Better weather allows Thursday Walkers to hit their stride

SPRING sunshine shone for the Thursday Walkers, who started October with a breezy one.

Making up for lost days due to poor weather, they embarked on a journey down to the Stockton Ferry, then across to Queens Wharf and through and around the “old” parts of Newcastle East.

Customs House, the Convict Lumber Yard, the old rail marshalling yards, the old commercial wharf area, the former power station, Fort Scratchley, the first gaol site, and the old Newcastle Hospital Building, were all visited before their wandering took them along the renewed coastal walk and up to King Edward Park for a morning tea stop.

The walk then took them up to the Shepherds Hill gun emplacement and Strzelecki Lookout, before they turned around and went over to The Obelisk, past Christchurch Cathedral, Australia’s first railway site, and an old water reservoir.

Then it was down the hill, past the library and art gallery to Civic Park for a lunch stop.

“There are some very interesting sights with some magnificent old buildings, particularly the Cathedral and other churches around the area,” Cherry Hughes told News Of The Area.

“There are lots of ups and downs, it is decidedly hilly, but plenty of things to look at that we don’t normally see.”

Another nice spring day graced the group for their next walk out to Fingal Head, now part of The Tomaree Coastal Walk, though the humidity rose quite noticeably along the way.

Ocean views were glimpsed through the coastal forest, before the lower scrub and heath towards Fingal Point brought them to open rock to sit on for morning tea.

A swathe of flannel flowers and other wildflowers were scattered along the way.

“Unfortunately the usual plant gurus weren’t there to nominate the botanical names, but there were lots of different shapes and colours,” Cherry recalled.

The following week took the group more locally, into Myall Lakes National Park, for a walk from Bombah Point Road into the Broadwater’s Rivermouth camping area, which can only be accessed by boat or a four-kilometre hike in from the road along a wide fire trail.

Though it was a hill-free day, all were pleased to get back to the cars in the growing heat.

The Thursday Walkers’ annual Spring Camp saw a group visit Mudgee for a sculpture walk and to see Aboriginal paintings, The Great Dripping Wall, Castle Rocks with sandstone pagoda features, an old dam with abandoned waterworks, a rainforest, more unusual rock formations, riverside and wetlands.

Walkers returned to the Myall Lakes for the final walk of the month, out to Broken Sands, along the old Seal Rocks mining road through a typical mix of Myall scrub and trees.

There were magnificent old angophoras, a wide variety of gums, banksia and wattle plus some wildflowers and orchids.

“The road runs along a ridge line in parts, passing waterholes and some interesting scenery before branching off to Broken Sands, a junction of several waterholes,” Cherry said.

November heralds the final walks for the year leading into a summer break,

Scheduled walks include the Stockton foreshore, down to Glenrock and around to Merewether, Tour the Terrace (under the Jacarandas) and the Mungo Rainforest, with a Christmas lunch planned in December.

By Thomas O’KEEFE