Sunday 20/05/2018 Loftus – Bundeena
Royal National Park, NSW
Tharawal country
Participants: Kevin Abnett, Jocelyn Booth, Ted Booth, Ben Bretag, Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies, Kylie Falconer, Ken Humphries, Mair Humphries, Trish Law (Report), Frank Mathey, Yvonne Rozier, Dave Whitelaw (South Coast Bushwalking Club Trip Leader)
This South Coast Bushwalking Club trip was an undulating amble along bushland tracks from Loftus Railway Station to Bundeena Ferry Wharf. It passes through the northern section of Royal National Park. Early encounters with morning joggers and mountain bike riders near the tramway track were followed by morning coffees and hot chocolates at Audley. Walking the length of Winifred Falls Trail past the non-flowing Winifred and Anice Falls suggested it may be preferable to complete this section soon after some reasonable rainfall! After a short section of walking along the road into Maianbar we crossed over Cabbage Tree Basin on the foot bridge before walking though to the ferry wharf at Bundeena to complete our walk.
Max elevation: 132 m
Total climbing: 686 m
Total descent: -776 m
Average speed: 4.25 km/h
Total time: 06:25:31
Trish’s Trip Report
We started walking from Loftus railway station car park at 9:15am. The Honeymoon Track led us to Audley where we had morning coffee. We clambered up and over Artillery Hill to Winifred Falls where we saw very little evidence of recent water flow. The waterfall was dry! As was Anice Waterfall. It’s very sad to see the park so dry. At Winifred Falls, we followed the track to view South West Arm of Port Hacking. There is another trip in the planning now that involves kayaks.
Dave supervising rubbish collection along West Arm Creek below Winifred Falls
Along the way, we saw lots of Waterboard manholes, which made us wonder how Maianbar and Bundeena sourced their water. A bit of research from Ted, has solved the riddle!
Maianbar by Anne Carrick and Lynn Christie
“The water supply is a dual system. Some comes
from Woronora Dam via an old pipeline through the
Royal National Park. The remainder comes from the
Sutherland Reservoir via a new submarine pipeline
under Port Hacking from Burraneer Point. Water is
pumped to the water tower at Maianbar which then
gravity feeds both Maianbar and Bundeena.”
Back at Anice Falls we had lunch before continuing on towards Bundeena via a narrow track with high vegetation on both sides. On a sidetrack, to avoid too much walking on the sealed Maianbar Rd., not only did we get more views of the city but we had beautiful views looking down on nearby Port Hacking. A few kilometres of bitumen road was a draw back, but necessary in order to get to Maianbar. We dropped down to cross the intertidal inlet called Cabbage Tree Basin where we posed for our mandatory photo opportunity. After crossing Bonnie Vale we waited 20 minutes for the ferry to Cronulla. We had fast and efficient train connections back to Loftus by 5:00pm, where we enjoyed beer and chips and great camaraderie debriefing after an awesome day.
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Hi walkers! You didn’t need to walk on the Maianbar road at all. Just cross it where the track comes out by the houses, and go behind the bus stop (pictured in your excellent photo collection). There’s a good clear track through beautiful bush down to the basin. When you reach the water, turn left (NW-ish) and walk along the water til you reach the bridge. Some of that path has high-tide alternatives. Bonnievale campground is being torn apart to remove asbestos now, but there’s still a fenced path through toward Bundeena. The route from Loftus to Bundeena (or even better, Heathcote to Bundeena, still via Audley) is becoming quite popular now, due to how clear that ‘side-trail’ paralleling the Maianbar Road. As you note, lovely views. Everything is flowing much better now (Nov 2018), and the SW Arm Pool is bliss for swimming (shower afterwards at Winifred Falls).
Thanks for the great tips Molly.