I’m walking to raise funds for OneSight! 58/100km done!

Muogamarra Reserve is a very special place. Famous for its wildflowers, it is a historical and ecological reserve open to the public only six weeks per year. There is both aboriginal and convict history as well as an amazing array of flowers and animals. I really wanted to visit, so a Father’s Day bushwalk presented the perfect opportunity!

It was only a ten minute drive from Berowra to the entrance but took another ten minutes up a windy dirt track to reach the parking area. Just another reason to invest in a 4WD! There was a $40 entry fee for family which we were happy to pay (and if you are not then after the walk you’d understand what the money was being used to protect ). There was a small registration/visitors shed with lots of wildflower identification information. No way to take that all in though. We picked up the notes for our walk, the point loop trail, which focused on the wildflowers and promised a lookout.

About three seconds after stepping on the trail my son (4) decided to refuse to walk any further. I tried the usual “let’s see what we can find” game but was getting nowhere. So up on the shoulders he went! He weighed more than my fully loaded overnight pack so it was good training! Still, it wasn’t a good start and he whinged whenever I put him down.

Almost immediately the wildflowers filled the trail. My daughter and I tried to find as many different types as we could. To the right of us there were glimpses of views through the trees and if this was a normal park I would have pushed through the bush to find a good vantage point. Not this time. A bit further along the trail opened up a bit and there was a rocky cliff that a couple had settled themselves down upon to take in the filtered views. We kept our distance and found a small cave and after checking it out we returned to the trail. A small sign pointed us to the main lookout.

It was crowded! So we cut thru the bush to the right and it was like we had the world to ourselves! The rocky cliff face provided us with a view all the way out to bar island and was so much more than I expected.

We explored the rocks some more, then my daughter decided she needed the loo so we started our way back. My son was back on my shoulders as there were too many bees near the wildflowers (sigh). My daughter seemed to forget her need and spent a lot of time checking out the flowers. We passed some photographers who had enormous tripods set up to snap photos of the wildflowers. It seemed overkill. I’m happy with the pictures I’d taken on my iPhone! Still I’d love to see what they came up with. After passing a few people we knew from town we were back at the visitors shed and tried to identify some of the flowers we had seen. The kids spent some time exploring a sensory box filled will seed pods and snake skins and kangaroo bones. Always fun!

I could have spent all day exploring the area but we had a commitment in the afternoon and my youngest wasn’t really into it this time anyway. The reserve was amazing and definitely lives up to the hype. I would love to go on one of the guided tours that tells the aboriginal and colonial history of the area. There’s always next year. I’m just happy I got to visit!

I’m walking to raise funds for OneSight to provide eye care for kids and others in disadvantaged areas. Please donate, every little bit counts and it is headed somewhere worthwhile. Click here. Thank you in advance!