Staples loop around Mt Wondabyne: Great North Walk

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Staples loop around Mt Wondabyne: Great North Walk

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Difficulty: Easy
Length: 6.4 miles / 10.3 km
Duration: Half day

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Overview: STAPLES LOOKOUT VIA MT WONDABYNE: 12.4 km (moderate) CIRCLE

South on Woy Woy Rd as far as an eastward trail to the Aboriginal art site. After crossing Woy Woy Road walk along Tunnel Track, past Bulls Hill Quarry & over the railway tunnel around Mullet Creek service trail to join the Girrakool–Patonga Walking Track. Up Mount Wondabyne & then almost as far as Kariong Brook & eastward to Woy Woy Rd and return to Staples Lookout.

Side trip worth making is to the Henry Kendall’s Cottage Museum: sandstone building dating back to 1836 that was home to Henry Kendall from 1873-75 and also owned by G. I. Adcock. 25-27 Henry Kendall Street, West Gosford. About 5 km off the Great North Walk where it crosses Piles Creek. Full details about the Great North Walk can be found at http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com
We also recommend accessing e-trails and guides at Great North Walk books - http://tiny.cc/Buy2GNWbooks

Learn more about rock art http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com/rockart or watch a hike movie http://vimeo.com/10912042

Download EZ Guide to Great North Walk and downloadable e-trails http://tiny.cc/EZguideGNW

Tips: ACCESS
Road access is from around Staples Lookout on Woy Woy Road or via a track up from the Woy Woy Waste Facility. however it is more fun to arrive by train. You can use the Wondabyne train station but you MUST alert the driver that you wish to alight (or when you return they need to know to stop for you). A trail leads from Wondabyne station to the oin the Girrakool–Patonga Walking Track.
Great Deal –buy both Great North Walk books -http://tiny.cc/Buy2GNWbooks

PLACES TO STAY
Minerva's Garden Cottage B&B, 60 Phegans Bay Road, Phegans Bay, a little over 3 km from the GNW track.
In Woy Woy, a town approximately 4-5 km off the GNW, offers several kinds of accommodation:
Glades Motor Inn, approximately 3 km off the GNW track offering facilities such as a swimming pool and restaurant with a neighbouring 18 hole golf course and bowling green.
Watersedge Motel, around 5 km off the track, situated on the waterfront, a three minute walk from Woy Woy railway station, with its own restaurant and a variety of room types.
The Bayview Hotel, a little over 3 km off the GNW track, all rooms with ensuites, a two minute walk from the centre of Woy Woy. Budget accommodation in dormitory style rooms is also available with shared bathroom facilities.

Points of Interest

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Staples Lookout

Staples Lookout offers car parking, a great viewpoint and a memorial to Charles Staples. The plaque reads:
“This site was named as a tribute to Charles J. Staples, a pioneer of the route on March 10 1923. This indicator and view point were constructed by the rotary club of Woy Woy, to commemorate the golden anniversary of Rotary International 1905–1955. It was unveiled on July 2, 1955.”

NEARBY
Aboriginal art Sites:
1. Woy Woy site:
Walk about 200 m south down the road from the lookout car park as far as the next, small vehicle pull-off (on the left/east side) and from here turn into the bush.

2. Bulgandry site
Only a kilometre or so north on the road there is a turn-off signed to the Bulgandry Aboriginal Engraving Site.

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Woy Woy Aboriginal Rock Engravings Site

Woy Woy Rock Art Site: a challenge to locate. Take the same turning off the F3 Freeway to Woy Woy and Gosford as for the Bulgandry site and pass this until, on the left, you see Staples Lookout. It’s easiest to park here and continue on foot down the Woy Woy Road to another very small vehicle turn-out. From here, you walk into the bush for about 500 m — as far as the rock ledges continue — this takes you to the last engravings and from here you can find the others by back-tracking to the road. There are a number of groups of engravings all of which are worth locating. The furthest from the road could be termed the best carvings and include an outstanding male figure, a fish, a shield together with an eel and a kangaroo. Nearer the road is the famous line of ‘rabbits’; the ‘mundoe man’, a fish and an emu; and many ‘cupmarks’. The site is about 2 km from the Great North Walk.

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Towards Tunnel Track

The trail here, called the Tunnel Track, skirts the flooded Bulls Hill Quarry. This old quarry was saved from its original fate as a composting facility, the Gosford Council has turned what was a scar on the landscape into a bush regeneration area flooded by water from the Woy Woy Creek and it’s become a mecca for butterfly fanciers.

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Overlooking Woy Woy

One of Woy Woy's most famous 'sons' is Spike Milligan. A short detour is a worthwhile visit to the Milligan Wing, Woy Woy Library: this special collection is housed in the library building on the corner of Blackwall Road and Oval Ave, about 4 km from the Great North Walk, from where it crosses the Wondabyne railway tunnel. Milligan wasn’t wasn't always complimentary about the name Woy Woy, famously saying, “Woy it is called Woy Woy Oi will never know”.

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Brisbane Water

This area is virtually surrounded by water: to the east is Brisbane Water, south stretches Broken Bay and the Hawkesbury Estuary and west lie first the inlet on which Wondabyne sits and then Moony Mooney Creek. Magnificent photos can be taken on sunny days.

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View from Mt Wondabyne

It is well worth the short scramble to the top of Mount Wondabyne. From here you can see the fantastic panoramas of Broken Bay, Brisbane Water and the Pacific Ocean. In addition you may glimpse Wondabyne - its railway station, which is a ‘stop-only-on request’ railway junction, was constructed to carry out quarried sandstone. Interestingly the nearby quarry was re-opened especially to access matching sandstone in order to complete the towers of Saint Mary’s Cathedral in central Sydney prior to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

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Watch Out for a GNW Register Near Here

If you sign you name in ALL the Great North Walk trail walkers' registers you can claim a certificate of 'completion' of this 250 km hike. Be sure to keep a careful lookout around the base of Mount Wondabyne -- there is a register near here!

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Great North Walk Trackhead

At this point you choose to take the spur (also confusing labelled 'Great North Walk') to Wondabyne Station. Take care as there are many tracks around here. It is not a disaster if you take the wrong one but if you do arrive at Wondabyne Train station be aware that the train driver needs to know you want him/her to stop -- it is a request only station.

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Mount Wondabyne

Mount Wondabyne: is a short spur off the Great North Walk and a worthwhile scramble for the view over the Hawkesbury estuary. Wondabyne Station (a possible point of access to the Great North Walk) is near to the longest railway tunnel in Australia. Nearly two kilometres in length, this tunnel was completed in 1888 and forms part of the local railway history which was the last crucial rail link between Newcastle and Sydney.

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Woy Woy Waste Facility

This is a useful place to leave a vehicle (an alternative to Staples Lookout). the access to tracks which lead to the Great North Walk is beside the gate of the facility. From the top of this short track you can walk north towards Mt Wondabyne or south towards Patonga.

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Wondabyne Station & Quarry

The Wondabyne quarry operated from around 1868 through to as recently as the 1980s. And then with a big fanfare it was reopened specially to acquire stone for St Mary’s Cathedral which, although started in 1868, only had its spires completed in time for the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Pictures in this guide taken by: OzGNW, plesner

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