BUSH-BASH BONANZA
“OH, really?” drawls my work colleague when I explain where I’m going for Christmas. The ambivalent intonation coupled with a blank expression serves to identify yet another dedicated hiker who has never heard of this extraordinary place. I can’t really blame them, because until a few weeks ago I hadn’t heard of it either, despite it being part of the Greater Blue Mountains, barely three hours drive from Sydney’s CBD. It’s effectively known only to Lithgonians, coal interests, and NSW’s most voracious bushwalkers. This may explain why, over a few days across one of the year’s main holidays, we can explore Mugii Murum-ban State Conservation Area (hereafter known as ‘the park’) without meeting another living soul.
What’s in a name?
It starts with the Australian boobook (also known as the mopoke), a native species of owl. In the language of the Wiradjuri, an Aboriginal people of central NSW, its name is mugii. In the
