Morton National Park (Mount Bushwalker)
New South Wales


How to get there?

Drive 20 kilometres past Milton and turn off at the little dam road...I think that's the name of the road. I must admit I don't quite remember now. I'd recommend you call into the information centre at the Ulladulla library. They'll supply you with map and some good advice.

The Walk

Strictly speaking this walk is not part of Morton National park. It's on a reserve adjoining the park. This means there's no visitors fees to pay. By the way, did I mention that I love that name of that town "Ulladulla". Heck! I might just get me a pet pig and name him "Ulladulla". Why a pig, you ask? Because Ulladulla is no name for a dog, that's why! And it befits a pig.

Actually, Ulladulla is not "bogun" at all. It's more a coastal tourist town than a rural community. In fact, the only thing that suggests country is that the town appears to be named after a pig. But enough about Ulladulla. Back to the walk . This exquisite walk, called the Mount Bushwalker trail, is not on the national parks site for Morton NP. There's nothing much on that website. Sure there's the park management plan and other useless stuff. Do you think they have a comprehensive list of walks or a map you could download. No way. And look at the information on the site:

For Example go to http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/parks.nsf/ParkContentByDistance/N0022?OpenDocument&ParkKey=N0022&Type=I

and see the following description taken from the website describing the pigeon house mountain walk with my comments in brackets:

"The climb to Pigeon House Mountain is very popular. From the top there are magnificent panoramic views of the rugged cliffs and gorges carved by the Clyde River and its tributaries. On a clear day, you can see the coastline from Point Perpendicular in the north to Mount Dromaderry in the south, making the walk a most rewarding experience. There are ladders to be negotiated at the top."

Holy shit! Do you mean they don't have an escallator? It's a good think they placed that bit of information on the site to warn me. Seriously, was this crap written with the needs of anyone who actually plans to visit the site in mind ? Is it worth telling people that you can see a panorama from the top of a summit or that you can see the coast which is a little more than 5 kilometres away ? As you can gather I'm rather pissed off....
Why am I talking about the Pigeon House? Well that's because I didn't plan to do Mount Bushwalker. I planned to do the Pidgeon House. The site could have told me that you can't actually get to the park on a rainy day if you don't have a 4WD vehicle. And surely they could also post updates of weather conditions? But there's nothing on the website about not being able to get there in a 2WD vehicle on a rainy day. That space is taken up telling you that you can see a panorama from the top. There's just a helpful sign on the trail eight kilometres before the start of the walk letting you know. It was really annoying given I had driven 165 kilometres and it began raining heavily. The NSW parks sites are generally very poor with no thought given to the needs of the park's users. Anyway, that's enough complaining. Hope you enjoy my pictures. The day ended well, because I discovered the Mount Bushwalker trail which is an outstanding walk. It's spectacular, well signed, easy to do and there are no park fees to pay.

I found the trail by dropping into the information centre at Ulladulla searching for an alternative to Pidgeon House. "Ulladulla", God! I love that name...There's nothing like local knowlegde and you can always get it at the local information centre.

Mt Bushwalker takes about two hours and it's a fairly level and easy walk. You could do it in crutches. How do I know? Because I actually ran into someone doing it in crutches. I felt so overdressed in my hat and pack that I actually thought about hiding them under my shirt. No kidding! I kept looking over my shoulder waiting for an octogenarian in a motorised wheelchair, or someone led by a seeing eye dog to, overtake me and completely deflate my sense of bravado. Anyway, it's an oustanding walk and you get a view of pristine wilderness without expending too many calories. The terrain in the valley has never been disturbed. There could be fairies down there. Well, that's what the locals say. But then again, I'm not the type who believes in fairies, ogres or eskimos.

Pictures:view from the end of the Mt Bushwalker trail. Fitzroy Falls,(near Cowra), Wilderness area. Click on pics to emlarge.
Enyoy the pics.