On Saturday 14th April, Gary Williams and I did a one day walk to Mount Bushwalker in the Budawangs. This was Gary's first walk in this area and my eighth time. Hardly surprising for me as this walk is definitely my favourite one day walk and boasts some of the best scenery in New South Wales, if not all of Australia. I have spoken to many people and they agree that the view down the Clyde Gorge from Mount Bushwalker is the best they have ever seen. That is a bold statement coming from walkers who have hiked in Tasmania, the Snowy Mountains and the Blue Mountains. It is not a long walk, approximately 7km return trip from the trackhead, but there is plenty of scope to extend the walk to other areas if time permits.

From Nowra, follow the Princes Highway south towards the town of Milton. Just north of Milton is a turn off on your right to Porters Creek Dam. This road is unsealed, but mostly it's in good condition. The gravel road passes a number of farms before ascending steeply onto Little Forest Plateau, the easternmost escarpment of the Budawang Range. Once you reach the top there is a turn off to the left and a short drive will take you to Rotary Lookout which has great views of the coast. If you continue straight ahead (ignoring the Rotary turn off) the road crosses a small bridge before coming to a 'T' junction. The left hand turn will take you to Porters Creek Dam or the trackhead for the Rusden Head & Florance Head tracks (also worth visiting). Instead, take the right hand turn and follow the narrow dirt road for several kilometres (in warmer months be on the lookout for Red Belly Black snakes sunbaking on the road). Eventually you will come to a short left hand turn-off revealing the Mount Bushwalker carpark and enough space for at least 8 vehicles.

Gary and I put our packs on and set of in a westerly direction, following an old road that passed through stands of eucalypt forest. Boronias, Banksias and Hakea were also in abundance. It gets pretty windy along here and you will notice many of the trees have grown facing one direction, their branches growing away from the valley. About 500 metres down this road there is a signposted junction to the right and this is the track we must follow. I have yet to continue on westwards along the main track to see what lies ahead. The Mount Bushwalker track winds its way across heath & swamplands. The early section is over what are known as depression contours, which are quite abundant on Little Forest Plateau. They are long thin trenches that are sometimes as deep as 6 feet and can be quite treacherous for the unwary as most of them are covered by undergrowth. These along here are not so bad and crossing them has been made much easier with the help of cut logs placed at strategic places. A little further on and the once wet, muddy and badly eroding track has been fitted with duckboards which certainly makes the walking much easier. In the distance you can pick out landmarks such as the Castle, Shrouded Gods Mountain and Mount Talaterang, a little teaser for what is to come.

The track descends gradually to a small creek and a side track which takes you 25 metres to a rocky ledge. This is Jailhouse Falls and most of the time it's just a trickle, but this is a nice place to take a short rest break and enjoy the serenity of this area, broken only by the sounds of native birds. We continued on, the track now crossing occasional small rock platforms and the narrow track can become overgrown by the surrounding scrub. There are cut logs used as stepping stones along this section. Along here is a well hidden entrance to Jailhouse Pass, a track that descends to the Claydons Creek area. This turn off is very easy to miss and some searching along the small cliff edge may be required to find it. We keep heading towards Mount Bushwalker though and soon we come to a large rocky platform. If you look closely down the short drop you will notice many Rock Orchids growing in the cracks of this rocky cliff. From here the track is marked with yellow painted dots as it passes to the north of the small hill that takes the Mount Bushwalker name. On the other side, there is an impressive cliff that gives great views of the Claydons Creek Gorge and across to Mount Tianjara to the north. In the distance you can just make out the blue expanse of Jervis Bay and St Georges Basin. This rocky area is also dominated by elfin forest, miniature bushes that give Little Forest Plateau its name. These little patches of miniature forest can be found in many areas on this plateau and remind me of the liliput villages found in seaside tourist places in England and Europe.

We follow the rocky track southwards and soon the great views of the Clyde River Gorge appear to us, there is only a little bit of walking to go before we reach the main lookout, but the excellent views are with us all the way now. It is just over one hours walking from the carpark when we eventually reach the main lookout, and what a great panorama it is. The Clyde River Gorge stretches southwards below us. To our left is the ridge that will eventually take you to Gadara Point. In the distance stands Mount Talaterang and behind it the top of Pigeonhouse Mountain. On the right side of the gorge is The Castle, a huge monolithic block of rock which dominates this vista. Below it, to the left, you can just make out part of Byangee Mountain, also known as Byangee Walls. Also seen on the right side of the gorge is Shrouded Gods Mountain, Mount Cole, Mount Donjon, Bibbenluke Mountain, Mount Tarn and behind it, part of Quiltys Mountain. After long periods of rain you are able to pick out Crooked Falls, just below Donjon. To the west of Mount Bushwalker is the main ridge of Folly Point and Castle Head. Everything is covered in a carpet of green forest with only the brown of the rugged clifflines breaking this wonderful monotony. It can get pretty windy up here, but on this day the air was quite still. This is a great place to take a lunch break and enjoy these views.

From the lookout you can descend a rocky slope to another rock platform on the cliff edge for more great views of the same areas. The cliff drops here quite dramatically and Gary, who decided to take a closer look at the cliff edge commented that the drop almost pulls you over the edge. This platform is littered with numerous sinkholes, similar to the rock pools you will find near an ocean beach. On this day they still held some water from the last rains. We returned to our packs at the lookout and had our lunch. During this time another group of walkers came along and questioned us about the names of the different landmarks seen from this viewpoint and information on other day walks in this area.

If we head towards Gadara Point in the south we can follow the track down Gadara Pass and over the low ridge onto Talaterang Mountain. This can be a long hard walk and many bushwalkers take this as a 2-day hike. With lunch finished, we grab our packs and head back to the carpark, following the same route that we walked in. Our only companions during the hike back are the little brown bushflies that do tend to give you a nasty bite, so make sure you bring along your insect repellent during warmer months. A most enjoyable day in warm sunny weather and I must say, that despite this being my 8th walk here, I just never get tired of seeing that view. Gary too was most impressed.