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.

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.

Three days in Wollemi gorge country