Not so famous five go on a hike
Berowra to Cowan via Berowra Waters
Naa Badu Lookout in Berowra Valley NP
November 2020 (3 min read)
Let me say straight up that this is a fat trek, to borrow a phrase from my generally inert teenage daughter. We used the WildWalks website to plan our trip and their timing is spot on. The extensive trip notes state that it is a Grade 4 difficulty level and that it will take 6 hours to complete 12.9km. And it does.
Us five women between the ages of 43 and 56 have a little trouble, amid shouts of who’s got their glasses on, locating the start of the walk in the Berowra Valley National Park. Our trek follows part of the Great North Walk from Sydney to Newcastle, which is 260km in total. But the minute we leave the road and plunge down in to the scrubby angophora forest, I feel a sense of joy and anticipation. It’s been a relatively wet winter and the muted colours of the Australian bush are now nigh on lush, the silvery grey of the Scribbly Gums contrasting with the myriad tones of green. There are furtive flower buds, and the ochre bark of Angophoras, slashed with crimson satin sap.
About 35 minutes in, we come to the Naa Badu Lookout (see photo at top) which would be a perfect spot for lunch. We make do with a wee instead. All I can say is beware of the morning coffee en route. Naa Badu means “see water” in the Dharug language and it was once a boundary between “the coastal and western Aboriginal clans”, as the helpful signboard tells us.
Coming down a hill not too long after, we miss the crucial Berowra Waters signpost on the left that leads to timber steps. If you find yourself walking up a steep hill of corrugated tarmac, you have missed it too. From this point, it’s pretty much downhill all the way to Washtub Gully and the water’s edge. On a hot day, this part of the walk is blessedly shady.
The houses of Berowra Waters hug the opposite shore in a long straggly line that leads northwards to the graceful Berowra Waters Inn at 1 Calabash Point, designed by Glen Murcutt. It would be madness to stop here for lunch on this walk, but just the sight of it makes me vow one day to return. Back home, I check it out and find that the Inn is open on a Saturday night. My advice is to make a weekend of it by renting a house close by, of which there are several. You can eat/drink at the ferry dock, but we spurn such luxury and keep going (past the row of cars, where you can park if you come for the night). It’s a decision that we’ll rue later as we clamber uphill all the way to Cowan. In summer, you need lots and lots of water.
Yet, alongside the pleasure of the bush itself, are the spectacular craggy cliffs and eroded sandstone overhangs of this walk. They’re a balm to tired spirits. One overhang has been eroded in to the shape of the open jaws of a Great White shark. We use metal rungs to surmount near vertical sections, squeeze between huge boulders, climb steep stone steps, sweat like mad, and keep going, one weary foot after the other, up and up to the blaring soundtrack of the cicadas.
I discover post-walk that the Cyclochila australasiae is one of the loudest insects in the world. Their timbal ribs, or sound-producing organs, can reach 120 decibels, louder than your average chainsaw. I spot one moulting on a tree trunk: judging from its red & orange stripes, it’s a Masked Devil. They feed on tree sap, so check hollowed out trunks if you want to see them.
The last half hour to Cowan station is a gentle stroll through almost meadow-like bush. By this stage, we are out of water and fairly dehydrated. Even so, I’m sorry to lose sight of the pompom Xanthorrhoea, which is such an ugly official word for these beauties of the southern Australian landscape.
I have to force myself the final 200 metres to the little store cum café up the road from the Station, while the three staunch leaders of the pack march as if they’ve still got another 50km in them. This walk is a test of endurance in parts, but if I can do such a fat trek so can anyone with a reasonable level of fitness. I may not do that again for a while, but we’re all very glad to have done it at all.
https://www.trailhiking.com.au/berowra-to-cowan-via-berowra-waters/
http://www.thegreatnorthwalk.com/
https://www.berowrawatersinn.com/