Booroomba Rocks, Namadgi National Park

There are so many good bushwalks to do in and around the ACT. It took me a few years to realise this, and a few more years to get an appreciation of just how great they are. A great half day walk (even a quarter day walk!) is Booroomba Rocks. It’s nestled just on the other side of Mt Tennent in Namadgi National Park, and provides some extraordinary views of the ACT.

I first did Booroomba Rocks in early January, hoping to burn off some calories before I gorged myself at the Belgian Beer Café’s Beergustation, but not wanting to do a walk that would take all day. Booroomba Rocks seemed like an obvious choice, and we’d had a great day, with expansive views. However, I’d bought my Garmin Heart Rate Monitor the day before but had forgotten to bring it, meaning I just had to do the walk again.

We woke up Sunday morning ready to do the walk – but the heavyset fog made it all too easy to go right back to bed. Once we finally woke up a little before 10, we ummed and aahed about going, but I remained hopeful that the weather would clear up and it would be worth it (even though I am usually wrong about the weather clearing up!).

Rather misty!

From anywhere in Canberra, it seems to make sense to get onto the Parkway/Drakeford Drive/Tharwa Drive and onto Naas Road. After passing the Namadgi Visitor Centre, it’s still a bit of a drive past Tharwa and down to the turnoff to Apollo Road. Even in thick fog, it’s incredibly picturesque. The road winds up well into the mountains until you reach a clear sign for the Booroomba Rocks carpark (as opposed to the Honeysuckle Creek campsite).

The sign on entering the walk says it’s 30 minutes to the top and it’s probably one of the less wildly inaccurate time estimations I’ve seen for walks.

Booroomba Rocks is short, but except for a few small parts, it’s basically straight up. The bush is dense and cool, but you quickly work up a sweat walking up the floor of damp foliage, sleepers and rocks. There’s a particularly uncomfortable wooden seat with a not very exciting view about half way up.

There were lots of stops to catch my breath and I grew a little irritable by the sun which would occasionally glare through the dense trees, but then the stones stop and you’re in the telltale scrub which means you’re near the peak. There’s a sign that you’re approaching cliffs, and you come up to what seems like a very large boulder. A little more foot navigation and then you get what you came for – the view.

Telltale plants and flat ground – we’re almost there!

And what a view! While through the trees it had seemed like the clouds had cleared, it instead turned out we were just well above the clouds and fog, and it lay out before us like a thick mat. I’m not usually one for gushing, but even I couldn’t stop a ‘Wow!’ coming out of my mouth.

 

Where Canberra *should* be

Whereas previously we’d got great, expansive views of the ACT, including parts of Canberra, this time it was something really special that made it so enjoyable. Sometimes you just get lucky with the skies (usually I am very unlucky!). The photos just don’t do it justice. The steep cliffs make it an obvious choice for mountain climbers and the like.

I’m not exactly the most stylish bushwalker

It’s quick on the way down and much less stopping for breath! As you can see by the Heart Rate Monitor, we were up there for over an hour, but our actual walking time was just 45 minutes (this does not include the many occasions at which I stopped for breath).

Like other walks in the ACT, Booroomba Rocks attracts all types. We met nine seniors travelling as a group, a few families, and a few groups of teenagers. If I have one small gripe about bushwalking, it’s that one of the main reasons I do it is the feeling of solitude – at the very least getting the sense that there’s no one else around. Enthusiastic children are great, but a whole bunch of children making a lot of echo-y noise for the entire walk detracts a little from the experience (I may have unfairly described it as feeling like I was being chased by banshees).

Overall, it’s just over 2.5km and you climb (and then head back down) about 190 metres. Not a bad accomplishment for a Sunday morning!

The clouds had ALMOST cleared by the time we left!

… in early February 2013, my dad came to stay. And where did I take him? Booroomba Rocks. After work and everything – the sun took just enough time to set for us to really enjoy the views (thank you, daylight saving). If you want wow factor for your visiting family and friends, this is the walk. Here are a few pictures of what it’s like when it’s not covered in cloud – still spectacular, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

Pretty berries… which probably means pretty poisonous

The view

My dad. He’s awesome. (And he beat me on the way down. By a lot.)

… and me.

Attendees: T1 and Boyfriend; T1 and her dad

Date: Sunday, 6 May 2012; Thursday, 7 February 2013

Cost: Free

Worthwhile factor? Highly worthwhile.

Want more? The Heart Rate Monitor gives you a fair bit of detail about just how out of breath I was! (It defaults to miles – just click ‘view in metric’ in the top right hand corner!) Also check out a post from Autumn 2014 where the walk to Booroomba Rocks is peppered with wild mushrooms!

Related articles

• Dominating Mt Tennent (inthetaratory.wordpress.com)
• Mt Painter (inthetaratory.wordpress.com)
• Oakey Hill wander (inthetaratory.wordpress.com)
• Namadgi (surleydrifter.wordpress.com)
• Easter in the Snowy Mountains – Day 1 (inthetaratory.wordpress.com)
• Easter in the Snowy Mountains – Day 2 (inthetaratory.wordpress.com)