Tom Thumb Lagoon Walk Adventure

/ Garrulous Gwendoline

I promised in my previous post that I would give a pictorial of my recent walk in Tom Thumb Lagoon. So here it is. Please click on photographs in galleries to see the full shot. First, a recap of the aerial view:

To access this area I walk the footpath of the main road you can see in the northwest of the aerial photo. Even though there is a section shaded by overhanging trees, and the bushland of the Tom Thumb Lagoon is on the left, it’s not that interesting.

Similarly, I walk past the entrance marked ‘Wollongong Greenhouse Park’. Even though there is a pedestrian access to the side, this is an access point for council vehicles, so all the roadway is asphalted. That’s the distinct grey roadway through the greenery in the aerial view. Walk on a bit further, and there is a semi-concealed nature path.

I promised cicadas, and their cadence begins immediately, as we pass over first one little bridge, and then another:

What’s left here is basically a salt marsh flood-plain swamp, so the waterway is muddy and scummy, and where the level is low, mangrove suckers reach for air:

After a short while, the path splits. You can go ahead on the level, partially asphalted path; or you can choose the ‘gently’ ascending natural path:

Today, we’ll ascend going out, and return on the flat. Come with me and the cicadas as we go up, constantly switch-backing in a zig-zag to make the climb seem easier:

At the top, the greenery beckons us to explore further:

We find an abandoned outdoor venue. Maybe this was once graced with a pergola or gazebo and hosted weddings or such-like:

Next we find The Greenhouse Park Community Garden, run by Wollongong Council, and maintained by volunteers. It was established in 2013 to educate volunteers on growing their own food. It was already getting out of hand a few weeks ago, but the recent rains have sent it berserk:

Walking on, we are going to take the upper path to a lookout. It’s at this point my teensy brain should have registered that the grass path had grown heaps since it was last mowed a few weeks back. No problem in sneakers, right? – Until you encounter a snake sunning itself… (which luckily I didn’t).

Flowers are scattered throughout the bush. Probably none of them should be here, but birds and wind would have carried the seeds, and the bees weren’t complaining. And if you think one of them looks more like mushrooms, you are right. (click on the photos to enlarge):

So. We are walking along, la, la, la, never giving a thought to snakes, or to the short, violent storm of a week before that saw the rain falling sideways – first to the left, and then to the right – and which took out our power for several hours … and then we find this blocking our path:

We are mere feet from our destination. To turn back is to wade through the overgrown grass again, and then return to the lower path. I don’t know what you would have decided to do. I decided to clamber over it, but I couldn’t get enough grip or balance to clear the debris. I went under instead, just managing to twist through where the branches were barer, and then looked back at what had happened to the tree. The poor thing had taken a battering.

Now, looking at the first map, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that from the lookout, what you now see is the industrial beating heart of Wollongong/Port Kembla. But after wading through the bush, it is a contrast. In this gallery you can see the local helipad with a copter landing, the domes of the sewerage treatment works, and the outlook across parts of Port Kembla, its fertilizer and grain handling silos, cranes for conventional cargo such as steel, and the car importing. The grey mass in the foreground is netting to protect the cars. I’ve taken a couple of out of focus close up to show some of the ships in port.

Obviously, from this point you can also look out to the Pacific Ocean, and our Five Islands (Flinders Islet (Toothbrush Island), Bass Islet, Martin Islet, Big Island (also called Rabbit or Perkins Island) and Rocky Islet. When the whales are migrating, this is also a good vantage point. I forgot to take an ocean shot, so you’ll have to be content with a coal carrying train and truck. You can just make out a stack of coal behind the train, right at the top of the photo. The coal bucket loading machinery is harder to pinpoint, it’s the crane looking thing sticking out to the right of the stack. The greenery at the front of the coal train shot, and the one of the helipad above, is masking the waterway.

Okay, now we’re going to scramble down the hill so we reach that waterway. A Yellow bush flower, maybe some kind of brush, grows all the way down, and at the bottom, bamboo flourishes around the water.

Now it’s simply a matter of following the asphalted/dirt track back to where it split and we headed upwards, and, remaining on the lower level this time, we turn our footsteps for home. This walk takes around an hour door-to-door. But along the way, there are still interesting things to see. Believe it or not, the light colour beyond the trees in this shot is grass growing in the waterway. But our resident cheeky white-faced grey heron was not foraging there today. He was probably out picking at the duco of someone’s car. He has a taste for that.

One final surprise from nature to end our walk.

30 thoughts on “Tom Thumb Lagoon Walk Adventure”

  2. I have long loved Tom Thumb reserve BUT I feel anger that more is not being done to maintain this beautiful place ; one of Wollongongs greatest treasures and a nature preserve that should be the pride of the Illawarra ! It is a treasure trove of the most marvelous bird life and the views are extraordinary ! …. There is a house on the top of the hill with a still flourishing permaculture garden and a tenant responsible for mowing and general maintanance BUT it needs a team of paid workers and volunteers to keep the walking tracks clear ! A once wonderful bike path is now entirely blocked by tower high bamboo. I can vouch for a healthy number of tiger snakes that inhabit the hill and while it is their territory if the tracks were kept clear it would be much much safer for ramblers. The view from the top of the hill is amazing and I have seen whales breaching in the sea and all manner of raptors in the sky (including the rather elusive grey goshhawk). The recent rains have caused a massive destructive bloom of weeds making some areas that were recently accesssible now entirely impenetrable which is sad ! There is also much to be done to decominate the mangrove waterways which are still toxic due to a chemical spill. It is a discrace that more isn’t done….I simple do not understand why this area is not being given the attention it deserves. I remain baffled by Wollongong Councils neglect.

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    • Thank you Cassandra for commenting on my post.

      I took to this walk at the beginning of Covid because the Blue Mile became too crowded during lockdown and people were constantly walking into me. (Being of a certain age it appears I am now invisible).

      But you have reminded me I haven’t done it now for ages after experiencing so much overgrowth. And it has been such a wet summer I can’t imagine there has been improvement.

      You make very valid points.

      x Gwen

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  3. Hi Gwen, I’ve been slack with my comments! Sorry! Lovely posts. Yesterday we drove to Lake Parramatta and wanted to do the 4.2 Km loop but it started raining and I wasn’t game! Had never been there before. Haven’t been to Wollongong in years, your posts will be a motivation!

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    • Hi Shubha. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. It’s always appreciated. I grew up in Old Guildford, so Lake Parramatta was part of my swimming backyard, along with Granville and Parramatta council pools. All changed now, no doubt.

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  9. I’m enjoying your Wollongong posts. I haven’t walked around Tom Thumb Lagoon. I might wait until the tree has gone and the weather dries up a bit. I’ve found walking and cycling around Lake Illawarra a way to avoid the crowds and discover new vistas.

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  11. Was that one of those ‘dropped branches’ from a gum in a storm? So pleased the big beast eucalyptus two doors down from me has gone. Your clambering experience makes us realise how big a branch is once it’s down. Surprising. Weren’t there spiders in the foliage? I think that might have put me off getting up so close and personal.

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    • You know, I didn’t give spiders a thought either. I was too intent on how I was going to get over it. And it wasn’t even a particularly large tree in the first place. Nothing like your big beast. The storm was so savage. It had cleaved the tree, probably from whipping it back and forwards.

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      • Yes, it’s quite worrying when you consider storms are going to become more and more brutal with the climate crisis. Areas of our environment that normally experience fairly benign weather don’t have buildings designed to withstand extreme storms.

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