Woronora
The Woronora river draws its name from the Aboriginal Dharug language meaning “Black Rocks”
The suburb of Woronora is completely ringed by bushland with only a single road providing access. It is also a rather dog friendly little suburb with the local Woronora river RSL being dog friendly as well as the nearby Boatshed which requires a booking if you will be bringing a dog. The Boatshed also provides dog friendly kyaking hire! Add to this some first rate dog friendly hiking and you have a perfect day in front of you!
If you want to do the Red track or a combination of the walks there are a few car spaces on Prince Edward Park road near the stairs that take you down into Prince Edward Park and only about a hundred metres down and across the road from Woronora RSL. This would be the closest and easiest place to park to start the walk. It also means that you can end your walk at the dog friendly RSL (after 3:00pm) if you wish!
If you wish to walk either the Purple or Blue fire trails then the closest parking is at the end of Thorp street in Woronora.
Distance: Around 5km and 2 hours for the Red track. Medium grade, nothing too hard or dangerous Just a little steep in a couple of places.
The Blue and Purple fire trails are about 3km each way and pretty easy if you stay on the tracks. About 90 minutes for each walk.
I spent several days exploring the tracks around this area and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am sure I will be spending many more days here.
One of the things I loved about this track was that you start at the bottom and get your climbing over with right at the start! The walk up is a little steep but not too bad. The terrain was varied also with sand parts, bush parts and large rock sections which kept it interesting.
Once you make it up to the top you are rewarding with some rather lovely views down to the Woronora river and surrounding town.
There is even a bench at one of the lookouts up here so you can sit and watch the goings on down on the river below.
Some rather stunning sections of Australian bush up high on the tracks highlight the beautiful views around you.
There were some great overhangs and caves, especially during the descent down towards the Woronora river.
This is one of those walks that will make you realise you do not have to be in a national park to see some of the most stunning scenery our state has to offer us. You can spend a day in a gorgeous place without leaving your furry friend at home!
Seriously though.. Is this not a section of rain forest that most national parks would envy?
Forbes Creek at low tide is a huge sand bar with a trickle of water running beside it but looks a little different once the tides are in.
There is a really nice track that follows the river which is a great walk on warm days when you can watch the little crabs scurry away and listen to the fish jumping in the shallow water right near you as you pass by.
Colourful water pipes near the end of the red track not far from the dog friendly RSL!
Fire trails are usually rather uninteresting walks but the ones along Forbes and Loftus creeks are really quite spectacular with multiple creek crossings over super pretty clear watered rocky creeks surrounded by lovely flora.
This is just one of the beautiful crossings at Forbes creek. Both the blue and purple tracks cross this area not too far from Thorp street.
And of course its a perfect place to stop and play frisbee!
The waterfall can be heard from the Thorp road Fire trail not very far from where you start this walk and there is a track that takes you to the top but it was not until my third visit that I finally found my way to the bottom of the falls from behind the Noorumba camp ground.
The track is not clear or easy to find but knowing you need to get down to the creek and back to the waterfall you should find it. I actually found two tracks down since the first one took me behind all the wood in front of the waterfalls and I could not pass it. It was a nice place to stop and watch the water while I congratulated myself on how clever I was for finding my way there.
Another beautiful creek crossing.
A couple of very different but equally interesting bridges making their way through this amazing bush setting.
A picturesque causeway across the creek and one of these cool squiggly trees that seem to grow in this area.
A great walk, or several walks through some of the most beautiful bush land I have been in and did I mention the dog friendly RSL at the end?
Have you visited..?
