There are mornings in Sydney when the weather turns against you — low cloud, persistent drizzle, and grey sky. Most photographers retreat. I've learned to do the opposite. The Blue Gum Walk in Hornsby is a trail best experienced when the mist rolls in from Berowra Creek and settles between the trees, turning the forest into something older and quieter than it has any right to be just forty minutes from the CBD.
I arrived at Rosemead Road before seven. The car park was empty, the air cool and damp, and the forest — even from the road — already carried that particular green luminosity that only fog can produce. It was one of those rare mornings when the light doesn't come from above at all, but seems to rise from the ferns themselves.
Sydney Blue Gum
The dominant species here is the Sydney Blue Gum (Eucalyptus saligna) — tall, straight-trunked trees with smooth slate-grey bark and rough brown 'socks' at the base. What makes this forest remarkable is its ecological context: the Blue Gum Forest is one of the rarest ecological communities in New South Wales, with as little as 14 hectares remaining in existence, almost all of it confined to the Hornsby local government area.
The forest owes its character to the Hornsby diatreme — a volcanic intrusion that enriched the soil far beyond the lean sandstone that underlies most of Greater Sydney. The result is a microclimate of unusual fertility: towering eucalypts, dense understorey ferns, and a lushness that feels entirely out of place this close to a major railway station. Timber was harvested in the valley from the 1820s until the 1960s, so while the trees soar high above the track, they are comparatively young regrowth — which makes the sense of scale all the more extraordinary.
Bracken ferns carpeting the forest floor beneath the eucalypt canopy. The fog diffuses all contrast, turning the scene monochrome green.
Through the Valley, Into the Mist
The walk begins at the large signboard at the end of Rosemead Road, descending the Rosemead Firetrail across Old Mans Creek before ascending through the heart of the blue gum forest. The first section is wide and easy underfoot — a gentle undulation through tall trees and ferns, with whipbirds calling from somewhere deep in the scrub. It is exactly the kind of walking that invites you to slow down and look properly.
After roughly 700 metres the trail narrows considerably, becoming a true bushwalking track. This is where the character of the walk shifts. The path threads between large eucalypt trunks and banks of tree ferns, with stone steps descending toward Berowra Creek. Creek crossings can be impassable following heavy rain, so it's worth checking conditions — but on a misty morning after overnight drizzle, the creek runs clear and cold, and the stepping stones are negotiable with care.
The circuit continues along Waitara Creek before climbing back toward the sandstone ridgetop, where the vegetation shifts abruptly from lush rainforest understorey to open dry woodland. That transition — from deep shade and wet ferns to open eucalypt heath — is one of the most distinctive things about this walk. It compresses two completely different ecosystems into 4 kilometres.
Shooting in Fog
Misty conditions are genuinely transformative here. The fog compresses tonal range and eliminates harsh shadows, producing that diffused, luminous quality that makes forest photography so rewarding in grey weather. The ferns glow an almost electric green against the pale neutral of the mist-filled canopy — a contrast that can be further pushed in post-processing without ever losing its naturalistic quality.
The wide sections of firetrail offer strong leading lines into the mist — the perspective compression that makes a 24mm feel intimate rather than distorted. Tighter in, the relationship between the rough bark of the mature blue gums and the delicate fronds of bracken fern creates compelling foreground interest without needing to travel anywhere dramatic. Everything you need is at your feet.
I shot primarily at f/8 to retain depth through the fern beds, with exposures ranging from 1/30s to 1/100s depending on the canopy density. The low contrast of overcast light makes it easy to protect the misty background highlights while still drawing detail out of the forest floor. Bring a lens cloth — the mist settles on everything.
The Blue Gum Walk rarely features in lists of Sydney's great landscapes — it lacks the obvious drama of a cliff edge or an ocean view. But drama was never the point. What this forest offers is something harder to find closer to the city: a sense of genuine wildness, contained and quiet, that requires nothing more than a misty morning and a willingness to move slowly through it.