Red Hands Cave walk

Red Hands Cave walk

One of the closest Blue Mountains walks to Sydney is a cultural spectacle through a bird-filled valley.

Red Hands Cave, showing hand prints and hand stencils in different ochres.

I've mentioned before that one of the difficulties for those of us who bushwalk regularly is that we have  favourite walks and favourite areas to walk, and it can become hard to make the time to try other areas. When I do get a half or full day to go hiking, I want to go somewhere that I know I'll love, rather than just somewhere ho-hum.

As a result, when I'm driving up the Blue Mountains from Sydney, I nearly always drive past the Glenbrook entrance to Blue Mountains National Park, which holds just about the closest Blue Mountains walks to Sydney. In fact on a Sunday morn, it's less than an hour's drive from my place in suburban Ryde. You basically drive up the steep escarpment and Glenbrook is the first little village. The only times I've really hung around this area are because it's the end of the legendary Oaks Fire Trail mountain bike ride, or because of the extensive camping and picnicking areas at Euroka Clearing, where wallabies and kangaroos are fairly easily spotted at dusk.
Many times I've driven past, knowing that a walk I would do "one day" would be the little walk to Red Hands Cave, an Aboriginal site. I've seen lots of handprints and hand stencils on walls before, so I guess it hasn't been high on my priority list.
But today I finally got there, and it's a little gem of a walk. If you start down at the delightful Jellybean Pool (perfect for a swim in summer) it's basically a P shape walk, with a loop at the far end. It weighs in at about 8km, and 11-year-old legs today did it in an easygoing 3 hours, with a few breaks.

Start

You can park at the top ranger station, or I think it's better to drive to the Jellybean Pool carpark (in summer this might be crowded). Wander down the stairs to the pool, then turn sharply right and scramble up and over track along the creek to the right. After about 5 minutes, you'll hit the road. Cross the causeway, then turn right along the marked track.

Across the causeway, Blue Mountains National Park, Glenbrook.

This takes you up a lovely bird-filled valley. Without trying, we saw whipbirds, gang-gang cockatoos, king parrots, golden whistlers and fairy wrens. There are some lovely large overhangs to check out and some gorgeous mixed trees in the forest, including the pink smooth-barked apples. A bit over half an hour of walking will bring you to the loop track.

Red Hands Cave Walking Track.

Red Hands Cave

I think the loop is best done anti-clockwise (because of the steep stairs on the loop track), so continue straight ahead, and the walk gradually climbs up the valley. Then all of a sudden you'll be at the sensational Red Hands Cave. Unlike many sites, it has both hand stencils (outlines of hands) and hand prints, and the dozens of images are starkly clear. It of course has a large mesh barrier around it, but even that doesn't take away from the magnificence of this site. Handprints have been estimated at up to 1600 years old, and there are a few other drawings too. On the floor of the cave you can clearly see the ochre grinding grooves, some stone tools, and a pile of red ochre.

The loop 

Once you've enjoyed this special spot, continue up the path, and in about 10 minutes you'll hit the car park and picnic area, which has a pit toilet. A track leads from the picnic area (not marked), which is the loop track. It seemingly heads off in the wrong direction for a while, but does make it back, via a different, lovely valley. Half an hour's walk down this track will take you to a small rock clearing on the creek on the left hand side. Stop here, as it has some very well defined and picturesque axe-grinding grooves. Stay for a while and see what else you notice, as there are other less-defined features. It's a good spot for a break.

Clearly defined grinding grooves and other features.

Back for a swim

The main track continues about another 5-10 minutes before it rejoins the original track, and you simply turn right, and follow it back to Jellybean Pool and that waiting swim. It's pretty brisk in winter, so you can almost guarantee you'll have it to yourself.
Overall, it's a corker of a little walk, and I really felt privileged to see two such well-preserved Indigenous sites so close to Sydney.
www.kensbigbackyard.com.au

Best bushwalks in each state in Australia

Best bushwalks in each state in Australia

Well, here are my personal favourites anyway. Would love to hear about yours!

This time of year remains one of the best times to get out and about, and our country has such a wealth of wonderful tracks on which to lose yourself for a couple of hours, or a couple of days. I've been blessed to have walked in every state in the country, and although there are still many, many more tracks to explore, here are my current favourites. (Although the great thing about any list of 'favourites' is that it can change.)

ACT

With everything from snow-capped mountains covered in alpine vegetation, to wetlands, the ACT has a lot to offer the keen bushwalker. My favourite walk though is a fun little gem, found in my book Top Walks in NSW. It's called Square Rock, and finishes with a short climb up a ladder to an extraordinary 3D rock playground on the edge of a precipice. Views, wildlife and a bit of an adventure - all in a few hours. 9km return. Definitely recommended.

Square Rock, ACT

NSW

Admittedly I've done much more walking in my home state than any other, and so I have a much wider choice. My top 63 walks are in Top Walks in NSW. But my absolute favourite walk in the state remains the century-old National Pass. With dramatic cliffs, sensational views, plunging waterfalls, rainforest and NSW's only endemic bird species, it's a brilliant walk at any time of year, and in any weather. Allow half a day for the steep 6km loop.

The wonderfully precipitous path on the National Pass, Blue Mountains.

NT

So many great walks to choose from, from desert country to tropics, and my pick of the bunch is a little walk that few do. I haven't done it for a few years now, so I hope it is still as good, but my memories of doing it with my parents, a child in a backpack on my back, and a pregnant wife, are very vivid. It's called Chain of Ponds, is a 3.5km loop, and is in Trephina GorgeNature Park. Trephina Gorge itself is worth wandering up too - all within the less-visited East MacDonnell Ranges.

QLD

A couple of weeks ago I returned from the only "great walk" in Queensland, the new four-day Scenic Rim Trail. I do love those highlands in the south-east part of Queensland, and my favourite walk is actually on the other end of the Scenic Rim, in Lamington National Park. It's the 17km Tooloona Creek circuit, leaving from O'Reilly's, or the walk through to Binna Burra,  via Tooloona Creek rather than just the Border Track. There are Antarctic beech trees, gorgeous rainforest, and birds galore. A solid day out for those not used to walking, but a joy nonetheless.

SA

I must admit my walking experiences in SA are limited, and I am still hoping to get to that bushwalking mecca of the Flinders Ranges. I've had some great experiences though on Kangaroo Island. But my favourite walk is way up in the north-east corner of the state, along Cullyamurra Waterhole near Innamincka. Wonderful outback scenery, birds such as brolgas and the sad history of Burke and Wills. At the top of the waterhole are some extensive Aboriginal engravings. Camp along the waterhole and just explore as far as you want.

TAS

Oh, again, so, many walks from which to choose, and I've been blessed to have experienced so many. Cradle-Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is a favourite area to hike (how good are the Twisted Lakes?), as is Mount Field National Park. One of the most popular tourist sites in the country is the Tahune Airwalk on the Huon River, a raised platform walk on forestry land, 90 minutes drive south of Hobart. Just near it, however, is Hartz Mountains National Park, an untamed sub-alpine wilderness, with swirling winds, changing moods, and, if you hit it on the right day, some of the best views over Tasmania's south-west forests. Few people go here, and you will need to be well prepared, but the five-hour walk up Hartz Peak is an absolute cracker.

The track less-travelled: Hartz Mountains National Park, Tas.

VIC

From alpine areas to wild coastline and wonderful koala-filled forests along the Great Ocean Walk, as well as one of my favourite national parks in the country, the Grampians, Victoria has been known for many years as the best state for bushwalking in the country. My favourite walk is the multi-day 35km  loop to Sealers Cove and Refuge Cove in Wilsons Promontory National Park. Gorgeous remote beaches, wildlife including wombats, and some of the nicest coastal scenery in the country. It's no wonder this is such a popular national park for Victorians.

WA

Again, what a wealth of riches in this vast state, from the subalpine peaks of the Stirling Range National Park (again, one of my favourite national parks in the country), to the towering karri, marri and jarrah forests, to the floral bonanza of Fitzgerald River National Park. But I'm going to jump to a walk way up in the Kimberley, in Purnululu National Park. The multi-day walk up Piccaninny Creek, past one of the most beautiful and iconic landforms in Australia - the extraordinary Bungle Bungles - this walk will probably see you wading through waterholes, avoiding wildlife such as snakes, and dodging prickly spinifex. It's the only gorge within the park that you are allowed to explore, and I've met people up there camping for nine days. But even a hike one day in, then setting up a camp and exploring from there, will see you deeply immersed in one of the most spectacular parts of the country.

As always, I'm keen to hear from others - particularly so I can keep a lookout for my next walks.
www.kensbigbackyard.com.au      

We need higher taxes

We need higher taxes

Yeah, that's right. Charge me more for being an Aussie worker.

Go on. Tax me harder.

At this time of the financial year, when we dread getting out the magic shoebox of receipts and wading through spreadsheets in order to come up with paying the least tax we can get away with, I want to sit back and reflect about a few things.

Today we had the "bust the budget" marches across Sydney, Melbourne and elsewhere complaining (quite rightfully) about the current financial slashing of a whole host of things that were previously considered important in this country: the environment, science, the arts, conservation, tertiary education, health, elderly care, foreign aid ... to name a few.
Now, like everyone, if I was in power, I would prefer to see financial slashing of other parts of the budget. For example, defence always seems to get a big swag of cash that is sacrosanct. But I am not making those decisions, and don't know all the pre-existing agreements and ins and outs of dropping spending on something, just because it isn't the bees knees in my way of thinking. Yes, I would make different decisions, but so would everyone.
So, in the light of that, it becomes increasingly clear that our governments just need more cash. I want government to spend money on protecting biodiversity. I want it to fulfil its international obligations on asylum seekers, on foreign aid, on creating new protected areas. I want it to properly fund our health,  education and science sectors, so that we can again be world-leading innovators and changers. I want a thriving arts community. I want a public transport system that works well, and is integrated, and forward thinking. I want more development of green power and farming methods that will see us prosper and look after our land for unlimited generations to come.
Politicians of any political persuasion won't pitch as their election promise "I promise to raise taxes" – hardly slides down the throat with a nice shiraz. But perhaps my little voice can be added to a few others to say, "hey, tax us a little more, and then deliver us what we really want".

www.kensbigbackyard.com