A Googong Wander – (clockwise from top left) Cave under London Bridge | London Bridge Homestead | a stop beside the Queanbeyan River | London Bridge arch | Apple Box tree beside the river | cascade on the Queanbeyan River | London Bridge Woolshed site

Tuesday 21 July: Bang! A Googong Wander – M/M. From London Bridge car park, walk via the bridge and caves to Gelignite Crossing on the Queanbeyan River.  Then down through Compo Canyon, home of Rosenberg’s monitor (though they’ll be hibernating in winter). Then out of the gorge and back to the cars. About 10km or so.  Requires some rock-hopping and a bit of a short scramble. Map: Captains Flat. Leader: Matthew Higgins. Bookings: John Evans 0417 436 877 john@johnevans.id.au . Transport: ∼$10.

10 of us drove in 2 cars to the London Bridge Woolshed car park, where we met an eleventh.

Summary

Distance: 12.2km | Climb: 360m | Time: 9.25am-2.30pm (5hrs 5mins), including 50 mins of breaks | Grading: M/E-M; M(9)

Track Map

Track

Photographs

Photographs are available, where you can start a large sized slideshow.

Waypoint and Track Files

Download the .gpx file. (Right click, Save Link As…, Save – if you want to use it.)
Download the .kml file.

Track Notes

Yet another perfect winter’s day in this part of the world. A bit of fog and frost on the ground as we started, but it soon cleared into a blue-sky day, crisp but even warm when walking in the sun out of the breeze.

Matthew briefed us in the car park and we set off along the track to London Bridge. Descending the western and upstream side of the arch, we paused in front of the cave for our guide to tell us about its significance. Cool here as the sun had not yet reached. Brochures request that you don’t enter the cave. After a while we jumped across Burra Creek and warmed up in the sun. I took the opportunity to pick up the clue for question 1 of geocache GC4NTEE Em’s ASM #6, as I had a slightly expanded set of objectives to Matthew 😆 .

From here we walked east across the open grasslands (and thistles) to join the management track that runs north. We walked generally north, then turned south-east at the signposted intersection, along the boundary of the Burra Creek Nature Reserve and down to Gelegnite [sic] Crossing. Found morning tea above the swift flowing and voluminous Queanbeyan River at 10.45am, having covered 4.5km from the car park.

Our next leg took us downstream along the bank of the Queanbeyan River for about 700m. Raging water, cascades, cliffs, freshwater mussel shells, small caves and lovely Apple Box specimens were some of the features. There was discussion as to the location of Compo Canyon and perhaps consensus that it is the gully that enters the true right side of the river just downstream of the Curleys Falls waypoint.

At the bottom of an appropriate spur we left the river and climbed through dry, open woodland to rejoin our inward management trail. This we followed back to the major track junction with its signage and joined the Dhurrawarri Buranya Walk. Followed it to a sunny spot above Burra Creek for lunch.

On our descent after lunch we spotted a wombat grazing over the other side of Burra (or is it Burrow?) Creek. Once down on the flat, sandy creek bank, a little detour to see if we could get closer. We then walked south up Burra Creek to London Bridge arch, spotting another wombat and two wedge-tailed eagles.

Ignoring the plaintive calling of another geocache up on the top of the arch, we continued south along the Dhurrawarri Buranya Walk, which loops to London Bridge Homestead. Picked up the clue for question 2 of geocache GC4NTEE Em’s ASM #6, found and logged caches GC4NTC4 Em’s ASM #1 and GC4NTCP Em’s ASM #3. Others close by will have to wait for a further visit. I’m afraid I was dragging the chain and missed the briefing at the Homestead site, but did pick up the clue for question 4 of geocache GC4NTEE Em’s ASM #6. Time to examine the unfenced sheds and the London Bridge Woolshed ruin.

Returning north towards the cars everyone helped me count the clue for question 5 of geocache GC4NTEE Em’s ASM #6 and I popped off the track to pick up the clue for question 6 of geocache GC4NTEE Em’s ASM #6. Throwing caution to the wind and relying heavily on Matthew’s and my fellow walkers’ continued friendship, I slipped left up to a gentle spur in an attempt to find more clues. Back at the cars, I hobbled as fast as my currently bung knee would allow and picked up cache GC4NTCG Em’s ASM #2.

Add to the tally a hooded Robin (a rare sighting I understand) and red-browed Finches, as well as the eagles and wombats.

Another excellent and informative day, thank you Matthew and all.

Party

11 walkers – Mike B, Melinda B, Gavin F, Eric G, David H, Meredith H, Matthew H (leader), Jenny H, Stewart J, Jenny S, me.

Next Tuesday Walk

Tuesday 28 July: Binnari Pass – L/M-R, part X. From the Nerriga entrance to Morton National Park walk east across Running Creek and to the north of Round Mountain (avoiding private property) to join the Endrick River Trail. We cross Sallee Creek (possible shallow wade) then leave the trail on an ill-defined ridge which leads south to the base of Binnari Pass. Climb onto Quiltys Mountain for lunch. Return to the base of the pass (time and scrub are likely to prevent a different route off Quiltys Mountain) and turn to the west. We cross Sallee Creek again, walk south of Round Mountain, continuing west across a number of creeks to the Alum Creek Trail, joining it 2 km south of the car park. Over 500 m of climbing. Some thick scrub and rock scrambling. Map: Endrick. Leader: Philip G. Transport: $95 per car. Limit: 8.