Hill End and Newnes April 2017

The Roads Less Traveled,Hill End and Newnes April 2017

It’s no secret that i love seeing this awesome country, one way or another i just have a need to do something. Even with only 3 days to do anything (as that is what the wife had off work). So with no excuses or any other bullshit (people) holding us back we just jumped into the deep end and went exploring. And it’s amazing what you can do in a short period of time.

This trip we headed back out over the Blue Mountains out to Hill End following Trek 22 from the 6th edition of 4wd Treks Close to Sydney. And then onto trek 11 from Sofala to Capertee

Our first stop along the way was at the Zig Zag Railway, it was great to read that this awesome place and the trains that could be saved are being and the place will be re opening one of these days after the bush fires in 2013.

Moving on from the Blue Mountains we stopped off at Bathurst to take the kids around Mount Panorama racetrack before heading off to start the first of our off road legs of this adventure to Hill End.

Following the book we started our trek from Kelso on the Sofala tourist drive. It wasn’t long before we had turned off and were passing some of the most beautiful country side.

The reason behind going this way to Hill End over my usual way of the Bridle Track is that track has had some damage to it years ago with a land slip and is now no longer passable. From what i understand is that it would cost about a million dollars to repair and this is considered to much. I’m also not 100% sure how accurate that information is but that is what i was told by a local property owner a few years ago. So with that said that leaves us this track.

This other route has had it’s fair share of controversy of late as well. Root Hog Road passes through some private properties that are all very well sign posted. Most of the property owners are happy for people to “stay on the road” and not camp or shoot. One of these property owners had gated his section of the road off and locked it. Travelers and other 4wdrivers have come along and cut the locks off torn that gates down and even winched that gates out of the ground (no wonder the owner was unhappy). This was fixed by the local council making a new road around that property. It’s great that it’s open to everyone again and people can get back and see this great part of the world.

Root Hog Road from this point is very steep although even in the wet i don’t see it as being problematic. At the end of the road is the Turon River that needs to be crossed to get onto the Bridle Track.

There are literally hundreds of places to set a tent up or trailer if that is your thing. Just bare in mind that the Bridle track is tight and step in places and if you come along someone going the other way it might not be easy to get past them with a trailer on.

After travelling alone the Bridle Track we crossed over the weir and went to check out a camp site that i have used a time or two in the past. We set up and went and explored the area, this is the part the kids like the most. I have been coming out here for over twenty years now but it was the first time we have bought the kids out.

After a full day it was time to sit back relax, eat some food and drink a few scotch cans whilst enjoying this nice little fire.

Up early in the morning due to some over excited bike riders but thats all good was keen on getting an early start anyways. First things first, took the kids down to the river and did some gold panning although there were heaps of people panning the day before we didn't catch any :). I was super surprised at how interested the three kids were to get in and have a go. After a quick breakfast it was time to pack up.

The Bridle track is really interesting in itself. Chock full of history.

We have been to Hill End a number of times but this time we wanted to show the kids some of the things that they hadn't seen before. It was a good time to check back on places that i too had not seen in many years. We went and checked out Valentines Mine, Not going to lie it was great to see how much safety has come along since the first time i ever went there.

After Valentines we went around the ruins of the Cornish Quartz roasting pits The kids really did enjoy this area, it's a little way out of town and there is a short walk but it is really worth the effort.

You could spend days walking around immersing yourself in the history of this place. There are some good campgrounds in town and just out of with pretty reasonable rates. The Village Campground is always busy but it has showers toilets and a laundry of all things. While just up around the corner is Glendora camp grounds Here you will find plenty of room these are friendly for just about any vehicle you could think of. Back to our book 4x4 treks close to Sydney to see where would head off to next. Our next mini adventure started in the beautiful township of Sofala. Pretty shortly after leaving Sofala we came across our first "what should we do here" moment, A closed farm gate with multiple signs say "NO ENTRY, PRIVATE PROPERTY, KEEP OUT, NO TRESPASSING" all in big bright red lettering.

We drove on anyways being that the book said that it was OK :).

Just about every gate we came across had these warnings written on them but it seemed to be a gazetted road and that to me means i could drive on it.

Turned out that it was a really nice drive and we found a heap of places along here next to the river that you could camp if you wanted to. Although there are plenty of other places with signs up saying no camping. So better to pick a non sign posted area in my opinion. Side note there were a few other people camping along this stretch of road too.

Onward to Newnes.

We got out to Newnes late in the afternoon. To our surprise the campground was packed and there really wasn't anywhere to set up, that sucked coz it was like 3:30pm and it would of taken awhile to get to somewhere else.

We did decide to move on but i thought i would show the family the other campgrounds in the area heading up to the Industrial Ruins. We crossed over the river and drove up around the corner expecting it to be full also but no, what is going on here. Nothing but a heap of kangaroos. This was great a whole heap of campground to ourselves. We got set up and settled in to watch the sun set of the surrounding mountains and cooked up a butterflied lamb but then all hell broke loose. Torrential rain seemed to come from out of nowhere. With in a few minutes we had water pooling around us and making cooking not so much fun. But we had the aweome of the tent and the Kings side awening hanging off the Triton so we were ok.

While all this was going there was a steady stream of hikers returning from wherever they had been. I guess this storm had caught everyone out.

After a half a night of heavy rain and howling wind. We woke in the morning to a sun and thought it a good idea to check out the industrial ruins. Unfortunately just like the day before we started seeing signs of lightning and being that there was limited cover made the executive decision to head back to the car and make our way slowly home.

Stopping off in Lithgow for some lunch and refueling the car bought our offroad to an end. We learnt that we don't need to make any real plans to have a great time.

Till the next time.

Aussie Trekka

4x4 & Camping Australia

A family of 5 from New South Wales, Australia out there enjoying this awesome country we live in.

Camping, 4wheel driving, offroad adventures and generally good times.

The Roads Less Traveled,Hill End and Newnes April 2017