Want Cottage Point, New South Wales, Australia
By Geocaching Australia on 09-Apr-11. Waypoint TP5663

I set off at around 7am from Cottage Point in my packraft and headed north to Little Jerusalem bay where there was one yacht anchored overnight. From there it was a bit of a scramble to get up the spur and eventually to the trig through the thick undergrowth at about two hours from setting off. Instead of backtracking I hiked on along Shark rock ridge up to the highway and back down the steep track to Cowan creek where I paddled back to Cottage point. A fun morning out to get this remote trig.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Missed out getting to this remote trig 4 years ago almost to the day. That day I went via Shark Rock Ridge. I got to within about 900m but ran out of time. The thick bush slowing progress and making the going very arduous. I was dreading having to push through it again. Last few weeks I had been looking at other options that involved less bashing and it looked like a shorter route might be possible by heading via Jerusalem Bay and Pinta bay and the small creek that runs into Pinta. I had been this far previously on Kayak from Bobbin Head with Crash2079. We were looking for carvings on some of the open sandstone platforms and we got to within about 600m of the trig but it was not our goal that day and we also were short on time having to paddle back to BH. So this morning parked at Cowan Station at around 9am and headed down the trail. Low tide provided an easy crossing of the creek and there was a small track heading around to jump rock - a series of cliffs where you can jump off into deeper water. I should have followed the shoreline from this point but I was a little high and decided to head straight across the spur to the east end of Pinta Bay. This didn't take too long. I arrived at the creek at about 10:30. Headed up the creek - this is easy going over some slippery rocks to a large cave below a nice waterfall. Couldn't climb up here so walked along the cliffs till I could get up then around in thick bush back to the creek. Followed the creek up and at a point headed southeast for the ridge top. The undergrowth here and then up to the trig point some of the heaviest I have encountered. It's more like swimming than bushwalking. Got to the trig at midday. The stone cairn in good condition - no vanes present. I had my drone with me so sent it up to take a few snapshots - there is absolutely no view at the trig. One supposes the bush was much less dense when the trig was being used as you can't see anything at present due to the thick bush. Tossed up heading back via Pinta Spur but there was no sign of recent tracks and decided to head back the way I came. This time I tired around the shoreline and despite a medium to high tide I could walk almost all the way back on the rock oyster-strewn shore - glad for good soles. Tide was up at the creek crossing so just plunged ahead through knee-deep water back to the track and then up to the station. Back in the car at 14:15, so a bit over 5 hours for the 10km round trip. Didn't see any animals, saw a few small fish and heard a few birds.

Rated: for Overall Experience

I trekked towards Want with Kevin W and Blossom in November 2016 but we ran out of time after marking more of the track past Elephant Rock. We broadly followed the route of Blossom and Co. in 2013. I decided to follow the same broad route to see how far I could get. Getting to the end of the marked track was fairly straight forward with many of the bent branches still obvious and added to by others since. At the end of the marked track it was relentless bush bashing towards the trig. I found a couple of insulators from the old signalling cable and followed the cable for 50 metres or so. I even found a couple of 50m long sections of track that appeared to have been marked, probably from 2013 because the bent branches had grown upright again.
I stopped to sketch the carvings along the way and when I finally sighted the trig I feared that I had not allowed enough time to return. But all was OK although it was a 9 hour trek.
If I hadn't stopped along the way It may have been 7 hours so allow yourself plenty of time.

My next objective is to mark the track a little better as my return track seemed to be a little better. Thank goodness for the track recording ability of my Garmin. Message me if you want a GPX file.

Rated: for Overall Experience

Came out this way to check out a spot for a virtual GC (see GC7B9DG). Got to where I wanted (Elephant Rock)fairly quickly along the narrow single track from Berowra Station via route below. As there was still time I thought I'd have a go at Want. East of elephant Rock (S33 36.539, E151 10.686) the little track becomes increasingly hard to follow and seems to disappear altogether making going quite slow. After a 1km I had burned through my available time and still had about 900m to go so opted to pull the plug. Stopped at a point (about S33 36.437, 151 11.393) with great views across to cottage point. Will have another go one day. Nice walk though, saw plenty of carvings on the way.

Rated: for Overall Experience

I'll start at the end. When I got home and got out of my car my legs cramped so badly that I limped inside before collapsing on the floor in pain. Mrs T was suitably concerned and suggested I eat some salty potato chips.

Flash back 7 hours earlier and I began the walk from Berowra using the same route recently used by blossom* and strike-a-light. It was very misty and there was also some smoke haze so visibility was low.

It took me 3 hours to get to Want. For the last 2kms it was mostly bush bashing as the trail would disappear every time I found it. Some of the bashing was easy but some was challenging. Because of the low visibility i misread the topography at one point and went 300m the wrong way before I realised my error.

The walk back also took 3 hours and it was no easier finding a trail for that first 2km. So that's 6 hours altogether and I was walking almost the entire time. I drank 2 litres of water driving home - even so, I had lost 2.5kgs.

I found plenty of aboriginal carvings on a number of different rocks, including one rock with a superlative group of kangaroo carvings. Not much wildlife or views this morning though.

All in all a big, challenging adventure.

Found at 10:02 am

Rated: for Overall Experience

A very enjoyable day with lots of wildflowers. I plan to come back to search better for the rock engravings next time. But 1 trig located this time

Rated: for Overall Experience

This was an expedition and half! Not so much the getting there, which was fairly straightforward, but the way we ended up going home! We set off on a club bushwalk from Berowra station, crossed over the freeway on the pedestrian bridge and turned right to walk beside the freeway until we got to about E33 36.839 E151 09.682. There was a track on the bush side of the armour railing which wound along so we were never actually on the freeway.
Then we headed off along Shark Rock Ridge and Want Spur to eventually reach the trig in time for lunch. The bush is quite thick now and the small track disappears and reappears quite often, especially when you cross bits of open rock. Today the wildflowers were wonderful with lots of different colours for us to enjoy as we walked.
Just past the trig on the line of open rock, the views are wonderful and this is where we stopped for lunch. There were some lovely orchids in bloom as an added bonus.
For some (in retrospect - silly!) reason, it was decided we'd cut back home via Pinta Spur and then across to the Great North Walk at Jerusalem Bay. This turned into a marathon effort through very thick bush and we ended up wading across the bay in the near-dark to walk back up to Cowan on the GNW track with the aid of torches.
If we'd simply backtracked, the while trip would have been maybe 7 hours at a leisurely pace. But we managed to turn it into 10 hours! Still, life is made up of adventures and this is one we can now add

Rated: for Overall Experience

On looking at my 'Trig log book' when finding Cliff, etc I noticed that I had Found and photographed this trig 1615, Sat, 17/11/1984, while on a 'Solo Expedition'. Mind you, the next day I went on to find Tomah South, TP5527 with SABWA

Wow - I paddled a kayak from Cottage point public wharf over to the opposite bank. What I wish I had done is go to the little bay to the right and follow the stream up to a point where I could then walk due north up to the cache. Instead I went straight across the river and walked up the (following a north line) first hill then down the other side and then back up to the cache . Some serious cliffs and drops to work around or to navigate. I came back down and followed the stream in the valley down to the beach. I then managed to walk at low tide around the waters edge on the oysters back to my kayak. Some amazing views and caves. Watch out the snakes are out.

Rated: for Overall Experience

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