Kanangra to Katoomba
We left a car at Carlson’s Farm and continued to Oberon. We stayed at the Big Trout Motor Inn overnight and about 06:00am drove out Kanangra Walls. We cooked a bacon and egg roll at car park shelter as the sun rose and then struck out across the Plateau. The walk across the Plataea was scratchy as it was covered with thick scrubby bushes that scratched at us we walked through them. The trail was a groove 20cm deep in places. We passed the turn-off to follow the ridge and kept heading north across the lower plateau. It took as a while to figure out we had gone the wrong way and we had to back track and explore an unlikely gap in the rocks to discover the way down. Once we found the track it was a relatively easy walk along the ridges with spectacular views over Mount Stormbreaker and then to Mount Cloudmaker where we signed the visitor’s book.
We stopped at Dex Creek for the evening and camped under some trees. The creek had a trickle of water and after boiling the what we took we were able to fill our water bottles. We were slowing packing up the next morning and got started at 08:00am. We headed over the creek and bore straight ahead. This turned out to be a mistake because it took us towards Carra Top rather than to the East of it. After some map checking and referring to the GPS we headed east through the bush. We came across several ill-defined tracks that petered out. Continuing east our way was blocked by a steep ravine and we had to head back south following the ravine. We then came across a well-defined track that appeared to go east. We followed it and it took us to where we should have been heading. We lost a few hours tracking through the scrub looking for the track.
We walked across some open plains and saw some wild dogs and plenty of kangaroos in large mobs. We made our way down to the Cox’s river which was a very steep descent. We veered too far to the North West and came to Kanangra Creek. We initially thought it was the Cox but it didn't look right and the features weren't congruent with the map. After some scouting we discovered what we had done. We crossed over Kanangra Creek again and then over the Cox River. As is always the case when crossing rivers, it was difficult to find the track, even more so here because there were many little camp sites and myriad tracks around them. After drying our feet and scouting some more we found the track up Yellow Pup Ridge. This was a buttock burner. The unrelenting climb was a killer! We rested about half an hour at the top and then started walking again towards Mobbs Swamp where we intended to camp overnight.
The area around Mobbs Swamp was quite wet and we were arriving late. We decided to continue on and walk out-out that night - we knew it was going to be a big walk but we pressed on. I had marked the GPS points from a previous exploratory walk so we had the bearing to follow, and we knew that last few Kms were on a fire trail which would be easy walking at night. But still in the bush we came to an intersection around Black Horse Ridge and I took a wrong turn. (it is difficult to recognize landmarks in the dark) It took us a about a one Km to realize that this track was not the correct one even though it was taking us in the general direction. We back tracked and found the correct track. It was at this point that I stepped in what I thought was a shallow puddle that was at least 1 metre deep and I sunk to my thigh. Even in daylight it would have been difficult to determine the depth of this puddle – but at night I had no chance and it was quite a surprise. We found the point I had Way-pointed on the GPS about 500m South of Medlow Gap and continued the last hour and a half of the walk on the fire trail. It was 11:00 before we finished and we were very tired.
We got our gear in the car and drove to Blackheath. Everything was closed so we headed back to Oberon. We stopped at the Caltex Service Station at Mount Victoria looking very ragged and grabbed some pies and drinks. We arrived at Oberon and again stayed at the Big Trout Motor Inn. Next morning we woke late and headed back out to Kanangra to pick up my car. I got in it and turned the key. It cranked for about 5 seconds. I instantly knew something was wrong. It always started immediately. No amount of cranking would start it. A quick check confirmed it has no spark so there was no alternative but to leave it. I was cognizant that I probably wouldn’t see my car of 11 years again so I cleared everything out of it and headed back to Oberon. I organized it to be towed away and sold for scrap. The tow truck driver ended up buying to use as a farm car – so hopefully it lived a little longer.
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| Over looking Kanangra Falls | The Kanangra valley behind us | The track down off the plateau | Signing the book at Mt Cloudmaker |
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| Camp at Dex Creek | Kanangra Creek | Crossing the Cox River |
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