Bomaderry Creek

 This walk takes place on Dharawal and Yuin Country

Part 1 - 13/7/24
Starting a new blog post, I always feel the need to describe or validate the reason why I went for a walk, or why there is so long between posts, as realistically I would prefer to be going all the time. My excuse this time? Wet weather, home gardening projects, and spending my weekends trying to do my Cert III in Horticulture online.

But eventually my soul gets hungry for the outdoors, and I'm always looking for Dog friendly bushwalks so that I can take Orla (my Dog) with me.

A quick Google and I was recommended the Bomaderry Creek walks, of which there was apparently two. One was a 5.5km track along the eastern and western sides of the creek (doing a loop), the other 1 a 1.4km return walk along the western track to a rock crossing and then returning via 'Mossy Gully'. I thought I would go down and do both, with my Wife debating whether or not to join me or to stay home and play Jurassic World Evolution 2 on the computer (she decided to come with).

We woke up Saturday morning, trying to get some chores done before we set off, including doing all the washing to hang up on the line, but also finishing off some of our gardening renovations we were doing, laying down some mulch and pebbles in our new garden area, which you can follow on our gardening page on Instagram: Hudson's Harvest.

After completing these tasks we set out on the drive towards Bomaderry Creek, which is apparently in Bomaderry, but the area I had always thought was just part of Nowra. (You can tell I'm not a Shoalhaven local).

We pulled up in the parking area just off of Narang Road, applied some sunscreen, and my Wife wondered if there was a toilet nearby. She looked it up, finding that there was meant to be one a short way down the track at a picnic area (which was good as I needed to go and didn't want a repeat of the incident at Bid Bid Creek loop), and we set off down the track.

We passed around the swing gate, where we noticed a small sign had been posted.

As we read over it I tried to remember what the walks had been called, and found that I couldn't remember, but instantly had the thought to walk the track even if it said it was closed. However, I soon noticed the dates.

"Well it's well past the 5th of July." I said, dismissing any notion that either trail I had planned would be unable to be completed.

As I fiddled around with Orla's collapsible water bowl, I head my Wife say quickly that a Dog was coming. I finished clipping the carabiner around one of my belt loops on my pants, and by the time I looked up my Wife was between Orla and a Staffy that was off-leash trying to run up to Orla, while the man called it back to no avail.

"Can you get control of your Dog." My Wife angrily reprimanded the man, who quietly and awkwardly said 'Oh, yeah."
My Wife praised Orla for being a good girl and not reacting, even though she had put her tail between her legs and was obviously afraid. She began pulling now on the long stretchy lead I had her on (her hiking lead), with the other end wrapped around my waist, now yanking me as we made our way down to the picnic area.

The road continued down and looped around to the picnic area, but there was also a short section of stairs straight down to it which we followed, with Orla all hyped up from the Dog encounter, she yanked me down the stairs as I tried to tell her to go slowly.

There were some picnic tables and a barbecue, and it actually seemed like a really nice spot to go and relax and cook up some sausages. I let my Wife go to the toilet first while I tried to fix up my shirt and jumper that had been pulled up by the lead around my waist and Orla's yanking. I noticed a small sign in a garden by the toilets and wandered over to read it.

"Bomaderry Creek Regional Park
This park is home to:

• Bomaderry Zieria
• Bauer's Midge Orchid
• An endanger hibbertia
• Albatross Mallee

These plants are threatened with extinction due to habitat disturbance, inappropriate fires, disease, weeds and browsing animals.
Threats to these plants are being managed as part of our Saving Species program. National Parks and Wildlife Service has partnered with Shoalhaven City Council, Bomaderry Creek Landcare, Wollongong Botanic Garden, Booderee Botanic Garden, and the Australian National Botanic Garden, to work together to conserve the plants to ensure they exist into the future."

"Bomaderry Zieria (Zieria baeuerlenii)
ENDANGERED

Bomaderry Creek Regional Park is the only known location in the world for the Bomaderry Zieria. Amazingly, seeds have never been found in these plants, however, they can reproduce using root suckers."

"Bauer's Midge Orchid (Genoplesium baueri)
ENDANGERED
Bauer's Midge Orchid is tiny and delicate. Its small leaf hugs the stem and resembles a scale. This extraordinary plant is seen when the flower grows up through the leaf litter between February and March. It is only found in the Shoalhaven and northern Sydney areas.
A scent released by the orchid attracts tiny midge flies who transport pollen between flowers they visit."

"Hibbertia (Hibbertia scricta subsp. furcatula)
ENDANGERED
A Hibbertia flower is very distinctive with its five yellow petals. Much like wattle, hibbertia occur in different parts of Australia. However, this hibbertia only grows in two separated populations, one in the southern outskirts of Sydney and the other in this park.
If you look closely you may see distinctive clumps of fine forked hairs growing on the leaf that makes this hibbertia unique."

"Albatross Mallee (Eucalyptus langleyi)
VULNERABLE
This small multi-branched tree grows in poorly drained soil. After fire it reshoots from a rounded woody growth (lignotuber) underground. The plants in this park are the only known plants north of the Shoalhaven River.
Surveys done as part of the Saving our Species program will help to understand the appropriate timing of fire to ensure the health of this species."

My Wife came out of the bathroom, and I handed her the lead while I went myself. I came back out reconnecting the lead around my waist as we set of down the trail past a cool serpent art piece.

I instantly thought of the art as 'The Rainbow Serpent' from Aboriginal Dreamtime, but as we continued along and I thought about it, I wasn't sure if the Rainbow Serpent myth was local. Then I actually thought about where I was, and assumed I was on Yuin Country, as I was in the Shoalhaven, so when I got home, I looked it up.
I learned that the word 'Bomaderry' comes from an Aboriginal word meaning 'fighting ground' or 'running water', though I couldn't find from which language, which meant which or if it was the one word which meant both, and I couldn't find a lot of resources.
Some sites claimed that south of Bomaderry Creek was inhabited by the Wodi-Wodi tribe of the Yuin Nation, and north was the Dharawal, while other sites claimed anything north of the Shoalhaven River was occupied by the Dharawal (who I had always believed the Wodi-Wodi tribe belonged too).
I looked up whether the rainbow serpent myth was local, finding out it wasn't but finding the cool dreamtime myth of 'How the Red Belly Black Snake Came to Be', which you can read by clicking the hyperlink.
ANYWAY, I digress, because in the end I think it was maybe just a cool snake artwork.

We followed the track down coming to a signpost about the two walks.

"Bomaderry Creek Walks
Bomaderry Creek cuts through sandstone to form a spectacular gorge with cliffs and overhangs. The vegetation ranges from lush rainforest in the gullies to dry, open eucalypt forests on cliff tops. The sandstone flora is particularly colourful in spring.
The walks through the park include steps and creek crossings and there are unfenced cliffs.
Please supervise children at all times.
Dogs are allowed in regional parks but must be kept under control and on leashes at all times."

The path split and we had the choice of heading left on the eastern walk, or right on the western walk. There was also a little map just in front of this split, where the walk information sign was, so we looked at which way would be best to complete all of the walks, as some looped around onto others. We ultimately decided to take the eastern walk, heading left that gave you a view over the old weir.

"Water for Life
Below you is Bomaderry Weir, completed in 1938. The weir provided Bomaderry's first permanent water supply. Its role as a water supply came to an end when the pipeline you can see beyond the weir was installed, bringing water from the Shoalhaven River.
Subsequently, the weir became a popular swimming hole.
Unfortunately, the weir prevented Australian Bass, and other fish from swimming upstream. In 1998 NSW Fisheries and Shoalhaven City Council removed a small section of the wall to create a 'fishway'.
They left the rest standing as a reminder of its history." 

I could see it through the casuarinas, but figured I'd get a better view of it, upon our return. We kept walking with Orla still pulling, with her hyped-up energy from her dog encounter, and I hoped that she would tire and settle soon so that I would be able to enjoy the walk more without getting yanked every time I tried to snap a quick picture.

We came to a rocky section of the track which was still covered in water and a little slippery, with Orla still yanking we decided to swap her over from her hiking leash to her normal lead.

The trail cut inwards a little here, away from the creek, along a little dirt trail, with some large uneven stones along the trail. We passed a family sitting down on the side having a snack, as the trail wound back in down some stairs, where with Orla pulling me still and keeping a hold of her lead I knew I wouldn't be able to take as many photos as I would like (I usually take a bunch of quick snaps along trails, not all of them to use, but some to help job my memory and allow for more accurate recall of the trails).

As we reached the top of this incline the area opened up on a cliff with a view over the creek, where we stopped and I unclipped Orla's collapsable drink bottle from my waste and poured her some water to drink, knowing that sometimes after getting hyped having a drink can help her mellow out again.
She greedily licked up all the water fast, and looked up at us with her long tongue sticking out of her mouth so that it looked like she was smiling, and I smiled down at her like a parent would to a newborn baby. (I love my Doggo, no shits given, she's an angel).

My Wife asked for a picture with Orla, so I snapped a shot of them, before taking a photo looking down through the gully of this section of the creek.

Up from here, where we were still on a large slab of stone, there was a constructed wooden seat, so we sat there for a little hoping stopping might also allow Orla a second to aid in calming her down. After a short reprieve we hoped that she might be a little easier to walk now. We stood up, to continue along the track.

The trail continued for a short while, before coming to a decently step section of stairs we progressed down slowly.

"Slowly, slowly." I kept saying to Orla, so she wouldn't rush ahead at her own speed and drag me over. About halfway down a man and a woman were coming up and I found a flat level spot to the side where I could move over with Orla and let them pass.
As they approached, I heard the lady say something about a 'big dog' obviously referring to Orla. As they reached us, they thanked us for letting them through and I noticed she was carrying a very small Dog in her arms. After they had passed my Wife decided to walk ahead, as Orla was a little stressed and kept looking back checking that we were still there with her.
We finally reached the bottom, hoping poor Orla and her joints were going to be ok on this walk, as we had found out earlier in the year that she was developing arthritis which made us sad as she is still such a young dog.
The vet said it could have been caused by malnourishment as a puppy (we rescued her from a shelter), or even prior abuse (she would explain her usual timid nature until she gets to know someone, but she's the most caring and affection dog to us). We started her on monthly injections of Synovan which has really seemed to make a difference with her as well, as getting her onto glucosamine supplements with her breakfast and dinner and buying her the 'Dog and Puppy Milk' from Coles/Woolworths for a treat. But she such an active and adventurous dog but we still worry sometimes about her joints, particularly in a scenario like this.

As we reached, passing beside a large overhang, the bottom the track once more split in two separate directions, and before deciding on a way to go I spotted a Lyrebird just down from where we were standing, drinking out of the creek.

I looked back up the stairs we had come down, with the sun beaming through the canopy, and I took a photo not to document, but just because I actually thought it looked good, even on a phone camera.

There was a sign where we stood, saying that left was She-oak Crossing, and right was Bridge Crossing. Right to our left to head along the She-oak crossing was a grated metal bridge, and my Wife worried that the gaps in it were too large, and that Orla might get a foot stuck and hurt herself. I thought that was possible, but unlikely.

We decided to head to our right anyway, as I always love a good bridge crossing, and I turned back to get a quick photo of the overhangs as my Wife took Orla by the lead and began walking ahead.

I offered to take Orla, so my Wife wasn't getting pulled along, but she seemed to have settled after coming down all the stairs and was no longer pulling.

I stood in the middle of the bridge, taking in views of the creek in both directions. 

I was surprised I had never heard of this spot, which I said to my Wife, saying how beautiful the area was, and how long the creek was it gave you so many areas to swim.
She made a commented about not swimming in it, referencing being near the HMAS Albatross, and potentially filled with PFAS. It was a sad thought that made me depressed, the fact that we couldn't even enjoy nature now without worrying about these cancer-causing chemicals humans had spread all over the world. We go out to nature to escape from these things. That being said, the creek could be fine and fresh and non-contaminated by pollutants, but nowadays you just don't know and that makes me angry.

On the other side of the bridge the trail only went left, heading down the river and we followed it along with those lingering thoughts of PFAS in my head while I admired the natural beauty of the creek.

The trail continued along, weaving away from and then back towards the water as we continued along, occasionally coming upon piles of wooden debris piled up and cleared from the path due to past flooding events.

From the cliffs face we followed the trail along back down to the running waters of the creek, kneeling down to take a family photo.

Continuing along I admired all the different rock formations to the right of me as ferns brushed against my legs.

I kept seeing all the little cave formations along my right, trying to image what it would have been like historically pre-colonialisation of Australia. The history and mythology of a people who were pretty much sidelined and dismissed when I was going through school. I wondered about their religious beliefs and traditions (and did some 'Wikipedia research' on them afterwards for my own education).

W walked underneath a hanging fallen tree, and the track and creek started to head to our right, as we rounded a corner that had a signpost naming the area 'Bernie's Bend'. Which now began to head up and the river was now down a slope on our left with the sandstone cliffs still appearing on our right.

I stopped for a second beginning to feel the heat of the day, and the skin on my head was feeling really raw and sore. I took my hat off to remove my jumper and my Wife commented that the skin on my head was covered in a red rash.
"I thought it was stinging." I said, replying that I probably should have used a bit more shaving cream when I had quickly rushed at shaving my head in the morning.
I put my jumped in my backpack, took a sip of water an we continued on.

We came to a section of path blocked off with debris from all the floods, but just up to underneath an overhang where there was a rock circle remaining in which some people had had a campfire. We made our way over some middle-sized boulders with Orla jumping up onto one, then down onto another to make it over them.
"Good girl." I told her, impressed with her level of agility.
It was around here, and from this point on where the walk became more and more unfriendly for walking a dog, and up until this point I would have said it was a good dog walking spot.

As we rounded the bend after the overhang, we came to a thin track heading down right by the water, that had decently tall steps to be able to go down, there was a track heading to the right that I asked my Wife to go inspect to see if that would be easier to get Orla down but that track was unfeasible, so we made our way down the trail closer to the water, closely watching to make sure she didn't fall off the edge into the creek.

It was also around this point in the walk where when trying to take quick pictures on my phone I zoomed out, which did some weird thing where all the pictures I took that way appear ultra-thin and weird looking compared to normal vertical photos.

She made it down, while I took large steps down to reach my foot on something solid, trying to balance myself as I made my own way down while holding on to the lead.

We followed the muddy and uneven trail up, were it skirted the side of the cliff edge with now large boulders littering the way between the trail and the creek.

We walked up about 3 of those wooden plank type steps that are used to make stairs by stopping erosion of the soil (I'm sure they have a more technical name that I've either forgotten or don't know). The trail here became a little squishy, all on uneven rock surfaces, that way made our way through, all the while trying to take in the view of the untouched splendor of this section of the creek.

'Ultra-thin zoomed out camera photo'

After we proceeded through this section we came into a quiet and open forest area. I could see Orla's legs had a little bit of a nervous tremble from having to navigate all the uneven terrain we had been progressing through, and my arm was a little sore from keeping a hold of the lead. We stopped for a drink, allowing Orla some respite, and I unclipped her lead just to give her a little run around an explore in the flat area while no one was around, and while I would see anyone if they were to approach.

She ran around sniffing things, wagging her tail, and I commented that I was glad we were in the depths of winter (and it had been freezing cold lately), and that we didn't have to worry about snakes, which of course, made my Wife worry about snakes.

I wandered down to the water's edge to have a little look, and we continued down the trail, letting her walk off lead for a tiny amount of time until there was a little creek cutting down in front of us that Orla went to run down. I tried to call her back, but she wasn't listening, so I had to call her back a bit more forcefully and she finally came, where I clipper her back on to her lead, and we found the path leading right up this little creek, to where there was a bit more of a path down and over this little section of creek. This trail led inwards in through some trees, but then came back around to the water's edge once more.

I looked at it with the sun beaming down, and all the moss covering the dirt, and I thought it looked like a beautiful, picturesque location. I felt my stomach growl and wished we had packed some lunch as it would have been the perfect spot to stop and have something to eat.

Even my horizontal pictures were zoomed out and ultrathin.

But when I did the camera flip for a selfie, the size was normal again

The sun was warming up now, and the more I continued to sweat, the more the skin on my head burned. Every so often I would remove my hat, hoping the fresh air would alleviate some of the pain (it did, but only mildly).

A short way down the trail the path was completely covered, and the track was blocked off with debris from flooding.

We looked for a way around, cutting in through the bush close to the creek, and around the debris were we found the remains of a wooden seat that had been completely destroyed in the flood. The trail along further had more pieces of debris, and we made our way up to another trail that followed alongside the edge of the cliff.

Passing by we approached some rocks jutting our from the sides which looked like we were going to have to pass through a little cave.

However, as I approached it, I noticed a small ladder leading up a boulder on my right.

I continued into the little rock cave, and as I got to the edge I looked down. There was simply 1.5 or 2m drop to get to the ground. 
"Well, we're not going that way." I said, handing my Wife the lead as I climbed up the tiny ladder expecting one the same size on the other side...

"Oh no." I said, gazing down at the ladder on the opposite side which was about 3 times as tall.

"Not exactly a dog friendly walk." I said, a little annoyed. 
I had wondered if we would come to a bit of a creek crossing like when we had done 'Bens Walk' which we were unable to loop with Orla due to the distance and uneven boulders at the crossing. 

"This is really fucking annoying." I groaned. Removing my hat and wiping away sweat on my sore and rashed head.

"I'll have a look to see if I can find a way around by the creek." I said. Heading down by the water, where all sorts of large sticks were in the way, with the ground littered with uneven, rocky surfaces. 
I finally made my way around to the base of the little cave, looking up at it. I thought about if we could lower Orla down, but I know she's really sensitive to being picked up and doesn't like it and it tends to hurt her, and my Wife wouldn't be able to pick her up and lower her down to me.
I looked behind me at the uneven surface. 'She could walk that.' I thought, but taking note of all the little holes around them where she could walk into and hurt her long slender legs. I looked in front of me, where there was a tight little squeeze between two boulders, and you had to pull yourself up the sloped boulders. But I thought Orla would be fine on four legs.

I called out to my Wife that I would try and clear the way and stood around the side bending and snapping all the large fallen branches that were in the way. I spent about five minutes doing it while the sweat continued to burn skin.

I heard my Wife yell, just as I was finishing and made my way back around to her.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"She pulled me over and hurt me." My Wife said, as Orla was getting stressed that I was out of site too long and had tried to get to me.

"She should be able to make it through now." I said, "But hopefully it doesn't get sketchier than this, because I don't know about coming back once we get through this section." I said, actually wondering if it was better to turn back now.
"Dog friendly my ass." I grumbled once more, telling my Wife to stay where she was, so I could take a photo of Orla, as she was looking 'majestic'.

I headed up, taking the lead from my Wife, and slowly leading Orla through the shrubs, past where I had cleared, around to the base of the cave, and we made our way up the boulder slope, through the little gap, and I had to let the lead go so Orla could run at a proper pace to make it up. 

I quickly climbed up after her, meeting her back on the trail and picking up her lead.
"Wait for Mum." I told her as she looked back at me with that happy face, and I took a photo of the other side of the ladder.

My Wife struggles a bit to get up through that section and just as I offered to give her a hand, she made it up and through.

There was a wooden seat a short while after, and we stopped for a drink and a rest, while I removed my hat and my Wife once more commented on how bad my skin was looking. I commented that I was hungry and that we could have a look for something for lunch in 'Nowra' (actually Bomaderry). My Wife said she would look up what was nearby on her phone, when I mentioned a shop along the Princes Highway that I had seen for years and never eaten at. 'Chooksy's'. I mentioned that for years every time I had gone down the coast this way, and back up I had seen it and always thought about getting something there. (I had a similar experience with a place called 'Angry Bull' up in Kogarah, where we finally stopped and got a burger after travelling into Sydney for the 'Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs' exhibit at Sydney Museum. My Wife agreed to go there to eat, so I could finally eat from there.

We stood up to continue and we could hear voices now, unsure if they were coming from in from of us, behind us, or across the river. The dirt trail continued and wasn't sketchy for a while, finally leading us down to the river crossing, or 'the halfway point'. It was a small, grated bridge making its way across, but the holes in it appeared much smaller than the route we hadn't taken just down from the steps at the beginning of the walk.

Orla did well, though she was a little nervous, until we reached a middle section, where she had to jump from rock to rock. It was like a less extreme version of the bit we had turned back from during 'Bens Walk'.

Eventually she made the jump, and we crossed over and I showered her with praise, turning and waiting for my Wife to cross after us.

The dirt track started heading uphill after the crossing, but still heading downriver. On this side there was a signpost warning about floods.

"Flood signs
Bomaderry Creek occasionally floods. The force of floodwaters causes vegetation along the creek to permanently bend in a downstream direction.
Look up in the trees. Can you see anything unusual?
If it has flooded lately, you may be able to see debris caught in the branches of trees. The debris is like a measuring stick that shows us the height of the peak of the last flood."

We continued uphill, passing a couple who must have been the voices he had heard echoing from across the river, heading the opposite way to us. Soon we came to a large section of stairs where I once more simply let go of Orla's lead so she could charge up the stairs at her own pace without me holding her back and potentially hurting her.

Across from the top of these steps, attached to a boulder was a signpost, labelling the area 'The Steps.' Also here was a fork once more in the path, with a track leading off to our right, up more steps, or on how left heading down and back along the opposite side of the river. We weren't sure which path to take and so I quickly looked it up on my phone, which told me that the one heading down to our left was 'Bomaderry Creek East walk' and was probably the one we were meant to do, while the one heading up the steps on our right was still labelled 'Bomaderry Creek walk'.
I felt like continuing back on the east walk along the creek was the right way to go, given it was the loop we were meant to do. But I could see the hesitation in my Wife who was not very subtly trying to push that we head up the other way, which she hoped would be a bit more level, as she was stressed that we might encounter more awkward spots with Orla, as well as the worry about her joints. 
"We can just come back another time and do all the rest." She said, throwing out that last line knowing that I'm a completionist and hate not doing all of a walk.

I had a quick little peek down the track, which was heading down stairs and as I stepped, I stood in a wombat poo, flattening it on the edge of the steps. I head back up to my Wife.
"Yeah, maybe we can invite Stuart and Megan, and have them come down and do it too?" I suggested, accepting the direction on our right, the track up the steps, and noticing a signpost heading down, labelling the crossing we had just done as 'River Oak Crossing'.

As we made our way up, I found myself getting a little breathless, and right at the top there was a wooden seat. I dropped down on it to guzzle some water. My Wife knew I had been feeling a little off (although I haven't felt quite right since catching Covid in Iceland) the week prior to the weekend (and I was booked in to see my Doctor the following Friday).

My Wife made a comment about how it's because we had booked a getaway to Newcastle at the end of August/start of September.
It took me a little second to register, then I remembered we had booked a getaway to a dog friendly campground during the midst of the covid pandemic (as our trip to Japan had to be cancelled), and as we were due to go, I got my cancer diagnosis.
"Oh. Now I'm triggered." I said, starring at some 'Mother-of-millions' weeds across from where I was sitting, hoping that our trip to Newcastle wouldn't be cursed with a recurrence of my cancer.

Mother-of-Millions 'Bryophyllum'

The thought occurred to me that I still had one of the 'NSW Rocks' I kept finding around the place in my backpack (I am trying to redistribute the ones I have collected), as it was still in my bag from my 'Trip to Brisbane'.

I pulled it out, placing it on the bench, as I thought that was a good location to be found, and we set on along this walk, which was on the backs of peoples properties, underneath the telephone lines.

The walk along the back of people's homes didn't quite have the same vibe as the bushwalk down by the creek and felt more like doing a walk around your local suburb. On top of that, all the water had seemed to pool along here as it was far more wet, squishy and muddy.

As we continued along, we passed a small chain fence used to keep vehicles out, and wondered if where we were walking was an area where we were supposed to be.

"Why wouldn't it be?" I said as we continued along past the back of a house with no fence as some little Pomeranian dog ran out yapping and barking at Orla (although luckily it stood its ground barking and didn't chase us down).

The walk only got worse it terms of wetness, and that path became even more sloppy with mud covering the top half of my shoes.

We passed behind some houses with cool gardens that we sneakily admired, before coming up a hill across from an Aldi back on Nerrang Road, which we followed down back to the start of the walk, were we had parked the car, agreeing to come back the following weekend to do the other parts of the walk without Orla, and agreeing that from now on we might to them first, to see if they're suitable for dogs.

We had a look at the Chooksy menu, deciding on what we would get (as my Wife would wait in the car with Orla). I decided upon the 'Extreme Chilli Chick' and my Wife decided on the 'Rancho Chick' (both the combo with a drink and chips).

It was a very short drive, and as I headed in to order, my Wife took a cute photo of Orla laying down in the back of my car. 

We ate in the car and the portion sizes were gargantuan, though for me the 'Extreme Chilli' was only a mild spice (still tasty). Stuffed full, we began the drive home.

"Now the only other random place I need to stop in at that I've been seeing for years is some hotdog place even further south, if it's even still there after covid." I commented. (I couldn't find anything on google, so it might me gone).

Later that night, as I sat reading a book on a beanbag while my Wife finally got around to playing some Jurassic Work Evolution 2, as I stood up, I got severe leg cramps, the entire way on each side. The pain was unbearable and had me screaming and rubbing 'deep heat' all over them in a desperate attempt to get them to stop. It took about 15minutes to fully go away and had me stressed, as the walk wasn't that strenuous. I dreaded the doctor's appointment I had approaching, but also hoped if it was not cancer related, that I could figure out what was going on with me so I could begin to feel better.

However, Friday came along, and I left work to head to my doctor's appointment. When I arrived, I was told he was running 'a bit behind' and asked if I was ok to wait. Having had to wait well over an hour before to see him and not being told that he was running behind this raised some flags for me.

"Did you want to wait, or come back? Or...?" The receptionist asked.
"How long roughly?" I asked, curious to see what the response was.
"About 40minutes?" The receptionist responded hesitantly.

That didn't seem right to me, given I had waited longer without him running behind. Obviously the lady could see the dubious look on my face.

"I can have a look." She said, then revealing he was still with his appointment from 3pm (it was 4.15pm). "There's also 3 people before you." She also revealed. 
This was not going to be a 40minute wait.

I attempted to reschedule but couldn't find any appointment the next week (unless I took time off from work to go). I just said to cancel it, and hoped I'd just been run down from a flu or something. (If I didn't start feeling better, I still had a blood test form for my appointment with my cancer doctor coming up in August.

On Saturday I took little miss Orla to the vet for her kennel cough vaccine and then took her to the park for a big run around as I felt guilty that I was leaving her Sunday to go do the rest of this walk without her.

Part 2 - 21/7/24

Sunday morning Stuart and Megan picked us up, and we began the drive down, telling Stuart I would just verbally direct him. We chatted in the car, all catching up, until we arrived in Bomaderry, pulling up to not find a single car parked in the parking area.

"Maybe no one is coming out cause of the wind." I suggested, as we'd had a week of extreme winds.

We set off down the path once more, were I said that I was just going to duck to the toilet that was at the picnic area. As I went to turn off down some stairs to that area, I noticed a man walking past us with a beanie, and my Wife and Megan were laughing at something. I asked what I had missed.
Apparently, Stuart had said "Howdy." to the man. Who had responded back with incredulous confusion "Howdy?", I suppose shocked at its use in Australia.
"Steven says howdy to everyone all the time." My Wife said, showing Stuart and my own 'geek culture' similarities.

Before I ducked into the toilet, I pointed out the sign about all the endangered rare plants that were here, asking Stuart to keep an eye out as it would be cool to see them.

I came out and we set of down the trail where I once more looked at the Snake art. This time I noticed inside the snake, various animals including fish and a platypus, and I thought maybe the snake was symbolic of the creek, and the winding bends along it, with the other images representing what could be found in the creek.

We continued our way on the same trail we had taken with Orla, turning left at the first turn away from the weir. We made our way down the steps once more, coming to the fork in the track, with right heading across the bridge, the direction we had taken with Orla, and left over the little grated bridge, along the trail we had yet to walk.

My Wife pointed out the size of the holes in it, and why she thought that her little feet my get stuck in a hole. After we crossed it, we were now on the other side of the creek, but still heading the same direction, downstream.

I had purposefully made sure to not zoom out on any of my photo's due to the weird shape they had all taken last week when we had gone. This appeared 'relatively' normal when I looked at the pictures on my phone (although a few times I did feel like it was almost too zoomed in, and I struggled to accurately get things in frame, which did seem unusual). Later that night I did an instagram post, and the pictures were appearing odd, and way more zoomed in so I struggled making the pictures look good and in the frame.
Even more later on my Wife harvested some Pak Choy from our vegetable garden and asked me to taking a photo of it to post on our gardening instagram: 'Hudson's Harvest'. It was here I knew something was definitely wrong with my phone camera, as I've taken numerous pictures of things on my kitchen bench. I reset the setting on my phone camera and things all returned to normal, and I sighed with frustration, knowing I wasn't going to be happy with a single photo I had taken the two times I had done this walk.

"It's a lot sandier on this side." I commented as we wandered down the trail. We also though there was some clearer views of the creek. We noticed plaques along the way, placed into the sides of boulders or rocks, giving you information about flora located on the walks. My Wife pointed out one I also missed explaining the 'coachwood' tree.

"Coachwood
South facing and shaped by cliffs - it feels different here.
It is cool and damp and as a result the plants are different.
Rainforest species, including coachwood and ferns grow here.

Rainforest trees often produce excellent timbers. Coachwood was once present in quantity in east coast rainforests.
It was so heavily logged that good stands have not re-established.
The Coachwood's common name came from its use in building coaches. The new High Court of Australia in Canberra has laminated bannister rails made from Coachwood."

As we came around another massive overhang there was a bench, and I asked my Wife to take a photo of Stuart and Myself.

As we continued on, I noticed Stuart humming a tune from 'Epic the Musical', a musical album about the Greek Myth of Odysseus, which is what the discussion turned to once Stuart asked me what my favourite song was.

The track continued slightly up hill and I stopped. Just at the top were the track leveled out once more, there was a ray of lighting just passing through the canopy. In this ray were little bugs hovering around like they were stuck in a cylindrical tube. I stopped and took a picture of the magical moment, looking at my phone where it the light it looked like a good picture showing the little dots in the ray of light, and we continued through, holding how breath so none flew up our noses or into our mouths. However, as I have stated, all my pictures have turned out funky, and ultrathin and long, and upon looking at it on a computer the moment is hard to see and doesn't look anywhere near as beautiful as the moment I thought I had captured, saddening me, because I thought it was an impressive sight.

My Wife made a comment in reference to these being nothing compared to 'Lake Myvatn', a reference Megan didn't understand. I explained that during our trip to Iceland, we had gone to Lake Myvatn. Myvatn being Icelandic meaning My 'midge' and Vatn 'lake'. Lake of Midges, as the area was absolutely full of midge flies.

As we rounded the corner of another monolithic cliff, we came to and open area where people had constructed a cairn on a log.

I had read for years and years bushwalkers and people asking for people not to construct them, and about how bad they are (although I understand the use if there are dubious and unmarked trails on a walk), however this track was very straight forward and so in a hulk like rage I pushed it over, roaring into the sky like a wild beast... I just tipped the pile over.

We came to a relatively open, sandy area along a big stretch of rock face, that had numerous Wombat holes digging underneath it. There wasn't really a trail through the trees here, but we just walked following the general direction, reaching near the end, where through all the trees I could see the path start again, turning around to get a photo of the 3 behind me.

Megan and Stuart started joking and making reference to appearing 'in the blog' aka, this blog that you a reading. The blog that I have written is the blog referred to. That blog. This blog. My Blog. What blog? Steventure. I don't know why I wrote it so weird like that. Maybe reading too much Lemony Snickett currently, which made me feel like having a little bit of run as a 'narrator'.

Either way I was a bit too far ahead of them, so I didn't really hear what comments they were making, in regard to it as I wandered forward, gazing up at trees.

We soon came to a wooden bridge missing a plank.

Everyone behind me was immersed in conversation so as I walked over it, I quickly shoved a leg down where the missing plank was, giving a short and fake yell and startling my Wife.

The trail continued under another impressive overhang, heading up a slope to a large section of boulders, that my Wife said reminded her of Iceland, and I could see what she meant, bringing back vivid memories for me of all rocky cliffs of 'Vesturdalur Valley.'

The path wound through the boulders, down some stone steps and back down into the valley closer to the creek (but still out of view of it), as we followed the bottom of the cliff edge along through thick ferns, until I spotted a shopping trolley in the distance.

As we reached it I looked around. 
"There's no way people dragged it all this way out here." I commented, looking up and assuming someone had thrown it from the cliff tops.

We continued past it, past more rocky towers lording high above us.

We crossed some more stone boulder steps, coming to a section between boulders that looked like we were going to have to climb over them.

As we got closer, we noticed the trail turning left up some stairs with a handrail, however Megan made a comment that it would be fun to climb over.

"You're right!" I said, and began to climb up the boulder. Instantly, as I raised my leg I heard and felt my cargo banks rip, right where my crouch is. I announced what had occurred to the group. We all laughed and recounted the incident in Iceland where the same thing happened to me as I was getting up on a horse.

While all the rest took the stairs, I made quick work over the boulders, feeling that adrenaline rush you only get while climbing. I felt the warmth and energy used in my arms and legs, and that endorphin rush of both exercise and mental stimulation. I met the others at the top of the steps, and the conversation turned to how neither, Megan, Stuart or Myself were going to the bouldering gym anymore, all three of us feeling the pinch of the current cost of living crisis.

We continued along the even impressive and spectacular cliffs, coming to maybe one of the largest and most impressive overhangs we had encountered yet, heading down hill to an area underneath it where a bench waited for people to have a rest.

As we reached the bench, I pulled out another NSW Rock (I'm trying to disperse all the ones I have collected over the years). 
"I was saving this for the other bit of the walk with the weir." I commented. "But this just seems like a perfect spot for it to be found." I said, laying it down right on the bench.

We continued around the cliff face, past yet another sitting bench, until we came to an area that requires a little scramble (though one easily achievable for the average walker).

Continuing along the base of the cliff, we passed underneath two more marvellous overhangs, before reaching a section of steps, leading downhill.

After reached the bottom of those steps the trail began an incline, reaching another set of steps heading upward.

I stopped and commented to my Wife that this looked like the set of steps down, where we had taken the fork in the road last time with Orla, doing the trail outside of the valley, behind people's properties.

As we reached the top of the stairs, I noticed the flattened wombat poo I had stepped on still there, pointing out, and showing them the trail we took with Orla, and pointing out the sign labelling the area as 'The Steps'.

We headed down this steps we had ascended with Orla, making our way to River Oak Crossing, where I went to cross the river, but everyone pointed out there was actually another trail along the river, continuing downstream, leading to another carpark.

We decided to continue the loop, so as not to backtrack (but curiosity made me also want to wander down that track). 

As we crossed the creek Megan asked if we knew about Booktopia (and online book retailer), going into administration. We said we had and that it was a shame, as that and Book Depository (which had also closed), where the best places to purchase books (without paying an arm and a leg). Megan informed us that Stuart had ordered her a book collection, (through Amazon), but the books were to be supplied through Booktopia (who was now shutting), and that apparently Amazon weren't responsible if she would be unable to receive those books.

We commented how unfair and corrupt that sounded, with her explaining that Amazon also sometimes has counterfeit books that people have received while ordering books from there.

We reached a bench and I suggested we stop there for something to eat. However, it was in the sun, so as we stopped everyone moved into the shade, so I moved with them, sitting on a large sharp rock and pulling out our ham, cheese and homemade mustard pickle rolls. Stuart and Megan revealed they had also packed ham and cheese and we laughed as we sat and ate. After finishing our food, we continued on, shortly approaching the large ladder, where I pointed out to Megan that path we had taken Orla through and we took turns climbing over the ladder.

We eventually reached the section of the creek, that looked like a little swimming hole, with moss covering the ground around it, and with a large tree that had fallen over that looked as if you could use it to cross to the other side (and where, Orla and my Wife and I stopped for a photo).

Megan also found it beautiful, wanting to stop and go off the path to admire it. I followed behind her, eyeing off the log. With no Orla, I decided I wanted to cross it. Jumping up on top and making sure it was solid, I balanced my way across hoping off on the other side while Stuart followed behind me. 
"Don't fall in!"
I called to him as I waited on the other side.
He to made it over with ease.
I hopped back on, crossing back again, finding the footing on the fallen tree flatter and easier, heading back this way.
I hopped back onto the other side of the creek, as Stuart made his way back across. He stopped, looking to his left at a large stone section and leapt from the fallen tree onto it and landing.
"Now I feel like I need to do that." I declared. Always up for the challenge.
I jumped back onto the log, crossing to the point Stuart was at and jumped, landing on the rock, and making my way to the group as we continued our way.

We soon reached the section where we had let Orla have a little run around off lead, and I noticed a fallen sign that I hadn't seen the first time, naming the area 'Fern Glen.'

The conversation soon changed as Stuart mentioned he wanted to have another D&D night (Dungeons and Dragons), saying he had a premade campaign he wanted to try with us, (as continuing the ongoing campaign we have is a lot of work). I asked if it was a particular theme, such as The Legend of Zelda or Deltora Quest. 
"No but regular D&D is pretty much Deltora Quest." Stuart said.

I started on about the monsters in the world of the Deltora and how cool they are, then started telling Stuart how the new series connected those books with two other series by Emily Rodda including the book series 'Rowan of Rin' which I knew he had read as when I used to go to his house back in High School he had 'The Journey' the five Rowan of Rin books condensed into a single book.

These nerdy, geeky, and very irrelevant conversations continued, as we wander along. With Megan and my Wife ahead chatting about other things, I saw a spot in a cave along the side that I climbed up through, bringing me out decently high up on the cliff.
"Watch yourself." Stuart warned me, but I tried to make it along the thin section of cliff was with tiny handholds in between sections all covered in moss. I looked down, the ground looked about 2, maybe 3 metres below me, and I knew if I took a fall, even from this height I could get seriously hurt.
I looked ahead for sure-fire holds, but couldn't see any. I could have risked it, and maybe not fell, but I had a vision flash before my eyes of my Dad falling off Windang Island.
I decided to make my way back, which at first was slow moving, but soon I got to a flat surface, ducking down, through the cave hole and climbing back down to Stuart.

"I don't think I've ever seen you turn back." He commented to me.
"Safety first." I said, knowing it's better to be safe than sorry.

As we continued I noticed another sign I hadn't noticed the first time, also about the coachwood trees.

"Coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalum)
Coachwood has a blotchy, pale grey bark making it easy to recognise in the rainforest. Pink sepals appear in early summer.
It is considered to be an excellent cabinet timber and was removed from many forest to make coaches.
During World War II it was used in the construction of Mosquito Fighter Bombers."

The conversation changed again, as I mentioned the live action Legend of Zelda movie, which was going to be directed by Wes Ball, the director of the new Planet of the Apes film (Kingdom), much of which I mentioned was filmed near Albion Park (where Stuart, my Wife and I had all grown up).
We began talking about how it would work as a movie, all pretty dubious of the fact, and I heavily criticised some of the online fan castings I had read, such as Tom Holland as Link or Anya Taylor-Joy as Zelda).

While chatting away on this topic we had reached the bridge crossing, but I pointed up some stairs on our left, saying that I believe they were the loop that takes to to the Old Weir, but asked if they wanted to cross the bridge, as they hadn't got to on there walk, but we had with Orla. 
We all crossed the bridge, making our way to the base of the steps where we had began the walk descending down into the valley.
We crossed back over the bridge, heading up the steps, once more on a new section of the walk (for my Wife and I).

At the top of the stairs we came to a little sign post, letting us know we were on the 'Mossy Gully walk'. It told us that if we continued straight ahead, we would reach the picnic area via the weir crossing, however there was also a turn off on our left that the sign said was 'Falcon Crescent and North Nowra'.

"I think that just takes you to another street." I said, but still with that itching feeling inside of needing to know. However we continued our course toward the old weir.

It was a very short walk from here were there was a section of track for a lookout over the valley.

"Places for plants
Even in a relatively small area such as Bomaderry Creek Regional Park there are several different plant communities adapted to different conditions in the landscape.
Below you in the gorge you may be able to see river oaks, water gums, turpentines and cabbage tree palms. These plants enjoy the moist protected area along the river.

On the dry ridgetops the forest is fairly open and is host to different eucalypt trees such as red stringybarks and scribbly gums. Heath plants grow in the open dry areas in-between. Wet heaths also occur in the gorge on soils with impeded drainage.
This park protects several rare plant species including the vulnerable Albatross mallee and the endangered Bomaderry zieria which is only found in the park and adjacent bushland."

We sat at the bench here, enjoying the sun, the views as I watched the leaves blowing in the gentle breeze. Stuart and my Wife began a discussion on Jurassic World Evolution 2.

"I wonder if there is a Dinosaur, or Jurassic Park inspired escape room somewhere." I questioned out loud, which had everyone interested to try and find one. We started talking about escape rooms, discussing the four of us doing a trip to Melbourne to do escape rooms.

We eventually decided to continue on, having enjoyed our time looking over the gorge. We continued along passing another turn off and sign leading towards North Nowra, this time via 'Boardwalk', and once more I bit my lip and resisted to the urge to do all the trails.

We came to section filled with blooming wattle.

"Oh no." My Wife commented, holding her breath and getting through as quickly as possible to avoid her allergies.

The branches were filled with buzzing bees.

"Hello friends." I said to the little bees, as Megan stressed about the,. revealing she had never been stung by a bee.
"You'd hope you're not allergic than." I commented, as we continued along to a section of the trail that had water from somewhere overflowing lightly onto it, with the sun brightly reflecting of the water on the track.

Continuing along we crossed over a little creek that was flowing down towards the main creek.

As the trail continued we came to a fork in the path with no signage. There was a track leading off to the right, which seemed more like the logical choice to continue to follow given our trajectory. But there was also a path on the the left, that seemed like the least likely to follow.

We randomly decided to see what was down the trail on our left.

We followed this along where it led to some stairs with a rail leading down to the creek.

"Maybe this is just another way down to the creek?" I suggested, still assuming the other trail would lead us to the weir and back to the picnic area.
We followed it down regardless.

As we were continuing along looking at the creek we encountered to older women.

"Does this track lead to the weir?" I decided to ask, figuring it was better to know for sure.
She informed us it did.
I explained to her about the other track at the fork we had just turned from, saying we didn't know where it would lead, but letting her know the other track led to the loop. As she spoke in reply I detected a British accent, but then, she might just have been  an Australian with good diction.

We continued along now, knowing we were on our way to the weir, passing under a long stretch of overhang.

Continuing along you could see the impact of heavy rain and debris from an overflowing creek.

I pointed to the hole in the weir, letting them know that it was removed to allow fish to flow freely up the creek. (As none of them had read the sign at the start).

We hopped across to the other side of the creek.

The trail led uphill back to the picnic area, and I turned around halfway up for one last photo of the creek.

As we reached the top back on the trail, I started suggested to them that the four of us go and do the walk at 'Thirlmere Lakes' as we had done it at the start of the year and it was a good walk. I also confessed that we had gone to a pie shop afterwards that did really good pies but they were sold out of chilli pies, so I'd like to stop in before the walk this time in the hopes of getting one.

I asked if anyone was hungry, seeing if Stuart wanted to get Chooksy's, however everyone else was still full from lunch, so Stuart said he would hopefully stop in another time.

"Is everyone ok if I stop in and get a coffee?" Megan asked, and we all agreed we could go with some caffeine too.

As we made it back to the car, and Stuart pulled out to leave, I quickly asked him to turn left instead of heading back to the main road, curious as to what was further down the road. He followed it down for me, just leading to another parking area for the nearby tennis courts.

We made our way to get coffee, chatting on the drive home and agreeing to all have another day out together soon.

I think that's the simplicity of a bushwalk. Nature, the sun, the fresh air, alone or with friends, they just make you feel better inside.

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Thanks for reading! - Steven