The Great North Walk 2006: Day 5 - Brooklyn to Staples Lookout (Kevin)

The real walking started after a very pleasant ferry ride from Brooklyn – coffee and biscuits on board were appreciated as was the lovely early morning scene as we disembarked at Patonga. I felt sorry for the people who were still rubbing sleep from their eyes – they didn’t know what they were missing.

The land at Patonga was issued as a grant to John Hatfield in 1839, then subdivided by a subsequent owner who died in the wreck of the Dunbar in 1857 in which year the Dunbar started her second and last trip to Sydney. On the night of 20 August 1857 the Dunbar encountered a gale and poor visibility and hit the coastline just to the south of The Gap on South Head.

'Patonga' is said to be an indigenous word meaning oysters.

We entered the Brisbane Water National Park with the climb from Patonga beach up to the top of the headland – this concentrated the mind and awakened the legs and lungs. The view at the top was uplifting – across the broadwater of Broken Bay to Barrenjoey and Palm Beach and westward to the reaches of the Hawkesbury. “Blue with green should never been seen” is a fallacy in relation to the Australian bush – the contrast of the green leaves of the eucalypts against the backdrop of the blue water in the sharp morning light was great.

Our first stop was to view some ancient rock carvings – some aboriginal, some from a visiting football club. I guess this was early graffiti – before the days of spray cans!! Rain swept over us as we passed by the Tony Doyle lookout named after a local worthy and Member of Parliament.

Soon the memory was jolted back to February this year when bush fires ranged through this area and onward down to Phegan’s Bay. Whilst the extent of the fires could be seen, the remarkable Australian bush was already well into recovery. We probably all know that fire plays an important role in many Australian ecosystems. Left to its own devices and without the intervention of fire, the Australian bush would be overwhelmed by large trees and the ensuing canopy would materially affect the undergrowth and biodiversity. Fire restricts the growth of trees as it destroys the pinnacle of the tree, the ‘apical meristem’, and promotes regrowth in the lower trunk and limbs of the tree. We saw examples of this growth from epicormic shoots and from lignotubers which are knobbly masses below the surface of the soil and which are rarely damaged by fire. We saw examples of seed covers having been ‘popped open’ by the fire, of seeds being exposed to wind distribution. It will be interesting to note the regrowth on next years walk.

It is documented that aboriginals used fire to manage their environment although this occurred mainly in semi-arid and arid Acacia communities. Areas were burnt for a variety of reasons including hunting of animals, signalling, promoting "green flush" to attract animals, and promoting growth of food plants.

Lunch adjacent to Dillon’s farm gave us good views over Brisbane Water towards Green Point. Again a little rain but spirits were undaunted. We struck a fire trail and the walking became easier as we neared Mt Wondabyne, at around 250 metres the highest point in the Park. Here the effects of the February bush fires gave us a great panoramic view unrestricted as it was by tree foliage. It gave us the opportunity also to look back and see how far we had traveled over the last few weekends and how far we had to go this coming weekend. Both distances were impressive and its always satisfying to me that shanks pony can take me so far and so enjoyably.

The end of the day’s walk is off the main GNW trail and we branched off to Staples Lookout; we retrace our steps next week to pick up the main trail again.

Thirty-one out and thirty-one in – all were present and accounted for. My overview of the day – after last week’s gruelling trek this was a pleasant little sojourn.

Kevin