Sunday 14/06/2020 Waterfall – Bondel Pool – Kingfisher Pool – Mount Mannell – Boobera Pool
Heathcote National Park, NSW
Participants: Phil Allen, David Butler, Stephen Davies (Photos), Sue Davies (Report), Ken Humpries, Mair Humphries, Ron Hutchings (Leader), Corin McAleer, Tania Sundgaard
The walk can be accessed by car with street parking available at the northern end of Warabin Steet, Waterfall. Waterfall train station is a short walk away.
Heathcote National Park is considered one of the jewels of the Sutherland Shire. It is ideal for experienced and prepared bushwalkers (more on this later) and is known for it’s beautiful bushland, freshwater swimming holes and craggy ridges.
Max elevation: 236 m
Total climbing: 1254 m
Total descent: -1255 m
Average speed: 3.30 km/h
Total time: 08:03:04
The forecast for the day was not that favourable and we awoke to rain so there was some initial resistance to join the planned bushwalking club walk. However, sunshine was forecast to shine from 10:00am so we quickly packed and made our way to the meeting point to start at 8:30am.
There was slight drizzle with water falling from the trees and some fog as we headed off along the Mooray track. The bush was looking at its best with the wet bark of the trees revealing a range of deep ochre colours. The mist gave it quite a surreal feel and we were the only walkers out at this stage so we were able to enjoy the peace and seclusion of an area which is often busy being so close to Sydney.
Forest near Myuna Pool on Heathcote Creek
Next we headed north on the Goanna track. Almost on cue the sun made an appearance around 10:00am so we made the right call to head out to the bush.
We then walked over to the Pipeline trail, there was thankfully metal stairs to get over the pipeline which we then followed to meet the old Boobera pool track. We followed a series of cairns down the gully and across a stream to find Boobera Pools, a very pleasant spot where we enjoyed lunch in the sunshine.
Our return journey we followed much of the reverse route although rather than using the Mooray track we stayed on the Bullawaring track past the scenic Kingfisher pool (complete with a waterfall) which is a popular short walk in summer.
We met a group of three young men on the Bullawaring track who had walked from Heathcote. They were finding some difficulty finding their way and commented about the lack of signs. Two of the party were barefoot which seemed unusual given the roughness of the track and the mud from overnight rain. Apparently they were “earthing” (walking barefoot outside to connect to conductive systems that transfer the Earth’s electrons from the ground into the body).
A short time later one of the barefoot party slid down a muddy section and thought he sprained his ankle. He asked us if we had a bandage which we supplied and they said they would be fine from there. They had phones and could make contact for help if needed but they seemed to have little in the way of supplies or extra clothing. It would have been a difficult walk out with lots of rough ground and at least 4km to reach the train station from that point. We hoped that they learned a lesson about bush preparedness from this experience.
We reached the cars just as the sun was setting so we couldn’t have delayed our departure too much more otherwise we may have put our own group at risk. Within our own group there were a few pretty spectacular falls with Phil winning the gong for the most frequent and dramatic.
Overall it was a pleasant day out in the bush with nice views and good company.
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