World Travel with Bob: Wolgan Valley, Day 3

It's forecast to rain all day. In Sydney, area flooding is expected to occur this afternoon. Despite the morning rain, I took off for a hike to the nearby Glow Worm Tunnel. Glow worms are essentially fly larvae that are capable of bioluminescence. The worms/flys line the top of a former train tunnel that used to run from the Newnes oil shale works to Lithgow. The Glow Worms appear like twinkling stars in an area absent of any light.

The hike was supposed to be a little over four miles, but mistakes on my part caused the hike to extend to over five miles as I took the longer and harder route (possibly a 1200 foot elevation gain) and checked out a side trail (thinking it was a short cut). The track started as a very open dirt road, but became very narrow as it gained elevation. Kangaroos were seen jumping in the lower elevation areas of the trail but I couldn't see much wildlife as I reached the highest portion of the track.

Staff from the Wolgan Valley Resort gave me a ride to the trail head, with a backpack containing fruit, pastries, water, towels, flashlight and a long-distance radio. I learned that I would do some creek wading on the track - hence the towels. The radio was for calling the registration desk for a pick-up when I completed the hike. I was warned that the radio reception would fail beyond the drop-off/pick-up area.

With the elevation gain, it took me about three hours to complete the 5.6 mile hike. This was a good pace, as the guide suggested four hours for the posted 4.3 mile route. It was relatively dry for the assent but rained constantly on the downhill walk back to the trail head.

I returned back to the resort at 12:30, just in time for a lunch of chicken and mushroom pie, salad, beer and an apple/kiwi crumb top dessert with vanilla ice cream. A nap is on order for the afternoon as well as packing up for our flight back to California tomorrow afternoon.