Bush Walking around Lake Parramatta

It was nice and sunny after a good few cold, wet and dreary days. It is winter now and so the need to have the sun out is important as the dark and cold makes me feel like a sad ice lolly. When the sun is out, it is time to go out and warm up, walk in the park and sit along the river. I had been hearing from my friend that she often goes for a walk along the Lake Parramatta. My husband and I have often talked of checking it out.

 Lake Parramatta

The lake is in North Parramatta and not very far from the Parramatta Park, as we saw on the map. We worked out the route while having lunch, on the back veranda, soaking in the sun. It got pretty hot and the jumper was quickly removed. The lunch was meagre but tasty. I had a vada and my husband had a samosa with nice chai. While it was warm in the sun, the breeze was cold and so donned thinner jumper, jeans and my walking shoes to set off for that walk. Lake Parramatta is situated 2 km from the city centre and has a large bushland and a reserve around it. It is a Y-shaped lake and the bush is fairly dense around it.

“The reserve is now recognised as one of the most significant and beautiful bushland remnants in Western Sydney. Surveys undertaken in 1990 and 2001 identified 67 species of native birds, 12 species of reptile, 5 frog species and 13 native species of mammal, plus several exotic species of birds and mammals, as well as wild flowers, living in the reserve.” (http://www.discoverparramatta.com/places/parklands/lake_parramatta) 

The Lake Parramatta Reserve has got 3 bush walking trails and as I read the brochure and saw the map it looked good. I must say I am an idiot – you know how sometimes you read and think you have read it correctly or indeed even remembered it accurately – for when reading about the trails I got it slightly wrong. The She-Oak track is an easy 1550 m one, the Banksia track is 2450m of moderate walk while the longest Lakeside track is 4200m also of a moderate variety, due to uneven surfaces. Now can you guess what misreading I did? Oh yes! Kind of mixed up the first and the last one and found that out the hard way.

We found the reserve easily and wandered hopefully into the car park. But I forgot that here at weekends all parks are full and parking is not easy unless it is early morning. In Parramatta Park there is a lot of parking along the whole circular path in side but here there was a proper car park at the entrance and it was full in the early afternoon with people not only walking in the bush but also having picnics, boating on the lake and just enjoying lunch in the restaurant. So we had to turn around and go back up the road which dips under the highway and comes out by some residential area.

 

Totems at the entrance to the Lakeside

As we started walking back into the reserve, at the entrance of the road are 3 lovely totem poles and the central one has a big lizard sculpture. When walking down the slope I commented that this is going to be the bit that will be most difficult after the walk. Little did I realise they were prophetic ones. As we came to the car park, the restaurant is on the right and by the grass outside there was a bunch of those sulphur crested cockatoo hoons making a racket. We noticed some seating areas for people to have picnics and a path going past it. My husband said, lets go from here and so we wandered down to the dam which is at this end of the lake. This is the knob end of the Y and from here you think well the lake is not that big. Why does one forget what one knows and has read about the lake and is ready to believe what the eye sees?

The view from across the Dam

The dam is not very big and of course you are not allowed to walk across the rim as that privilege was for the few cormorants occupying it. There was a small arrow indicating that you need to go down to walk across this end of the lake. This is the ‘uneven’ track identified in the brochure. It is just rocks and stepping up and in between them and the roots and saplings and grasses. I complained to my husband that this was supposed to be an easy walk and who thinks this was easy? I was going to find it hard but then maybe this was just to cross the dam area. Stumbled through the trail and across a small crossing of stepping stones set in the stream that was trickling by. I must say the guy who was running over from the other end just nimbly leapt over only half of them while we gave way to him. Then, we crossed gingerly, stepping on each one. If that guy had turned to see us he would have laughed a lot.

Dam across the lake

 Cormorants sunning themselves

The trail continued as uneven as anything and it was important to look at the ground. I was so annoyed at not being able to look around at the views and the trees as I was so busy looking at where I placed each step. It would not do to fall and hurt myself as there was no other way out. You had to go forward after a certain point as you knew the trail you had walked so far was not an easy one. But after a while we decided that it would be good to just stop and look at the surroundings, otherwise it was not going to be an enjoyable experience.

 

 The other end from the dam

We came across many flowers and trees that we had not seen before as this reserve does have many rare flora and fauna. I do not know if it was afternoon that we did not see many birds but did hear them. There was the cackle of the kookaburra and one that sounds like a squeaky wheel (which we always hear in the Blue Mountains). Having reached the opposite side of the dam we had a small sit down on the rocks and took in the tranquillity of the lake and the bush and open skies. At this point, I am thinking it looks like just around the corner and we will be on the way way…… see the illusions of the sight dims the knowledge in the brain. 

 Some colour around

But as we rounded the corner, reality hit as now we were proceeding along the long arm of the Y.  The water way was narrow and you can see the other side. And seeing people walking I think it should not be long to get there. The path was really narrow and full of rocks and pebbles and the ever present roots. Also it seems that some trees had either blown over in high winds or been cut down as there were logs about. One uprooted trees was on its side and the big trunk was left to rot and provide home for insects. The root system exposed stood taller than me. Awestruck! 

We kept meeting people who were doing the trail from the other end and so kept stopping and letting them by or were being let go by them. One can learn about other cultures a lot at such times. I will not identify the cultures but am sure you can take a guess. Some people would nod and smile, some would say thank you as they passed, and in fact the whole group of about 5 – 6 people individually thanked us for giving way to them. Another couple said hello as they passed by. One man with his dog went howdy. One couple actually held their dogs back and stood in front to make sure we did not annoy each other. Two men just walked past talking with not so much as a glance to say thanks for letting us by or even slowing down to see if we did give way. Then there was a group of kids being herded through the bush. The kids were funny, as they were carrying sticks and telling each other to talk loudly to keep the snakes away. Later on one family with young kids was passing by, the older one demanding water while the younger one was moaning about why they could not go slowly and as pretty much within a km of the walk starting.

The Y arm seemed very long and the body was water got narrower and at the bend there were a lot of lily pads. This area also had very long grasses. There were one or two, I presume, Banksias which has evenly serrated long leaves and short dome shaped cones. This end of the walk is actually a rain forest. Considering the amount I was sweating it did feel like that too. The crossing of the creek at the end was again by stepping stones. I think over all it would not be a good idea to come when it is raining as the trail would be muddy and most likely have running rivulets along the paths and these stepping stone crossing would most definitely be under water. Once on the other side of the lake the trail became more of a track to begin (some bits were sandy and shored by planks to form wide steps) and right towards the last kilometre (when we had wandered accidently on to first the Banksia and then She-Oak tracks) it was like a broken road. Oh yes I got told that there was a lot of bedrock about here. The main stone was sandstone and strangely here there was conglomerate too!

 That Banksia I wrote about!

Down this end, the fencing could be seen, as we walked along the sides around the She-Oak track. On the other side of the fence were many small single shoots (maybe saplings) which were covered by black plastic cones. The ground was damp and you could hear the tree frogs having a sing song. The walk had definitely been more than I had bargained for and at this point I was thinking if I could do this a couple more times I might be able to take on the ‘moderate’ track sometimes. It does my heart good to know that I actually did the moderate walk about ¾ of this bush walk. I do feel sorry for the little tots who ever being dragged along by the parents but also heartened to think that unlike some kids I know these would not be strangers to nature. The car park was a welcome site. Just at the end there are a few plaques about the plants and their relationship with the indigenous people.

Yes, that last hill to get to the car was a slow one to be conquered. The legs were achy and heavy but not painful as I might have expected though the sciatica did make itself felt for the rest of the evening and at bed time. Now knowing I had been able to do the moderate walk in something like 2 hours and did not need a week to recover I will definitely attempt it again. Maybe I will see different flowers and spot a bird or two, or glimpse lizards and snakes?