Wandering down to Wondabyne

Our last walk through Brisbane Water National Park was cut short by my afternoon commitment to a photography workshop.   But for that booking, we would have all been happy to continue further along the track.

There was some talk of completing the full walk on Friday, 13 April but we decided to go on Saturday instead.  (Superstition didn't feature in the decision, it was our lack of organisation that delayed departure)!

After preparing dinner in the thermal cooker we drove down to Woy Woy station, parked our car and caught a taxi up to the Thommo's Loop trailhead, near Staples Lookout.  It was a little after 11am when we started and very soon afterward we saw a sea eagle soaring overhead, a very auspicious sign!

There were many small birds along the way, plus a huge group of black cockatoos at one point. Tiny skinks scuttled in the leaf litter, though we didn't see any larger lizards as had been spotted on our last visit.  Nick and Vaughan saw a red-bellied black snake by the track coiled, sunning itself, but it moved off quickly when it saw us. I just caught the movement of the vegetation. (We saw a brown snake the previous time - both unusual occurrences as for all our walking/caching we don't generally see them).
 
As on our last visit, there were many varieties of banksia and quite a few other flowers that I know by sight only. There were lots of sundews (carnivorous plants) yesterday and it was fun to see Vaughan kneeling to test their stickiness. I don't remember them from the other week, so praps the recent rain was to their liking.

There were plenty of rests along the way (by the Kariong Brook waterfall and Myron Brook as well as other pretty spots) and a few deviations for caches.  Even with our relaxed pace and regular rest stops, we reached Wondabyne Station at around 4:30pm - about 5 hours after starting, so not a bad effort for the 9 km!