Pindar Cave

Pindar Cave is a geological formation presenting as a massive concave of overhanging sandstone rock, north of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in Brisbane Water National Park. Although its name implys a cave, the whole formation is actually an overhang. There are no similar formations of the size of Pindar in any of the National Parks that surround Sydney. It is large enough for sixty walkers to camp overnight under its shelter away from wet weather. Although most visitors speak very well of their visits to Pindar, it is the worse for wear from a great many visits. It was a beautiful pristine site in the nineteen sixties.

Location

Pindar is situated in the midst of a plateau peninsula of heath and moderate dry sclerophyll forest. The south end of the peninsula ends at the Hawkesbury River. Pindar is northwest of the north shore of the Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge north of Brooklyn. To the east of the peninsula is Mullet Creek and to the west is Mooney Mooney Creek. Both Mullet and Mooney Creeks are large drowned valleys formed at the end of the last ice ages when the waters of the world's oceans rose substantially.

Access - The rail trip to Wondabyne

The north railway
From Sydney there is only one practical access, which is by the CityRail InterCity train that travels from Sydney Terminal (Central) to Wyong via Strathfield and Hornsby and then on to Wondabyne which is north east from Pindar. The rail service is hourly for virtually all of the day and night. One must travel in the rear carriage and inform the rail guard of one's intention to alight from the train at Wondabyne - one must alight from the very rear door of the train as the platform is less than half a carriage length long. When wishing to catch the train back from Wondabyne one must flag the train driver. There are no roads at Wondabyne, the backdrop escarpment is too precipitous.

Access - The walk from Wondabyne

The walk is about 13 km long and it takes three to four hours.
The track starts from the south end of the rail platform on the escarpment side, which is at sea level.
The escarpment climb
Just after the rail platform the foot track climbs to the plateau at about 100 metres altitude.
The vehicular fire trail
From the escarpment edge one proceeds along the fully formed very eroding fire trail for 1020 metres to the turnoff to the left to Pindar Cave. The actual turnoff is a large area of exposed flat rock.
The fire trail from the escarpment continues on to Mount Kariong and then eventually on to the Gosford suburb of Kariong.
The vehicular track
From the flat rock area, one then proceeds along an old pleasant non eroding vehicle track. The vehicular track first travels north west. It proceeds for 440 metres and then comes to a sudden ending in a small turning circle. This turning circle is due west of the flat rock turnoff.
The foot track
One can find the foot track to the left where the terrain slopes downward. The track varies in form a lot. An area where the track winds around steep hillside, a stretch of rocky plateau with beautiful views, a section of steep crumbly eroding incline turning into a stretch of moderate dense forest. Nearing Pindar Cave one travels through high brush in a swampy area wet or dry according to the season.

Dangerous bushwalking conditions

The track south from the fire trail south to Pindar can be dangerous if one does not take common sense precautions. Firstly if one does not know the track one should get up to date information on the condition of the track, available from bush walking club sources. Sometimes the turnoff to the south track is hard to find. One should have an accurate compass together with Gunderman and Gosford 1:25000 topo maps. If you can afford it, there is every reason to have a portable GPS with a fully charged battery, with you. Mobile phones do not receive signal from many lower elevations. Water in dry times is likely to be scarce.
The North Rail Line
Returning south from Pindar towards Sydney must not be attempted. The terrain is extremely rough. When one comes across the railway winding around the water line, there are no foot tracks whatsoever. There is no footway on the railway bridge across the Hawkesbury River meaning the only way across the bridge is along the middle of a rail track. Should one slip there in no surface between each rail sleeper. just the Hawkesbury river below. A freight train can take 1.5 kilometres to stop. Many people have died on the six kilometre of rail line between the Hawkesbury railway bridge and the Woy Woy tunnel.
If anyone has any doubt about the treacherous walking conditions along the railway that follows the foreshore of Mullet creek, they should consult with the rail guard of their train.

See also

Brisbane Water National Park

Brooklyn, New South Wales

Central Coast, New South Wales

Hawkesbury River

Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge

Kariong

Wondabyne

Wondabyne railway station, New South Wales

Woy Woy

External links

* [http://bwrs.org.au] Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue Squad