Snowy Mountains - Wollemi NP

Leaving home mid morning Saturday 1^st March we set off on our trip to explore the Snowy Mountains.   While we usually avoid travelling on major roads and highways, this time we opted to take the direct route by travelling on the New England Highway and the Hume Freeway

First stop of the day was the sleepy little village of Deepwater to enjoy a coffee break and have a wander through a local shop that seemed to cater for every need from food and hardware through to gold panning paraphernalia.   We eventually stayed overnight beside the Mother of Duck ponds at Guyra, a community camping area abutting the local golf course hence our only concern being wayward golf balls.

Next day we continued on our way towards Scone stopping briefly in Tamworth to “touch base” with one of Mita’s nephews before continuing to Scone where we arrived mid-afternoon and after doing several laps of the town eventually located a parking spot opposite the Tourist Information Centre.

Gleaning what little information was available we headed out to Gundy, a tiny community twenty kilometres to the east where we intended basing ourselves for several days thus allowing us to explore the Barrington Tops region.   That plan went out the door when the caretaker requested $25 per night for the privilege for staying at the showgrounds; needless to say we only stayed one night.

Next morning it was back into Scone and after locating somewhere to park first stop was a nifty little café for morning tea that also happen to bare our grand-daughters name in its title.

 

Scone’s main industry is horse studs and wow isn’t there some very opulent establishments in the region.   Leaving town shortly after lunch we took the scenic route that skirted stud after stud.   Arriving on the outskirts of Singleton we joined the Putty Road that would take us to Penrith and beyond thus hopefully bypassing the bulk of Sydney’s chaotic traffic.

Arriving in Penrith the following morning our first priority was to replace the Deep Cycle Batteries in the BT that had failed several days prior.   Fortunately the distributor of the recommended batteries was only a matter of kilometres from the caravan park that we had booked into.   Batteries fitted and having settled into the caravan park, it was off to meet up with friends for an early dinner at the Penrith Rugby League Club that is supposedly the largest club of its type in the Southern Hemisphere; it is enormous.

Departing Penrith Wednesday morning our next destination was the historic town of Berrima once again travelling via the back roads including a brief stop at pretty town of Picton for lunch.

We arrived in Berrima late afternoon hence headed straight for community camping area located a short walk from the tourist precinct as we had doubts whether there would be space available; we were rather surprised to find it deserted.

The next morning it was a short walk into town for a scrumptious breakfast at a lovely eatery housed in a restored circa 1840 building, followed by many hours wandered the town inspecting various buildings of significance including a tour of the Berrima Court House.

Leaving Berrima Friday morning for Braidwood our first stop after turning off the Hume Freeway at Goulburn was to refuel.   Having refuelled we’d only gone a matter of kilometres when we encountered a low bridge with the warning signage positioned in a totally inadequate location, namely about one hundred meters from the bridge instead at the nearby intersection where the traffic entered from.   After some colourful language we reversed several hundred meters back to the intersection and headed in the opposite direction thus detouring around the low bridge.

We arrived shortly after lunch at the Warri Camping Area on the banks of the Shoalhaven River not far from Braidwood, which incidentally has no RV parks.   After settling in it was into Braidwood to explore this very old town whose main industry appear to be tourism reflected the abundance of coffee shops, eateries, pubs, bric-a-brac shops, antique shops, camping stores and more café’s, plus historical buildings.

Saturday arrived and we departed for Delegate in the Snowy Mountains.   Instead of going via Canberra which was the quicker option we decided to take the direct route to Cooma involving traversing the eastern escarpment of the ranges through various national parks; the downside was that our intended route included forty five kilometres of dirt and probably an additional hour plus of travel.

Leaving Braidwood the first thing we managed to do was to end up on the wrong road, not once but twice, however we did eventually find the Cooma-Braidwood road.   Reaching the dirt section of the road the first ten kilometres was fairly corrugated however upon entering the eucalypt forests and commencing the steep winding climb up the mountains road conditions improved significantly.  The drive through the forests was picturesque and enjoyable, even more so when I stopped allowing Mita to get up close and personal with her favourite animal, a Wombat grazing beside the road.

 

 

 Upon reaching the summit the road to Cooma was excellent even though there was twenty five kilometres of dirt road involved.   Cresting a hill on the outskirts of Delegate that happened to provide a panoramic view of the village we saw to our horror that established in the local showground was a tent city complete with ancillary services supporting fire-fighters involved with cleaning up operations of recent bushfires in the nearby forests; fortunately for us the camping area usually reserved for RV’s was still available.

As for the camping area, well it is located on the banks of the Delegate River and while the facilities would be best described as rustic there were clean, well maintained and useable.   Posted everywhere within the camping area were signs forbidding the use of Yabby Traps as the river is habitat to numerous Platypus.   Naturally at every opportunity we scanned the river in the hope of sighting one – after three days of searching for any signs of a Platypus, we failed.

That night it was dinner in the towns one and only pub that turning out to be quite an interesting affair when a bridal party looking resplendent in their wedding gowns and complete with RIDING BOOTS arrived in their Toyota Farm Ute’s en-route to the wedding reception decided to stop for a couple of quick beers.

Following breakfast Sunday morning we went for a drive crossing into Victoria to the all but deserted town of Bonang.   From Bonang we continued further south until we reached the Gap Road intersection that also happened to be the site of a police roadblock ensuring that any further travel was only available to local land owners as fire-fighters and emergency workers were still fighting fires, involved with back-burning operations or clearing debris from the road.   Our big mistake was pulling out the road atlas that has every road we’ve travelled on highlighted; turned out that prior to becoming a police officer she and her family had travelled Australia extensively needless to say she was absolutely delighted to have someone to talk to.

Fifteen minutes later we escaped her grasp however on the plus side we did gain access to a road that was closed and returned to Delegate through massive eucalypt forests that had somehow managed to escape the bulk of the recent forest fires.

 

 

 
Arriving back in town it was up to “the boulders”, the local scenic lookout.

Monday we headed west into the Snowy National Park to Mackillop’s Bridge at the junction of the Snowy and Deddick Rivers some eighty kilometres away.   The bridge spans the Snowy River and is accessible by only one road, that being Deddick Road that happens to follow a river of the same name.   Turning off at Bonang the drive was for the most part was quite scenic winding its way through a series of gorges while the road itself was quite narrow in its entirety; it definitely wasn’t a road suited for larger vehicles or caravans.

 

 

 

Road conditions aside, we did make quite a few stops en-route viewing the scenery including the now restored Amboyne Suspension Bridge that was evidently quite an engineering feat when constructed in the 1930’s.

It wasn’t until we crossed Mackillop’s Bridge that the road was eventually signposted as unsuitable for articulated vehicles including caravans and after a matter of kilometres we soon understood why.   Not only was the road very narrow, there was absolutely no room for oncoming vehicles to pass, there were blind corners, and it was bordered by cliffs and escarpments on either side.   After several kilometres we turned around.

 

Eventually returning to Bonang we took a forest track that would hopefully take us to Bendoc where we had been told about some old Chinese gold diggings including an eighty metre tunnel purportedly dug by hand in the 1860’s by the Chinese under the mountain to divert the Bendoc River away from a major alluvial gold field thus allowing the miners free access to the spoils.

 

 

Tuesday morning after packing up our first stop was the local community supermarket purchasing a few essentials prior to heading over to Dalgety.   Joining the highway at Bombala, we stopped briefly to refuel and then eighteen kilometres turned off onto the Snowy Way eventually arriving at Dalgety early afternoon.   It was a pretty relaxing day’s travel.

Settling into Dalgety Caravan Park we started researching the Barry Way, a road that purportedly isn’t caravan friendly.   Our aim was to try to access the Jacob’s River Camping area and from there explore the lower reaches of the Snowy River that essentially followed the Barry Way.   Unfortunately all information we had received up to date was conflicting including that provided by the local tourism office at Jindabyne.   Fortunately for us a couple of environmental researchers who had an intimate knowledge of roads in the region set up camp next to us provided us with a pretty good insight as to what to expect.

Awakening Wednesday morning after a night of rain and following the advice provided the previous evening, it was a change of plan; cancel the Barry Way and go to the Thredbo Diggings Camping area located within the Kosciusko National Park, a camping area we’d been told by others as being beautiful and peaceful.   Leaving Dalgety we made a quick stop at Jindabyne to pick up a few essentials before heading up into the mountains to the camping area.   Arriving at the camping area located on the banks of the Thredbo River we definitely weren’t disappointed, it was a beautiful spot.

 

 

 

Settling in we took a stroll along the edge of the river watching quite a few trout fishermen “doing their thing” – Mita and I have always been fascinated by “fly casting” hence spent quite some time watching and wondering how the heck they didn’t end up in a tangle.

Much to Mita’s delight, the area is also home to a large wombat population which is evident by the myriad of burrows.   Of course the number of burrows doesn’t necessarily equate to a large Wombat population as individual animals can have up to twelve active burrows and may visit up to four per night.   Although they are a solitary animal they do from time to time share their burrows with other Wombats.   And don’t be fooled they are very fast over short distances.

With a few hours of daylight still remaining we decided there was adequate time to take a drive up to Thredbo Village and inquire about the ski lift schedules and costs as Mita had this crazy urge to attempt the walk up to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko.   From Thredbo we continued up to Dead Horse Gap at 1584 metres then returned to our campsite making numerous stops to enjoy the scenery.

 

 

 

Thursday arrived and so did some excitement for Mita when while using the campground “loo” some ducks decided to start pecking at her feet under the door; I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination.

Mita’s plan for the day was for us to tackle the walking track up to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko - oh yeah, I just love climbing mountains.   Following a late departure from our camp due to heavy fog and the belief that Thredbo would probably also be suffering the same fate, we headed for Thredbo Village to catch the ski lift up to Eagles Nest where the walking track to Mount Kosciuszko started; surprise, surprise, not a cloud in the sky.

Boarding the ski lift together with heavens knows how many teenagers all lugging their mountain bikes we ascended the mountain to its summit at Eagles Nest.   About halfway up we began to realize that our plans for a relatively easy walk to Mount Kosciusko may be in jeopardy when strong winds started to buffet the chairs.

Arriving at Eagles Nest we were confronted with gale force winds however not to be deterred we tackled the track; two kilometres and 1 ½ hours later we eventually arrived at the Mount Kosciusko lookout and rest area where together with just about every other walker on the track decided “enough was enough” and returned to our starting point assisted by a welcome tailwind.

 

 

As for the teens with their mountain bikes, turns out they were involved with an Inter School Mountain Bike competition being conducted over the coming weekend.    As for the bike course, well it essentially followed the path of the chair lift winding its way back down the mountainside at an unbelievable incline – crazy stuff.

 

 

Friday morning we were a little sore from our previous day’s escapades with legs and hips knowing they had been subjected to an unusual degree of abuse however after reassuring our bodies that they weren’t going to be subjected to a repetition of the previous day we set off on a round trip that took us down to Jindabyne, back up to Guthega, then via a bush track across to Smiggins Hole eventually exiting onto the main road at Perisher Valley and then we continued on up to Charlotte Pass.   From Charlotte Pass we commenced our return journey stopping for coffee at a roadside stall that was doing roaring business.

 

 

 

Having decided the previous evening to remain at the Thredbo Diggings Camping Area for an extra two days, Saturday morning we decided to tackle the Barry Way drive and find out for ourselves what it was all about.

Joining the Barry Way at Jindabyne the first thing greeting was signage advised the road was unsuitable for caravans, semi-trailers, or any combination in excess of 12.5 metres however that aside the early stages of the drive was quite relaxing and civilized as we traversed the rolling countryside with views towards the nearby Alps.   Was we reached the Wallis Craigie Lookout the rationale for the road restrictions became very apparent.

Winding our way down the range six kilometres later we reached the valley floor.   As for the road, it was gravel, corrugated, littered with rocks from land slips, very narrow, lots of blind corners, and in parts the passing of oncoming vehicles was quite difficult as we discovered.

Once on the valley floor, the road followed the Snowy River as it wound its way through a valley with the road conditions in parts being quite “civilized” while other sections were “testing”.   Road conditions aside the scenery was beautiful however after forty kilometres of corrugation, pot holes, winding road, dodging rocks, and essentially the same scenery, we decided it was becoming monotonous and turn back.

As for taking a van down the road?

Could I – Yes,

Would I - No.

The forecast for that evening was strong winds and rain, and that’s what we got with wind gusts accompanied by rain squalls exceeding 130kph, needless to say Mita and I had a very restless night as the van rock and rolled the night away as we listened to the approaching wind gusts.

Sunday’s plan was to visit the nearby Wild Brumby Distillery and then tackle a couple of the walking trails originated from our camping area car park.   Unfortunately the weather put paid to any plans for outdoor activities with temperatures barely reaching six degrees with rain interlaced with the odd snow flurries; by 6pm that evening it was zero degrees, needless to say the diesel heater was put to good use.   As for the Wild Brumby Distillery, very nice indeed but after seeing the prices being asked for their various products we decided it was pointless doing any tastings and had coffee instead.

Our departure from the Thredbo Diggings camping area was delayed substantially on Monday morning when we were approached by a gentleman who had managed to lose the keys to his very late model vehicle that was fitted with keyless ignition.   After driving him to various locations in search of his keys he advised us that he did have a spare set back at Jindabyne some twenty kilometres away.   Two hours later we dropped him off in Jindabyne and although we offered to take him back to his vehicle he declined the offer.

We had planned on spending Monday night at the Three Mile Dam camping area near the Mount Selwyn ski fields however ended up staying at the Rocky Plain Camping area, a camping area for equestrian trail riders.  While the road up to the camping area wasn’t the greatest, the camping area itself was excellent with huge grassed areas, great views, clean amenities, and lots of horse manure attesting to the popularity of the site.   In all honesty, I can fully appreciate why this camping area is a favourite with the horse riding fraternity.

And much to Mita’s delight, since we were the sole occupants of the camping area out came the generator giving her the opportunity to shampoo and blow dry her hair.

Tuesday was another late departure only this time resulting from unintentionally sleep-in followed by Leigh cooking a hearty meal of bacon, eggs and tomato on the barbeque, naughty but nice.   Leaving Rocky Creek near lunchtime we exited the Snowy Mountains proper around 2 p.m. and not being in the mood for travel camped the night on the foreshores of Blowering Dam.

ON Wednesday our intention was to travel cross country from Tumut to Yass via Wee Jasper and camp overnight beside Lake Burrinjuck however that plan came unstuck soon after leaving Tumut when we encountered signage advising the roads were unsuitable for caravans; apparently the rationale was that the local roads were utilized by logging trucks.   With that plan destroyed we joined the Hume Freeway at Gundagai and ended up staying the night at the Jugiong showgrounds with heavens knows how many other caravans and motor homes.

At Jugiong we were joined by a farmer and his wife who were returning to Echuca after having attending a 50^th birthday at Byron Bay.   During our discussions they enlightened us that they always stopped at Jugiong specifically to visit the “Long Track Pantry Café” and suggested we should have breakfast there the following morning; we did and we weren’t disappointed.

Our schedule for Thursday was to go Yass to collect our mail and then continue north via Crookwell.   Once again our plans “went up in smoke” when after several searches by various postal staff members we were advised that our mail hadn’t arrived at the post office.   Weighing up our options we headed for the Canberra Exhibition Grounds, that giving us the opportunity to catch up with friends.

Friday morning arrived and it was back to Yass, this time without the BT in case the mail still hadn’t arrived; not only was the mail there, it had arrived three days prior but for some inexplicit reason had been filed under our Christian names and not our Surname, why I have absolutely no idea.   Needless to say we weren’t impressed.

We left Canberra Saturday morning and other than having planned to travel in a northerly direction via Crookwell had absolutely no idea where we would end up staying that night.   First stop for the day was Gundaroo, a stop predicated by Mita catching sight of a particularly beautiful garden.   Finding somewhere to park we strolled around this very old town visiting various establishments, eventually having a coffee at the Royal Hotel where first impressions totally belied what turned out to be quite an upmarket establishment; there is no doubt the owners have spent significant amounts of money creating a very opulent winery/café/reception/restaurant area attached to the rear of the old hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving Gundaroo we transited Gunning, another town established in the early 1800’s with its main street lined with stone buildings reflecting the English influence of the period.   After leaving Gunning the topography changed significantly with lush green rolling hills replacing the usual flat landscape so common in rural Australia.

Making a brief stop of Crookwell and visiting the local information centre in search of information we continued on, having now decided that we would overnight either at Tuena or Abercrombie River.   The road conditions on this stretch were “interesting” with some sections of the gravel road have quite significant gradients requiring the use of 1^st gear, something we both find quite disconcerting when we’re towing the Bushtracker.

Eventually arriving at Tuena we did a quick circuit around the camping area and left; we could have sworn we heard Banjo’s playing as we departed.

About ten kilometres further on we arrived at the Abercrombie River camping area; now this was more our style of camping.   While the camping reserve was large a substantial portion of the area is covered by a She Oak grove thus restricting access to large sections of the camping ground.   After some investigation we found a spot not far from the river that became home for the night.

 

 

 

Having decided some days prior that tonight was going to be “camp oven’ night, Leigh got busy organising the camp fire and getting the camp oven organized while Mita prepared the meal.   With a nice batch of glowing embers, the camp oven complete with its contents was placed in the middle.   All we had to do now was relax with a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and wait patiently until our meal is cooked.

 All was going fine until the sound of distant thunder started emanating from behind the mountain ranges; it wasn’t long before the heavens opened up.   After somehow managing not to allow the fire to be extinguished albeit successfully burning the roast, dinner that evening was charcoal roast and veggies.

Following the previous evening’s copious dosage of charcoal, first stop of day was a rest area on the outskirts of Bathurst for a “cuppa”.   From Bathurst it was the turn off nearby Sofala to be graced with our presence.   Approaching Sofala Mita caught sight of some rather nasty looking clouds accompanied by forked lighting however we felt that it presented no threat to us.   Unfortunately for the campers at Sofala they weren’t that lucky as we discovered thirty minutes later when arriving at the camping area to the sight of numerous campers packing up their very wet belongings and heading for home.

How sad, we now had the pick of the best camping sites beside the Turon River.

Feeling so very smug with ourselves, we set up camp on a lovely level pad overlooking the river, pulled out the annex, set up table and chairs, got the barbeque organized and relaxed, and about two hours later listened to the distant thunder heralding another approaching storm.

Monday we read as it rained, rained, and rained.

We left Sofala Tuesday morning in brilliant sunshine with our next planned destination being the Goulburn River National Park located near Bylong.   Stopping briefly at Kandos to refuel and then at Rylstone to replenish our water supplies, followed by a visit to a local café for coffee our plans changed when a “local” strongly suggested we should spend a few days out at Dunns Swamp in the Wollemi National Park.

While we’d both heard of Wollemi National Park and had driven past the turnoff to the park on various occasions we’d never made an effort to visit however decided that we should now go and investigate.   Thirty kilometres later, ten of which was on gravel we arrived at a well appointed camping area located on the banks of a pondage formed some eighty years ago by the damming of the Cudgegong River, a dam built specifically to supply the concrete works at Kandos.

 

Wollemi National Park’s is renown for the discovery of a strand of pine trees known to have existed some two hundred million years ago and thought to have become extinct about two million years ago.   The trees were discovered by a park ranger in the 1990’s with the location now a closely guarded secret.

Having parked the van first thing on Mita’s agenda was a bush walk around the edge of the pondage.   Knowing that protesting wasn’t going to help me avoid the inevitable away we went on a supposedly two kilometre walk; six kilometres and several hours later we returned.

Wednesday Mita had another hike on the agenda however during the night the heavens “opened up” much to my delight.   Unfortunately my reprieve was short lived as by lunch time it was suitable to tackle the supposed two hour Pagoda and Weir walk however I have to admit it was worth the effort as the scenery was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
If you’re contemplating visiting Wollemi I strongly suggest you visit mid-week and ensure you avoid any holiday periods.

As the weather didn’t even look like improving we decided to defer our plans for visiting the Goulburn River National Park to another day and started heading for home.