Page 51 - Our Favourite Walks by Brian Everingham

OLD GREAT NORTH ROAD WALK

By Eva SEMPE (France)

Since we left Australia in 1993, after a six years stay, my husband Maurice and I have been back
every three to four years to meet up with friends and to discover new parts of the country we love
so much.

Beginning of December 2018 we did a walk with our friends Valerie and Eddie on the Old Great
North Road in Dharug National Park.
We discovered a very scenic part of the sandstone country north of Sydney, not only interesting for
great landscape, bushland and birdwatching, but also as a spectacular example of early colonial
engineering and convict labour.

First bird encountered: a Channel-billed Cuckoo
After having crossed the Hawksbury River at Wiseman’s Ferry, we started the trail at Devines Hill
loop trackhead and followed the world heritage walk uphill. Numerous features along the first part
of the trail attest of the huge work done by convicts to build a road to connect Sydney to the Hunter
Valley from 1825 to 1836.

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