Trees and Sea: Exploring Glenrock

Happy weekend! Hope it finds you all well. This latest post is going to be all about the amazing Glenrock State Conservation Area which is literally and luckily right across the road from me. I briefly mentioned it in the 360 Degrees of Newcastle article, but now we get to go into the finer details. But first of all, let us do a quick checklist to make sure this place is actually worth reading about. Waterfalls...tick, remote coastline...tick, coastal rainforest...tick, beautiful plant and bird life...tick, potential for biker riders, bushwalkers, nature spotters and families to all equally enjoy its space...tick! Hmmm. If you want a day out and about in nature that is free and easy to plan, then I think you should keep reading!

Starting out

Take your pick of access areas of where to begin! There is a private, but not so private, road that tacks off Scenic Drive. That's where we started our walk this morning. It takes you past the processing facility and out onto the beach, about half way from the start of Burwood and the lagoon. Other starting points are Gun Club Road, which runs off city Road and Burwood Road, Kahibah. Click here for a map if you are not familiar with the area. If you want to park your car down at Merewether Baths and make your way around the base of the cliffs you can begin there as well. Check the tides and swell conditions for this way just to be safe. I highly recommend this way as the walk along the beach up to the lagoon is very picturesque. There is also a water tower on Hickson Street with a small parking area underneath and a path that leads out to a clearing (which is a beautiful place to be at sunset). On a closer inspection at the edge of that clearing you will see some goat tracks that take you down to the beach or in and around the many, many scrubby tracks that can be found in Glenrock.

Above: Marty and I leaving footprints as we walk down to the lagoon...

Sunrise

We started out at 6am this morning. The aim was to get down far enough on Burwood beach to do some long exposures that incorporate the coal seam cliff faces at the southern end. At a decent pace, and ahem, without too many photo stops that would generally take about half an hour. Howwwwwever as usual, I was making little macro pit stops. I was also side tracked by some very playful pooches along the way so we didn't quite get the light I was after. Darn those gigantic clover flowers and cute dogs!

The southern end of Burwood beach is so beautiful for long exposure, even when you do have too much light due to distractions along the way...

Climbing Up

Once you get to the lagoon and if you stay on the right side of it, you will see some Great North Walking posts. Follow them up the path to an area with bigger signage and you will get more details about your walking options.

This only gives the main options that are part of the Great North Walk. Remember there are soooo many smaller tracks and offshoots from the main trails that you can explore. With some degree of caution naturally. We don't want anyone getting lost as a result of my blog hehe.

Marty and I headed up the Yeularbah trail as this takes you up through some delightfully mossy coastal rainforests to Leichardt's lookout and then on to some nearby waterfalls. If this is your first visit here ,it is a great walk to give you an idea of the potential of this place for later explorations. The waterfall pictures that you see today are just from a days rain. Come here after a week's worth and you will be blown away by how many there are running and the amount of water considering they can run dry in summer. Bonus: No leeches...yay!

My fearless guide leading the way hehe, aka Marty. Some of these steps were the tree roots! How cool!

Ascending! Looking back down on all the beautiful greenery...

So.Much.Green!

Leichhardt's lookout. Where the lagoon meets the sea...

Full Circuit

After spending about half an hour taking photos of the waterfalls, and in vain trying to spot one of the what seemed like hundreds of croaking frogs all round me, we began the walk back. By this stage we had quite a few mountain bikers riding along the trails. Basically follow the rules of traffic, on the bends of the tracks they can pop up out of nowhere. In saying that everyone we passed this morning had massive, enjoying the outdoors grins and were very respectful of each others space.

You can walk in under these falls...

There were frogs croaking all around me at this point. Do you think I could see even one for a photo!

That's a Wrap

All in all, our little expedition today took about 3 hours. Once home we quickly ducked inside to grab the poochie and the car keys and headed down to Blue Door at Merewether for coffee and food. The great thing about this spot, is having front row seats to the nearly guaranteed appearance from the local pods of dolphins. By 10am we had watched a beautiful sunrise, walked an easy 9kms, splashed about in some waterfalls, smelt the beautiful wattle blooms, spotted lots of wrens and honeyeaters and munched on some yummy brekkie while watching dolphins. Glenrock...it is definitely a goer!