Date: Sunday 16th August 2015
Description/Location: Newnes Glow Worm Tunnel
Leader: Michael Papworth
Report: Jane Munro
Pictures: Michael Papworth, Glen Hill
The mining heritage of the Blue Mountains provided the focus for the August walk. Now part of the Wollemi National Park, the embankment of the railway line which serviced the Newnes Kerosene Shale Works, forms the walking track which led us to the famous Glow Worm Tunnel.
Our journey began deep on the floor of the Wolgan Valley, where we began by dipping our toes in the chilly waters of the Wolgan River as we crossed the causeway. From there we made a steep climb, on a well made track, up the side of the valley. As we toiled upwards we enjoyed the spectacle of the sheer cliff lines towering overhead, golden yellow in the winter sunshine. The base of that cliff line marked the level at which we knew the railway line was located.
After about 30 minutes of steep walking, we reached the railway embankment. The railway line was opened in the early 1900’s and was dismantled in the 1940’s, after the Newnes mining venture failed and operations relocated to Glen Davis.
Special locomotives were imported from Ohio, USA, to pull the trains up the steep grades of the Wolgan Valley, but the railway track in this area was quite level, and we enjoyed relatively easy walking all the rest of the way to our destination.
All along the track we saw hints and relics of the industrial past- sleepers, steel rails, remnants of coal stockpiles, big steel water pipes studded with rivets, dry stone retaining walls and culverts, all rapidly being reclaimed by the encroaching bush. We also enjoyed the magnificent views which would surely have also captivated the train passengers travelling from Lithgow to Newnes.
There were two separate sightings of the Superb Lyre Bird – these appeared to be males, preparing their dancing mounds on the steep slopes above the track. They were certainly very intent on something, oblivious to our presence, scratching frenetically through the leaf litter. For us walkers, this was a rare sight, as these birds are shy and usually seen only fleetingly as the scurry across tracks in dense forest. We paused to watch them for several minutes.
Where the track approached the tunnel, we heard a creek trickling somewhere nearby. Then the track turned quite abruptly, entering a narrow canyon or crevice in the cliff lines. At that point the open dry forest gave way to cool, quiet rainforest, with a little stream running along beside the track, meandering through groves of tree ferns, beneath sandstone overhangs. Reaching the entrance to the tunnel, we stopped for lunch in the shadow of the cliffs, where low light filtered through the lovely intricate fronds of the tree ferns.
Entering the tunnel we made our way along to where we could no longer see daylight, and it was there that we switched off our torches and waited quietly, in total darkness, for a few minutes. Slowly the glow worms appeared, just a few at first, then more and more until there was glowing canopy of hundreds of points of light all over the walls and roof of the tunnel.
We walked from one end of the 400m tunnel to the other, and then back through to our starting point, stopping to enjoy the glow worms several more times. After that we retraced our route back down to the valley floor, enjoying the downhill run which made a nice ending to another most enjoyable and satisfying club event.