Bundewallah Reserve Walking Track

  This walk takes place on Dharawal Country

While doom scrolling my Facebook newsfeed like a mindless zombie on the weekend, a post from an indigenous street food truck that I follow (Mirritya Mundya) appeared on my feed, promoting their 'Emu and Lamb Guiness Pie'. 
'Oooohhh.' I thought, always a lover of trying different foods.
The truck was based down in Bomaderry, where I had just been for walks on both the two prior weekends, but it had been closed on those occasions.

I had the following two days after the weekend scheduled off from work and debated heading down to get one of the pies.
'It's a long way to go for just a pie.' I debated to myself, deciding to have a look for any nearby walks, hopefully just a short one, that I could do to make the drive south for a pie worth it.

As I investigated, I found a walk called 'Red Rock Trig Trail', an apparently easy 1.9km walk, and decided that is what I would do. 

You might be wondering why I just wanted a short walk, well that was because I had just written another decently long blog post and felt writing fatigue so didn't want to have to write another huge blog.
"Well Steven, do you have to write about every new walks you do?" You might ask.
Well dear reader, sadly blogging is the only feeling of satisfaction, fulfillment and feeling of accomplishment, like I've actually done something with my life, which I lack career-wise, so yes, yes, I do need to write this up, lest I feel worthless and sad.

Anyway, I digress.

Monday came along and I woke up in the morning, pruned my mandarin and lime tree then sat inside drinking copious amounts of coffee while catching up on episodes of 'The House of the Dragon', debating whether or not to go for the drive down while my gorgeous Dog sat snuggled in beside me giving me the 'don't leave me Dad' eyes.
However, my Wife messaged saying she was going to come home from work as she was feeling sick, so I waited until she arrived home so poor little Orla (my Dog), was not left alone.

When she got home, I packed my water bottle, and began the drive south while listening to the indigenous artist 'Allara' to set the mood.

When I finally arrived at Mirritya Mundya on Concorde Way, I hopped out of the car, strolled right up and requested the emu, lamb and guinness pie.
The guys looked at me hesitantly and turned to the man behind him to ask about them, that man turned around and said.
"Oh, we don't have them in, they're coming later this week." 
I felt my heart sink. It was a long way to drive for a pie, especially when the pie is not there.
He commented saying that they had a brisket and mac pie, and too awkward to walk away without purchasing anything I said, "I'll just get that then."
Walking away with a pie I didn't necessarily feel like due to my own social awkwardness.

I set Google Maps to the walk and ate the pie while I drove. It was packed densely with the brisket meat, and didn't really have any gravy, it was truly a 'meat pie'.

As the drive took me around the back streets of Bomaderry, Google Maps played up and would swap every 5 seconds between telling me to head the way I was heading, with a right turn at the end, and swapping to turning me to turn around and go back the way I had come from, stressing my out because it would swap and change to rapidly.

I eventually followed the street to the end, and turned right pulling up as Google Maps settled and finally just took me in the direction I was going, towards Red Rock Trig Trail.

I headed out from Bomaderry, towards Badagarang, where I then got held up in roadworks. As I sat in the roadworks for about 10-minutes I felt like nothing was going right. Finally, we were allowed to proceed, and I began heading up the winding mountain pass that reminded me of a mix between Macquarie Pass and Jamberoo Pass.
Halfway up here we were once more stopped with roadwork, causing me to loudly groan and sigh. This time it felt like I was stuck for even longer as one car came past from the other direction. It felt like another 10-minutes until finally a series of cars came through and we were allowed to continue up the mountain now. As I drove up, I noticed the left side of me having repairs works down, obviously erosion had given way and mud or trees and rock and fallen over the road, probably due to all the heavy rain, wind and extreme weather events we'd had lately. On the right side I noticed some of the road heading down the mountain had completely given way and collapsed over the edge.
"Shit." I said, looking out my window as I continued uphill.

As I came to a bend in the road, where my GPS was telling me to turn left, this bend was filled with the road workers and the turn off up that road was blocked off.
"Shit!" I said to myself, continuing around the bend has the road now began winding down the mountain. 
I had no idea where I was, and had never been in the area before, so all I could do was continue the drive down the mountain waiting for a spot where I could pull over which took between 10 and 20 minutes.

I finally pulled up, surrounded by farmland, wondering if I should just give up and go home. However, I remembered another walk I had looked at when trying to decide to go for a walk.

'Bundewallah Reserve'.

I decided to GPS to there so my entire day hadn't been a waste. The directions told me I could continue forward the way I was going and turn right at Kangaroo Valley Road, or I could go back the way I had come which it said was '4 minutes shorter'. 
'Yeah, not with all the road works.' I thought and continued driving along past the farmland eventually turning right at Kangaroo Valley Road. 

This was a long, winding road and was slow going, with my GPS saying it was going to take me just under an hour to get to that walk. I drove past all sorts of estates and retreats, before coming to a section of Kangaroo Valley Road which was closed and having to turn right down Tourist Road (later looking at maps of the road, I saw if that had not been closed my trip would have been much shorter).

This road continued on past all sorts of hidden retreats and I wondered if they were just getaway spots, or if they were those weird silent retreat places people go in films and tv where you give away your phones and connections and things. 

As I was heading down a section, I saw a turn off on my left to Cambewarra Mountain lookout, however there was a car heading up the mountain with their indicator on to turn there, and as I only saw it last minute, I continued past down the mountain, when they turned up that way.
I slowed down in my car thinking. I thought I should see the lookout but had already driven past, 'but then, when was the next time I would be around this area?', I thought, bringing my car to a halt on the empty road and reversing back up the hill to turn off towards Cambewarra Mountain lookout.

I pulled up, in the parking area, discovering some sort of restaurant or cafe was here too. As I hopped out of my car the other car that had just gotten there had arrived with two young people hopping out and as I looked, I witnessed the young male squeezing his female partner's butt.
'Ok then.' I said silently to myself, raising an eyebrow and walking off on my own to take in the view.

I stood on my own, atop the mountain, gazing out at the other mountain in the distance, I wondered what it was (I believe it is Coolangatta Mountain), my eyes followed the Shoalhaven River out to Shoalhaven Heads, and I could spot Comerong Island, where I had gone on a day trip adventure with my Dad and added the details of underneath my blogpost 'Barren Grounds - Kangaroo Ridge and Griffiths Loop Track', which in retrospect I should have just done as it' own short little blog post, rather than hidden away on some unrelated blog.

I stood trying to take a panorama shot with my phone and ended up fumbling and dropping my phone, causing a crack in my phone screen. My face twitched and I felt my teeth grit as I tried to hold in the frustrations of my day. I walked back to my car, continuing on route to Bundewallah, and started screaming once I was back on the lonely mountain road.
"Fuck!" I screamed. "FUCK!" At the top of my lungs, pure psychopathic rage, had anyone seen or heard me they would have thought I was insane.
You may think this is a bit of an overreaction, given the day I was having. But this wasn't just about the day. It wasn't about the pie, or the traffic, or the closed walk, or my phone screen. These were today's issues. But this was a build-up. Pent up frustration, anger, anxiety and resentment.
This was years in the making. From the covid lockdowns, to my fractured ankle, to my cancer diagnosis and treatment (all during the pandemic), to returning back to work, which had progressively gotten worse, with no career progression only more work and responsibility with no more pay, with a cost-of-living crisis and issues with my own home life. I had just been thinking to myself lately, what exactly did I beat cancer for? To just be constantly kicked and knocked down? To just continually struggle with only the rare opportunity to travel and adventure. It was the build-up of all these frustrations that caused me to scream alone in my car like a maniac.

I continued the was Google Maps was taking me and I soon found myself in roadworks once more, for another 10 minutes, as I came down the mountain in pretty much the same location that I had gone up it. 

"What the actual fuck." I said to myself, passing by another roadworks but not being stopped this time as I soon entered onto the main highway through Bomaderry, turning left to head north towards Berry.

"What a clusterfuck." I said to myself, looking at the time as it was almost 2pm.

I followed the Princes Highway, turning left towards Berry, but then taking a left turn away from it at the first roundabout, leading me to a second roundabout where I turned right up Kangaroo Valley Road. I followed this up for a short while before turning up Bundewallah Road, where I soon found my location, a very small and indiscreet area right next to someone's large and glamourous property. 
I thought to myself 'I hope these people realise how lucky they are to live in a place like this."

I had pulled in as I arrived, but decided to reverse park instead, pulling out and reversing back in, as I hopped out of my car, reading the sign about it being a Shoalhaven Bushcare area.

I followed the steps down a short way, and it immediately led down to a creek.

Facing downstream towards someone's property

Facing upstream

The track on the right looked more suited to continuing up, as it was more open and the surface was flatter, so I crossed to that side of the creek, and began following the creek along as I headed up (completely missing and not noticing a trail that led up through the bush following along the neighbouring property's fence line.

While continuing up I noticed many of the Giant Stinging Trees along the way, some with branches sticking out along the creek, with leaves at face height, that you could easily walk into, and I didn't like to think about how that would feel to the unsuspecting person who had their face caressed by the leaves of this tree.

Giant Stinging Tree Leaves 'Dendrocnide excelsa'

I rounded a bend in the creek, with a large branch blocking the way, though it was easy enough to simply duck under it and continue on.

As I ducked underneath, I was glad it wasn't thing giant stinging tree, and didn't need to stress about its leaves as I continued up, seeing an old stone fence to the right of the creek, which I assumed (incorrectly) marked the boundaries to the reserve and the private property (though it might have back in the day).

I continued along, crossing to the opposite side of the creek to take a better photo of the stone fence, which reminded me of my time working for the 'Green Army', a conservation and land management program run by the government which I began working in in 2016 at Killalea State Park, where we had cleared through metres worth of lantana to the convict built stone walls were visible again. Our group was even interviewed on the radio for it. It just brought back memories of younger days, working in a job where I felt like I was accomplishing things.

If I had been looking at anything other than the old stone wall, I may have noticed the trail through the bush not too far behind it, next to a wire fence that marked the boundary line, however I did not, and so turned to continue along up through the creek.

I watched my footing, making sure not to awkwardly slip and fall (especially not while taking a photo, as I didn't want to do any more damage to my phone). I crossed the creek again, stepping on some rocks that wouldn't wabble as I crossed over the water, stepping up the rocks that were raised up, on past a bird's nest fern growing from the base of a tree, and once more I rounded a bend in the creek.

As soon as I came around the bend, I saw this was a dead end. There was a little pool of water built up as the water would flow down.

I actually tried to look up if areas of creeks or stream that do this had a technical name (scouring the web through glossaries of technical language regarding streams and creeks to no avail).

The walls were high and very flat, and as I looked for a clear location to climb, I couldn't find one. I looked to the side for a well-worn path up and around. There was nothing. I thought I could just head up one of the banks of the creek back a bit and bushwhack through a bit. But then I though this must simply be the end of the walk, though I thought it wasn't as long as it was supposed to be. I decided to load up the 'All Trails' app, as I know that it has a map of the trail to see if I had reached the end.

'Hmm, nowhere near the end.' I thought as I looked at it, but also realised it was showing that I was off to the left of the track. 
'That could just be a GPS error.' In also thought, but decided to head back, keeping an eye on my left for any sight of the trail.

Soon I noticed one, heading up the banks through the ferns, so I followed it, still a little dubious as to whether this was the right path, or if it was just an animal track.

As I continued along it, my questions were answered.

A wombat track to a wombat hole

I looked around me to see if I could see anything, and through the branches in front of me I thought I could see a larger, wider, more genuine looking trail a few metres ahead. I made my way through the bush and came out onto what was the actual trail.

Looking down it, the way I should have come up

The trail upwards, feat. wombat poo

I started trudging uphill, and immediately my heart started racing, I struggled to catch my breath and I felt hot in my jumper.

I huffed and puffed my way up this section of steps. Deep in my ears began throbbing, my throat got dry, and I felt like I couldn't breathe as I continued pushing, forcing myself to continue uphill, step by step.
As I reached the top of this section I stopped to guzzle some water, removing my jumped and shoving it into my backpack. I felt demoralised, lowering my mood further. It reminded me of how I had felt the first time I attempted 'Bong Bong Pass' again after my cancer treatment.
How had my fitness gotten so bad again, I thought, or was this still the effects of catching covid? I thought, thinking about how I had been doing huge hikes daily while in Iceland. I had my yearly cancer test and appointment coming up, so I thought I would see how that fared before I worried, maybe I need to just get a bit of fitness up.

I took a little breather as all these thoughts flooded in, a tsunami of negative emotion that I tried to shake from my head as I continued along the now flat trail.

However, this didn't last long.

I once more huffed and puffed my way up the steps, struggling to extend my legs too far as the cargo pants I was wearing were really restrictive. (My good pair had recently had a hole in ripped in my crouch while climbing at Bomaderry Creek). Both sides of the track were full of orange thorn plant (Pittosporum multiflorum) but I was far too out of breath and determined to keep moving to stop for a picture of their little orange berries.

The trail came to a flat section where I stopped to breath, before continuing over a little wooden bridge to head up even more steps.

As I trudged up these steps, I silently whispered to myself: "It's too hot for fucking pants." Wishing I'd worn shorts instead.

Soon it seemed like the path forward was leading me to a wire fence, with another wombat hole situated right in front of it.

With a quick look around, I noticed the trail changing direction and continuing up another small section of steps.

On either side of me as I continued up this last section of steps were growing Rubus rosifolius, a species of native Australian raspberry. 'I should take a cutting' I thought wanting to grow some myself as I stopped to take a picture of a flower coming from one.

As I passed through the little thorns gently scratched as my arms, as I came clear of them at the top of the stairs in an open section where someone had had the foresight to build a chair for me to go and sit at and rest.

I sat here for a while, cooling down and catching my breath as I heard a weird noise in the distance, like a roar. I instantly thought 'black panther', (Australian folklore/cryptozoology), however it was more likely a cow on a distant property or even a feral deer. 
I waited until the throbbing pain in my ears, subsided, and until my chest no longer felt on fire, as a cool and gentle breeze was blowing, cooling me down. 
I listened to the sounds of whipbirds and all the other sounds of wild birds, while getting a whiff of myself and realising how badly I smelled.
I took another swig of water, before moving on.

The ferns along the path closed in, and it was like coming to 'the secret garden' and I ducked my head to wander into a new section of the walk underneath the thick growth of ferns.

The trail stayed flat now, as I continued in, seemingly away from the creek, feeling the lateness of the day. I stopped to take a photo of a weirdly growing tree limp with my phone automatically recommending to me to try 'night mode' due to the darkness of the undergrowth and the lateness of the afternoon.

As I took the picture, I noticed how flat my phone was (between having the screen on for so long to GPS directions, but also using Bluetooth to play music), and decided to try to conserve battery life, wandering down the dark shaded path until the end, where I reached some steps heading down.

As I reached the bottom of the steps, I saw though the trees down a hill on my right a beautiful pool of water, coming down some cascading falls, and to my left a ginormous tree trunk, which I tried to take a photo of but realised it was just too large, attempting to zoom out as best I could to capture just how large it was.

And accidentally capturing the side of my finger too

I debated whether to slide down the slope straight to the water hole, but decided I would continue along until the path ended, as there might be a better trail down to it.

Looking back at the steps I had come down

As I walked to the end of the trail I came to a creek once more.

I followed the little bit of flowing water on the left around behind a boulder, where I took a photo of the little cascading fall.

I walked downstream, looking over the edge of the section I was in at another pool of water.

My phone was giving me warning signs now that it was about to go flat, and I could see a trail continuing on. I quickly turned on my mobile data, back on to 'All Trails' to see if this was the end of the track. However, it seemed like there was a tiny but left so I continued on up the track, past a large termite mound.

The path soon ended in a large open section with no path in sight. It didn't seem like the right way to go, with the cascading falls seeming like the logical end point.

As I loaded up 'All Trails' once more, really testing my phone battery, I saw that I had now passed the end point ('They should have some sort of sign' I thought), and I made my way back.

Of course, heading back I noticed that there was indeed a sign denoting the end of the trail.

By now my phone was on 10% battery, ready to go flat as any second, so I decided I would head down each section of the cascades in hopes of getting a photo before my phone went flat.

I headed down from the first one, quickly taking a photo as my phone somehow dropped from 10% to 5 in just seconds.

I made my way to the section just down from the steps and made my way down the slope over the soft topsoil, making sure not to fall or slide, down to the bottom of the cascade, holding up my phone with its screen barely lit enough for me to even see what I was taking.

No sooner had I taken the photo, when my entire phone screen went black with 'Samsung' coming up written in the darkness before it completely faded to black. That was it, my phone had died.

I my phone away and sat for a long time at the bottom of this cascade. The cool air chilling my sweaty skin. I sat watching the little bubbles form when the falling water hit the pool of water's surface. Watching them dancing across the top of the water until they eventually popped.
I don't know how long I was there for, just sitting, alone out in the bush. Usually when doing a walk, I feel a sense of joy, or achievement. A sense of purpose or adventure. Or at the very least and sense of spiritual connectedness with nature. But I wasn't feeling that on that day. Instead, I just felt lonely.

Postscript: Sorry to be a downer, but our moods ebb and flow like the rivers and streams. That day I was struggling. But I will be alright.

The very next day I took Orla out for a play at the park, it was a warm sunny day as she ran and fetched her ball, and I felt happy. I know I have to work to make improvements to my own life, for the sake of my health and mental health and hopefully other blogs can be more upbeat and optimistic in tone.

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Thanks for reading! - Steven