Carlingford, NSW
6.8 km (2 hrs )
★★★☆☆

The Carlingford / Dundas area where this track is located was first settled in 1791 in what was then known as Pennant Hills. Many of the early former convict settlers were not suited to farming and eventually sold their land grants to William Cox, who used the land to extend his Brush Farm holdings. Gregory Blaxland (of the Blue Mountains crossing fame) bought Brush Farm in 1806, which was held by his family until the early 1900s. By the 1840s, most of the farms were converted to orchards, which in turn gave way to residential housing in the 1940s.

The Ponds Walk follows the Ponds Creek and Subiaco Creek as they flow from Carlingford towards Parramatta River. Beginning at Marsden Road in Carlingford, the Ponds Walk descends through the tall Blue Gum forest to the Dundas Valley, dominated by Turpentines and Ironbarks. The first part of the walk is through mostly native bushland, but this gives way to a more landscaped setting, with grassed reserves that border the creeks. I was quite surprised at the number of birds that I saw along the walk, including kookaburras, cockatoos, galahs, rainbow lorikeets, honey eaters and magpies.

The Ponds Walk is nice for an urban walk, and I really enjoyed my morning out.