The "L" word was being bandied about, and there were also some questions about whether this was a beginner daywalk or not. But we just walked east and ended up meeting the track exactly at the pool - and the detour turned out to be the most fun part of the walk for most.

We walked back and hailed the train. Seeing the marina at Brooklyn made up our mind for us to go to the pub, but the Angler's Rest seemed a bit more not dead, so we went there instead to feast on seafood and beer.

Overall, a good day outdoors with some pleasant company.