Vic High Country Trip, Day 3 and 4

Had a bit of a sleep in before showering and packing up, then headed up to the Oberon bakery for breakfast at 8am. Then it was off south to Goulburn where we got onto the Hume highway and continued on to the Yass Service centre where we refuelled and met up with Phil.
We took the road to Wee Jasper and started exploring the dirt roads in the forestry and national parks. Unfortunately, the road we needed to get to our planned campsite for the night was closed so we had to loop around back towards Canberra and finally ended up at Woods Reserve for the night. It was a nice little spot down by a creek so we set up camp for the evening.
By now the temperature was cooling down a bit so it wasn't too hot. After dinner and an entertaining show put on by some of the other campers we retired to bed relatively early. All up we did about 400 kms today.

We had organised ourselves to leave at approx 8:30 am however it was drizzling a bit so everyone had a bit of a wet pack up. We stopped at a national park day use area and put some air back in the tyres as we were probably going to be spending most of the day on bitumen roads.
We stopped off to have a look at Brayshaw's hut on the way 

and continued on through the Namadgi national park past Shannons Flat and stopped off in Adaminaby for fuel and an early lunch. Very good coffee and meals at the bakery.

After this we headed off along the Snowy Mountains Highway to the Long Plain Campgound where we quickly set up camp 

before setting off to explore the Yarrangobilly Caves. We went on an unguided walk through one of the open caves and then had a guided walk through Jillabenan Cave which was pretty spectacular. 

After this we headed off to the Thermal Pool which involved an 800 m walk down a pretty steep hill, my knees were complaining vigorously at the bottom. The pool wasn't that warm but we had a swim anyway before trudging back up the hill to the car park.

Then it was back to camp for some dinner and we sat around the campfire with our neighbours Peter and Robyn. The wind came up and it got quite cool so it was off to bed relatively early.

Sent from my iPhone

Vic High Country Trip, Day 1 and 2.

Got up at about 6 am , showered and finished packing, leaving home about 7 am. Headed down the highway and had an easy drive to Grafton where I turned off to Ebor where I had morning tea and then onto Armidale and Tamworth. Getting out of the car at Tamworth for lunch at Maccas was like opening an oven, it must have been around 40 deg C.
From Tamworth I head south west through Premer before turning south on the Black Stump Way. Lots of storms around with some pretty strong winds which had brought down a tree across the road but I could sneak past it on the edge. Around Coolah I ran into some very heavy rain and with the wipers going full blast I had to slow down to about 40 kph on the highway. Once the rain and lightning disappeared I had to pull off the road to let a huge bit of mining equipment go past. It was towed by 4 or 5 prime movers and pushed by another two.

Around 6'ish I decided to stop for the night at Gulgong caravan park as I was starting to feel a little weary. Nice little place and seems quiet. Had about an hour of rain and lightning after I went to bed, very relaxing hearing the rain on the roof of the camper. All up about 750 kms today.

Slept in a little and had a shower before leaving around 7:30 am, nothing open in Gulgong for brekkie so I headed off to Mudgee. Got there around 8 and had a walk around, then coffee and brekkie, refuelled Blute. Then headed south towards Bathurst stopping in at Windsmere Dam along the way to have a look.

When I got to Bathurst I thought I would go and have a look at the motor racing track but when I got close to it I realised from the traffic they were having some sort of event there so I turned around and went for an early lunch at Maccas.
Then it was a pleasant little drive south to Oberon where I checked into the caravan park and then went exploring around Lake Oberon and Oberon Dam. Not a lot to see so headed back to the caravan park for a restful afternoon until the others came back from the Jenolan caves.
Chatted and caught up with everyone else for awhile before we headed for a walk to town for dinner at the Thai place. Came back to camp and chatted for awhile before heading to bed as it had cooled down a bit. All up about 230 km today, with Blute averaging around 12.7 l/100 km on the trip down.

Sent from my iPhone

Aus Day long weekend 2017, Day 3 & 4.

After brekky and pack up we went exploring to see if we could find the old mines that I had visited last time. We eventually found it but on the way we ran into an exploration crew who were doing some new drilling cores to look at the viability of starting up the mines again. Shane and I spent quite awhile wandering around the old mine taking photos of the old equipment.
One of the drilling crew had told us about a track around to Emmaville so we went off exploring and after finding a locked gate on the main track we tried a side track which on the map looked like it should take us where we wanted to go. However the track deteriorated quickly and became impassible, so we headed back to check out the Mystery Face rock just out of Torrington. While Shane walked up to have a look and take some photos I lounged around at the bottom and read a book.
On his walk back to the car Shane decided that he need a Steak and Kidney pie for lunch, so we headed back to Tenterfield via the back roads and past some nice looking camping spots on the Mole river.
Back in Tenterfield both Bakeries were closed but one of the open Cafes had pies but no Steak and Kidney so we had to settle for Steak and Mushroom pies and milk shakes for a late lunch.
We then headed north to visit Basket Swap national park and drove out to check out the camp ground where there would have been tons of space but we continued onto have a look at the Falls. After a quick walk around and a few photos we took a nice relaxing swim in one of the pools at the top of the Falls.

Then it was onto visit an aboriginal site Woolool Wooloolni where there was quick an impressive set of standing boulders. The walk out and back was only a bit over half a km but in that distance I think I was attacked by about ten million leeches. We decided to camp at the shed in the car park as it seemed to be mercifully free of leeches and would provide us with a bit of protection if the rain came in. We set up the camp fire in fireplace in the shed and had dinner and sat around for awhile but retired early to bed.

There had been no rain overnight but when we woke up the cloud and mist had closed in and it seemed pretty gloomy. After coffee and brekkie and a quick pack we headed off. I wanted to get home around lunch time so I could start getting organized for the next trip which was less than a week away. We went back to the Mt Lindsay Highway and turned south to Tenterfield and then east on the Bruner Highway towards Casino. We investigated a few side roads along the way but they didn't lead to anything interesting
At Tabulam we had a quick stop for iced coffee and then on the way into Casino Shane's main fuel tank ran dry, so he did a bit of coasting down hills while he pumped some fuel from the auxiliary tank into the main. He made it, no worries into Casino where he refueled. Then it was onto Lismore and finally Bangalore before hitting the M1 north for the final run home. It was a pretty smooth run at the speed limit with no real bottlenecks. I said goodbye to Shane at Tweed Heads where I made a quick stop to pick up a new memory for my GoPro for the next trip.
All up over the three and half days, I had covered 880 km and visited quite a few NSW national Parks. When I got home I unpacked most of the boxes from the camper so that I can restock things that need it over the up coming week. Another enjoyable couple of days touring around with Shane.

Sent from my iPhone

Aus Day long weekend 2017, Day 1 & 2.

Woke up about 6 am and had a quick coffee and shower before throwing the final stuff in to the fridge in the camper. I left home about 7 am and headed north to Nerang then west to Canungra and Beaudesert where I had a quick breakfast. Then it was south towards Rathdowney where all the traffic turned off towards Lake Maroon leaving me with a nice clear trip to Woodenbong.
From here I headed west towards the little town of Liston where there was a turn off to Undercliffe Falls which is where I was going to meet up with Shane. I found the Falls and Shane just before lunch time and we sat down for a chat and a drink before taking a quick look at the top of the Falls and then finding a nice little spot for a swim in the pools above the Falls. 

We decided that we where going to stay the night so we shifted the cars to a quieter spot and had some lunch. While we were having a lazy afternoon reading there was a procession of locals using the swimming holes. For dinner on Australia Day I had cooked a roast lamb shoulder and some vegetables in the Cobb oven over a couple of hours. 

We were sitting around the campfire after having just finished dinner when the rain started so we quickly packed up and headed to bed early in the nice dry campers. It didn't rain a lot over night but came in waves.

It was still overcast and misty in the morning so we quickly packed up and headed back to Liston and then continued on towards Tenterfield stopping off at Bald Rock and Boonoo Boonoo national parks on the way. Both had empty camping spots if we wanted to stay. At Boonoo Boonoo we walked around to see the waterfalls and then stopped in at the old mining site at Morgan's Gully.

On the way into Tenterfield we stopped off to have a look at the old Tank Traps and then Thunderbolt's Hideout. In Tenterfield we had lunch at one of the Bakeries and decided to head out to Torrington national park for a look. We ended up camping in the 3rd camp site at Torrington which was 4WD access only. There was one other camp site taken then and some late comers arrived after dark but it was very quiet and peaceful. As my knees were a bit sore after the morning walks so I spent the arvo reading while Shane went back and visited Ugly Falls for some photos. After dinner we sat around the fire for quite awhile while there was thunder and lightning all around us. Early on one of the local Wallabies came for a visit and was quite unafraid of us while we took some photos. After my last visit to Torrington where it poured with rain for several days I expected some overnight rain but it didn't eventuate and we woke up nice and dry.

Sent from my iPhone

End of year road trip, 2016. Day 7.

I woke up to the rather pleasant sound of rain on the roof of the camper at around 6 am. This is a much more pleasant sound than rain on the roof of a tent or awning. As we were in the process of heading home we quickly packed up and hit the road to Biggenden where unfortunately the bakery was closed. So we headed south west to Ban Ban Springs on the Burnett highway where after a quick look at the springs I found the service station sold quite a good sausage roll for breakfast. We were going to head through the back roads to the back of Gympie to Kilcoy but the rain made it seem like a good idea to stay away from the dirt roads.
We continued to head south through Goomeri and Nanango with the rain still drizzling but eventually drying up. The main excitement came when Shane got a flat tyre just north of Harlin, because of the positioning of the guard rail and slope of the ground he couldn't quite get his car completely off the road, so I did a U-turn and came back around to park behind him with the hazard lights flashing to warm the oncoming traffic. He got the tyre changed pretty quickly and we headed into the servo in Harlin to check the pressure of the replacement tyre and have a quick dink and rest.
From there it was a pretty good trip home through Esk, the outskirts of Ipswich and the Logan Motorway before hitting the M1. Shane turned off at Jacobs Well and I continued onto the normal traffic jam at Robina, which I escaped by taking the back roads around Tallebudgera and Elenora to get home. It was bloody hot back home after the comfort of and air conditioned car. All up I had done about 470 km today.

Summary
We ended up having a great seven days away seeing lots of varied terrain, from the bush and scrub, to rainforest and the beach. I got to try Blute out on many different roads and found that it handled everything really well. I was especially happy with how it handled some of the steep rocky roads we drove on in the national parks. Now I'm looking forward to the Victorian High Country trip in February. All up we covered just over 2,000 Kms in seven days and had a very pleasant trip staying away from the holiday crowds.

Sent from my iPhone

End of year road trip, 2016. Day 6.

We were up early and having breakfast so that we could hit the road by about 7 am. We continued into the park and climbed up the side of the ridge before driving along the top of the ridge for quite awhile. After we found the main campsite with a map we decided to backtrack a bit and drop in and see the other camp sites and lookouts. The road was signed "No trailers" and it certainly got steep in a couple places. The Blute traction control came into play a few times but got up the hills with no worries.
After we left the national park we dropped into the little town of Bilburin and had quite a delicious milk shake. Then it was south to Monto to refuel and have lunch. Shockingly over this leg of the trip Shane's patrol used marginally less fuel the Blute. The Blute fuel economy was up around 15.3 l/100 Kms. This included lots of off road stuff like steep and rocky tracks, sandy tracks and mud, and since it was carrying at least half a ton of camper and gear I guess I can't complain too much.
From Monto we headed south and east before stopping off for a look at an old copper mine in Mount Perry, where the temperature was up around 37 degrees. 

We then decided to stay at a spot called Lake Paradise which was located on the side of a dam, but when we got there it was pretty hot and exposed. 

So we decided to continue on, ending a bit further south at a place called Chowey's Bridge which is an out of the way picnic stop at an old Qld railway bridge. 

Shane went for a swim in the water in the creek below the bridge but I didn't like the idea of the walk and climb to get down there. 

We had the place to ourselves so we set up camp for the evening with the plan to head home in the morning. All up we did about 310 Kms today.

Sent from my iPhone

End of year road trip, 2016. Day 5.

We woke up pretty early as there was no real protection from the sun and decided to hit the road straight away. So we got going just after 6 am. We headed south and decided to stop in and have a look at the other campground Eurimbula Creek. On the way we stopped and climbed up to the top of Ganoonga Noonga lookout which was a sharpshooter 800 metre walk. The view wasn't so good as it was overcast. The after the walk down we went onto the campground which seemed quite nice as it was nestled in behind the beach.
Then we headed into Agnes Waters and found quite a good bakery for an early morning tea. The drive to The Town of 1770 was quite different to when I was here many years ago as there has been a lot of development. It was hard to drive around as people seemed to be ignoring the parking restrictions and coming close to blocking off the main road. We went up to the main lookout at Round Hill Head and by now the sky was clear and it was getting hot.

To get away from the crowds we headed back through Agnes Waters to drive down through Deepwater National Park we stopped in at the campgrounds and I managed to catch with Anne and Paige at the Wrecks campground where they were involved in the annual Turtle research.
After lunch and a walk on the beach we decided we needed to head inland to get away from the crowds at the coast. 

We picked Bilburin National park as it looked like it had a few camp grounds and wasn't used that much. So we wandered westwards towards it and after a 14 km drive we came to the first of the camp grounds - Granite creek. It was completely empty so we set up there for the evening. 

Unfortunately it only had very spotty phone coverage, so our internet access was very slow. We got the fire going and settled in for the evening. We had one car come in and then take off to one of the other camp grounds. After dinner we went to bed reasonably early, not staying up to see the new year in. We had a fairly lazy driving day of only around 170 Kms.

Sent from my iPhone