See Sydney's secret national park in full bloom

See Sydney's secret national park

Open to the public for only six weekends a year in late winter and spring, Muogamarra Nature Reserve is a floral paradise, and one of the best places in Sydney to see waratahs.

Over spring, Sydneysiders are given a rare treat, being allowed into Muogamarra Nature Reserve. Overflowing with flowers, wildlife and incredible Aboriginal engravings, this park is delight to visit for a picnic and a bit of an explore. It also has some unusual volcanic remnants and extraordinary European history.
Volunteers and national parks staff offer guided walks during the six weekends that it is open, as well as detailed information on the native wildflowers that you will see, including the location of some of the best waratahs in the reserve. NSW waratahs, our state's floral emblem, used to be quite prolific in the sandstone country around Sydney, but so many have been picked, built-over, vandalised and stolen that they are a wonderful treat now when you find them in the wild.

Where is it?

The unsealed track entrance is just south of the legendary Pie in the Sky bakery at Cowan, on the old Pacific Highway between Hornsby and the Hawkesbury River.

When is it open?

Usually weekends in August to the beginning of October, ie, now! To check, call the park office on 9472 9300 or 9472 9301. There is a small charge, and a national parks sticker does NOT get you in for free. 

What's there?

Excellent flat picnic area, shed with interpretive information and often an indigenous guide. Some of the shorter walks are flat, and lead to stunning lookouts over the Hawkesbury River.

Best walk?

There are walks here for every level of walker, from flat, 10-minute strolls, to more rugged ascents of some of the hills. The free guided walks are highly recommended. 

In my recently released book, Top Walks in NSW,  I describe a longer 11km loop walk that links together many of the best features of the reserve. It requires about four hours but is rated moderate. The following text is an extract from that book.

"Pick up from the Visitor Centre the extensive laminated track notes, and a map if they have one available. It’s also worth checking with the volunteers where the best locations to see waratahs are. 

Head out on the Point Loop, passing the first of many of the 900 species of flowering plant in the botanically rich reserve. For starters there are Sydney red gums, grey gums, bloodwoods, scribbly gums, drumsticks, banksias, peas, pink waxflowers and boronias. After 500m or so, the track reaches an airy rock platform, with great views down the valley to the Hawkesbury River (where you will be walking) and down to your right you will see the very different vegetation and terrain of Peat’s Crater.

The next bit of the walk is the hardest to follow. About 30 m back from the rock platform, a scramble down some rocks (to the left, facing away from the lookout) leads to a faint track. The footpad ducks and weaves downhill, sometimes with small cairns to mark the way across rock platforms. Volunteers may have trimmed bushes and put some flagging tape in places to help follow this route, but it basically heads downhill almost due north, directly towards Peats Crater, through a wildflower wonderland, disgorging walkers on the Peats Track fire trail. Turn left (downhill).

Most of this road was built in the first half of the 19^th century, and you’ll see historic dry stone walls and culverts.

Soon you’ll hit Peats Crater, one of an estimated 25 volcanic diatremes in the Sydney basin, but one of the most obvious to spot. With particularly rich, volcanic soil, it was highly suitable to cultivation, and so all the original vegetation has been lost, now replaced with introduced grasses, favoured by kangaroos and wallabies, towering Sally wattles, bracken, and a long line of Osage orange trees, which were planted as a hedge between two portions of farming land. These introduced trees are now considered important for their heritage value.

The track out to Peats Bite heads out from the left of the crater (downhill again), staying on the same side of the creek. It’s here you’ll enter a small but lovely cool section of rainforest, with lilly pillies, cabbage tree palms, coachwoods and water gums.

As the track flattens out, you’ll be serenaded by frogs and whipbirds, and then find the stone ruins of a farmhouse, which stood here 1886–1939. The mangroves are quite scenic, and at low tide you’ll see the defined channel along which boats once transported goods.

Gradually the water views of the Hawkesbury improve, and you’ll reach a point just beyond the mangrove trees with the remains of an old stone jetty and an uninterrupted vista across the water. It’s a great spot to sit and take a break before heading back.

On the way back, continue along the fire trail past the crater for a few more kilometres, keeping an eye out for goannas, snakes and other reptiles.

At a T-junction at the top of a rise, the fire trail hits another fire trail, the Bight Fire Trail or Deerubbin Extension Walk. Turn left, and almost immediately, a small marked track on the left leads up to Lloyd Trig. This delightful little side trip will take you up to 230m above sea level, with splendid views down onto Brooklyn, Long Island Nature Reserve, and across Pittwater to the Barrenjoey Lighthouse. It’s a great spot for lunch.

The final stretch is back down the Lloyd Trig track, then turning right and up the fire trail, which is likely to be quite populated. A long series of sandstone platforms have Aboriginal engravings, and sharpening grooves, most of which are best revealed and explained on the guided walks. However, a large engraving of a whale on the right-hand side of the track (marked off with ropes) is certainly worth admiring.

Not far past this, a small marked track to the right leads up to the flat JD Tipper Loop and back to the Visitor Centre. Turn right when you hit this loop and you’ll quickly find the JD Tipper Lookout, with again some brilliant views over the Hawkesbury, out to Brooklyn Bridge and beyond.

A very short stroll along this track leads back to the Visitor Centre and a picnic area with proper tables and bench seats."

Hope you get to this special spot and enjoy it while you can.

Ken Eastwood

www.kensbigbackyard.com.au

Where can you have a campfire near Sydney?

Where can you have a campfire near Sydney?

I am often asked this question, often by occasional campers who suddenly decide they want a winter weekend away, knowing that many national parks have pretty serious restrictions on campfires. The good news is that there are plenty of places where you can sit and watch the dreamy "bush television" and they are only a hop, skip and jump from Australia's biggest metropolis. 

Here are just a few of my favourites, so get the marshmallows, the port, the guitars and the campfire stories ready.

It's hard to beat a decent campfire

Mill Creek Campground

One of my all-time favourite camping spots near Sydney, Mill Creek has a muddle of wombats who live near the campsite, and a gentle evening walk with a torch is bound to reveal a common wombat or two. You can drive the car right to the spot, and some firewood is usually supplied, although it's always worth bringing a few decent hardwood logs. The campsite is in Dharug National Park not far from Wiseman's Ferry.

The rich forest around the Mill Creek camping area.

Watagans

Located in the hinterland of the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie, this small mountain range is thick with forest. Some of it is national park, but some of the best camping is in Olney State Forest (try Casuarina or The Pines) or the other nearby State Forests. There are walking trails, mountain bike tracks, and there's plenty of timber around for a cracking campfire.

Newnes

I am hoping to become a lot more acquainted with this camping site over the next few months, as it provides such great access to the Wollemi National Park – its dark canyons, walking tracks and historic places such as the Glow Worm Tunnel. It can be crowded in school holidays. Newnes has fire rings, a great location with views of  the Blue Mountains, and you are recommended to bring your own firewood.

Wollondilly River Station

With brilliant, secluded camping sites stretched out along the gorgeous Wollondilly River, and space to bring your pets, do some fishing or just sit and recover from the pace of life, Wollondilly River Station is an absolute gem for a weekend away in the bush. You can purchase firewood, or as always bring your own. The drive in is windy and on dirt (adding to the feeling of being "away from it all"), but still only a couple of hours to the south of Sydney.

Wollondilly River Station: camping along the river

  

General rules

It is always better to bring your own firewood if possible, as continual raiding around campsites denudes the habitat for a host of creatures, including lizards. I usually find that just before council cleanups, a whole lot of suitable timber is available on the nature strips. Use existing fire rings or fire scars wherever possible. Remember that total fire bans mean no naked flames at all and that national parks in particular can change rules about fires at any stage, so it is best to check with the park before you go.

Have you got another great campfire camping spot? Let me know!

@kensbigbackyard

www.kensbigbackyard.com.au

The 5 strangest things I've eaten

The five strangest things I’ve eaten

Harbour seal: not safe from the tables in Svalbard.

Forget such passé things as witchetty grubs, camel, crocodile, snails and chicken feet, which we’ve all eaten haven’t we? Here are five of my strangest culinary experiences.

1. Fermented shark, Iceland

The fermented shark is in the sealed jar in centre. To the left is fish jerky.

This infamous Icelandic delicacy has now even made it onto The Simpsons. It’s odd to think how the dish could have come about. The Greenland sharks caught in these parts are poisonous, chockablock with urea and other nasties. So some bright spark decided that you can bury them in rocks and gravel for a few months until most of the ammonia leaks out, then dig them up again and eat them. Yum!? I was served my fermented shark in a glass jar with the lid firmly screwed on, and as soon as I took it off the smell of ammonia scorched my nostrils. Beside the jar was a shot of an almost lethal clear local spirit, and I asked whether I was meant to dunk the pieces of shark into the alcohol before eating them. “No,” the waitress said. “You’ll need that after eating it.”

Tasting notes: A mix of off cheese, salt and bleach.

Recommended drink: Any of Iceland's excellent beers. Or a container of bleach.

2. Sand goanna, Little Sandy Desert, WA

Mmmmm. Goanna.

While men go off hunting bustards, kangaroos, camels and wallabies, Mardu women take an iron digging stick and almost without fail dig up a feed of sand goannas. About as large as a rabbit, but with less meat, the bony lizards are tossed on the coals of a small fire and turned over a few times.

Tasting notes: Like chicken. Finger-licking good.

Recommended drink: Billy tea

3. Smoked seal, Svalbard

Smoked seal served tastefully on sealskin. It tastes much worse than it looks.

After an Arctic cruise in which we oohed, aahed and clicked our cameras incessantly over incredible Arctic wildlife, including polar bears, whales, seals, reindeer and musk ox, our Svalbard hosts offered us both threatened narwhal and smoked seal. The seal carcasses were hanging in the carpark as we arrived. I refused to eat the narwhal, but thought I would try a small piece of smoked seal. Why? Who knows. Trying to be polite? Curiosity? Either way it was a bad move, and remains the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten.

Tasting notes: Repulsive blend of a gamey meat and the fishiest fish, wrapped up with great lashings of guilt. Impossible to remove the taste for hours afterwards.

Recommended drink: Lighter fluid, meths, diesel. Anything to take the taste away.

4. Green ants, Daintree, Qld

In primary school, we dared each other to eat ants, letting them bite our tongues before swallowing their acidic bodies. Theoretically with tropical green ants, you can bite the bulbous green body off the rest of the ant, but it’s easier just to pop the whole tangy thing in. Unfortunately I had some sort of allergic reaction. More power to the ant.

Tasting notes: Strong, refreshing citrus, more lime than lemon or orange.

Recommended drink: Phenergan, liquid form

5. Entrée, Gilberts Restaurant, Manly Pacific, NSW

My wife’s 21^st birthday stands out in memory for many reasons. It was the night we became engaged, but it was also the night I ordered one of the strangest dishes I’ve ever had. It was buffalo, prunes and raisins, served on fettuccine in a chocolate sauce. For entrée. When I saw it on the menu I thought “I have to have that – no one could put those ingredients together in a classy restaurant unless it works.” I have no recollection of what we ordered for mains, but this dish will be with me forever.

Tasting notes: The buffalo was rich and juicy, and the chocolate sauce was silky, not too sweet, and quite divine really.

Recommended drink: Pinot noir

I’m not sure what’s next on the culinary list, but I’m open to all suggestions.

@kensbigbackyard

www.kensbigbackyard.com.au