Trip Report – Commission Road Recce (off Putty Road) north Of Sydney
Thursday 22nd June 2023
Neil Flower & Mac Cusiter – Discovery
Alex Levshin & Geoffrey Written – Ranger
John Woodard & David – Prado
Ralph Radovan – Range Rover
Rob Drummond- Patrol
Phillip & Linda Favaloro – Patrol
Unfortunately, 2 members who had booked in to come had to drop out, one due to catching Covid. – (hope that you are feeling OK now Richard.)
Day: Winter solstice, therefore fewest hours of daylight for year.
Conditions: Cool, but not too bad. Weather: Fine till late in afternoon, then light drizzly rain.
We met at Macquarie Park, Windsor, at 7:00am. Left at 7:27 am. Headed North up Putty Rd to near Howes Valley, turning off into Commission Rd. – so called because it was originally put through by the Electricity Commission as it was then known to follow the High Voltage power lines from the Hunter Valley power stations.
Some rain had been forecast but the day was reasonably warm and quite sunny with only a little cloud on the Northwestern horizon. This would change to a light drizzle very late in the afternoon when we were on our way home.
Our first stop was the Grey Gums café (closed – we were still too early for them) at 80 kms, where we had an early Morning Tea for 15 mins then off again towards Howes Valley where we turned left onto Commission Road. (104kms.) This is a is quite good road, only a very few slightly rough patches, indeed a 2 wheel drive vehicle could manage it without too much difficulty. Some interesting scenery and interesting places to photograph along this stretch including a quaint little Lebanese Catholic chapel situated by itself right in the middle of the bush.
Although winter there was a surprising number of wildflowers that were still in bloom – some stands of Flannel flowers and other native blooms not forgetting a great number of the winter blooming species of wattle which were everywhere.
At the 130 kms is the spot known as ‘Kings Cross’ where the Old hunter Main Trail heads west to the old crossing of the Gt. Dividing Range (closed now thanks to former Premier Bob Carr and his absurd ideas of locking up the bush), and also Sheepskin Hut. We continued North along Commission Rd., the aim being to come out at the village of Bulga on the Putty Road.
Alas, no such good fortune! The NPWS had put a Boom gate across this track also with a sign saying that it was closed temporarily due to track erosion or some other such excuse.
Temporarily? If so, then why such a massive and solid boom gate/barrier?
Never mind, perhaps one day our grandchildren may be able to do this road.
Backtracking half a kilo to Commission Road again we turned North again and headed towards Jerry’s Plains.
It was while we were doing this stretch of the trip that Ralph Radovan received a phone call telling him that his mother, who had been ill for some time, had passed away. TRAX believes in being a caring organisation and so we stopped and gathered around Ralph to pray with him and offer our heartfelt sympathy at this time of great shock and sadness to him. TRAX members are asked to keep Ralph in their prayers over the coming weeks.
Jerry’s Plains is a village on the ‘Golden Highway’ which runs from near Singleton toward Denman. No good place for lunch there so we headed East toward Singleton to the next village of Warkwarth where there is a nice park with tables, fireplaces and toilets.
Lunch! It was good. One of our visitors decided to try out his Drone there (I think it came back) while the rest of us enjoyed a very late lunch. By the time we concluded that the daylight was fast running out so we decide to head for home. Some went on to come via the M1 while others came back along the Putty Rd. to Windsor.
Conclusion? A good day. This will make a nice day trip when Spring comes. By then the bush should be a mass of wildflowers to complement the great mountain views that are to be glimpsed along the way. Don’t miss this trip when it is announced. The things that we didn’t get to see because of the lack of daylight will be included when the days get longer.
Neil Flower
Recce Leader