Dubbo region - Ponto Falls and Goulburn River NP

When a baby Hippo was born at Dubbo Zoo we decided to head out for a look.  As we were travelling with friends who were not campers we hotel-ed it in Dubbo town.  After a couple of days wandering the Zoo our friends headed back home and we decided to have a couple of nights on the way back in the tent.

Our first night was at a place called Ponto Falls.  Not far from the town of Wellington, the road in is sealed except for the last couple of k's - but that is good quality dirt.  Once we got there we noticed that a fair number of people had camped there in 2WD sedans...  It is pet friendly and free, with a loo but no showers, water or firewood is provided.

We set up, had a bit of a fish, did a camp oven dinner and really enjoyed the place.

The next morning we set off for Goulburn River NP.

Not a long drive really, and the road in says 4WD.  In the dry it is a pretty good track.  In the wet it would be diabolical.

We set ourselves up at the Spring Gully Campground.

As the loo's were a bit of a walk we decided to set up the portaloo for the overnighter!

Walking down to river from the campsite was a great way to spend the afternoon.  There are some good swimming holes near by and you can launch a kayak upstream...

Bit of a tease with the view - worth the trip in I'd say...

Next morning we needed to get moving toward home.  Breakfast was called for to sustain us for the drive out so we put the BBQ/fire ring to good use!

A quick trip to the NSW South Coast - Termeil Point Campground

It has been a while since I put anything up on the blog so I have decided to make a bit of an effort to get some of our (and my solo) trips up on here.  In the last while we have been to some great local and even distance touring locations.

I decided that I hadn't been fishing for a while so packed up the 4WD and set off for the South Coast.

A nice little National Park let me do a spot of fishing and gave me the opportunity to take some nice pics...

So with the swag set up under the roll out awning I went off for an unsuccessful attempt at fishing.  (Luckily I had dinner with me in the fridge.

As the sun went down I gave up on the fishing and grabbed the camera.

The sunset over the lake adjacent to the beach was awesome.

A steady hand and the flash lead to this shot of a wattle coming into flower.

And this shot of the waves rolling in just after sunset.

This was one of those little trips to a secluded and little known place that was pretty awesome.  It wasn't packed with 4WD action but there were few other campers, the toilet was clean and tidy.  That said it is not pet friendly, there was no water, showers or firewood.  I was however a relaxing weekend.

Back to Paddy's River Dam

If you have been reading the Blog since it's beginning you will have seen that we like the High Country and we like to camp where there is water.  Sometimes for a swim, sometimes for a bit of a fish.  After the trip up north to visit the rellies we set sail south.  Having a few more days before returning to work we decided to load up some fishing gear and the surf ski and head for Paddy's River Dam for a couple of days.  Spot of fishing, a swim and a bit of a paddle around...

Paddy's River Dam was constructed in 1936 to provide a reliable water source for the power house at Tumbarrumba.  These days it ismainly a recreational dam, stocked with trout. This is bush camping at its best; a couple of pit toilets, a picnic table and some fireplaces.  Better than that, being State Forest, it is pet friendly so you can take a dog, or as was the case when we were there a horse.

The drive in is pretty straight foward.  We were in H4 in the Disco, the earlier rains had washed away some of the surfaces and there were ruts.  There was even a tree across the road!

The tree may well be gone by now - it was a couple of months ago...  In any event we found a track around it and continued on our way.  If you have been in there and know please leave a comment...

The last little bit of road in has a small creek crossing and not too far from the turn off to the campsites was a bit of mud.

A little bit of care needed, or there was a chicken track around it!

It didn't take us long to get in to the campsite and get ourselves set up.

With the campfire lit and dinner in the camp oven there was only one thing left to do on the first day...

Some people call this fishing.  I call it standing in water killing time and relaxing.  Didn't have anything to do with fish on the days we were there.  Still as the saying goes, the worst day fishing...

There are other things to do.  Hume and Hovell trekked through here during their 1824 expedition to Port Phillip.  There is a signposted heratige walking trail from Yass to Albury and Paddy's River Dam is one of the few vehicle accessible campsites along the trail.  There are signs around to show you where to go and most of the local visitor information centres nearby have information about the trail and the expedition.

The scenery in the area is fantastic, the tracks through Bago State Forest are well signposted and we had no problem finding our way around using the GPS, all of the trails were on the maps we were using.

Access: It is accessible by 4WD.  It's easy in the dry, but very ordinary in the wet...
Toilets: Yes - long drop.
Showers: No.
Water: Yes.
Shop: No.
Campfires: Yes - subject to firebans.
Pets: Yes.

Cost: Free.

GPS: S35 42.9759, E148 10.0049

Back in business

After a while away doing other stuff I am back in business with some of the camping we have done while we were invisible.  So some pics, some words and some fun along the way...

At Christmas time 2010 we set sail to visit family in northern NSW and had a couple of days in the bush on the way up.

Our site of choice this time, mainly because we didn't have the dog with us, was Warrabah National Park.

Entry to Park

We had a fair sort of tour on the black top to get to the closest main town, Tamworth, which is about 80km away.  Near Manilla we turned on to Namoi River Road and followed that to the picnic area and campground.

Road in to Warrabah NP

It's a nicely set up park with composting toilets and picnic tables in the camping area.  The road in is unsealed but usually in good condition and is an easy drive for a 2WD.

Info sign

The entry sign also has an 'honesty box' set up so you can pay the $5/adult $3/child camping fee.  The signage also shows where you can camp and has the usual interpretive information about the park.

The Namoi was in spectacular flow.  It was a couple of weeks before Christmas in 2010 and there had been some significant rains breaking the droughts and filling up the rivers.

There were a couple of freshwater shrimp to be had in the shallow pools.

There are some 4WD tracks near the campsites

Which are well set up...

They just need someone to set up and enjoy...

We had a couple of very enjoyable days in Warrabah NP.  A little 4WD-ing, lots of eating, sleeping and relaxing.  Even a spot of fishing and swimming.  Do I recommend this one?  Yes and No.  It's a National Park so dogs are not welcome and there is a charge.  I don't like that...  On the up side we seemed to have had the entire park to ourselves.  Didn't catch anything, but enjoyed the couple of days before heading off up the road towards Grafton.

On the way up we decided to take a slightly different way, wanting to see a convict hand cut tunnel.

Impressive huh?

Next week - we returned home and then set off to Paddy's River Dam for a couple of days... Swing back this way for a look.

Blowering Dam - free pet friendly camping

Firstly
 
HAPPY NEW YEAR

Another non camp, but rather a bit of a drive and 4WD towards the end!  We have wanted to have a look at Blowering Dam for a while now, since it is free and pet friendly.

Bago State Forest is the home of Blowering Dam, located on the Tumut River and is a part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.  It was completed in 1968 and holds 1,628,000 megalitres (million litres) when at capacity.  It's water used for irrigation, and in 1978 it was used to set a water speed record!

There are a couple of ways in so we decided to go in via Batlow.  Balow is famous for apples - producing about 10% of the apples we eat in Australia !  From Batlow we continued into the Forest.  The road is a typical, well maintained dirt and gravel logging road.  Some of the views are worth stopping for in the passing bays.

The view from the road in

(Click to enlarge)

After descending into the valley we found Foreshore Road, and  went for a drive along it to have a look at the campsites and the facilities.

One thing is there is plenty of room and no defined sites - its freestyle bush camping.  Find a spot and set yourself up.

Plenty of waterside camping

Or room for a picnic...

Picnic rug and the dog!

And despite it being New Years Eve when we were there, it wasn't all that busy...

 

 

Free lakeside camping

 

There is easier access to the lake from the Snowy Mountains Highway, but it was a bit more crowded!

 

Bit blurry but you get the idea

If you head down this way for some camping there is plenty to do...  We went 4WD exploring along the fire trails and power lines on our way out of the forest to Talbingo.  The Hume and Hovell Walking Track runs through the area, so you could walk part of that.  You can mountain bike or trail bike ride.  There was a camper there with some horses so you could do that too.  I'm not sure how good the fishing is but there were folks fishing, and even waterskiing.

 

 

Someone skiing on the lake

 

And my favorite...

 

Spotting wildlife.

 

Magnificent goanna

OK - some camping stuff...

Access:  Most campsites are 2WD - a few not.

Toilets: Some - long drop.

Showers: No.

Water: No.

Shop: No - drive to Talbingo or Batlow.

Campfires: Yes - subject to firebans.

Pets: Yes - No posted restrictions

Cost: Free.

One thing to note though - when camping in this Forest, generators and trail bikes are permitted.  It won't be silent!

And if you do head in looking for some peace and quiet please stick to formed roads/tracks/trails.  We did and had a blast - continuing around the lake on Foreshore Drive we followed the navigator and instinct to Talbingo.  We wandered off the main track and followed the power line trail.  Great fun - and all without locking into 4WD.

We did explore some campsites on the Talbingo side of the lake but rain prevented us from taking pics, but we did briefly lock into 4WD to get out.

We did a bit of a 'speed run' down the highway to Gundagai for dinner on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River.

 

Where we had dinner.

Hard to believe this is about 500m from the Hume Highway

From there we continued back up the Hume Highway to home - a 450km day - fantastic 4WD fun and we found another great free pet friendly camping location.