The steel tracks of the Inside Track are distinctly unsafe for bicycles:
they include steps and can be quite slippery, and bicycles are a danger to walkers and wildlife.
Still, there are designated bike tracks through the bush, and the west side fire trail, suitable for
offroad vehicles in times of fire, is also a cycle track. Inexperienced riders need to know that there
is a steep and rough section at the southern end, between nodes U and X. To quote an experienced
rider on 1 August 2020, "riding down here, people often lose their water bottles on the bumps".
Just a note about Australian English: where Americans say "trail", we usually say "track" for anything we walk along, yet we say "fire trail". Don't ask, because nobody knows why!
This walk can be accessed by a short steel track from the Q Station roundabout, where the 135 bus sets down and picks up (Node J). If you are approaching by car, take the entrance after the North Fort Road and turn right at the top. Go to the southern end of the road (St Barbara's Avenue), and where the road stops, and there is limited parking. The trail starts at Node K.
A bit of local knowledge: many of the volunteers prefer to leave the area through the St Barbara's Avenue entry gate onto and off Scenic Drive, because it is easier to check for traffic on the left, but the turn is blind on the right. Cars and cyclists can be hidden, so exit slowly.
Located near Node U, this is probably Australia's oldest and largest quarantine cemetery. There is a good newspaper article here.
The Quarantine Station operated in some form from 1832 to 1984, and the Third Cemetery, well away from the survivors, was in use from 1881 to 1925. Many of the victims buried there died of bubonic plague around 1900, and influenza around 1918.
The cemetery's vegetation is managed by the volunteers. It is very sensitive (there are orchids
in the undergrowth, so please stay on the clear perimeter track. Thanks to the work of the
volunteers, the cemetery is a treasure trove of unusual plants. If you see people there on the
first Wednesday of the month, wearing light blue shirts, ask them to share the treasures, like our
flying duck orchid in spring. That's it, on the left, but you need to be shown where to look.
From an ecological viewpoint, the cemetery is surrounded by senescent scrub, dominated by ti-tree
(Leptospermum laevigatum), while there is a far wider range of wildflowers in the area that
is kept cleared, within and around the cemetery. In the past, when the whole headland was managed
with fire, things would have looked more like the inside of the cemetery.
Apart from what you see in the cemetery, there isn't a lot to be said for the plants and animals on the fire trail, but clever eyes will always see more, like the greenhood orchids that appear in the area in winter (see them on the right). As you are walking along the fire trail, when a steel track comes in from the north (your left), the Third cemetery is on your right, and there may be animals...
Pause, take in some of Australia's history, enjoy views of the harbour, and look around.
If you look hard enough, you can even find the orchids.
The cemetery is also home to some unusual wildlife, including the bird of paradise fly and male flower wasp, seen on the left, both dwarfed by this black cockatoo, seen perched on the fence one day.
There's more about these insects here.
This file is http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/nhead/westside.htm.
The home page for this site is
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/nhead/index.htm<
The page was first created on 11 January 2019 and last updated 31 July 2020.