Bushwalk 5 - Galston Gorge to Berowra Waters

This was the most difficult walk for me so far. It was actually a combination of 2 sections of the Great North Walk. Starting with a truly terrifying drive through hairpin bends down the valley to Galston Gorge, we then walked from Galston Gorge to Crosslands (just read up to the Crosslands section), then from Crosslands to Berowra Waters.

The first section is actually quite a nice walk, mostly following alongside Berowra Creek. Unfortunately, I was tired before I began, plus I needed to go to the toilet, so I was really impatient to get to Crosslands & didn't pay as much attention as I probably should have. The second half of the walk was hard - very hard. Huge climb followed by a steep descent. I enjoyed the challenge, but would think twice about tackling both of these walks together in one day again.

Here is the bro walking up the sandstone steps from the valley.

After walking along the ridge & looking down on a few rusted cars (seriously - how did they even get down there!) we came to Gully Creek Falls.

Then to a pretty view across Berowra Creek to a sandstone escarpment on the other side. I can't remember why I took this photo, but I think it was to show the denseness of the bushland. You can easily imagine getting lost for days in terrain like that.

Once we passed through Crosslands I was feeling much happier. This boardwalk runs through the mangroves (obviously dry at the moment) for about 200m.

And after a short & muddy walk we reached the Calna Creek footbridge. I couldn't help wondering why the handrail is only on one side - did they run out of money before they finished it?

After the footbridge we walked along another timber boardwalk through the saltmarsh. This was really eerie - the grass was probably shoulder-high & stretched as far as you could see.

At this point we were at the bottom of the valley. My brother pointed across the creek to this imposing outcrop & calmly informed me that we had to climb it. All I could think was 'bugger'.

And so began what I have christened 'the hill that keeps on giving'. It starts tamely enough.

And lulls you into a false sense of security with flat sections like this that wind around the mountain.

But then it just keeps on giving.

And giving.

And giving.

Finally, the payoff arrives at Naa Badu lookout, where we rested & gazed out over Berowra Creek.

After the lookout we continued along quite happily for a while. Then we came to the first view of the deep waterfront homes of Berowra Waters. I started to get nervous. We were awfully high up, but we had to be down the bottom to catch the ferry.

I was right to be nervous. The descent was nearly as bad as the ascent. OK, that's a slight exaggeration. But you have to understand - I was tired, my legs were sore having just climbed up the mountain. And then I was faced with a series of steep downhill climbs. The stairs below were the best of them - the steps were actually well formed & fairly-normal size.

I was really cursing my short legs by the end of that climb back down the hill. On almost every step I was taking a leap of faith & hoping that I would land safely.

Anyway, we finally arrived at the bottom of the hill to the welcome sight of the Berowra Waters ferry.

Once across we enjoyed lunch at the Fish Cafe. I'm not mentioning it because of the food - obviously not much on offer for a vegan here, but I did get a salad. No, I'm bringing it up because the chef here was mental. Totally hyperactive, he gave us quite a few laughs while we were eating lunch by calling out the takeaway orders with ever-increasing desperation. At the end of our meal he came out & asked my brother what he thought of the pizza. He said he wanted honest feedback. I couldn't help thinking that if he actually got some honest feedback my brother may end up being up-ended over the railing into the river.

The Stats
Distance: 13 or 14km
Time: 4hr 30min
Difficulty: Hard (for the Crosslands to Berowra Waters section)