Another my classic blunders occurred during the planning of our journey from Muri Beach to the Canberra Suburbs. Due to multiple timezone changes – it’s hard to document this journey meaningfully, but in brief, the plan was to get up at a normal time, stay awake all day, fly to Auckland overnight, stay in the airport until our flight to Sydney, fly to Sydney, pick up a hire car, and drive it Canberra. This actually adds up to staying awake for at least 32 hours, plus time going through immigration, collecting cars and other delays. It was more like 40+. This is nothing new, but driving 4 hours at the end (in the dark) was a new variation, and one I wouldn’t actually recommend. I managed to organise myself into “sleeping” the whole flight to Sydney, except for when I woke up and drank a bottle of coke, which kicked in just when it was needed! The silver lining was that we arrived in Canberra at bed time, which we respected fully and promptly.
Planning had been postponed (that’s the positive spin on “we hadn’t planned”), so we had to spend a little time turning our ideas (“walks”, “bush”, “beach”, “fun”) into an actual plan – or at least a destination. To be fair, we’d planned enough to know what destinations were reasonable – so it didn’t take long to decide on Meroo National Park. It took a bit longer to tour the camping and wine shops (priorities) of the Canberra ‘burbs and then drive down the hills to the coast. If you go there (from any direction), the signage is appalling – its one of those places where you find you’re on the right road after you start driving down it – which is fine for the characters in Gorky Park, but a bit annoying if you’ve never been there before and are just trying to find your campsite. Saturday morning in Canberra is pretty quiet though.
We’d first heard about Pigeonhouse a few years earlier, but had never been there. Now we were closer than we’d ever been, and we weren’t going to miss our chance. It hadn’t rained much the night before, and the dirt road up to Pigeonhouse has drained a bit and was easily passable in 2 wheel drive. The signage wasn’t too bad, and we managed to find the trailhead car park. Presumably because it’s in the bush and away from main highway, this road had a lot of lyrebirds on it – which I failed to photograph, since I was driving. They seem to spend a fair bit of time just off the road, in the ditch alongside it or on the slope into the ditch from the bush. You keep seeing them turn and scuttle away.
It’s a pretty steadily rising trail, passing through a couple of rock outcroppings with great views. The real fun starts when you’re almost to the top though, with steps that are really ladders bolted into the rocks. They’re not all that difficult though, and aren’t steep enough that the rails are really for anything more than balance – you aren’t hauling yourself up with your arms. Even if you were, the views from the top – not panoramic, but in all directions – are worth it. Here’s some of them:
It was a bit hazy up there and I think that might be due to the gum trees, like in the Blue Mountains. Or maybe I should clean my camera. Coming down as no big deal either, but best done backward, so something to be aware of if the ladders aspect is a worry. The drive back down was uneventful, and as it was Sunday night, we had the campsite to ourselves!
Pigeonhouse Info:
Distance: 5km return – but fairly steep
Access: Dirt road, 2wd when dry. Ulladulla is the nearest town.
Cost: There’s a free car park
Difficulty: Steep, but not long, but with ladders at the top. Also as it’s return, you can turn back at any time.
ducksoftheworld 