Trip Report – Marrangaroo Campground and Rydal 4WD area
12 to 13th of August 2023
Vehicle & Position, Driver / Passenger
Patrol – 1 Daniel Lee /None (TL)
Hilux – 2 Peter Frick /None
Defender- 3 Jane Parfitt /Sally Parfitt
Range Rover – 4 Ralph Radovan /None (TEC)
Start time: 11:00 am at Richmond McDonalds
Finish time: 4:00 pm at Lidsdale Forest 20 km west of Lithgow on GWH
Weather: Fine and sunny on Saturday, minor rain on Sunday morning enough to wet up the tops of the tracks more than just keep the dust down. Some tracks were a little slippery when steep – luckily the recent maintenance grading and new gravel base was welcome. Rain of the way home 5:30 pm from Lithgow!
Report by: Daniel Lee
I haven’t led a four-wheel-drive trip – ever! So, after being a member of TRAX for 4 years it was time to strut my stuff!
The trip briefing invite was as follows:
“Meet at McDonalds Richmond Cnr March & East Market Streets, at 10 am to have morning tea. Depart 11 am to drive Bells Line of Road stopping at Mount Tomah Walls Lookout around 11:45 to 12:00 enroute to see the sharp valleys then head to Lithgow arriving around 12:30 pm. Collect any supplies needed in Lithgow and head off to find our camp site.
Set up camp early in the afternoon before it gets cold, relax and plan the following days activities – as I do not know the area and/or each person’s/vehicle’s capabilities or aspirations in terms of being adventurous. It is a get to know you week end! Sunday is a day of exploring the area, some areas are more difficult than others and there are some creek crossings.”
After a short “get to know you” discussion at Macca’s and a recap on the invitation and some of use snacking away, we headed off on time with the usual channel 13 radio communication test.
A leisurely drive up through Kurrajong and Bilpin with some discussion about the devastation caused by the 2019 bush fires. There were no takers for stopping for an Apple ale!
We arrived at Mount Banks picnic area and look out around 1 pm and the wind was the type that was very lazy and went right though you – it was very cold!
We then drove up to Lithgow for some supplies and Ralph demonstrated his technical skills by entering the Woolworths carpark by driving over the barrier kerb median! Obviously very keen … we had a short lunch break at Queen Elizabeth Park of Lithgow. It was short because it was cold after being in a warm vehicle – a sign of things to come! I quickly lost the lead when on doing a U-turn to exit I proceeded down the road we entered on, not realizing that it was a one-way entry! So I nominated Jane and Sally to lead till I caught up! How embarrassing!
We left the main road of Lithgow and turned right onto the Great Western Highway towards Marrangaroo! The campground location was known in general as to location, but the route to get there was not known other than there being a maze of unnamed roads on the map. Sally and Jane’s phone had good reception and also was able to locate their position, so the lead role to show us the way was delegated to them for the dusty yet pleasant rip to the camp ground along some forestry roads through an old cattle loader and some farm gates.
We arrived at the camp at 2:55 pm. Set up tents etc. and collected firewood as we anticipated it to be a cold night……… and it was. The evening was spent getting to know each other. We all sat around the camp fire, some enjoying a port while Anne Parfitt provided blow by blow updates of the Matilda’s match by phone. It was a real nail biter!
Meanwhile, we watched the bush tele having fresh strawberries and Cointreau with custard — and washed it down with select ports!
It was early to bed around 10 pm once the soccer was finished!
We awoke to a light rainy start to the day which slowed packing away of the (my) equipment after breakfast.
I learnt that the doors to the roof top tent need eyelets to allow the door to be help up on poles so the rain does not run off into the annex! Something to organise for next time! But all in all, I cannot fault the design of the Kings Roof Top Tent – save for the short ladder given my 3” lift and 35” tyres (making a 4.75 inch /120 mm lift over a Standard patrol). In my case I just carry two treated pine sleepers 600 mm long as a
landing pad – much cheaper than a ladder extension – and can be used as a jacking pad. It took me two hours to repack the car the roof top tent as I was wiping things down as we went – everyone was very patient thank you!
We got onto the trails around 11:30 am after a leisurely sleep in!
The map above shows our overall route with day 1 being the hard left turn off the highway about 20km west of Lithgow and then hug the east side of the forestry tracks passing some old farm ruins here and there until we reached Sugarman’s Road then along it to the Campsite shown. Day 2 was to be hopefully much more interesting/challenging. We headed off to the Rydal 4WD Area (also shown on the map) which requires a short creek crossing of the Cox’s river, and later then a 600 m traverse along the river bed with about 200 mm in the river before heading up the slopes to the ridges.
The road along the river was very pretty and with the river starting to widen out we ended up coming to a long meandering hill climb that would take us up to the ridge. Left was extreme, right went 50m, and middle was the only forward route, unless we went back.
So, we did the hill climb.
Our aim was to head along Mount Walker Road back to Lithgow! Well, that was short lived.
We then travelled along the range via Sugarman’s Road and passed some great viewpoints.
Before long we were back at the campsite! So, we had a late afternoon tea at 3 pm, and then said a prayer for being provided such great company and safety of the trip and headed off with Sally and Jane in the lead (their phone gave a better positional mark on the maze of tracks so we could find our way out with the minimum of fuss).
We turned onto the blacktop and said our farewells…..
Then our Lord had other ideas! Peters clutch failed just as he decided to pull out onto the highway….
So, we spent 2 hours trying the get his truck moving and then flat towed him 19 km back to Lithgow… until the men in blue pulled them over as it is illegal to flat tow in NSW. We all assisted Peter and made sure he had a place to stay and could get his car to Toyota in Lithgow for repairs. {Follow up with Peter the whole clutch disintegrated then and there damaging the fly wheel – $5000 repair and 8 weeks for parts to come from Japan}.
Luckily he was not deep into the bush or down a steep hill.
Trip Summary:
• A relaxing easy trip.
• Difficulty C grade in sections C+/B- on the hill climb.
• Two day timeframe was adequate.
A major failure like Peter’s is rare! He said he will keep 4WDng.
Danny Lee – First time TL!