Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog

Thursday 27 April 2023: The Big Hole and Marble Arch. Max organised a stroll for the four musketeers.

Summary

From Garmin Connect (Epix Gen 2) – Distance: 12.45km | Climb: 470m | Time: 3:14 moving + 1:50 of stops = 5:04 | Grading: M/E; M(8).

Photographs Photographs are available here.

gpx File The gpx file is available here.

Track Notes

I was last here on 19 Sep 06.

We left Wanniassa at 7.30am and arrived at the Berlang Camping Area at 9.15am, having driven via Braidwood on all sealed road for the sake of my town car. A couple of spoon drains on the short dirt drive in off Krawarree Rd, one of which I scraped.

A shin deep wade of the Shoalhaven River. The lads walked through; I had to change crocs into walking boots on the far side.

Delightful walking on a one jumper day.

Termite territory.

We reached The Big Hole at 10.05am, after 2.1km in 45mins. A good look in.

The ferns in the bottom are 2 metres high!

The leg from The Big Hole to the top of the descent to Marble Arch was 3.4km in 1hr 10mins, including a 15min smoko.

We all decided to go down. The descent has a deceptively gentle start, but soon gets steep. Simple wooden steps in places. It drops around 130vm. Finally down at Reedy Creek.

Only a couple of pools of water.

We walked the Arch from upstream end to downstream end and back. A headtorch was handy.

A prehistoric fish in the ceiling?

Fabulous!

Naturally, the climb back up out of Reedy Creek was a lot slower than the descent! Lunch was well deserved and the break appreciated.

A there and back trip, so we went back.

A good break at The Big Hole.

Straight through the river this time.

I got the lads to jump out at the spoon drain, so no issue.

This was a great walk with old friends. And that they are – at 74 I was the youngest. We’ve walked together for many years. And one of our party announced it was his birthday, so we had a celebratory beer (or lemonade) at the Braidwood pub. Thanks for organising us Max!

Relive the trip

Track Map

Here’s where we went.

The AllTrails map is here, where you can pan and zoom.

Party

4 walkers – Eric G, Max S (leader), Phillip S, me.

Johnny Boy’s Walkabout Blog FaceBook Page

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