Starkey Gunderman, New South Wales, Australia
By Geocaching Australia on 19-Mar-12. Waypoint TP6243

Visited Starkey as part of a lovely bushwalk beginning and ending at the Mill Creek campground. I was walking in the footsteps of geogens with the SBW (Sydney Bush Walkers - google it, you won't turn back). Lots of ridge walking and examining rock outcrops for aboriginal carvings. Planty of views. Interesting navigation but I was well led.

Reaching Starkey was a milestone. Took selfies (as you do) and then walked north. The plan was to walk over the "nose" of the topography (ie: walk to the northern end of ridge). But we got stuck! The "nose" has cliffs that didn't give us a break. So we worked back a couple of hundred metres and found a different way down on the eastern side.

I'd like to give future walkers some idea of how we did it but seriously I think our route wasn't the best route available, it was just the one that worked for us. It involved a 1.5m drop with a narrow landing spot that some of us weren't entirely comfortable with. So be prepared to find your own way down.

Found at 3:07 pm

Rated: for Overall Experience

Found this trig on a SBW walk. We visited some of the aboriginal engravings and then six of us continued on to find Starkey Trig. It was a hot day so lots of water was consumed... The trip back to the campsite and cars was a little tricky but we managed to negotiate our way down the cliff line. Definitely agree that you need to be competent with map reading and be prepared for some rock scrambling.

Wow, another expedition into the UNKNOWN! While the bush was not as thick or scratchy as Kariong, the Terrain is VERY UNFORGIVING! There are multiple levels of ramps, bluffs, and cliffs. Parking the car at Mill Creek camping area I spoke with a group of twitchers of whom some knew that here was a trig station called Starkey a couple of kilometres over there (to the South). If you stick with a well planned route expect to take at least 2 hours each way. So take a MINIMUM of 2 litres of water each.
After a 'warm-up' trip to Gunderman yesterday I thought I was prepared for what nature could throw at me today, but without taking my 50 m abseil rope, harness, descender and gloves I was very unprepared for the exit route that I had thought possible. I took a pleasant but longer trip to Starkey, as I went up a ridge that goes South from Mill Creek, and then swings around to the ridge that fronts the Wisemans Ferry Road.
With only taking 1.2 litres of water I had drunk more than half by the time I got to Starkey @ 1545. And then I swallowed an ant that was on the lip of my water bottle - that certainly did NOT help. I rested in the shade of the well constructed rock cairn, and sparingly drank a bit more water. Took some photos at 1600 before heading off.
By looking at the Gunderman 1:25,000 map I thought that I would be able to descend to Wisemans Ferry Road to the South West. After descending carefully about 80 m I came across a line of cliffs with no possible way of climbing down - abseiling would be possible, some of the cliffs are greater than 50m high.
I then tried to the West and North West where there is a creek flowing over the cliff line, but there is no gully, just a very high waterfall. I could see the road, and the houses below, but no obvious way to get down, so went back up to Starkey, and made my way North along the ridge top for about a couple of kilometres. Much easier walking than on the way up.
Then I cut back down to the South East down a open gully to the creek that flows down to Mill Creek. Lots of boulder hopping, but that is a lot easier than any alternative exit from Starkey. There is a rock cairn at the junction of the gully I took down and the creek.
Any water found was HIGHLY SUSPECT, as it was PUTRID.
Got back to the picnic area @ 1930, just as I had to pull the headlight out of the backpack. Saw 3 wombats in the short walk back to the car, and heard a couple more in the ferns.
Be a Boy Scout, and BE PREPARED! Map reading is NOT OPTIONAL.

Rated: for Overall Experience

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