Coolah Tops, Barracks Camping Area and Giant Grass Trees

We set off just before Christmas with the Discovery loaded up with camping gear, pressies for relatives, some new camping stuff and we were looking forward to the 'plans' we had made. They included a night in Coolah Tops NP, a night in Boomi before heading across to the coast for a couple of nights on Bribie Island before doing who knows what on our way home. But all didn't go to plan. The Discovery came down with a 'clutch infection' as we left Coolah Tops NP... So our adventure was a bit shorter than usual. The clutch was replace and the Discovery is now back on the road, but we had a hire car which meant some of the fun just didn't happen. The rains in Queensland didn't help, with the Bribie Campsite being closed as well. Anyway, thanks to the NRMA, the mechanic in Tammworth who got us back on the road, the hire car company and the motel we stayed in things didn't work out too bad for us. Coolah Tops NP is just outside of Coolah township, not too far from Mudgee. Our site for the night was the Barracks Campground, which is 2WD accessable.

It didn't take us long to choose a campsite and get ourselves set up, the place was all but empty.

There is a pit toilet and wood fire facilities as well as a shelter area here so overall it is a pretty nice place to stay, and the wildlife is amazing...

Kookaburras are one of my favourite Aussie bush animals.  This fella turned up with the smell of us cooking and hung around for a while.

This young lady and her little one also arrived to check us out.  We didn't see the joey get out of the pouch, but I guess you can't have everything.  It's worth thinking about...  We have seen and taken photos of Kangaroos with joeys in animal parks and zoos, but this is the first time we have seen one this close in the bush.  Pretty cool!!

The next morning we decided to take the 600m track to see the giant grass trees.  I hadn't heard about these, so I was more than a little curious as to what they were.  We have a grass tree in our front yard and it is anything but giant, and to say it is slow growing would be an understatement.

These trees were amazing!  Our one at home would be 15cm maybe 20cm tall at the moment.  These things would have been 4 or 5 metres tall.  Definitely worth the 600m walk.

These amazing trees are also known as 'Blackboys' but the name has fallen a bit in to disuse recently.  The traditional owners of these lands would have had a number of uses for these trees.  The flower 'spike' may have been used for fishing spears, the flowers soaked in water to make an apparently sweet drink, and the sap of the trees was used as an adhesive.

Indeed early European settlers used the sap/resin as a perfume (often burned in churches).  The resin often formed the basis for things like polishes and varnishes and of course as an adhesive.

Cool trees - and native to us here in Australia.

Apparently there is some 4WD-ing to be had in the area, at the 'back' of Coolah Tops NP.  With the clutch being a bit 'off' we decided to continue our travels to get it sorted.  Next time we are up that way we will call in for another visit and have a look at the worlds biggest gum tree and some of the 4WD tracks in the park.

Access: It is accessible by 4WD.  2WD would be easy OK in dry weather.
Toilets: Yes - long drop.
Showers: No.
Water: Yes.  Apparently not suitable for drinking.
Shop: No.
Campfires: Yes - subject to firebans.  Bring own wood.
Pets: NO. It is a NSW National Park.

Cost: Free.

 



Back from the holiday break

Well we have arrived back from a couple of weeks of traveling. In the next couple of weeks I'll tell the story and put up some of the photos we took. Short version is that we went to visit the relatives on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. About 1200km away. The plan was to camp at Coolah Tops National Park, New South Wales and then Boomi, New South Wales, then a few nights up on the coast... The plan was then to go for a couple of nights on Bribie Island, Queensland before having a bush Christmas and making our way back home for New Year's Eve. It didn't quite go to plan... I'm getting ready to go to the day job, but when I have time over the next couple of weekends I'll tell the story and reveal what happened.

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