Gibbergunyah Reserve Walk

After my last walk I was feeling good and eager to get back out for more. I had a bone marrow biopsy done on Monday the 18th January and had planned a hike with my Dad for the Friday, hoping by that time the pain and stiffness from my biopsy was fine and I would be all good to go.

However I received a phone call from my step-mum, informing me she was in hospital with a suspected minor stroke, and would be staying in until more tests where done, with my Dad having to delay our hike. I was worried for my step-mum but at the same time felt a disappointment, desperately wanting to get out and do some more before I have to go back to hospital for my stem cell transplant that will keep e in hospital for about 4 weeks and leave me severely weak and immune compromised for about 3-6 months according to my Doctors. 

My Wife, knowing I was disappointed, asked to find a walk we could do as a family taking our Dog: Orla.

I have often struggled to find walks through the bush for Dogs, as Australia isn't particularly Dog friendly compared to other countries. But I had done two walks in the Southern Highlands with Orla and decided looking up there would be my best bet. After some research I can across Gibbergunyah Reserve and we decided we would go on Monday the 25th, the day before Australia Day.

That morning I woke up and after taking my cancer medication, told my Wife that I wasn't feeling to well, as my medication can sometimes make me feel sick, and asked her to drive. I went to the toilet twice before leaving as the medication after taken makes me often need to urinate. As we made our way up the twists and turns of Macquarie Pass, commenting about how crazy packed it was, I could feel my stomach churning and felt myself getting sicker. 

As we reached the top of Macquarie Pass my Wife remembered she had not brought her Drivers License, as I had backed the backpack and I had brought my wallet. She said she thought she should be ok, as she recalled being told you're allowed to forget it once on your full license. I questioned how true that was, and we talked about the change in unmarked speed camera laws in NSW. I told her I was busting to go to the toilet again, and mapped a free public toilet at Hampden Park in Robertson. I told her when we pulled up, I would take over driving as a precaution. After going to the toilet (yet again) I felt a little better (being on a non winding road helped), and I left the sound directions on loud and placed my phone down and we made our way to the Bowral end of Gibbergunyah Reserve.

As we arrived we saw a group of older people just heading out along the track. We sat in the car and applied our sunscreen and took a photo of Orla and set out on the walk.

The track began in between two properties and we followed it down past a garden of agapanthus on our right.

The track veered left with a sign letting us know Gibbergunyah Reserve was in 500m.

This trail continues past these properties, a gorgeous house property on the left with the righthand side opening onto a local golf course.

The trail turns in a bit though you can still see the golf course through a thin veil of trees. The track began to slightly incline and slowly the trees between the path and the golf course thickened. The trail began to incline a lot more and the track itself became bumpy with rocks and tree roots.

We came upon the group of older folks sitting at a point where the inclined trail increased a lot, sitting panting they asked me if this was the way to the Reserve Walk. I told them I thought we were on it but I didn't know for sure as I had never been here before. I wished them a good day as we continued up further with my Wife complaining about the heat and humidity as she was beginning to struggle. We reached the Moyengully Rest Area, named after a Gundungurra Warrior as we stopped for a short while for my Wife to catch her breath as she complained that she wished we were living in England.

After a small break we continued uphill again as I noticed a few small little blue bugs with interesting patterns crawling along the trail.

Finally we reached the top of the incline, reaching a sign of the Gibbergunyah Trails as well as a fork in the road, with a massive hill on our left and a flat trail to our right.

Beneath the sign was a little wooden letterbox looking thing. I could see there was some paper inside and hesitantly I reached in and took one out to find it being a information brochure about the area.

My Wife was already struggling and Orla was crazy thirsty from the heat so we headed right along the Goanna Circuit, while constantly walking through invisible spiderwebs. I had a quick look around me and told my Wife I had to pee, yet again from my cancer medication. I quickly did a whizz off the path in the bush with my Wife commenting that I was lucky (ie, as a male) to be able to do that. I said if I wasn't I wouldn't even bother going hiking while on these meds.

As we went along the bush path I could see a hill through the trees in the distance with an orange dirt base with cars parked there and I wondered if it was a mine or something. We soon came upon a termite mound and I got a photo of Orla with it.

The heat was blistering and there was no relief from it. My Wife and Dog both seemed to struggle and while I was hot I was surprised at how well I was coping due to my condition.

Soon my Wife screamed at me to search her as we had just walked through a spiderweb and she thought that she could feel the spider on her. I had a look but soon noticed the web had broke and swung and the spider was actually crawling up my leg. I quickly flicked it off, commenting that it was crazy how many spiderwebs were along the path, considering how big the track was, having done much smaller off tracks walks and never had to deal with so many. My Wife doubled down on her comments about moving to England which I jokingly shrugged off.

Around the corner the path began to head downwards slightly, while in the heat I thought about how it was prime bushfire weather, with the area giving me flashback to doing Bush Regeneration work with controlled fires at Stoney Range, near Blackbutt in Shellharbour.

We stopped again for Orla to have a drink of water, where she finished her entire water bottle. I told my Wife I was worried as she had already drunk so much and I didn't know how she would be in the heat (hoping the day would begin to cool down), as I thought it a breeze did begin, but not steady and not particularly cool, but enough to notice an effect. I photographed a caterpillar while walking along and we continued the trail until we reached 'Banksia Place'.

Poor baby struggling in the heat

Banksia Place was on our left and continued the Goanna Circuit while the 'Glen Track' continued straight ahead.

We sat for my Wife to have a break while I poured Orla water from our water bottles so she could have a drink. I told my Wife to have some water but she wanted to save it for me in case I needed it. I told her I was feeling fine and that I would walk Orla for now.

As we continued along Goanna Circuit we we blown away by the sheer amount of Monarch Butterflies.

The track continued on for a while, relatively flat though you could see it fell down into a gully on our right and sloped uphill on our left. Soon our path began to get hilly and my Wife began to really struggle in the heat, getting very dizzy and needing to sit down pretty often.

Every other minute my Wife sat down struggling to continue as I repeated asked her to have some water (she kept refusing). I told her when we reach the where the path connects to 'Gang Gang Track' we'll stop for some food and just turn left back towards the car, which I said would probably all be downhill (given the path left at the start was such a sharp incline)

My Wife was beginning to struggle to even get up from sitting down, saying she was spinning out due to the heat.

We finally reached the Gang Gang Track, with a sign pointing down the way we had come as 'Goanna Track', and my sat and I ate my cheese and tomato sandwich while Orla finished another bottle of water and started some of the third and final bottle. My Wife asked if I wanted to continue on to 90 Acre Hill Lookout. I told her with how she was coping and how Orla was coping it was better to just head back to the car. She told me she didn't want to ruin the day for me. I said it was fine and new it was a risk with the heat and that I was also very concerned for Orla and didn't want to push her. My Wife said she felt bad as it was such a long way to come to Bowral for not very long of a walk. I said it was fine and that I would just come up another day and do the rest of the walk, telling her it wasn't the first time I wasn't able to do the whole walk in the day, having to come back listing examples of Mount Jellore and The Castle.

She commented we could go back to her parents and go for a swim in the pool. I commented that we had no swimmers. She messaged her Mum and found they had some spare pairs we could wear. So we headed left back towards the car.

As we continued along there we small little tracks into the bush that Orla kept trying to walk down, down one of them I noticed a few bike jumps reminding me of my childhood playing and riding around in Croome Road Bushland.

Wrong way Orla

 Soon we reached a property with a boundary fire trail heading right and a sign pointing left for the Goanna Circuit, leading us downhill towards the entry map. I saw a notification on my Instagram, it was my friend Tristan's friend Tara messaging me to say sorry for stealing my hiking buddy (as I had also been asking Tristan to go hiking but struggled to find a good time for us both), she commented that he had twisted his ankle that day doing Drawing Room Rocks. I replied that it was ok, as Orla is much cuter than Tristan.

We soon headed down the hill to the map and back towards Moyengully Rest Area where I asked my Wife to walk Orla so I could climb a little ladder there.

She quickly asked me to stop before I climbed down the other side so she could get a photo of me from the front.

By the time we got back to the car we noticed the car of the older people were gone, wondering if they had just turned back due to the intense heat. We then cranked the aircon and headed to my in-laws. When we arrived we snacked on fresh grapes and watermelon before getting changed to go for a swim.

In the pool I have no neck

I also noticed a beautiful red Dragonfly handing around the bird of paradise plant they had around their pool area (which had come from our front garden as I wanted to get rid of it).

We spent the next day inside as we new everywhere would be packed on Australia Day, and just sat around binge watching season 5 of the survival series 'Alone'. While letting Orla out for the toilet I got another good shot of a Dragonfly on our wall.

I planned to get up the next morning and head straight back to the highlands to do the rest of the tracks. However I woke up to an overcast day and after checking the Bureau of Meteorology that said Bowral had a 90% chance of rain I decided to spend my day writing this part of my blog, hoping to maybe get up and finish it later in the week. While writing and having no rain I questioned whether or not I should have just gone and done it, but when my Wife called on her lunch break from Wollongong letting me know it was raining there I felt I had at least made the right call, planning to explore the rest before my next stint in a hospital bed.

After having gone on this walk, and written the first half of the blog above this point, there was a few weeks in between where I had some other adventures and wrote another blog post. We also enjoyed a day Kayaking and Fishing in Minnamurra River.

I never learned to fish when I was younger, as my Dad had no interest, and I had tried a few times with my old High School friends when we were in late High School and the first few years following (very sporadically my few times fishing not even in the double digits). And had only been fishing with my Wife twice before, once off shore and the second time, like this, in a Kayak at Minnamurra River.

It was a fun day, and a beautiful location. Catching the biggest fish I had ever caught in my life (at 32.5cm) which I was pretty proud of. We cooked it that night with a lemon balm garlic butter and chillies, with the lemon balm and chillies grown in our yard. Luckily I had 1 anti nausea pill left over from my chemo, as that night with my cancer medication combined with the feeling of being on the water all day I felt like I would throw up. I took the pill and was able to get to sleep without being sick. 

Finally the day came where we decided to go and do the rest of the Gibbergunyah walk, as I had been wanting to get back up and do the rest of the walk. I was due to go up to Sydney to sign all the paperwork for my Stem Cell Treatment and we didn't know when I would go back into hospital so my Wife agreed to go and do the bushwalk on Valentine's Day. I asked if she was sure about it, and double checked to make sure she would be well enough to do the walk (as the day before we had walked the length of the Dog Beach between Windang and Port Kembla, a decent walk in the sand). She insisted she would be fine as the weather was much cooler and the day was pretty overcast. 

So Valentine's Day morning we set of up Macquarie Pass back to Gibbergunyah Reserve with light drops of rain occasionally hitting the front window of the car. We arrived and began our walk up to where the map of the trails was, this time heading left up the hill straight towards 90 Acre Lookout.

Appreciating the natural world around us as we walked

We were moving at a quicker pace, helped by the fact that it was a much cooler, overcast day. The sun was not shining as bright and I could really see the colours of the plants around me, everything wasn't as washed out due to the raging Australian sun. There was a gentle cool breeze and I smiled as I walked taking it all in, feeling everything, feeling beyond happy to be alive and loving where I was.

We soon passed the turn off to the Goanna Track we had done the first time we attempted the walk, and continued onwards towards the Lookout, just passed a fire trail marked still in red on the map as part of the 'Gang Gang Track' we stopped to get a photo with our cute Dog and a termite mound.

We passed two fire trails leading along a farmland fence with a sign labelling in the 'Kurragang Corner'.

Continuing along we came to a turn to our right, the 'Galah Circuit'. 

The start of the 'Galah Circuit'. I approve of the edit to this sign.

I had a quick look a picture I had taken of the map on my phone from last time. I asked my Wife if we should turn down here, loop back along the 'Gang Gang Track' to the Lookout, then back-track up the Gang Gang Track to do the Geebung and Glen Track. Not wanting to have to back-track as much she insisted we walk up to the Lookout, and then back down, then taking the Galah Circuit to where it looped up with the Geebung Track, cutting out much of the Gang Gang Track. I explorer in me wanted to resist, wanting to walk the entirety of each trail, but for my Wife and Valentine's Day, I reluctantly agreed and we continued up towards 90 Acre Lookout.

We soon reached the turn off to our left to the Lookout, marked with an area named the Native Cherry Corner with a little... table or seat? Sign? To be honest I wasn't quite sure, but it was sitting beneath an big Exocarpos cupressiformis or Native Cherry Tree.

Just while I was taking a photo a man and woman walked out from the lookout path. I nodded to them and we issued polite exchanged of greetings. They continued walking a little but he soon turned around and asked if we knew the area well, before telling us there was a lovely lookout just down the path. I thanked them and they went on their way and we turned in towards the lookout.

Looking ahead further along 'Gang Gang Track' that we didn't explore

Just slightly down the path towards the lookout was a big rock formation you could walk up to on the right with a series of plaques expressing some history of the indigenous people of the area.

Attempting a photo isn't always easy

I noticed a trail on the right hand side leading you on a walk up the side for a view overlooking the bush from on top of the rocks. I went for a walk up there enjoying a spectacular view.

I worried while standing up taking in the view that I was on a sacred aboriginal spot. Although nothing was there to tell me so, but I got concerned anyway and returned down with my Wife snapping a family photo of the three of us.

We continued along, with a few stresses each time Orla ran too far to the left as there was a ledge down into a gully she kept running towards. We arrived at the lookout and sat for lunch and a drink.

View from 90 Acre Lookout, Mount Jellore in the distance to the right

After we had finished eating and were sitting just enjoying the view we noticed we were beginning to be attacked by mosquitoes and quickly got up to head back to the 'Galah Circuit', noticing a little rock cave to our left as we left.

As we returned to the Galah Circuit and began our way down I noticed the landscape was very similar to that of the Goanna Circuit. We reached a divide in the track with a fire trail off too our right marked on the map as part of the Gang Gang Track.

As we continued a long the trail had a slow decline and the trees around slow began to merge to be more like a rainforest, before we soon began to actually go downwards.

This continued downwards until we reached the bottom where there were two signs, pointing uphill, both towards The Gib Lookout and one towards the Geebung Track.

The path turned uphill here, and my Wife began to get over the walk, not a fan of walking uphill. At the base was a little stream and we began the walk up. The walk wasn't difficult but I believe my Wife was beginning to mentally get over the walk. As she was beginning to make comments 'in jest' about turning back.

See, not so steep, just a lovely uphill walk

Not far from the top the path continued on forward but there was a little trail of to the right with a signpost notifying the way to 'The Gib' Lookout.

We followed the path a short way along and came to the lookout, a small little area with not the best view of The Gib, partial view with many trees in the way, at not so great a distance, with a little broken wooden seat. We sat for a drink and for my Wife to apply some band-aids to her feet and reminisced about the time we had walked it for our one year wedding anniversary.

The breeze began to pick up cooling us off, while my Wife continued to make complaints, making it clear she was now well and truly over the walk. We returned to the Galah Circuit and the walk headed down a winding path, where I began to notice eucalypts missing their bark that where a striking orange colour and really stood out amongst all the other trees.

As we reached the bottom of the descending part of the track, Orla began to panic a little, and we were confused as to why. Soon two people passed us and we said good day to them and began now up the other side. Soon we reached a branch in the track to our right  heading downwards; with a sign calling it Kennard's Track, with no mention of it on the map of the walks. We decided to keep walking uphill.

The path climbed up in increments, you would walk uphill and come to a flat almost rest area, and this kept going leaving my Wife to complain about the uphill and say she could just meet me back at the car. I told her we would just take our time and have break every time we went up a slope. About 3 up my Wife needed a drink break and Orla did too, while giving her a drink I took some silly photo's of her wearing my hat.

After about the 4th hill I told my wife that we were almost there, as she was beginning to complain about having a migraine headache and was struggling on the walk, I commented about how much I loved it and how much fun I was having. It looked like the hills would end with one more slope so I decided to run up it with Orla, reaching the flat area in no time at all. I turned around to see my Wife at the bottom before noticing there was still another slope. I took a photo of a thistle to my side well in my head wondering how many hills there would be comparing the, in my head to Dante's Inferno and the layers of Hell, but instead 'the hills of Hell'.

There was one more hill as far as I could tell but my Wife was really over it by this time. "You said it was the last one last time!" She said.

I quickly walked up the 6th slope and saw that here was one more small incline, much less of a hill before it flattened out, dubbing them the 7 Hills of Hell. My Wife proceeded up the 6th one, seeing the small slope of the 7th hill, I told her it was barely a hill compared to the rest and it was much shorter. We made it up there and the path flattened out and I noticed a series of rocks to our right all blocked off by a barbed wire fence.

As we walked along the flat sandy path a grasshopped jumped in front of us and I took a photo.

Soon we reached a point where an unmarked fire trail ran off to our right, heading down in the direction we had come up from, I assumed it linked in with 'Kennard's Track', just up a head was a path to our left with sigh pointing in, saying it was the 'Geebung Track' to Fern Gully, (something again not mentioned on the map), with the trail we were on still continuing ahead.

Just next to it was a cairn, with a little rock with an eye glued to it, I reached in to grab it just to see if it was one of the NSW Rocks I collect. However it wasn't so I placed it back.

Looking at the map on my phone I said that by this point of the walk, the 3 trails (Galah, Geebung and Gang Gang) were meant to intersect, however there was no Gang Gang Track. I wanted to go a little further ahead but I could tell my Wife was well and truly over it, getting frustrated with my OCD need to do the whole thing, she just wanted to turn down Geebung and head back to the car. I told her I would just run forward a bit, just to investigated. So with Orla clipped to me, I began running up the path, continuing to run for a few minutes surprising myself with my fitness, after 10 weeks in hospital and 3 rounds of chemo. I came to an area alight with bright yellow flowers on either side of the path and I was struck by the beauty of the area, however there was no sign of the Gang Gang Track in sight so I decided to suck it up and just head back to my Wife and begin the Geebung Track back towards the car.

We followed the Geebung Track, and it lead us inwards through the bush until following and edge to our right along.

Soon the path began to wind down eventually opening up just in front of the turn off to 'The Gib' lookout. We noticed just down a small trail going back in continuing the Geebung Track and went through here, the trail taking you through ferns in what we could only assume was 'Fern Gully'.

My Wife began to get stressed walking through the ferns as it soon got to the point where you could barely see the bath as it was overgrown. She worried about ticks and snakes and as we walked on the edge of a hill it would be easy to take a fall, we also continually walked through spiderwebs. We soon came to a branch over the track that I quickly climbed over with my wife struggling to get around it. Eventually she did after deliberation over turning back.

The track began to go straight down and on slippery muddy terrain it was a bit of a hazard with my Wife worrying about falling. I made my way down quickly and found ourselves out at the little stream crossing the Galah Circuit just before you walk uphill towards the Gib Lookout.

We saw the path of 'The Glen Track' was just up heading back up the hill on the way back, and it was even more overgrown and full of ferns. We began to walk in but being even worse than the last one we made the call to just return along the Galah Circuit, to which my Wife angrily complained about having to go up more hills. Losing my temper over all her negativity I snapped, saying if we had done it my way we would have been walking back all this way.

She got angry with me saying something about me blaming her and I heatedly snapped. Telling her she hadn't wanted to ruin my day, but she had. I then stormed off with Orla. Hot and angry, having just wanted to enjoy a day out in nature exploring and having fun before I had to go to hospital for my Stem Cell Transplant, and the risk of death from that, and the scary thought of it not working.

I stormed off ahead for a while before calming down and realising I had been an asshole. I was stressed, had been having non stop nightmares, and was taking my anger out on my Wife who didn't deserve it. I waited until she caught up and apologised. She insisted she had ruined my day, and I told her I ruined it by just being my OCD self and not to worry about me. We made up and continued the walk back, turning left along the fire trail marked as part of the Gang Gang Track on the map, letting us at least walk a slightly new way back. We continued the walk, eventually making it back to the car.

"Can we not play classical, I have a headache." My wife told me, referring to the classical radio station my car was set to.

"You asked for it." I said, hitting the CD button and blasting us both with Symphony X.
"Could we listen to something we both like?" She said.

I told her just to grab a CD out and play whatever.

She put in Paolo Nutini, and we began the drive home.

A few days later, I received the call letting me know I was going in for my Stem Cell Treatment on the 23rd. I headed to Sydney to sign the paperwork, with the looming risk of death, failure or hopefully, success at the treatment. 

So there is a chance this could be the last post I ever write, and I sure as fucking hope it's not. Because I know there's a million things I would love to do, and I have a life I would love to live. So hopefully you get to read more blogs from me in the future. But if not, and this website is one thing left for the world to remember me, I hope it has been an enjoyable read.

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Thanks for reading! - Steven