Muogamarra Nature Reserve
Muogamarra Nature Reserve
There’s something special about walking through a place that only opens its gates for a short window each year. Muogamarra Nature Reserve near Hornsby is one of those rare pockets of bushland — a sanctuary of wildflowers, sandstone ridges, and sweeping Hawkesbury views that feels all the more precious for its limited access: just six weekends a year during wildflower season.
Quick Details
Length: 4.3km
Elevation: 110m
Grade: Easy with a couple of moderate hills
Best season: Wildflower season
Suitable for kids: Yes
Before We Started
Our journey to Muogamarra Nature Reserve began a couple of months ago when we saw an ad for the entry tickets. Neither of us had heard of the reserve before, but the idea of hiking trails that are only open to the public twelve days a year had us booking tickets the same day. Good thing we did — turns out tickets to Muogamarra sell out fast!
Weeks out from the opening and all tickets were gone. It might seem strange that we’d want to pay money to walk around and look at wildflowers when we already live in the country and have wildflowers at home — but we figured this might offer something a little different to the types of flowers we see on our usual trails.
On the day of our visit we drove up the long dirt track, full of bumps and potholes, and handed our ticket to the elderly volunteer at the gate — not your typical kind of bouncer, but still the first park we’ve visited with one. From there we drove to the field studies centre, where another volunteer directed us to a parking spot (also the first park we’ve visited with parking attendants).
The day was warm and you could smell spring in the air. We registered at the shelter area and took a look at a display of wildflowers we might spot on the trail. The volunteers recommended we walk out on the Lloyd Trig trail, which they estimated to be about three hours return.
Starting the Trail
We set off on an easy-to-follow path under tall shady gum trees, past picnic tables where families were enjoying the day. One of the great things about Muogamarra is that even though there are a couple of short, demanding hills, the trails are really family friendly. Our first stop wasn’t far down the track: a lookout named after the reserve’s founder, JD Tipper.
Tipper Lookout
Around 1934, railway engineer John Duncan Tipper leased 600 acres of wilderness above the Hawkesbury River — the beginning of Muogamarra Nature Reserve. Tipper expanded the area over the next twenty years before it was turned over to the State in the mid-1950s. Today, the lookout named in his honour looks out over the Hawkesbury.
Back to the Trail
After leaving the lookout we wandered through a section of narrow bush trail — so far not seeing anything we wouldn’t see on any other bush trail in the Mountains, but keeping our eyes peeled nonetheless for that elusive flash of waratah red through the trees.
It wasn’t long before we found ourselves on a wide and sunny fire trail with little shade. Here the trail takes us past a site of Aboriginal significance — a carving in the rock said to depict a whale. There are a number of sites like this in Muogamarra. This is one you can visit, while others aren’t marked on the maps to ensure their protection.
We started to see more flowers as we walked further along the trail. This is classic dry Aussie bushland (sclerophyll forest), so the plants are hardy varieties like banksia, grevillea, and my personal favourite — Narrow-leaf Drumsticks (which also appear in a broad-leaf variety).
Drumsticks have small yellow flowers, but what I love about them is the ball-shaped seed cones they leave behind when the flowers drop away. When conditions are right, the cones break apart for the fluffy seeds inside to blow away in the wind — but it’s common to see the plants with old cones still attached, waiting for a bushfire to crack them open like built-in seed banks.
The small and dainty grevilleas in the reserve are shades of pink and white. Grevilleas appear in over 350 unique varieties and are often called ‘spider flowers’ for their long, thin tendrils that look like spider legs. Most produce a lot of nectar and, according to some, were added to water by First Nations people to create a sweet drink.
Deerubbin Loop Walk
We turned off the fire trail onto the narrow loop track and were instantly surrounded by a sea of pink and yellow against the green scrub. The pinks, we later learned, were boronias; the yellow was wattle — and more varieties of egg-and-bacon than Dr Seuss could point a fork at.
The trail wound through a beautiful tree corridor before climbing a rocky scramble towards Lloyds Trig. The heat of the day was really noticeable now and there was little shade on the track as we reached a sandstone wall on our right. The flowers thinned out here, but it wasn’t long before we found them again — still searching for those waratahs though.
Lloyds Trig
As we reached the base of Lloyds Trig we could hear voices above our heads, and in the search for the path up to the top of the rocks somehow walked straight past the signpost pointing us in the right direction. Thankfully one of the volunteers was sitting on the rocks above us and called out to show us the way.
Trigs are relics from older mapping systems that became outdated with the invention of GPS. Here in Australia, trig stations pop up on ridgelines and hilltops. These days they’re usually just a handy marker that you’ve reached a high point — and a good excuse for a breather and a photo.
From here we could see the Hawkesbury River again, although the best view was about halfway up the climb rather than from the trig itself. Even from this distance the water looked inviting and there were plenty of boats out on the river enjoying the warm weather.
We head back to the trail and make our way downhill for a while. There’s an old stone staircase to wander down, which brings us to a wider track with occasional views out to the water. Here the flowers are few and far between, but they’re still there.
Deerubbin Lookover
The trail is mostly downhill for a while before slowly beginning a climb — with a bit of a scramble — up to Deerubbin Lookover. This is one of two lookouts on this end of the reserve, the other called Deerubbin Lookout. Deerubbin is derived from the traditional name of the Hawkesbury River, meaning “deep water.”
The views went on forever — across the water to the distant tree-covered hills and small islands that we could already feel our feet itching to explore. We sat for a while and watched the boats slipping under the bridge far below, before heading down to a lower lookout at the base of the rocks.
Finishing the Trail
We backtracked along the trail a short way before turning off to our left to head down to Deerubbin Lookout — unfortunately that part of the trail was shut off to visitors, so we headed back along the fire trail to the carpark. Along the way we found a beautiful section of tessellated rock — we’ve become a little obsessed with spotting these after our visit to the Tessellated Pavement in Mount Wilson.
We actually really enjoyed this section of the trail. There weren’t many flowers, but the forest around us was lovely — not to mention shady. It was a nice area to wander through in the mid-afternoon light.
As we were walking along, Jess happened to spot these small red circles on the ground. We sat down to get a closer look and were fascinated by what we found. These are called sundews, and despite the whimsical name, they’re actually carnivorous plants. Each leaf is covered in tiny tentacles tipped with droplets that look like dew, enticing insects into their deadly trap.
The fire trail climbs a pretty steep hill before rejoining the track we first walked out on. We noticed more flowers on the way back that we’d somehow missed earlier. While I don’t think we saw any varieties of flowers we wouldn’t normally see on other trails, the reserve does make them easier to spot on gentler, family-friendly paths.
The Only Waratah on the Trail
We had searched high and low all afternoon for a glimpse of red through the trees. Normally we see plenty on the trails this time of year, but so far in Muogamarra we hadn’t spotted any. We weren’t complaining about the flowers we had found though.
We overheard one of the volunteers say that there was a waratah near Tipper Lookout, and thankfully the trail looped back so we’d pass it again. Sure enough, opposite the lookout and about three metres up a branch, was a single waratah.
Waratahs are beautiful flowers, and they’re protected by law in the wild. You can face on-the-spot fines of $300 for picking them. But why the protection? For one thing, they’re a crucial food source for native wildlife. But to understand the damage that can be done by picking the flowers, we need to look at the way they grow differently to most Aussie natives.
Waratahs flower at the tips of their branches. After the bloom falls away, the branch keeps growing from that point, with the new shoot even holding the bud for the next spring. So picking a waratah doesn’t just take the flower — it damages the branch and removes the future growth and flowers of that stem. Do the right thing: take a photo, not a flower.
Photo above taken late October 2024
Getting There
Muogamarra Nature Reserve is in Cowan, about an hour’s drive north from the centre of Sydney. The reserve is only open to the public for six weekends each year. Bookings are essential and tickets go fast.
Tips and Tricks
To book your tickets to Muogamarra Nature Reserve, visit the NPWS website.
The reserve is family friendly, although there aren’t many facilities there, so bring all snacks and drinks with you.
The Muogamarra volunteers who you’ll find on the trail have a wealth of knowledge about the reserve, so stop and say hello when you meet them on the trail.