On assignment in the bush, photographer Simon Bennett hikes back into ancient land and brings back some of the peace and wonder. It's just on our doorstep.
As soon as I arrived at the Dharawal National Park in Wedderburn I knew I was in for a special time at Minerva Pool.
The sign said the area was culturally significant to the Tharawal local Aboriginal land council and that only women and children could enter the waters.
That confirmed my thoughts about it being a special place and I respected those wishes, making sure I didnt enter the water.
The walk is about 2km one way and, let me tell you straight away, Einsteins theory about what goes up must come down works in reverse here.
Walking down, make sure you keep your ears wide open to hear the sounds of nature – insects, birds, even the creaking of the trees.
Walking down, make sure you keep your ears wide open to hear the sounds of nature insects, birds, even the creaking of the trees.
The hike down to the pools is on the easy side, relatively.
Rocks litter the track all the way down. Easy to manoeuvre around, of course. And there are steps along the way. Theres a lookout with a bench seat that lets you rest a moment and absorb the tranquility.
If you choose to walk that little bit further, things become a tad more difficult due to the rocks that are about two foot high and you need to lever yourself down. Sounds hard, but truly its not.
Once down at the pools you can walk around quite easily, getting many different viewpoints of the pools.
Great if like me youre there to photograph the landscape.
Now for the walk up, well, I made it up in 23 minutes and it was 1.6 kilometres. My heart-rate averaged around the 140bpm so if I can do this, so can many others.
This would be a great place to take a backpack with some water, bread rolls and a camera along with the family for a stroll through the bush.
The walk is about 2 kilometres one way and, let me tell you straight away, Einstein’s theory about what goes up must come down works in reverse here.
I'm not going to lie to you but it was a great way to close two of my rings on my Apple watch, the Move and Exercise rings.
There are other walks in the park which Ill be sure to check out later and itd be great if you could, too. Youll be pleased you did.
- Directions, map, factsheet: Minerva Pool walking track
- Dharawal National Park
- thesimonbennett.net
- @thesimonbennett
This story was first published in August 2020.
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