Vol 31 No 3 - Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs

Walk Safely—Walk with a ClubOn the weekend of 11-March-06 I travelleddown the south coast of NSW to MysteryBay, south of Narooma to join the ShoalhavenBushwalkers for a weekend of carcamping, kayaking and bushwalking. Onewalk on the agenda was the steep trek upthe slopes of nearby Mount Dromedary, awalk I had wanted to do for many years.On Sunday 12th March five members ofour large party decided today was the day.A clear sky, the sun beating down and thetemperature rising into the early 30s. Weneeded our heads read to be climbing the730 m to the summit of Mt Dromedary. Itwas 9.15 am when we jumped into Jan’scar for the 15 minute drive to the smallvillage of Tilba Tilba. We parked the caron a vacant patch next to Pam’s GeneralStore, put on our packs and set off on thetrail which commences next to the store. Asmall breeze had started which did help tocool us but it was still quite hot.At first the Tilba Tilba track is quite wideand level and passes between dairy farms,but it soon ascends to a locked gate. Fromhere we had good views of the rocky westernflank of Little Dromedary to the east.By now the temperature had risen considerablyand already my shirt was soaked insweat - and we had hardly begun the walk.We continued on, the vegetation either sideof the track quite thick and providing ampleshade. The track ascends continually, butthankfully the ascent isn’t overly steep andwe set an easy pace. We were starting togain some height and got occasional viewsthrough the trees of the coast below us, butI made an effort not to look at the summitabove as the distance to the top may justdampen my enthusiasm in this heat. I continuallysipped water from my hydrationbag, hoping the 3 litres would last the expected5 hour journey.Vol31 Issue 3 Winter 2006MOUNT DROMEDARYPaul Ellis (Shoalhaven Bushwalkers)Two party members at one of the TorsBefore long we passed a cairn on the rightof the track, about 2 km from the start. Thismarks the grave in the nearby bush nearbyof an unknown Chinaman, a miner from the1800s who died here after gold was discoveredon the mountain. The track itself wascreated by the miners during the gold rush.We climbed on, setting a steady pace butstopping for regular breathers. I was quitesurprised when we passed ‘Halfway Rock’a large granite boulder set at the left side ofthe track. Just a few metres past this rock isa well defined Battery Track leading off tothe left for about 800 metres to where theold miners once had a steam powered rockcrusher. Some items of old equipment maystill be found in the area.We stopped for morning tea on some smallrocks in the track about 100 metres furtherup. The rest break was welcome after theclimb so far. We continued on, the tracksteeply climbing to the saddle. I concentratedon keeping a steady pace without tryingto push myself too hard. I felt the otherswere doing the same, no one was fallingbehind or pushing ahead too far. Eventuallywe passed a pit toilet to the left and just beyondwas a shelter and a large log table. Wehad arrived at Dromedary Saddle.It was here we were told that we could finda small footpad into the forest that wouldtake us to some impressive rock formations.We found the track behind the pittoilet and followed it for a short distancethrough the forest before we reached anamazing scene. Rock Tors and monolithsrose from the forest floor and dominated theforest. We were informed this was a sacredA spectacular balancing rockaboriginal area, for most of the formationshad a rather phallic resemblance. We spentthe next 30 minutes exploring. The shapesand colours were magnificent and I ran mydigital camera batteries low by continuallytaking photograph after photograph.The formations continued on and on, occasionallygiving us excellent views of thecoastline below, some framed with treeferns and other rainforest plant species.However, our main aim was to reach thesummit of Dromedary Mountain, so weheaded back to the saddle and followed thesignposted track through thick rainforest asit again started to ascend steeply.After a short distance we passed a signpostthat signalled a short cut track whichascended very steeply to the summit. Wedecided we would return via this track andinstead, follow the rainforest circuit to thesummit. The rainforest track was magnificent.Many species of plant and tree, manyYet another phallic Torsignposted along the trail such as the giantPinkwood and Sassafras and the floor ofthe rainforest adorned by ferns, lichens andmosses. The walk was so interesting thatwe were almost able to ignore the steepnessof the track to the top and eventually wecame out onto the summit at exactly 1.05pm and sat down at the trig to enjoy lunch.The summit was well overgrown, but stillprovided views of the coast, but the bestpart was the cool breeze that helped driveaway the heat we had built up during theascent. With lunch finished we shoulderedour packs for the descent back to the car atTilba Tilba.As we reached the end of the forested areajust above the farmland we were treated to awonderfully strong cool breeze that almostknocked us off our feet. We had just onekilometre to walk to Pam’s General Storeand a refreshing ice cold drink, my hydrationbag had only just lasted the day’s walk.We arrived back at 3.00 pm and were backat Mystery Bay Camping Area 15 minuteslater.The Bushwalker | 13