Bumble Dray Track
Greta Road to Yarramalong | GNW
Central Coast | 6 | Moderate
Back in June, Jen and I had a lovely weekend away planned, walking from Ourimbah to Yarramalong. Halfway through Saturdays walk, Sydney went into lockdown and our plans were put on hold. Today, 4 months later, we pick up where we left off at Greta Road Kulnura.
The track head is several hundred meters north of Cherry Lane (where we finished in June). Starting under an electrical tower, the track winds downhill following the power lines. The low grass and bracken is dotted with flannel flowers and the clearing for the power lines offers lovely views into the valley.
At the third tower a GNW marker points us to the right and into the forest. The track winds along the side of the valley crossing the occasional ferny gully. At one point we traverse a large landslip. It seems to have happened a while ago by the looks of the new track crossing the fallen debris. A fabulous demonstration of the force of nature, the amount of earth that has been pushed down the hill and the size and scale of the trees and rocks it has taken with it. Must have made quite a bang.
I had expected the walk to be much damper. We slowly descend through moist forest and other than a few muddy spots where water trickles over the track it is mostly dry. Intermittent board walks get us over any damp sections and at no point do we descend to the bottom of the valley, the walk firmly traverses the valley sides. In fact we very rarely see anything of the valley below other than where the landslip had cut a path through the trees.
After about 1.5 km the track meets a wider flat trail, I assume part of the original Bumble Dray Track. In the 1800’s the track was cut through to Mangrove creek to allow teams of bullocks to pull freshly felled cedar logs down to the creek where barges would transport them to Sydney.
As we get closer to Yarramalong the track heads back to meet Bumble Hill Road. The last kilometre or so follows the road on a very narrow shoulder, just as well it’s not a busy road…
Yarramalong is a pretty little village and there are a couple of options if you are in need of some sustenance after you walk. The Yarramalong store is open every day and has a range of food and drinks https://www.yarramalongvalley.com.au/yarramalong_dining/yarramalong_store_and_cafe.html
A little further to the right, on the corner of Linga Longa Road is Angel Sussuri, a cute café with an outdoor dining area and a florist/gift/bottle shop. If you are thinking of staying the night in the valley they also have an upmarket restaurant and offer accommodation. More information here https://www.angelsussurri.com/cafe-bottle-shop/
The third alternative is Regans Fine Food and Butchery selling a variety of deli produce and if your timing is good you might be able to grab a feed from their bbq on the weekends https://www.facebook.com/RegansButchery/
