Green Point Lookout

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Green Point Lookout

Text and photosJohn Walker

Looking west from Green Point Lookout along the valley of Glenbrook Creek

At the end of June 2024 I decided to take a celebratory walk.

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I did a through walk from Warrimoo to Blaxland via the informal Green Point Lookout, celebrating our continued bushwalking access from Greens Road, Warrimoo (Lower Blue Mountains). Continued access was made possible, at least in part, by members of the Bushwalk.com forums petitioning for it via public submissions, including me. Discussion about this eventual small win can be found on the forum.

I think this is an important win because there now seems to be a push by all incumbent governments to make money out of selling off parcels of crown land that have often been used for public recreation and wellbeing for a very long time, in particular by local residents and bushwalkers. These locations are often important to local indigenous communities and I wish to acknowledge the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples as the traditional custodians of the Blue Mountains area. It seems elitist to ignore these things and sell these places off for exclusive private use, denying historic access to all others. The Greens Road precinct is on the fringe of the Blue Labyrinth, a very large tract of often wild and remote bushland that covers much of the

southern part of the Blue Mountains National Park. The area protects a wide range of flora and fauna, many indigenous rock art sites, and contains many established, long standing walking tracks.

Now to the celebration. I could have done a simple out and back walk similar to my last visit to this location, but I decided that a more interesting trip would be to attempt this extended traverse between Warrimoo and Blaxland railway stations. My goal was to find a linking route between the Greens Road area and the historic Florabella Pass. It ended up being fairly straightforward and I had really nice weather to enjoy it.

These locations are often important to local indigenous communities and I wish to acknowledge the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples as the traditional custodians of the Blue Mountains area.

Early views over the Glenbrook Creek valley from the private section of Greens Rd trail

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Green Point Lookout

0 0.5 1km

Road, four-wheel drive track, walking track (treed)

Main track, side trip, alternative route

Cliff, major contour line, minor contour line (10 metre interval)

Lake, river, waterfall or creek

Bus

Train

Toilet

Cafe

Lookout

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After a relaxing train trip, arriving at Warrimoo I quickly got the urban street walking to Greens Road out of the way. The first locked gate is still there, protecting the contentious section of (former) crown road. There was no evidence that this tract of land is now privately owned. I thank the new owner for leaving things as they were and hope that the bushland remains unspoiled. A short stroll of a few hundred metres brought me to an informal lookout of sorts and some early views over the valley of Glenbrook Creek.

After a quick bit of downhill walking I arrived at the Blue Mountains National Park locked gate. I'm pleased to note that the padlock is still intact, and there was no evidence of any vandalism since I was last there. After finding a way around the locked gate, there was some further down and up under some power lines. These will figure in my navigation for the latter part of the walk. After a while I came to a decision point at a fork in the trail. The branch on the right goes to Green Point Lookout, which is what I wanted to visit initially. I'll be taking the other branch on the return trip in order to find the link to the Florabella Pass.

I thank the new owner for leaving things as they were and hope that the bushland remains unspoiled.

Interesting artefact on Greens Road trail

Greens Road trail access gate with the still walkable but now privately owned section behind

NPWS boundary gate on Greens Rd trail

Decision time on Greens Rd trail RH branch to Green Point LO LH branch to Florabella Pass link

From the fork it was easy walking to the end of the Greens Road trail, eventually arriving at a rock platform with reasonable views. To get the most panoramic views though you need to find and tackle an easy scramble down from the rock platform and join an informal pad that goes up to Green Point Lookout proper. The pad is a little vague in places but it’s very easy to see where you need to go. I note that the lookout is not signposted but you will know when you've arrived. From the lookout the views are at their most expansive. There is an option to go a bit further on, but I left that for another visit. Zooming in across the valley I could just make out the white cross on Psalm Rock at Lost World Lookout, a spot I've visited several times via first descending into Glenbrook Creek at a different location.

After having lunch at the lookout I backtracked to where the Greens Rd trail splits and followed the other branch to its end under a large power line tower. Sussing around I rediscovered the informal pad that

Looking across the valley to Psalm Rock

I needed to scramble down to the lookout pad

Arrival at Green Point Lookout

I note that the lookout is not signposted but you will know when you've arrived.

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I had seen on my previous visit, which my mapping app indicated could get me to the Florabella Pass. After a short distance the pad splits into two options. I tried both for a short distance but the right hand branch seemed less precipitous, so I opted for that. At the time I was still working on getting my total knee replacement to full strength at about 8 months post surgery, so wanted to protect my investment. I’m happy to report that my knee is almost 100% functional now, with very few issues. After a short and fairly steep descent I was a little surprised to arrive very quickly at the Florabella Pass. I had walked the pass a number of times previously, although not since before Covid.

The vegetation changed considerably as I descended further into this deeper section of the pass, generally heading in an easterly direction. It is very green and pretty, rainforesty, with the occasional shelter cave and creek crossing, old cut stone steps, many

Arrival at the Florabella Pass

Start of the linking route to the Florabella Pass

Descending a wetter part of the Florabella Pass

I had to substitute hanging on to plants, tree roots, rocks and so on, with a bum slide or two.

Shelter cave on the Florabella Pass

now falling into disrepair. There was still a fair bit of walking to be done from there to get to my end point at Blaxland Railway Station, with a number of short but steep ups and downs. My route also traversed several now-very-eroded sections of the pass on the drier side of the valley, courtesy of fairly recent extreme weather events. I encountered at least one roped off side track leading down into Glenbrook Creek, with a closure sign warning of extreme danger. Eventually I came to the junction with the quite short Pippa’s Pass, which I followed to its end behind the Blaxland library, then a brief walk to the railway station for the trip home. A successful day out and a reminder that it was worth the effort to seek preservation of access to this lovely area on the fringe of the Blue Labyrinth.

Pond on Pippas Pass

Creek crossing on the Florabella Pass

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