Hawkesbury Sandstone Natural Bridge Bantry Bay, New South Wales, Australia
By MermaidBri (adopted by steeba) on 01-Nov-06. Waypoint GCZ5HP

TFTC from the Kayakviking! An impressive structure. Thanks for bringing me here.A far smaller one was visited in Lane Cove recently. Note sent to CO.Cheers KV

What a great EC. Wonderful bush walk, down a farly well maintained trail. Impressed by the lack of Lantana that is infiltrating most bushland it seems. Impressive bridge structure. This is my second oldest EC found. The Brickpit beats you by bout 16 months. TFTEC. Fav from me.

This EarthCache caught my eye some time back when I was looking for some particular D/T values I needed for a challenge cache I was working on, and finally with some dry weather today I was able to come down from the Central Coast to attempt it.I parked at the southern end of Cook Street and walked in along the trail from there, although for much of the way it was more a wade than a hike. Glad I was barefoot! What an awesome natural feature and good to see it with a fair bit of water flowing under it. My answers have been sent to the CO, with my mug shot below.Many thanks for an enjoyable EarthCache and I'll add it to my list of pending FPs for when I have another one available.

#13807 12:40I walked down the zig-zag mountain bike track toward to the sandstone bridge. It was quite impressive and I enjoyed the geocache. Answers have been send.From here it was onward to the Tax Collector's Treasury.TFTEC.

What an amazing place, all the natural bridges I have visit have all been amazing, this is only the second one I walked on!

Thanks for the cache.

Note to self, wet and moss/lichen covered rocks in a moistery environment are slippery.

/herrFamaxe from Sweden

Thanks for that cache that we found during our walk through Garigal National Park!

This cache has been on my to-do list for many years. Today was sunny and I was in Sydney with some time up my sleeve. So today was the day. I parked near the oval at the eastern trailhead and slowly, carefully made my way down. I passed at least a dozen others on the track.
At GZ I had a good look at the bridge and took a few photos.
Well worth the effort, and an interesting feature.

I found this back in 2018 with pilot03 who sent the answers at the time. We had a good time!!! Thank you for the EC!!

Incredible formation, we've actually come across similar feats of nature in a few places, but this one is the largest we've seen.

Logged with [GCDroid](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gcdroid).

2ppl nice short walk

Hard walk down but through interesting country, and bridge was amazing tftc

Lovely area TFTC

Regarding Hawkesbury Sandstone Natural Bridge (GCZ5HP):

GCZ5HP Hawkesbury Sandstone Natural Bridge
2 people in our group. Self (34) and son (7)
He thinks the erosion is continuing as the creek runs down over the rocks.

GCZ5HP Hawkesbury Sandstone Natural Bridge

1 person

erosion will continue sinking as water is flowing through it so YES

Came through on a walk exploring a new area for us. Thanks for bringing us here to explore this natural wonder. Answers sent through to the CO. Thanks for the earthcache MermaidBri and steeba.

The following TBs came through for the mileage : Vanlith The Youngling, Bob geoMinion, Dave geoMinion, Evil geoMinion, Larry geoMinion, Jerry geoMinion, Stuart geoMinion, teamMerlin's 7 Deadly Ducks Tag (Lust), teamMerlin's Football, Mary Hyde's Treasure, Hidden Creatures Geocoin TB, Merlin's Steed

With an event on nearby this afternoon I thought I would walk down and get this old one beforehand. So after grabbing Bantry Bay View at the top it was time for the descent to this one. Yes you would probably walk over it without noticing especially approaching from east, with not much water flowing today. But I took the photo and will send in the answer. Thanks MermaidBri and steeba.

Finally made it to this lovely spot after the FFCCEvent today. Have forwarded all the answers to the CO. What a lovely walk in from the east although Crash was getting a bit Grumpy (TM).
TFTC Steeba and thanks for keeping it alive! Gets a favourite.

Cool. TFTC

Cache number 1 on a walk around Bantry Bay

But of a sucker for these quirky yet interesting geological features, the bridge had been a long standing earthcache near home.

Anyways required pictures and info gathered (was a bit slippery) and answers sent.

Thanks for bringing me here

Nice place. I enjoyed the walk down and the location even though it did start raining.

The photo should be attached and I will send the answers through.

Thanks for bringing me here.

TFTEC

I'm geocachingmaty, a geocacher and a geo-vlogger, filming my adventures and posting them on YouTube, so you can join me in finding these containers called geocaches.

I would appreciate it if you could check it out and subscribe.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzDFL7pqrLtLRaExChaO_A

Most of the videos have spoilers in them so watch them at your own discretion.

This beautiful beautiful path and beautiful beautiful spot is luckily walking distance from our new house in Sydney. Part of the reason we moved to this area was the hope there would be hidden treasures like here nearby and we were not disappointed. Thank you so much!

We walked in from Seaforth Oval and collected a few caches on the way. I love a good bit of civil engineering, but to see a natural bridge was pretty cool.

I probably would have walked right over it without noticing if this earth cache wasn't there!

Thanks!!

We love natural arches! Amazing to find this beautiful spot in the middle of Sydney. Thanks for bringing us here.

T4TC sagt Die Asbacher Bande

We needed to find an Earthcache placed in 2006 at the final qualifier for a Jasmer year Earthcache Challenge cache, and so before we had even arrived in Australia on our current visit we had flagged this Earthcache as one we simply had to undertake at some point during our travels - we are so glad we did as not only was it the final qualifier for the Challenge cache but it also gave us the excuse for another very enjoyable hike to and from Ground Zero. We made our Field Notes and have subsequently submitted our answers to the CO. Thanks so much for the Earthcache and for having bought us to this very nice location. Greetings from Zimbabwe

# 4.015
Der Walk bis zur dieser Brücke hat mir echt gut gefallen. Einfach NATUR pur - Super. So war sieht man nicht in Deutschland.

T4T$

Really cool place

Great bushwalk to this awesome natural feature. I'm giving this beautiful location a Favourite Point. OCW Brewmaker. TFTC steeba

What a great spot. Lovely walk in and a good place to rest. Answers sent by EverestHigh. TFTC

Wow cool bridge will send answers! TFTEC Fav for spot

Beautiful natural landmark. Thanks for sharing

Nice location and a cool bridge if you look from the side. TFTC

GCZ5HP Hawkesbury Sandstone Natural Bridge

I sent the other info via message. But just briefly: erosion still continuing, water and wind mainly but also weather in general.

Walking party of 7 people, coming down from The Bluff (and Seaforth Oval).

Thank you for the cache, what a gorgeous spot!

Previously logged under team account BoogieRogue. Re-logging with my individual account. #Find#: 2021#

Found on: 18 March 2019 18:14

Buddies: none

Muggles: none

Weather: cloudy



---

Awesome formation. Thanks for bringing me here.

**TFTC MermaidBri (adopted by steeba) TNLNSL**

#Find#: 2021#
Found on: 18 March 2019 18:14
Buddies: none
Muggles: none
Weather: cloudy

---
Awesome formation. Thanks for bringing me here.
**TFTC MermaidBri (adopted by steeba) TNLNSL**

Beautiful area. Thanx for showing me this place.

Found with my sons and BillHill531. We came down for some rare combinations and various cache types. A fun day with six fun finds.
I had a fun run down all the steps to GZ. Very well maintained park. Loved the bridge. People just passing through on the track would have no idea what they are walking on. So more then happy to stop, travel through and around the bridge. Good stuff.
Thanks for the lesson, walk, bridge and earthcache!

Found with TOMBI!, Pergoda_Climber and grandson. We came down to Sydney to do some special DT combinations. Very nice area to go for a walk TFTC steeba
# 1512 at 1:03:00 PM on 22Dec2018

Father and son discovery. Great to be in tbe bush again after many years. I now have a son to enjoy it with. Life is great!

With a new surge of energy on the Oxfam walk (after all the end is only 15km away now!) MV and I sped over the bridge, thankfully he told me what it was. I had a quick glance but we had to move on in the congo line of walkers! TFTC!!!

Beautiful walk.

Found this one whilst out looking for a puzzle cache. This is my first time down this track. Such a nice walk thanks for bring me here Cheers

Great track down to the bridge. Such an interesting feature. Water pretty low at the moment so able to easily stand under the bridge.

Found it

Today is Earth Day, 22nd April so it is appropriate that I find an Earthcache today to keep my streak going.
I chose this great walk. I've done some of the other walks in this area and know the bushland is spectacular. This was a great place to walk to as the bridge formation is so interesting. I have seen this feature before in Sydney and know of two other locations where you can see the same thing only both are much smaller than this one.
Today there were a large number of small birds around. A White Cheeked Honeyeater was bathing in one of the pools near the bridge and came quite close to me. My two favourite plants were growing near the bridge, one is an umbrella fern and the second is Lambertia or Mountain Devil which always fascinated me as a kid with its unusual seed pods.

I'd like to come back here during heavy rain and see a torrent of water going under the bridge! (not sure the track is very suitable for wet weather though)

TFTC # 2531, Streak day #152

Staying nearby with friends last night, this morning I got up early before work to walk into this Earthcache. I have a similar Earthcache myself, and it was interesting to compare the answers of the two.

Thanks for the excuse for the morning exercise!

Cheers

Arrived at 7:05am. Beautiful natural formation. I made the trek early to this Earth Cache as I planned to tackle the Manly Dam today. I always email the CO before logging my Earth Cache find; however, the Geocaching Apps and website have all been failing this morning so I cannot do this yet. I even downloaded Cachly as I was not sure what was going on. Please know my answers will follow as soon as the systems are up and running. Спасибо! תודה! L’chaim! TFTC!

100% I attached this to my find log this morning. I don’t know what was going on with the Geocaching networks. L’chaim!

I went to the forest with my grandma. We went through bushes and trees, down some rock steps. Then a big stony bridge appeared. I danced on it. We also saw a big lizard.
Another adventure with pilot03 who likes rocks and geology (answers sent by pilot03).
Thank you, it was fun!

Well this was an adventure. I wasn't really prepared for the terrain, and it was a little steeper and rockier than I had imagined. But still, a nice climb down past some interesting rock formations. And I also got to see one of my favourite Australian wildflowers - the Flannel Flower (both types together).
Made it down to the bridge, had a look, took a photo, and then made the journey back up to my car. All in all a good hike.
Great to find another piece of Sydney that I hadn't visited before, and earn the special New Year's Day 2018 souvenir badge. TFTEC

Nice to be back in Australia for the yearly family visit.
We decided to go for a quiet walk, away from the buzz of the city. I took one of the young members of AMMMGLAD with me and we had fun going down the Serrata mountain bike track (for experts!), being very careful with our steps. Great discovery at GZ. After examining the bridge and enjoying an early picnic, we saw a big lizard looking at us.
We went back up by the path and the steps through the forest, which was easier.
Thank you MermaidBri/Steeba for this earthcache away from it all, which gave us the opportunity of examining one of my favourite types of rock.
A favourite point for the earthcache, the good time we had and to celebrate 2018!
EC # 476 of 3368
Greeting from England and Happy New Year!

Interessante Location, besten Dank fürs Herlocken und Zusammentragen der Infos.
CADS11

It's a pretty cool feature I must admit. I don't think I've seen something like this before. Thanks for bringing me here.

Found while exploring the area looking for earth caches. You can definitely see the sandstone in many buildings around Sydney. Thanks

Great spot
Will send info over to you
TFTC

Nice fun cache

Great fun. Thanks so much from bringing us here.

Thankyou steeba for adopting this very fine Earthcache. I found it quite a challenge and ended up scrambling up rocks on all fours. But I love the geology of these caches, enjoyed the adventure and managed to emerge, finally, without adding to my existing geocaching war wounds. Beautiful day for a bush ramble. I've emailed you.

Nice to go a little off the beaten track Interesting cache TFTC

Email sent to Steeba. I was out collecting GCA caches for the summer scavenger series which required me to go past the turn off for here so I couldn't resist! This has been my closest to home unfound earth cache since I moved to Chatswood last year. A great little walk and interesting spot, but with only a trickle running today. Info gathered, photo attached. Cheers!

WOW what a great place to visit. Here visiting 9,000 miles away from home, this is why I pick ECs to visit as they bring you to cool things and out in nature. I parked at the cul-de-sac 0.4 east of GZ at the trail head. I set off and made my way to the large boulder area where the descent starts. A man and girl were relaxing and gave me reassurance I was on the correct path as they just returned from the natural bridge. With a found hiking stick in hand, I made my way farther. I came upon another man who seemed startled at me approaching. At GZ, the bridge was more impressive than the pics I've seen. Many thanks for bringing me here!!!

While in the area I made time for the deviation down the track to this amazing formation in a pretty little vista.

Thanks for bringing me here.

Logging with permission.

TFTEC.

Found it, explained to the boys how was formed, gray spot

There were 87 in our riding party, plus the pack of 16 dogs, two supply wagons and four or five local guides as we descended into this interesting valley on the north side of Sydney. Unfortunately the water was deemed unsafe to drink so we were unable to make camp for the night. However we took the opportunity to bivouac for an hour while the horses were fed and rested. Found some attractive hardwood trees which we marked for future use, then after an agreeable lunch we remounted for the rather steep ascent. The bridge held up well and is a credit to the Great Engineer.
We first found this cache back in 2003 when it was a real cache.
We prefer real caches, but there you are.

Found on a walk when visiting from Darwin. Lived in the area for 25 years but have never visited this before, thanks for taking me to this great place a favourite for me.

GCZ5HP Hawksbury sandstone natural bridge. Four people he in our group. NOo indication of new erosion but it is still happening.
The grandchildren are introducing me to Geocaching. In turn I have introduced them to earth caches. This is a magic spot in my backyard.

#466
I originally wanted to do this for Earthcache Day back in October but several things got in the way. So here I am finally doing my first Earthcache. Walking down the steps brought back memories of doing the Oxfam walk in 2014. I recently encountered a smaller version of a natural bridge while finding Warraroon House at Longueville. TFTC

Quick earth cache near home I have been wanting to visit for a while so took the opportunity today for earth cache day! Such a lovely walk and so close to home. Also interested in doing a bike ride along the track which intersects this walk. TFTC. Did not stay long as it started to rain, but enjoyed the location.

What a fantastic area! Made my way here for the Earthcache souvenir, arriving on Saturday, as if I was going to miss the great race (Bathurst 1000).
Parked near the retirement village, found a decent walking stick and set off.
Planned on picking up a couple of other Trads while in the area.
The upgrade works of the stairs looks amazing and professionally compiled.
Placed my cap and walking stick against a small tree on top of the bridge.
Thumbs up, as per photo on a great location, thanks steeba

To celebrate EarthCache day we ventured off to find the bridge. After an initial sidetrack we passed many birds and a lone bike rider. As soon as we reached the stairs I knew we were in for a great find. The stairs made for an easy walk down and the sightings of water dragons indicated we were close. The landform is a work of art. Interesting to compare the surface to the rock to its underside. It stirred many questions amongst us. Message sent to CO. TFTC.

Wow! This place is unreal! We parked on Cook Street in Forestville and started our walk from a concrete stairway at the big loop near the southern end of the road. This led to the Cook Street Track which has a good National Park map showing the way to Natural Sandstone Bridge track. At the intersection of tracks not far along there is no reference to the target track but we turned left onto Currie Street track and followed it not far until we found the track we were after. The track is really, really well made and, though a bit steep, a joy to walk on. The natural bridge is very cool. We took some photos and investigated to find answers to the CO's questions which we will send away shortly. Well worth the walk and a great example of geocaching bringing us to a place that we would not otherwise have known about. A favourite from us. TFTEC, steeba. Cheers... Gaztek

A wonderful place to visit. A hard climb back to the road. The wild flowers just coming into bloom looked good. TFTC

What an amazing place which I didn't know existed.
Five of us made the climb down to the bridge which is most interesting.
Thanks for showing us this amazing feature in our own backyard.

Five senior ladies walked the long climb down well placed wooden and stone steps to the remarkable sandstone natural bridge. Unfortunately the erosion will continue with the effects of rain, wind and the stream underneath. Hope this will take years for it to happen as it really is a lovely feature. TFTC

What a remarkable and beautiful feature. The walk was a challenge for me but well worth it.

Great location. End of a long and enjoyable hike - and the steps were much easier to negotiate than some of the tracks. TFTC.

Wow, what a wonderful location and natural beauty, ever so peaceful and not a sole in sight today. It was an easy walk down to GZ thanks to the great steps the council have put in, harder coming back up of course. The stream under the natural bridge was running fast due to the heavy rains earlier in the morning which made it even more picturesque.
Thanks for bringing me here Steeba, definitely would never have ventured to this location otherwise.
Email sent earlier.

What better day than International Earthcache Day to visit this little beauty? I had no idea that something like this was so close to home. I will be back another day to show some non-GCing friends and give them a little education about erosion...TFTC!

Very nice hidden gem not far from where i live and grew up. Came in from western side and the out on the eastern side to watch the RFS making the latest moonscape. Lots of helicopter action and sirens to be heard from Ararat reserve.

Never knew this was here and very impressive. Photo op for the kids school projects was great.

Email to op shortly.

TVMFTC

Simosm

As it was International EarthCache Day, we thought it only right that we should visit one. We have recently been in Hawaii where caches of this type are widespread. However, they are rather thin on the ground here, so we were glad we hadn’t already been to this relatively close one.

We parked in Cook Street and enjoyed the walk down in the cool of the morning. The track-works appear to be almost complete and there are some nice new sections of steps.

At GZ we were surprised to see such an imposing bridge and we spent some time exploring its features, examining its structure, taking photographs and making notes. What worries me is that in a few hundred years, the bridge may not be safe for us to walk across.

Thanks for establishing this earthcache, it was a great to visit and witness such an impressive formation. I hope our answers are satisfactory.

Found with Mr MR who has sent our joint answers to the CO.

It was a very pleasant walk down to the bridge, which was larger than I expected. It is perhaps not as spectacular as the other natural bridge I have seen at Springbrook National Park in Queensland but it is differently formed and a very impressive example of its type.

Thanks for setting it up MermaidBri and steeba, I would not have known about this great place otherwise. I must give it a favourite.

Decided to do this one for International EarthCache Day. Parked in Cannons Parade (Forestville) and followed the fire trail, first stopping off to grab "GC35B3R Executioner's Exercise" on the way.

Then it was down the nice new sandstone & timber steps before arriving at the Hawkesbury Sandstone Natural Bridge. We have walked the track to the old powder magazines many years ago but never down this track to the bridge.

A very interesting natural feature that you could easily walk right over without realizing it was there, right under your feet. Spent some time taking photos, including some tripod shots so as to include the entire geofamily of four, and pondering the cache question. We all then crossed the bridge and headed off in pursuit of "GC189D3 Bantry Bay View".

Thanks steeba for bringing us to this most impressive feature so close to home. An email of required info has been sent.

This entry was edited by vk2df on Sunday, 12 October 2014 at 10:10:33 UTC.

Nice spot for an almost rainy day. Great bridge you almost don't realize you are on it.

4/08/14. 1:39 PM. Cache #1745. Track issues meant that I couldn't get this cache on my last attempt (October last year). No problems today; it was my second cache for the day after finding "Leia's Treasure" near home. I picked it so I could pick up another souvenir for August (now only 1 to go, plus the allrounder).

Visited the bridge, took some photos and took note of what I needed to in order to answer the questions. I have less than 50 unfound caches in the 10km around home in West Pymble. Of these, the vast majority are to my west. Only 2 left to my east with this one now found. Answers will be sent to the CO to validate this log. Walked back to the car, then drove around the 3 waypoints for Executioner's Exercise to take measurements for a later solve. TFTC }:)

on a duke of ed hike. pretty cool

Another place I'd never been and it's much more impressive "in the flesh" than what I'd seen in all the pics. It was a bit dull and cool today but just downstream would be a wonderful spot to stop and contemplate the world on a warm day with the water bubbling away in the background. Thanks MermaidBri and steeba.

Hubby was playing football today at the nearby sports field and as the game wasn't so exciting (and they were loosing) I decided to head into the park for a few caches.

I really enjoyed the walk down to the bridge, it was so quiet.

I spotted some really pretty flowers on the way too.

I've attached a bridge and me selfie and hope to explore more of the park very soon

TFTC

# 790 (1 of 6 today) (Streak day 202)

After finding Snow White a few days ago, though I'd come back this way to pick up more bush caches.
It was quality not quantity as I found 3 here, before going for 4 other park and grabs - one of which was DNFed, unfortunately. Picked up some info for a Mystery Cache as well.

[center]* * * END OF CUT AND PASTE SECTION * * *[/center]

Have had my eyes on this Earthcache for a while - not only did it sound interesting, but it was also a new D/T for me. So, the plan was to walk the trails and see how many I could grab.

Parked near the trailhead in Cook Street and walked in. No work being done today, and at GZ saw a sign saying the track was closed weekdays... until 30 June. Hmmm, seems they're running behind, but I must say the new work makes access really easy. And with the sign I have plausible deniability if challenged.

Must say this formation most reminded me of London Bridge (12 Apostles) - which collapsed trapping people 6 months after the Geowife and I crossed it.

But a fascinating location, and a great start to the day.

Will send the email shortly.

TFTC

yebo
just emailed the CO my answers to log this beautiful earth cache
i had no idea that such a natural rarity is existing in sydney.

coming today with bus 169, i walked down bantry bay road to cache and then to enter the path of the national park
it was a nice walk, all by myself and i just loved the quietness of the woods, though i was a bit worried about snakes, havnt met one

i reached GZ and remained there about 30 min as it was a warm sunny winterday, perfect to listen to the water in solitude - great spot!

walking the entire path i stumbled over the construction area, which is announced.
well there goes the natural path, they are building "proper" steps.

steeba, tftEarthc

Unfortunately couldn't do due to work being done on the track.
Track closed m-f 7.30 Am to 4.30 pm

Just me! Lots of water continuing the erosion. Cheers!

TFTC

GCZ5HP Hawkesbury Sandstone Natural Bridge.

One person in my group. The erosion is still taking place due to the stream that flows beneath it.

Found with AM on a hot afternoon - the cicadas provided a raucous, deafening soundtrack for our trek. Wow, gorgeous spot. One might miss the beauty of this bridge by not stopping to go off the path and check out the view below. AM sent in the the answers for the both of us. Worth the trek. TFTC, steeba!

Caliazuljewel and I visited this EC today on an stinking hot and steamy summer morning. The answers have been sent to the cache owner

We've been focusing on doing some higher DT and earth caches and thought we'd go for this one before heading off the find a cool place. There were a couple of other nearby caches and we found those after first visiting this amazing natural phenomenon.

We've also been wanting to knock this one off the our list of earth caches. Thankfully no muggles were around the GZ or on the trail. We will add pics to our log to show the visit and support our answers.

It was a bit of a schlep back up in the steamy heat of the day. Anyway, it was a great day to chase down more nearby caches. Thanks steeba your earth cache. SL TFTC

7/10/13. 2:45 PM. Attempted from the western side (Cook St), but the way was taped off due to hazard reduction burning - penalties apply - so I didn't want to risk it. Sigh, another day.

Geocache # 863.
Found on Sunday, 22nd September 2013 at 3:58 PM.
Conditions: sunny.
Current streak # 53 days.
Today's finds 4 of 10.

After hosting a successful Event Cache (Geojam 2013) over at Ryde, dicky_v, morry9, party_mike and I continued hunting for more caches in the afternoon. On our way down to the creek we encountered a very large and very sleepy Eastern Brown Snake soaking up the rays on the trail... Oh my goodness! We were careful in trying to disturb it and snapped a few photos before it slithered away into the recently burnt out scrub. You could almost be forgiven for walking right past this geological feature but once there it sure is stunning. After Party_mike pretended his was Atlas trying to hold up the bridge on his shoulders, we headed back up the track to say hi the Mr Brown Snake once more (being extra vigilant on our ascent). Our answer has been emailed to CO, TFTEC steeba.

"JordsAU

Beautiful natural bridge not much water under the bridge so I had to hold it up myself!! TFTC!!

Nice and cool here. Walked passed a brown Snake.

After finding The Tax Collector's Treasure I decided to continue on and log a find for this Earth Cache. I've walked this track many times and love this bridge - it was so peaceful here today on a beautiful Spring day.
As I was alone and haven't yet mastered the art of taking a selfie I do not feature in the photo . Email to follow with answers. TFTC.

Great walk ! Wouldn't have seen this place without geocaching. TFTC.