Yet another modified walk on an initially cool day that warmed up nicely and no rain!
After traffic delays cause most participants some grief getting there, seven of us set off on our car shuffle to the start (northern end) of the Centre Trail on General San Martin Drive.

An easy fire trail led us to a lookout after 700m that provided great views over Coal and Candle Ck to our NW. We completed this 3.7km leg on good fire trail with ease.

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 1 Coal and Candle Creek from 1st lookout wide                                   

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 2 Coal and Candle Creek from 1st lookout People
                                                                                         Coal and Candle Creek from 1st lookout

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 3 Tessellated Pavement near lookout2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 4 Bottle Brush
                            Tessellated Pavement near lookout                                                                                                        Bottle Brush

Crossing the southern end of General San Martin Drive, we ducked behind the big sign to start our journey down the Smith’s Creek East Trail downhill for 1.7km to the upper reaches of Smith’s Creek.
The new unofficial bridge (a set of planks nailed to a fallen tree) made for easy crossing of the creek, after a picturesque morning tea on the sandy banks of this scenic creek.

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 5 Morning Tea at Smiths Creek
                                                                                                                       Morning Tea at Smiths Creek

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 6 Bridge over Smths Creek at MorningTea
                                                                                                    Bridge over Smth's Creek at MorningTea

Following Smith’s creek for 1km to our NW, we traversed lovely rainforest, open mangroves, salt marsh and areas of bright golden coloured reed grasses.
Quite a few spots were wet with ponds and mud to traverse but this added to the fun!
A 2.5km long, 170m climb up the Smith’s Creek Fire Trail brought us to the relatively flat and easy going Perimeter Trail. It was actually hot work climbing which was quite different to the start of the day.

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 7 Rainforest Ferns on Track along Smths Creek2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 8 Exiting the Rainforest on Track along Smths Creek
                      Rainforest Ferns on Track along Smth's Creek                                                     Exiting the Rainforest on Track along Smth's Creek 

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 9 Reed Grasses along Smths Creek
                                                                                                       Reed Grasses along Smth's Creek

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 10 Peter Selfie along Smths Creek
                                                                                                                      Peter Selfie along Smth's Creek

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 12 Mangroves along Smths Creek
                                                                                                     Mangroves along Smth's Creek

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 13 Reed Grass head along Smths Creek2022 06 17 Plus Nick S IMG 0173 1.jpg
                               Reed Grass head along Smth's Creek

We were all looking forward to lunch but the 4km did not deter anyone from wanting to see the promised views at Wilkins Lookout at lunch time, so we pushed on.
The views did not disappoint with the lower reaches of Smith’s Creek in view. The return to our cars was only 3km so we were back for coffee at Terrey Hills in no time.

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 14 Lunch at Wilkins Lookout
                                                                                                               Lunch at Wilkins Lookout

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T 15 View of Lower Smiths Creek from Lunch at Wilkins Lookout
                                                                                    View of Lower Smith's Creek from Lunch at Wilkins Lookout   

2022 06 17 Plus Peter T Map

        Most agreed it was a nice varied walk on a beautiful day, no rain and no leaches reported.

        Leaders: Jenny C, Peter
        Walkers: Nick S, Polly, Christine S, Celia, Pragati
        Photos:   Nick S(13),  Peter T(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,14,15,16)
        Words:  Peter