Rising alone from the Wolgan Valley floor, Donkey Mountain is topped by a maze of pagodas, slot canyons and sandstone chambers. In 2022, not long after the devastating bushfires, we spent a day exploring only a small part of this extraordinary mesa.

Large groups bring energy to the bush. But a brief period of silence can completely change the way a group experiences a place.

A modest sandstone outcrop beside McCarrs Creek Road led to an afternoon of overhangs, open woodland and unexpected discoveries in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Sometimes the quiet joy of small places is enough.

In 1931, a section of the Katoomba escarpment began to fail — a fissure widening for months before the cliff finally gave way. Nearly a century later, the scar is still there.

Across Pittwater, the cliffs give little away. A day along their base reveals what sits within them — and what is easy to miss.

Three days in Wollemi gorge country