Bushwalk Australia

Was down on the Marley Track yesterday and made good use of the only dry day of the long weekend. Explored from Bundeena Dr to both Marley beaches. Found there were a number of short section changes to the track as plotted on OSM as well as on LPI's topo map. The track was also quite eroded in sections after the rain with large puddles here and there. No big deal but the only major question I have is the section of foot track that goes east from Deer Pool, one that follows to the south of Marley Creek and ends at the back of Marley Beach. Despite spending a bit of time at both ends of that major section, I could not find an entry. Ended up taking the section that headed south from Deer Pool and connected with Little Marley Fire Trail (Mowlee Ridge Trail on the LPI topo). Has anyone been on that missing section to the east of Deer Pool? Where's the entry point? Or have they closed that section off? I also note this section was not plotted on OSM. Anyone know more about this?

Hmm,

The track heading East isn't there on SIX Maps, and it isn't very visible in the aerial imagery. My guess it that is is no longer used and it's time to get a new map mate, the Port Hacking 3rd Ed. was released 13 years ago. The new Auto-Generated series used the same info as SIX Maps, so it won't have the track on it either.

I've visited Deer Pool many times, but I've always headed SE when heading to the coast. I don't think I've seen the track heading East, but I haven't looked for it either, so I can't comment much there.

"Discovering RNP on Foot" by Alan Fairley (2009) has the track marked, but I couldn't find it mentioned in track notes.

Another book of Alan's, "National Park Explorer: Around Sydney" (1989) has the track marked and also recommends using it as part of a loop walk. Apparently after crossing Marley Creek at Deer Pool, turn left and follow roughly parallel to the creek until you reach the sand dunes surrounding Marley Swamp. From here you can head left to Marley Beach, or right and follow the coast towards Little Marley to complete the loop.

"Bushwalks in the Sydney Region" Vol. 2, Ed. 4 by NPA, have a maps of the area and a track is shown to follow down Marley Creek from Deer Pool for about 700m where it comes to an end. This sketch map is dated 2004, and given that a map compiled by the same person in 1996 shows something similar to the Dept. Lands Topo, my guess is that the track you refer to has disappeared, or is hard to find.

I'm sure that someone on the forum has walked the track, and if you are really keen on finding more out about it, I'd suggest getting in contact with Alan Fairley.

Thanks Allchin09! I agree that's the logical explanation too. Do you know if that area was significantly fire damaged some years back? Maybe the change occurred then? If it's an expired track, then I won't bother looking for it further. But maybe one day when I want to do some bush bashing... Ummm.

There were big fires back in 1994 in the park. I know it burnt a fair chunk of it (one website states 98%!), and I think it did cover the area around Marley. That could be a fair explanation. I think it was after the fires that they started to really get rid of bush camping in the park. Previously you could camp where ever you wanted.

My local library had special booklet from the paper at the time on the fire. Some of the photos showed land that you'd swear had been hit by a bomb. All that was left was white ash, on only the charred remains of the largest trees.

See:
http://www.cecilapartments.com/1994-bus ... ydney.html
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/fireweek.htm

Was 1994 the year of the really really bad fire around Sydney? I can't exactly remember the year now but do remember a Christmas when we had red haze over the city, day after day, along with the 38-40 deg heat. Going through a Google search, I note that 2001 was also a bad year.

Yeah GPS the 2001 fire was a big burn but from memory the 94 fires did a lot more damage.

We took a boat around to Garie during the 94 fire and surfed it alone. What a view, surfing perfect waves alone while the world was on fire just up the hill!

Pretty daring of you to take a boat there! The air would have been choking.

How interesting, I don’t think I’ve seen this track marked on any map, though it may be on some of the older topos. I’d say it’s been allowed to grow back over. Vegetation growth in the park seems to have benefited from several years of reasonably good rainfall and a lack of fire in recent times. Last couple of times I was down there off-track walking is very tough going in many places.

Allchin09 wrote:There were big fires back in 1994 in the park. I know it burnt a fair chunk of it (one website states 98%!)

I’d say the '94 fires did burn approximately 98% as I believe only the Palm Jungle and a very very narrow strip of rainforest along the upper Hacking River were left untouched. I recall some photos of a thin line of rainforest one or two trees thick along the river surrounded by a moon-scape of ash.

More on the 94 fires -> http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/file_system/a ... F87D81.pdf

Pteropus wrote:How interesting, I don’t think I’ve seen this track marked on any map, though it may be on some of the older topos...

And my copy of LPI Topo has "New Series" on the front cover!

But I note its copyright date is 2001. As Allchin09 and you both pointed out, it's likely to have changed.

One time in the late 70's, from the back of Marley Lagoon, about where the creek dips below the 10 metre contour, I crossed the creek as shown, and soon picked up a small pad which I followed all the way to Deer Pool. So it was there then. From memory the creek is really not as swampy as shown on the map, though the one that drains into the northern corner of the lagoon (off the map) is in places a very dense cutting grass swamp.

“Late 70's" - That's quite a way back. Interesting how tracks get developed and closed.

Tracks fall in and out of use and disuse for various reasons. This track might now be overgrown, but the narrow worn pad under whatever overgrowth there is I think would still be there. I've found this the case with other old disused tracks in the Royal. For instance, there was a back track down to Curracurrong that headed off the Wattamolla Road a couple of hundred metres down from the Bertram Stevens Drive turnoff. Old maps probably show it; it might have been one of the early fishemens' trails. In the past there was enough room to park a car at the head of the track. I hadn't taken that walk for many years when, a few years ago, I went to do it, only to find that NPWS had closed off the little car park some years before. Still keen to do the track, I managed to park the car nearby. The track was completely overgrown and I found myself pushing scrub out of my face all the way down. In places I couldn't see much around or in front of me, so, to keep to the track, I had to watch closely at my feet for the worn pad. A little way before this old track crosses Curracurrong Creek, a side track, which had never been more than a 'spider trail', branched left through the heath towards the overhang cave that those familiar with the area will know about. This too was pretty much covered over, unused for goodness knows how long, and yet the little trail itself was still there on the ground. It's as though these old trails can become fossilized in the scrub. Incidentally, the term 'spider trail' was always used for the narrow one lane foot tracks and pads through the dense heath and scrub in the RNP. When the scrub starts to close in on them, the golden orb weaver spiders can take over in their thousands, and you either have to break the webs or get down and crawl under them along the ground.

[url][/url] Actually, I did not follow the track to Deer Pool, but the other way and came out at the back of the dunes. Looking at this I'm wondering if the east end of the track got encroached upon by the dunes.