Head to the beautiful Jingga Pool or Minerva Pool in Dhawaral National Park on a weekend, and there’s a good chance you’ll encounter a crowd… but go pretty much anywhere else, and you probably won’t see anyone. This is the first of a few bushwalks I’m doing which explore the more remote parts of Dhawaral National Park and its pristine waterways (in particular O’Hares Creek and Stokes Creek).
Out via 10B Firetrail and 10D Trail
While there are not many bushwalking tracks in the national park, there is a network of firetrails that provide easy access to many parts of the park. I’m starting at the end of Victoria Road along the Victoria Road Trail, and after only a few hundred metres turning right onto the 10B Management Trail towards Minerva Pool.
I ignore the bushwalking track to Minerva Pool, and continue along the 10B Management Trail, which descends towards Stokes Creek.
Below the firetrail Stokes Creek soon comes into view, with one of two weirs along the creek; it was most likely the site of a stream gauge. David Noble suggests the small dam and weir date back to the 1930s, and formed part of an assessment of the suitability of the valley for a water supply dam.
Fortunately none of the valleys within Dhawaral NP were drowned by dams, and the large pool below the weir and a natural waterfall (which has no name on the topo map, but I’ve seen it described as Stokes Creek Falls) would make for a nice swimming spot on a warmer day.
The 10B Firetrail crosses Stokes Creek and ascends the valley, continuing along the ridge for about two kilometres until it meets the 10D Trail. The firetrails in Dhawaral National Park really don’t have very inspiring names; the naming forms part of an operational coding system used by NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) and relates to fire management grids.
The 10D Trail descends as towards the junction of Cobbong Creek and O’Hares Creek.
The firetrail crosses Cobbong Creek a short distance above O’Hares Creek; this would be an alternate starting point where you could access O’Hares Creek, requiring a small scramble around a waterfall.
From Cobbong Creek the 10D Trail becomes a lot less firetrail-y and more like a bushwalking track, and a few large fallen trees that suggest this hasn’t been maintained as a management trail for some time (it’s likely that the the 10B Firetrail which runs roughly parallel to the 10D is used for firefighting and vehicle access).
The 10D Trail is a fair way above O’Hares Creek, so the last part of my outward leg is to follow an unnamed (and unsignposted) bushwalking that drops down to the creek. The start of the track (at 302106 6214813) is fairly obvious and distinct as it descends a spur down to O’Hares Creek.
I make a last-minute adjustment to my planned route; rather following the track all the way to the creek, once I reach a small saddle just above the creek I bush-bash down to O’Hares Creek to the west. The track continues in a more easterly direction, reaching the creek over a kilometre upstream. (Although the intent of today’s walk is to explore O’Hares Creek, I’m not sure how long it will take me, so cutting out a kilometre of creek gives me a slightly bigger safety margin to complete the loop walk.)
Back to Jingga Pool via O’Hares Creek
I reach O’Hares Creek at 302328 6215533, near the upper end of one of the many pools along this section of the creek. I’d picked this bushwalk based on the forecast of a hot day, which turned out to be a somewhat erroneous forecast… it’s warm but certainly not hot. While I’m prepared and happy for a swim or two, I’m taking the option of walking along the creek when I can.
It’s mostly pleasant walking, which alternates between mostly deep pools…
…with an occasional large rock platform…
…interspersed with a few sections of thick undergrowth that covers the creek bed.
Within the more overgrown sections of the creek are small cascades and the long roots of plants that cling onto the slippery boulders.
A longer pool with dense scrub on both sides of the creek means the first swim, as I pack the camera into my dry bag and plunge into the water.
On reaching a small cliff on the left (eastern) side of the creek, I find a spot to pull myself onto dry land and check the map. I’m thinking I must have done at least one third of a long pool shown on the topo map… but I’m not. I’m at the start of what is shown on the map as a 400m-long pool.
Being a not-particularly-strong-swimmer, I decide to cheat a little, and bush-bash across a small spur to re-join O’Hares Creek on the other end of its wide bend. Emerging a little scratched from patches of dense scrub, I find a slot in the low cliff-line as I drop back down to the creek.
Although I’ve avoided the longest of the swims along this section of O’Hares Creek, I’m soon at the next pool and (shorter) swim.
Although no cliffs are shown on the topo map, a tall cliff-line towers over the creek around the next bend.
A shallow cave at the base of the cliffs offers the perfect spot for a late lunch break, overlooking another deep pool.
I skirt around a small but deep pool, where I spot a large European carp, an invasive species of fish.
I initially avoid the next swim by skirting around the edge of the deep pool via a sandy ledge, before jumping into the water to escape the dense scrub on both sides of O’Hares Creek.
Just before Cobbong Creek is a large rock platform, and another tall cliff-line on the left bank.
Cobbong Creek drops into O’Hares Creek via a couple of small waterfalls. This is just below the 10D Trail and would be an alternative exit, but I’m making good progress – it’s taken me about three hours to reach here from my starting point along the creek and I’m more than halfway.
The next (shorter) section of O’Hares Creek has a lot less pools, and a lot more open, rocky platforms.
Just below the O’Hares Creek / Cobbong Creek junction is is another concrete dam; it’s a somewhat incongruous site, especially as there’s no sign left of the old road that would have been required to transport tonnes of concrete down to the creek.
After scrambling down the small cascade below the dam, I pass a low overhang before reaching another pool which is easier to swim down than to scramble around.
The next long-ish pool I clamber along the rocky left bank.
Towards the end of this pool there’s a long, rocky platform along the edge which makes for easy progress.
The last section above between Stokes Creek (which flows onto O’Hares Creek) and Jingga Pool is characterised by long sections of flat, rocky sections.,
I soon hear voices from people on the Jingga Pool walking track, before reaching the shallow pool just above a small dam across O’Hares Creek. Just below the concrete wall is the popular Jingga Pool. It’s the first time I’ve seen other people.
From the Jingga Pool, it’s a relatively short (1.2km) walk back up to the Victoria Road Trail and the carpark.
This is a great walk for a hot day – especially if you’re a strong swimmer (you could also bring a flotation device such as a li-lo for the longer swims, but it would be a pain in the arse trying to drag a li-lo through some of the scrubbier sections). It took about seven hours for the loop with minimal breaks; allow 1-1.5km/hour along the creek.
Getting to O’Hares Creek
The route to the entry point along O’Hares Creek starts at the end of Victoria Road (Wedderburn), which is about 15km (20min) from the Campbelltown exit on the Hume Highway, and about an hour south-west of Sydney. As described above, it’s about an 8km bushwalk to where you enter the creek which is all on-track (most firetrails). The 8km or so along O’Hares Creek is all off-track, with an early exit point up Cobbong Creek. This is one of the only “creek walks” in Dhawaral NP where the access to the creek is all on-track.
More information
- David Noble has done a number of bushwalks in the park; Dharawal National Park Walk – 23 November 2023 covers some of this route.
- Rachel Grindlay – O’Hares Creek exploration covers this route which was done as a Sydney Bushwalking Club walk. She noted “It felt like there was more swimming than walking!”
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