Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park - Bairne Track

The Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is the second oldest park in Australia. It is situated north of Sydney and will take you about 40 mins drive to its front gate. It is a hidden gem of a park embedded in what is known as greater Sydney.

We only just discovered this park purely out of curiosity on our way to Palm Beach. What we found is a park full of amazing tracks that we would like to share with the readers.

Our first hike was an easy 4.1 km walk on the Bairne Track (one way). It was a typical day in Sydney, nice and sunny with a pleasant breeze to refresh us during the hike.



We were surprised that Nokia maps had the track marked. The Portuguese track leading to Coaster retreat was closed on the day. 

Some tips for this track, wear decent footwear. There are lots of rocks of varying sizes that can twist an ankle or cause you to fall on your 'buttocks'. Take plenty of water and wear sunscreen. The Australian sun is notorious, just ask any 'pom' on a Sunday at Manly beach.

The track is generally flat, with some small gradients but nothing difficult. It is a very long track so allow yourself about 3 hours including return. There was a lot of excellent flora of the Australian bush on this track. It really gave us the opportunity to do some macro work and get some excellent shots at very low angles.

This type of photography isn't possible when on the move with SLR gear. The freedom to position the shot independent of a viewfinder was very liberating. We ended the walk all tired, but pleased with the capture of the following shots!

I am not sure what this plant is, the colour and structure caught my eyes. Captured is a very delicate shot that typifies the subject well.
 

An Australian Bull ant. These guys are very aggressive and are not afraid of challenging you. The Lumia allowed us to take a very low angle to see that we were not the only ones out for a hike on that day.

The reverse angle, but boy did the ant looked pissed! Needless to say, we parted journeys shortly after this shot.

A simple composition to highlight the insect trails found on the bark of the trees during out hike.

At the end of the Bairne track is this spectacular view of the bays! This was captured using the panoramic lens on the Lumia 920.