Note: Some MSS trips have limited numbers where priority is given to their members, please contact the trip leader to register your interest.
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17th December NHVSS Xmas Event: Boarding House Dam picnic area
Christmas lunch and bushwalk. Self catered event. Located in the Watagans National Park, this is just over an hour travel for most of our regular members. The picnic area has some tables and chairs, though I will be suppling an extra table or two, as well as a small BBQ for anyone wanting to cook a snag or two. Though please consider bringing your own chair.
Mel will arrive 10am to secure a table, walk will begin at 11am, lunch about 12 noon. We will start the day off with an easy walk thorough lovely rainforest. Than after lunch if you are keen for a challenge then we have slightly longer walk to help burn off all the kj that you just ate.
Boarding House Dam Circuit This is a cool walk on a hot day. Take your time exploring the rock formations along the creek, before finding the moss wall. Walk alongside the moss wall to its end, and then follow a track through moist rainforest back to the dam. A pleasant relaxed walk starting and finishing from the Boarding House Dam picnic area.
30 min to 45 min (1.7 km circuit)
Or if we are not up for the full circuit we can do just the Moss Wall Walk (15 min to 30 min, 620 m return)
Turners walking track Take this challenging return walk in Watagans National Park to see the historic remnants of O’Hara’s Sawmill and take in the beautiful rainforest.
2 h 15 min to 3 h 30 min (7.2 km return)
Contact: Melissa Hadley <lis.hadley@gmail.com>
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4th January: Timor Caves Day trip
Short notice (sorry), cave documentation trip. Surface trogging to look for some missing “30’s” series caves in our records. Contact Murray Dalton (Trip Leader) 0418 596 552 murray.dalton1@gmail and for the trip book Daniel Burt <daniel@danielburtphotos.com>
7th January: The Start of the Great North Walk- Newcastle to Sydney done in chunks This day will be Queens Wharf to Charlestown Moderate-Hard 12.3 km
Start: Queens Wharf Brewery at 9:30 am
Lunch: BYO Picnic at Glenrock Lagoon about 12:00 pm
Finish: Charlestown Park (also known as Anniversary Grove or Lions Park, Charlestown) about 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm.
This will be the first leg (details below), then over the next year (and probably a half) I’m looking to set up a series of walks to do just that. The Wild Walks website has broken up the Great North Walk into bite size chunks to help tackle this behemoth of a walk. I’m planning on also throwing in some overnight hikes during Autumn and Spring.
In the next month I plan to have the schedule out of when we will do all the other sections and overnight hikes to help everyone plan ahead, so if you are super keen but have some events you need to work around, don’t be shy and speak up and I’ll see what I can do. Weekends that have been traditionally marked for caving will be avoided and if you are considering planning a caving trip, let me know and I’ll avoid those days also.
Contact: Melissa Hadley lis.hadley@gmail.com and for the trip book Daniel Burt <daniel@danielburtphotos.com>
14th January: Mountain Bike Ride Day trip
A relatively easy ride through the track at Holmesville. The area is fairly durable, so a little rain shouldn’t stop to ride. Length of ride will be determined by who shows up! The Holmesville mountain bike tracks are a network built by some very keen locals. A combination of single-track and double-track (old fire trails), the area provides a gentle set of trails suitable for riders of all skill levels. There are a small number of trail features which are all easy to negotiate.
Meet at 8:30 am, ride by 8:45.
Contact: Daniel Burt (Trip Leader) 0448 827596 <daniel@danielburtphotos.com>
21st- 22nd January: Gloucester Caves (limited to 12 participants)- MSS welcome!
Staying at a reserve near Barrington. Caving on the Saturday, caves with active streams and no vertical gear required. Sunday- bushwalk/ sight-seeing activity TBC.
The caves are quite unique as they have active streams flowing through them. There are glowworms, cave crickets, echo lizard, bats and in the underground steam there are freshwater shrimp, fish and tortoises etc.There are also lots of excellent 375 million year old fossils in the walls of the cave.
There are 2 blind valleys which form catchments for streams which run into the 2 caves and the water eventually comes out the other side of the mountain, although we can’t physically get right through to the other side as they end in sumps of deep water.
The plan is to meet in the main street of Gloucester by 8.30am and then drive out to the property in convoy. I would like to be driving out of Gloucester at 8.30am so please don’t be late.
There are 2 main caves and I would like to do one before lunch and the other after lunch. Lunch back at the cars. There is only a walk of 20 metres and 50 metres to the caves entrances. So possibly the shortest walks to caves you will do.
If you want to go to the very end of one cave, you will have to get wet, although there is a lot of cave to traverse before getting to the wet bit.
Activity on Sunday 22nd Jan 2023 Options…
- Climb to the top of the Buckets Mountain which are the mountains directly to the west of Gloucester. There is a fantastic 360 degree view from the top overlooking the Gloucester Valley and Barrington tops.
- Do a walk in the rainforest around the historic gold mining area at Copeland. There are some interesting mine shafts, adits and gold battery equipment scattered throughout the rainforest. There are also several small waterfalls in the rainforest.
I plan to finish no later than 2pm on the Sunday.
Contact: Garry K Smith gksmith29@icloud.com and for the trip book Daniel Burt <daniel@danielburtphotos.com>
4th- 5th March: Comboyne Caves
Camping at Ellenborough Reserve (Ellenborough township) just up the Hastings Valley from Long Flat. Free camping but can get busy. I have two alternative camping options- TBC closer to the trip. Caving Saturday 4 relatively small caves in this rarely visited area. Be prepared for a tough 800m uphill walk to the caves from the cars! Sunday will swimming, bushwalking and sightseeing in the area depending on the weather (possibly a visit to the Ellenborough Falls). Contact: Murray Dalton: 0418 596 552 or murray.dalton1@gmail.com and for the trip book Daniel Burt <daniel@danielburtphotos.com>
7th- 11th March: Timor Caves- research assistance
PhD student; Christoph Gert Hopel; from Germany will be studying Mountain Shrimps in the caves. Our members will assist in guiding Christoph and his supervisor into the caves, especially Lake Cave. If you would like to come along for a few days and assist you are more than welcome. Note: cost for hut is $10 per person per night, plus trip fees $3 per day. School-aged children are exempt from paying these fees. Contact: Garry K Smith gksmith29@icloud.com and for the trip book Daniel Burt <daniel@danielburtphotos.com>
31st March- 2nd April: Training Weekend- Kaputar National Park– POSTPONED
Arriving Friday night and staying at either Bark Hut campground or up at Dawson Springs cabins/campground. There will be a mix of climbing, abseiling and bushwalking. Contact Jeff Cwach (Trip Leader) 0428 694 169 jeffcwach@gmail.com and for the trip book Daniel Burt <daniel@danielburtphotos.com>
9th- 12th June: Glenrock Caves
You can expect small vertical caves mostly, but lots of opportunity to find new caves and we do find the occasional big one!. Basic bush camping, 1.5hrs north of Aberdeen. Contact: Brian Reeves: 0402 099329 or kanga941@gmail.com and for the trip book Daniel Burt <daniel@danielburtphotos.com>