CENTRAL COAST – 11 January 2026
Taking advantage of a cool-ish day (after a heatwave), I suggested to Trish M that I show her were Mooney Cave and the Romanesque pools were in the Somersby area. We were brainstorming a social event. Trish’s partner Peter joined us for what would only be a two hour walk. Not even half blog-worthy right?
We decided to do the circuit, to get the full experience. There’s about a 1k walk on fire trails (if that), and then you head off into the bush. When we got to the spot, all there was to indicate we should go on a track was a small cairn. So we started on the track. This is what I wrote last time I was there in August 2023:
“The track is pretty easy to find … blind Freddy could find his way (even in the dark). So, what was it with all the flagging tape? 100m into the walk, Steve and I started picking up degraded tape off the track and taking old tape off the trees. Some trees had at least 3 different tapes on them, and sometimes there was a mere 4m between tapes … if you need to put up tape, for whatever reason, if there’s already one on the tree, take the old one off! The track is less than 2k and below is how much litter Steve & I picked up and took off the trees … popular opinion was that we should leave some in place (obviously not my opinion lol), so every 50m there is still a tape there for those who need it to follow.”
This is the photo I took of the tape that I had either removed or picked up off the ground.
With Trish & Peter following me, I was expecting loads of flagging tape to show people the route. What do you know? Someone must have read my blog, or there’s environmental warrior wandering around in the bush being annoyed by all the tape too, so, whoever it is, he/she took it ALL out. Wow! I was absolutely delighted – hence a blog-worthy post.
What the track looks like no, now deteriorating flagging tape, it does meander here and there, you do have to pay attention and not go off track, the Instagrammers may have a problem, but it will be a good story for them if they get lost – well they can’t get that lost!
Once we got to the cave and started on our way out, we did come across some nylon ribbon (wont deteriorate like the flagging tape) on the route out showing the way to go, not an overabundance but enough to make sure people didn’t get lost. Mind you, the track has changed somewhat too. I figure people are just doing a bounce trip (easier than the circuit) these days (the track in that we took wasn’t well defined), and they just need the one set of tape.
The new tape, mind you, looks like it’s deteriorating somewhat.
So, good on you – whoever you are, love your approach – maybe you’re a local and got annoyed by all the tape too but I’m calling you our environmental warrior!
However, at the cave we did come across a couple who were doing a circuit route, they seemed to know where they were going, but maybe I should have warned them that the track wasn’t that obvious in places and there were no tapes … hope they got out ok!
So, my next gripe …
What’s this campfire doing here? Wasn’t there the last time and all it does is encourage others to have a camp-fire. Now I’m going to have to take in a shovel and bucket and remove the evidence!!! Good thing that Trish and I are planning another trip there soon.
Thank you Pete and Trish for coming on the walk with me (took myself out of the photo Trish, it was horrifying, might have scared little kids!
For those who missed the original post about Mooney Cave, here it is with photos of what you’ll find on the trip (lots of interesting stuff).
Banner – the ceiling on the cave