Wendy had planned a trip to parts of the Blue Mountains. She wanted to visit the Mt Airly – Mt Genowlan area and also Dunns Swamp. She invited me to join her which I was happy to do. The weather forecast was not that great for the first day or so, so on the way up, we decided to visit Dunns Swamp first.
On the way north, we stopped just before Capertee at the Pearson Lookout. This provides sweeping views of the Capertee Valley.
We next turned off at Rylstone, and headed east to Olinda and then to Dunns Swamp which is also known by its aboriginal name of Gungaddy. Its a beautiful area that was for a long time the water supply for the Kandos Cemment Works (now closed). The “swamp” being formed by a dam. It is now part of Wollemi National Park. At certain times of the year such as Easter and school holidays it can become very crowded out with campers. Mid week turned out to be a good time to visit. There were not too many other campers there.
We set up our tents and had lunch. Then we started exploring. At the entrance there is a large display with pamphlets. These have map showing various walks you can do. We choose the Waterside Walk which took us upstream around two arms of the lake. On the way we could see a lot of wildlife – birds and wallabies. The woodlands surrounding the lake are also very attractive. Further along, we visited an upstream gauging station and a nearby aboriginal art site.
In the late afternoon, we walked down the lake to Platypus Point. We waited patiently but failed to spot a platypus.
That evening, we were visited by a few possums that came boldly to our picnic table. One seemed to want our wine cask. That night we locked all our food in Wendy’s car.
I got up early the next morning for sunrise, but it was quite cloudy. I wandered back down to Platypus Point and then thought it may be interesting to keep wandering down the lake. It did and soon arrived at the dam wall, so then I completed the loop walk past the Long Cave and a side trip to a Pagoda Lookout and then back to camp. Wendy was up by this time, and she set off for the walk while I had a leisurely breakfast.
We then packed up and left the area. On the way, we visited some more aboriginal art sites and went back to Rylstone via the Coxs Creek Road and a side trip up to Nullo Mountain.
After lunch at coffee in Rylstone, we headed to our next objective – Mt Airly.
Dunns Swamp – Gungaddy is a very beautiful and peaceful place – at least it was for us – midweek and not during school holidays. It is a perfect place to relax, potter around, do some bird observing or canoe on the lake.
More photos are online on my website here.