Finally, the day came! We got to go camping again! We did take a trip to Colo Meroo earlier last year with a friend of ours but other than that we had not been on a hike or camp in a whole year! It was so fantastic to be back in the outdoors for a few days with the kids. Jaxon and Shelby (10yrs) came along for this 3-day trip along parts of The Great North Walk.
We decided to stick pretty close to home on this trip as it is peak bushfire season and we weren't going to risk it. The Great North Walk is 260km trip from Sydney to Newcastle in New South Wales. It covers some amazing scenery as it follows walking trails made by original Aboriginal tribes trading and camping in the area. There are many ways to walk The Great North Walk and the official website is a fantastic place to help you plan your trip, so check it out here!
"This walk follows the eastern side of the steep Berowra Creek valley from Galston Gorge to Crosslands and then heads over the ridge to follow Lyrbird Gully up to the train station at Mt Kuring-gai. This enjoyable section of The Great North Walk spends most of the time enjoying the wide tidal creeks in the deep valleys. There are many grass trees and sandstone caves to enjoy as well as several lovely places to camp. Crosslands provides road access, a chance to fill up the water bottle and an optional side trip to motel style accommodation at Crosslands Conventions centre."
We only had time to walk a small section this time so we started at Crosslands, and over the 3 days we managed to walk a lot of the tracks in both directions. We heard a few birds that are native to the park area and I even happened to come upon a Lyrebird on the track back to our camp! Unfortunately, I was on my way back to camp because I had left my phone behind, so I couldn't even take a photo.
Gear Prep
Shelter and Sleeping Gear
We were walking into a small campground along Berowra Creek so we had to pack very carefully for the trip. We knew it would be HOT, so we took summer-weight sleeping gear and tents... In the end, I couldn't actually find my tent at all so I took only my tarp, as usual!
Cooking and Food
Since it's summer, and usually a total fire ban, we made sure to pack two stoves. We took my ultra-light jet stove and the old school metho stove in case the jet stove ran out of gas (it did). We did bring along the "Billy Can" but we barely cooked any food because it was just too hot most the time!
We had access to plenty of fresh water just a short hike away from camp at Crosslands reserve. I say a "short hike", but it felt LONG when it was over 40C! We carried in extra water bottles so we could take plenty of water back to camp. Most of our food was the usual hiking food... Instant soup, 2-minute noodles, instant pasta, dried fruit, cheese, nuts, crackers, jerky, lollies and things like that. We did pick up a bunch of fresh bread rolls and some cheesy bacon rolls on the way which rounded out all our meals. Between the 3 of us we managed to carry in some delicious Honey Beef sausages and baby potatoes and cook up one very delicious meal on a tiny fire.
Most of the trip it was too hot to eat, so we bought home more food than we ate while we were gone!
Extras
As always, the mini first aid kit was freshly stocked and packed first. We took two small folding saws which were fantastic for cutting down branches to help hold up my shelter! We picked them up in Big W for around $8 each. The kids wanted to take extra ropes, "for safety". We were in no danger an old tent rope was going to save us from, but I let them pack them anyway... The spent 3 days using them as lassoes.
Fishing
Yes! We were planning to do so much fishing! I almost forgot ALL the fishing gear and just grabbed things on my way out... But I grabbed all the wrong things ha ha! We did end up with working rods and enough tackle etc to actually do some fishing in the end.
The Trip
We got our shelter and sleeping things set up pretty quickly so we could pack up our lunch and head back to the main campground, and the creek to cool off again. Another 15-minute hike back down the trail. Worth the walk when you arrive on the bank of one of the most gorgeous swimming places in Sydney!
Our first night was extra eventful... Another group of campers ran into some trouble in the water around 7pm. One man was airlifted out with breathing difficulties. Two others, unfortunately, were recovered by search and rescue. The kids and I were in the main campground when it all happened but we decided to leave soon after and head back up the creek to our camp. No one slept well. We couldn't decide if it was because of the bugs, the heat, the humidity or the drama at the other campground earlier...
We practically spent all of day 2 in the water. Literally, it was stinking hot and there was no cooler place in Sydney that day... And it wasn't even very cool ha! Some other fantastic friends stopped in for a day of fishing and swimming with us. We tried our absolute best all day but those fish did not want to be caught.
The rest of the trip was fairly quiet. The kids were exhausted and the extreme heat had taken its toll on all of us so we decided to come home a day early. Even though it was much cooler the next day, we had just had enough. And I needed to get the smell of sun-baked Tweed River Prawns off my hands *gag*.
Overall, we all agreed it was a great trip, despite the drama. We did actually have a kick-ass time with a bunch of cool friends, we didn't catch a single fish even with 3 of us fishing for 3 solid hours, not one single fish...
As usual, if you have any questions about the trip, our gear, or anything else please leave a comment below!
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