Gardens of Stone ❖ Glow Worm Tunnel ❖ Dunns Swamp -- (locations are shown on the Sydney Bush Tracks map).
Gardens of Stone
The Gardens of Stone National Park has lots of “pagodas” – stone formations with parallel horizontal ridges. Here are some photos from Donkey Mountain, which is quite near Glow Worm Tunnel.
View from the top of Donkey Mountain, looking west.
Another view from the top.
Near the top.
It was a very rough climb up to this saddle point.
Climbing along the ledges was memorable.
A gap in the rocks (you can climb up to the left). Soon after, there is a section that requires actual rock climbing to continue, which is out of my depth.
Glow Worm Tunnel
Glow Worm Tunnel is north of Lithgow (google maps). The dirt road from Lithgow is very bumpy, so it is easier (though longer) to start from the Wolgan Valley Road end.
The photo on the right is a lace monitor that ran up a tree.
On the way up.
After a dry ascent, there is some cool rainforest near the start of the tunnel.
Western tunnel entrance.
The tunnel is curved, so it is completely dark in the middle. The glow worms can look like constellations.
Eastern tunnel exit.
Along the Pagoda Track.
Dunns Swamp
Dunns Swamp is a beautiful area; access is from Rylstone (google maps).
The water is pretty calm.
Dunns Swamp has some pagodas, though they aren’t terraced like the ones in the Gardens of Stone.
There is a wide, winding river with rock formations along the banks (view from the top of a pagoda).
I took a kayak along the river.
Platypus Rock. There are platypuses in the river, but I think the rock is named for its shape.
I love the colour of the water.
There is a lot of wildlife.
A kingfisher and an eagle.
A water bird (a pied cormorant, I think).
Photos copyright © David Fisher 2016. Comments or
question to [email protected]
(if you ask permission to use photos, I’ll almost certainly give it).