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.
Hill End, New South Wales, November 8-11th 2018
Packing up ready for this trip late on the Thursday afternoon. It's all good i'm used to leaving everything till the last minute. It was pissing down rain so instead of making life easy using the racks i sacked everything inside. Not the most fun job but the anticipation of getting away for 4 days was enough to get the job done properly. With my new (February 2018) comes some benefits. Like the new new DRIFTA drawers that now not only do i proudly sell but represent as well. There will be more on them later but to say i'm impressed would be an understatement.
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3:00 am we get up throw the kids in the ute and off we go. Nothing to exciting to report along the way except that the rain didn't let up till Richmond. After a quick toilet stop at Bilpen rest area it was on to to Bathurst to meet up with Serg, Shell and their two little girls.
After a feed at Macdonlds it was off on our little adventure. Heading off from Kelso out the the semi infamous Root Hog Road. Traveling through the couple of "private properties" until we got to the new part of the road the goes around a property that really didn't appreciate people driving through. Now i really don't have an opinion on the matter as i like most would not know the full story. This is pretty much the only way though i know how to get on to the Bridal Track from the Bathurst side being the Bridal track has been cut in half.
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After crossing the Turon river we headed northish to our destination.
They say getting there is half the fun, well i agree with that. Although when you get there the hard work start. Not only finding a great campsite but then setting up, getting the fire going and make sure the family are all sorted whilst trying to find time to relax and have a sneaky beer for lunch.
Fire started beers flowing, Harry got hold of a pretty big carp, funny how he just whipped it up by the gills. You know like an old pro. So time to get dinner going pull the built in table out of the my drawer unit. Gotta be super happy with that. At DRIFTA a table is built into every unit, you can opt for one without but that just seems strange now. So there it is Brad's burgers were a hit once again, unless the family was just being nice to me :)
Misty mornings on the Turon river are really something to see, it's almost haunting how the mist floats down the river.
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Apart from the awesome start to the day, it's bacon egg and cheese toasties time. i'm kinda expected to cook this breakfast at least once a trip.
After breakfast it was time for some exploring with the kids. I have been all over this hills over the last 20 something years but it was kinda awesome taking the kids with me for a look around.
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Back to camp and it was some relaxing, being that was the whole reason for the trip anyways.
Swim time, is there anything better than getting and having a a wee splash. Yeah i dipped a foot in but nobody needs to see a fat man floundering around like a stranded Barra in the dry season.
Every camping trip has it's fun and games and this was a bit of ours.
Another day another adventure, up at the crack of to get the fire going with Riley. He really does do a good job. After breakfast it was a trip up into Hill End for a shower ($1 for 4 minutes $2 ($1 dollar coins only) for 10, oh yeah and a couple of pies.
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Tip - Remember to buys stuff from the town you are visiting it keeps them going and you really should support the small town people. If they weren't there it would pretty much suck.
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We drove around seeing the sights then went down to the cemetery , The white tombstone below is of the oldest person i could find. Born in 1799. I really will have to see if i can find some history on him.
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On from the the cemetery it was Valentines Mine, it's a pretty sad story the history of this place but well worth a visit if you are ever out that way.
If the kids are having a good time after being dragged around for a few days then you know you are winning.
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Head back down the Bridal Track to camp we needed to get some more wood. Funny thing with Hill End is people really are lazy. Less than a kilometer from our camp there is more wood than you could ask for but still people want to cut down trees that are alive and well. Not only do these not burn well it could get every one locked out of the place one of these days. Serg's GU has some battery issue on the way so after cutting wood we got his truck going again.
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Thanks for crashing onto me to mate :)
After a pretty long day we got back to camp got the fire cracking and started sorting some dinner out.
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Who doesn't like some spit roasted pork and vegies from the camp oven.
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The spit is made by a company called AUSPIT all kinda counter levers of each other and if you have a few dollars spare then this bit of kit is highly recommended.
Unfortunately, this is pretty much the end of the road for us this time. One last morning fire, one last breakfast , then it was the long trip home.
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Hope you have enjoyed the little insight into our latest short getaway, feel free to drop a comment or leave some feed back good or bad i'm pretty happy either way.