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!

Newnes - Free - Not pet friendly

Wollemi National Park is home to the recently identified Wollemi Pine, which was discovered by National Parks officer Mr David Noble in 1994.  Not only is the Wollemi Pine one of the rarest trees in the world, with less than 100 mature trees in the wild, it is also one of the oldest, with fossil records indicating this rare tree existed about 90 million years ago.

Wollemi National Park is only a couple of hundred km from Sydney and it is one of those places that should appeal to anyone who loves the outdoor lifestyle.  Although the exact location of the pines has never been made publicly available by National Parks there is plenty of interesting flora and fauna in the park.  For history buffs there is the former township of Newnes and Blackfellow's Hand Rock and for 4WD enthusiasts there are any number of great tracks in the area.

I haven't mentioned lots of other attractions, but a search on a good search engine will point you in the right direction.

Add to all of this the fact that the campsite is free this place is pretty cool.

We set off and it is about a half day drive to get there.  It is a reasonably easy drive in to Newnes in the dry, and it would be accessible by 2WD vehicles, but in the wet it gets slippery.

To camp where we camped you will need to cross the Wolgan River and that requires 4WD.

It is a pretty easy crossing...

And you have arrived in the National Park...

Once across the creek the campsite is magnificent!

There are a fair number of campsites and the ruins of the Shale Oil mining facility are quite close. The Wolgan River runs near the campsite and there is a nice, clean drop loo.

After arriving, setting up and taking some photos we caught up with some friends, and planned the following day - a 4WD trip to the Spanish Steps.

The next day was a bit of an adventure - but the scenery in the area is amazing.  And the track conditions vary from muddy bog holes to quite good dirt tracks.

Being guided down the Spanish Steps is something I won't forget in a hurry...

The photo doesn't really do the steepness justice - nor does it reflect how fast my heart was beating as I descended into the valley.  The Spanish Steps, as they are known, are a sandstone formation that resemble steps down into a valley.  And as the saying goes, what goes up...  So there was also a slightly more challenging ascent.

I should point out that the Land Rover Discovery, lately christened 'The Snail' is not a highly modified 4WD.  It has not been lifted and the tyres I use are all terrain pattern.  I do have a winch on the bull bar, and some other bits and pieces like driving lights, UHF CB radio and camping gear.  All up I was pretty impressed that The Snail was able to get down into the valley and then up the other side along with the others who had the benefit of lockers, lift and highly aggressive tyres.

It was an amazing day, lots of fun in the 4WD's and we headed back to re-establish our camp.

The next day we decided to walk to the glow worm tunnel and have a look at Blackfellows Hand.

It's a fair walk in to the tunnel, but worth it for the views and to see the glow worms.

Being way to hard to photograph I did the next best thing...

Looking out of the tunnel - I used a flash to introduce the wall perspective into the pic.  Flash photography, I think, would not capture the glow worms.  In fact it might even upset them into not glowing so I didn't try.

If you intend visiting the tunnel - and I would encourage a visit - wear good shoes, take a torch and remember to be courteous to other visitors and more importantly respect the glow worms.

And respect the natural beauty of the flora and rock formations - how good is this!?

If you walk to the glow worm tunnel from the Newnes side (it can also be accessed from the Lithgow side) it is worth remembering that the trail is the abandoned Newnes Railway line.  You are walking over and alongside history!

It is worth keeping an eye out for the historical stuff like the rock walls and old sleepers on the track.

After the hike in and out we drove to what is known as Blackfellow's Hand Rock.  This rock formation has a number of aboriginal artworks and is definitely worth a look.

Hand paintings on the rock.  If you do go in for a bit of a look please don't touch the paintings.  Once they are gone, they are gone forever.

Access: Some campsites are accessible by 4WD. 2WD would be OK in dry weather if you want to camp on the 'pub' side of the river.
Toilets: Yes.
Showers: No.
Water: Boil water from the river.
Shop: Limited to the Newnes Hotel - best to check if it is open.
Campfires: Yes - subject to firebans. Bring own wood.
Pets: NO - National Park

Cost: FREE.

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.

Australia Day Weekend - Part 1 - Home to Three Mile Dam

Our Australia Day weekend trip was a fantastic tour through some of the NSW and Victorian High Country.  We did camp for three nights, all three nights were low cost but none were pet friendly.  The other thing that was a bit different this time was 'the road less traveled' aspect of the break.

We covered about 1000km in the four days away from home, and the vast majority of it was on unsealed road and four wheel drive tracks.  The first day out we traveled from Yass to Wee Jasper the usual was, but headed into the Brinabella Ranges and then crossed in to Kosciusko National Park.  Our starting point was the probably unfortunately named Broken Cart Trail.

 

Our first 'waypoint' was to be Blue Water Holes some 26km into the park.

The trail in is a 4WD recommended trail. We struck out along the trail, looking for the famous brumbies.  I  was surprised when we spotted two, close to the trail, and we stopped the car for a short while to try and get a couple of photos.  Interestingly the brumbies were extremely shy and nervous while we were stopped.  We didn't get out of the vehicle to avoid them bolting, but the kept a cautious distance.  The edged away from us, and we decided to push on.  I was surprised that I did get a couple of really good pics.

 

Snowy Mountain brumby

Pushing on we were keen to have a look at Blue Water  Hole and Coolamine Homestead.  Both are located on the Blue Water Hole Fire Trail, which runs off Long Plain Road.  Broken Cart Trail joins Long Plain Road and everything is well signposted.

The first stop was to be the Homestead.  Throughout the High Country there are a number of historic huts and houses.  Many have been restored and provide valuable insights into early life in the High Country.  When I was researching the trip there was a fair bit of information available about the Homestead, and one thing that had me keen to visit was the newspaper on the walls.  I had read that the paper was beginning to deteriorate, and in some places it had been covered with Perspex.

When we arrived at the Homestead I was fairly surprised that it is actually a small complex of buildings that were used to run the cattle station.  The 'ruins' of the cattle yards are also a part of the complex.  We wandered through the complex and came away from the buildings with a real respect for the High Country pioneers.

As an aside the newspaper is deteriorating, much of it is dated 1930 to 1939.  If you are keen to see it you should consider visiting the locality sooner rather than later.  I should also point out that you cannot camp in the the area of the homestead.  There are however, other campsites nearby.

 

The complex

 
 

Stock yards

 
 

Newspaper as wallpaper, protected by perspex

 Back in the vehicle and along the fire trail a bit further there are a number of small campgrounds - all of which had fairly new looking composting toilets.

We arrived at Blue Water Holes mid-morning as groups of campers were having morning tea and others were heading off into the limestone caves that the area is known for.  There are apparently five caves open to the public without a permit.

Rock formations at Blue Water Holes

 

OK - it looks 'bluer' when you are there.

We will revisit the area at some stage in the future...  The campground has a composting toilet, but is relatively small.  I didn't check for water but would suggest that it would be safer to take your own.  It also looked like a real family spot, lots of kids and teens about.

We left the campground and continued along Long Plain Road out of the park onto the Snowy Mountains Highway.  After a short run up the highway we found the turn off to Yarangobilly Caves.  This was our planned lunch stop.  We briefly called into the visitor centre and paid the $3 park use fee and set off for the thermal pool for a quick dip.  Worth the $3 - but beware 10 minute walk in 20 minute walk out.  It's a fairly big hill.

 

The thermal pool

 

There are caves in the area and some are self-guided - meaning that there is no additional cost to visit them.  That makes the $3 park use fee a bit of a bargain.

We packed the wet clothes and the remnants of lunch up and set of for the next part of the trip - a short trek from Yarrangobilly Village to Three Mile Dam camping area via Lobbs Hole.  The track was again a 4WD recommended track and a fun drive, if steep in places.

 

Spectacular view from the 4WD

The trail then dropped to Lobs Hole (also called Ravine) where we needed to cross the Yarrangobilly River.

 
 

Yarrangobilly River crossing

The water was clear, about knee deep - on my standard Land Rover Discovery it came to about the bottom of the doors.  We parked up and walked back to the crossing.  The water was warm and there were plenty of campers around.  The river bed was smooth rock, making it an easy crossing for most standard 4WD and even AWD vehicles.

Both gold and copper were mined in the area and the Kiandra residents apparently used to shelter in the area during winter.  There are partial ruins of the hotel near the river crossing.

 

Mud ruins at Lobs Hole

  We then set off again for the last part of the trip - an 800m climb back to the Link Road and the entry to the Three Mile Dam Camping area.

Three Mile Dam was built in 1882 to provide water for sluicing at the New Chum Hill gold mine.  The dam is still there as are some of the ruins.  We set up for the night and managed, in the breeze to break a part of the tent!

 

The campsite

  

Broken tent

So that was day 1 - lots of dirt driving and some frustration at the end of the day with a broken tent fitting.  We called it a night.

OK - some camping stuff...
Access:  2WD - a few not.
Toilets: Some - long drop.
Showers: No.
Water: No.
Shop: No - drive to Talbingo.
Campfires: Yes - subject to firebans.
Pets: No - Part of Kosciusko National Park
Cost: Free.

GPS:  35.88638S  148.4527E