October 2011
The “enticement photo” of the rock climber, that we sent around with the information emails, did not deter 14 walkers from tackling the Mahogany Track with us on a gloriously sunny Sunday.
We had said that this walk would reveal Nowra’s nooks and crannies and it certainly took us to places that we all drive through but had no idea that such a pretty creek and natural bushland lay so close to the suburban houses.
We began our bushwalk from Pitt Street in North Nowra, firstly skirting North Nowra public school and then through the Mahogany Creek Reserve and along the water course which obviously has been, in the past, a raging torrent because the banks are so steep. Now it gently trickles over rocks and between ferns and the Swamp Mahogany trees, which gave the creek its name.
Only three kilometres from the Nowra CBD, this reserve of 2.27 hectares is a boundary between gully forest vegetation and the woodland of the sandstone plateau. There are scribbly gums and red bloodwoods as well as the dominant swamp mahogany and it is part of a wildlife corridor. Mahogany Creek is a tributary of Bomaderry Creek and flows into it very close to the main highway, near the traffic lights at the Illaroo Road turnoff.
At the end of the walk are some spectacular rock walls with underhanging caves and permanent footholds for the rock climbers who come from all over Australia to try their skills. We chose, to much more sedately, climb up a crevice in the slope and walk back a way along the road, past houses that have been built on top of that beautiful bush we had just been exploring.
For our lunch break we drove down Crams Road to the banks of the Shoalhaven River to enjoy the peace of the countryside before we drove into the city of Nowra and continued our walk.
We parked at the Showground so that we could admire the view from Hanging Rock Lookout and then walked along the river towards the bridge. Luckily for us there were dragon boat races on the Shoalhaven so we were thoroughly entertained.
We walked the path as far as we could to the caravan park opposite Pig Island and then retraced our steps, a relaxing finish to a day where the weather for walking could not have been better. Who would have thought that there could be so much bushland hidden so close to Nowra?
Lee Sharam