TRAX 4WD Fellowship

Trip Report – Hampton State Forest
Saturday 24^th June 2023

Phillip & Linda – Nissan Patrol
Eric & Dianne – Toyota Prado
Peter – Toyota Hilux
Ralph – Range Rover
Rob & Evelyn – Nissan Patrol

We met at The Lolly Bug, Little Hartley and had some time to browse or stock up on some yummy sweet things before heading off to Hampton State Forest. We took the scenic route along Cox River Rd admiring the panorama views passing through Kanimbla and onto Marsden Swamp Rd before hitting Jenolan Caves Rd just before Hampton Hotel. We all agreed to check out another entrance to the State Forest at the top end of the forest for a latter trip.

Good news, we were able to do so and entered the forest off All Flats Rd and did a loop around before hitting the main road and onto Old Bindo Rd where we originally planned to enter Hampton SF and explore. Not far in we found a sunny but very windy spot for morning tea. It was late morning by the time we headed off and go exploring. Due to rain two days earlier, we across various parts of the tracks that were wet but fun was had before reaching a large clearing next to Jenolan Caves Rd for a promised one hours’ lunch break which we enjoyed and

two of us took the opportunity to have a little nap. After lunch back on the tracks again with more exploring to do. We came across sections of tracks that was overgrown and with the help of Rob’s handyman’s tools, his battery powered hedge trimmer and chainsaw, we were able to proceed without scratching our cars on the blackberries and other scrubs. Thanks Rob. After a little more exploring we came out of the forest at Duckmaloi Rd and went to Millionth Acre Recreation Area for afternoon tea. On arrival we had our photo session and as the sun had gone down it was extremely cold and windy so afternoon tea was a no go. Rob, Evelyn and Peter headed off home while Ralph, Phillip, Linda, Eric and Dianne went to Hampton Hotel for dinner.

A good end to a good day.

Dianne Liney

Look out for the date of the TRAX Trip!

Trip Report – Millionth Acre Hampton SF Recce
4th March 2023

Phillip wanted to do a recce to Hampton SF for a while and I needed Dianne to sign some papers for our friend Joy, so what better than do a four wheel drive trip and meet half way.

We left Cherrybrook at 7.10am with good intentions to meet Dianne and Eric at Millionth Acre Recreation Area by 9:30. It had been raining overnight but looked like it was clearing up. We still travelled through some fog and rain. On the Victoria Pass, we spotted a goat on our left. This was not expected.

Unfortunately, the Lolly Bug was closed but promised to open soon. Not soon enough.?. Phillip turned left into Coxs River Road. He wanted to take a more scenic route than Jenolan Caves Road. Coxs River Road turns into Ganbenang Rd after you cross over the Coxs River. {side note –We only noticed this while writing the report. Phillip should have turned right into Lowther Siding Road but kept going and going}. We eventually turned right onto Marsden Swamp Road and left back onto Jenolan Caves Road. We received a call from Dianne saying they had arrived at the meeting spot and it was cold and wet. We said we were running late as Phillip had decided to take the scenic route. We even had to stop at the traffic lights on Jenolan Caves Road.
We met Dianne and Eric at the corner of Jenolan Caves Road and Duckmaloi Road at 10.00am. Only half an hour late. Looks like it is morning tea time and left at 11.00am. The road at Millionth Acre Recreation Area was closed and we travelled down Duckmaloi Road looking for another entrance. We turned right onto Airstrip Road and came across two red back wallabies. Turning left onto Bindo Boundary Road. Another wallaby and plenty of butterflies. Took the right track up the hill. We come into a cleared area where there were a couple of towers. These were not mobile towers but looked like fire observation towers. We stopped and had a look and then continued on the road turning right and it was a dead end. Turned around and turned right onto the other track. No wonder they say unnamed road. This track was going down the hill side and was rutted. We stopped and Eric and Phillip did some track building, very rocky and uneven. They build the track up using rocks found beside the track. Phillip asked Eris to guide us down, proceeding down the track okay. A Datsun Bluebird and a Valiant (parts thereof) were spotted in the bushland. Stopped to check out the next part of the track which was rutted all the way down. They decided to turn around, as the area was unknown and proceed back to the fire tower where it was the perfect spot to stop for lunch. It was after all about 1.00pm. Finished lunch at 2.00pm and turned right onto Old Bindo Road now on Bindo Boundary Road and came across three trail bikes. Turn left off Bindo Boundary Road then right into Evans Road. These tracks were easy going. Before turning left, a vehicle got in front of us with four dogs. Eric noticed the dogs still had their collars on and said they were used for pig hunting. Phillip stopped down the track for a feed blackberry off course. He collected two drinking cups full to take home and you can only guess what he ate. We then turned left into another no name road but it looks like we are on the boundary line of the forest. Still on the no name track. Where it leads nobody knows. Phillip followed the boundary track with pine trees to the left and gum trees to the right. There were a few tracks on the left but we didn’t explore them. Stopped to take a photo of the creek down in the valley, not that you could really see the creek. Passed a few cows on our right. They were just standing there, staring at us, what a life. Turning right onto Evans Road and more pine tree country. Turning left, otherwise we would have ended up at Duckmaloi Road. Stopped to take a photo of the fern trees.

We came to an intersection and the track to the right had a huge pine tree across it. We stopped and investigated the fallen pine tree on the track. The area was being used by mountain bike riders and maybe trail bikes. There was even bridge made out of the same material as Phillip’s recovery ramps.
So, we decided to turn left and at the cross road we went straight ahead. Then to a track on the right. After a few more turns we were back on Evans Road going towards Duckmaloi Road and leaving Hampton State Forest at 3:50pm. We drove past where we entered the forest in the morning and proceeded slowly along Duckmaloi Road to Millionth Acre Recreation Area. Time to air up our tyres and have some afternoon tea. Phillip and Eric spoke to a motor home owner and his family while we had a girl’s chat. Hampton Hotel was our next stop, for dinner with the Lineys and end a great day’s outing. There was a little more rain and we got stopped at traffic lights again; road work?. We all heading home at 7.45pm after a great dinner at the Hampton Hotel.
See you on the tracks.

Linda and Phillip

Look out for the date of the TRAX Trip!

Trip Report – SHEEPSKIN HUT Recce
and surrounding area

Thursday 13th April 2023

From Neil’s trip notes…….

• Left Macquarie Park at Windsor at 8:00am on Thurs 13 April, arrived back at starting point at 5:55pm.
• Only 2 vehicles able to make it – 4 others had to withdraw at the last minute – 2 with sick personnel and 2 with mechanical problems.
• Participants:
  Neil Flower (Trip Leader)
  Land Rover Disco 2
  Matt Smith (Navigator)Passenger with Neil
  Alex Levshin (Photographer) Ford Ranger
  Stephen Mok (Alex’s Guest) Passenger with Alex

First of all, a summary:
* A really great trip – worth waiting 5 months for NPWS to open track.
* A long trip for a 1 day trip. Total time taken was 9 hours 55 minutes. This time would be realistic for a larger convoy as we travelled at convoy speed ((tried to go at 80kph max on highways), and included MT, Lunch, and AT, at realistic timing. Nevertheless participants (and trip Leaders) of a much larger Convoy would need to be disciplined in their timing in order to be able to do the trip in daylight in
months May to September.
* Total distance – Windsor to Windsor was 290km – most of this (approx.. 220km), was on the bitumen of the ‘Putty Rd.’
* Non bitumen roads/tracks were in good condition for 70% of trip, remainder not too bad.
* No low range was needed, only a very few challenging sections of very short duration and all members of our group considered that this trip would be suitable for ‘soft-roader’ vehicles (‘Ntrails, Subarus etc.)

General Comments:
* The day was mostly overcast, a few light showers but nothing to spoil the fun.
* Bush was magnificent and great views of mountainous country and some great rock formations on route back from Sheepskin hut.
* NPWS (for once to their credit) had just finished building a new toilet block – finished less than an hour before we arrived! (We met the builders coming out on the track as we came in and talked with them!)
* Sheepskin Hut is an interesting place – 2 picnic tables with seats are in place, quite good grass for some camping, with more across the creek some 200+ metres away.
* The trip is a ‘round trip’ – i.e.. We come home a different way to the road in.
* The Commission Road on which we came in, also continues further on to the village of Jerrys Plains (which we did not do – but this gives a further trip opportunity for another trip).
* No fuel is available after Colo Heights. Suggest that drivers start the day with a full tank. However, we noticed that fuel prices at Colo Hts. Were the same as Vineyard/Windsor/ Wilberforce which is cheaper than many metropolitan Servos.

Conclusion:
*An excellent trip. Can be done relatively easily in one day, although a two day trip would be more leisurely.
* We went midweek and saw almost no others on the dirt section except 1 Hi Lux ute going opposite direction and the 3 builder’s utes coming from the toilet construction.
*The tracks showed almost no evidence of recent vehicular traffic, so we would probably have the place to ourselves even at a weekend.
* No evidence of Bunyips, Swiffles or Dingbats in the whole area.
* I would advise TRAX Committee to schedule a trip to this area on Saturday 13th May and, to leave Windsor at 7:00am to maximise daylight.
– Neil Flower -Trip Leader (and of course, General Troublemaker!)

Trip Report – Follow the Turon
1-2 April 2023

Who attended the trip?
Eric & Dianne — Toyota Prado (Trip Leader)
Shane, Joel & Jarrod — GU Patrol
Ralph – Range Rover
Rob – Landcruiser 200 Series
Phillip & Linda — GU Patrol (Tail End Charlie)

We met at Capertee Rest area at 9.15am on a fine Saturday morning. Dianne & Eric discussed what the plan was for the day. Joel and Jarrod were off, looking for and found a geocache at Capertee and wrote in the logbook. We left Capertee at 9.45am and turned left onto Castlereagh HWY and then left into Upper Turon Road and left again into Lochaber Rd. A short distance down the road, we turned left into Turon National Park. The weather was cool and sunny and looked like it would be a beautiful day. When we first turned into the national park, we saw lots of kangaroos on our left. We turned right into Steep Hill Road and stopped at the tower to air down our tyres. The track is true to its name.
We proceeded down the hill and at the bottom Rob we went straight ahead and lost sight of the others. We needed directions on which way to go. Ralph was saying he could see us (that’s good) but we couldn’t see him. After some chatter on the CB and checking maps we went back a few meters, turned left and then over the creek crossing. We were back behind Ralph again. Then we drove easily over a few creek crossings and finally we crossed the Turon River and arrived at the Diggings camping ground at 10.30am where we stopped for morning tea.
At 11.00am we left the campsite stopping for a quick bathroom stop. Eric turned left onto Turon River Road and the first of our river crossings. The water in the Turon was about axle height. After crossing the Turon twice, we came to Fiddlers Creek and proceeded on.
On the other side of the river Eric noticed a track and went to investigate. The sign said Swimming Hole Track. We were called across and went up to a flat area, good for camping. There was another track going up the hill. We drove up the steep hill through the narrow openings between the trees to see a perfect view from the top of the hill. We now had to turn around and go back down again and cross back over the river.
We turned right after crossing the river and were now back on the Turon River Road and travelling beside the river. This led to a steep section and at Stockyard Gully, Eric advised us to watch out for the washout on the low side. I was enjoying the very pretty drive so close to the Turon River. The water looked so inviting and clear.
We crossed the Turon River once more and come to the sign saying private property ahead. There were a few muddy sections after the road barrier on the side of the track. As Eric had reached a locked gate, he advised us to turn around where we could. Now for the journey back. Eric, pointed out, that he noticed evidence of a lot of gold fossicking in the area. The trip back was similar as going there. When we reached Diggings Campground Eric advised us not to kick up any dust and disturb the campers. We headed out to Woolshed Flat camping ground for lunch at 12.40pm. On our way after crossing the river we came across a Redneck wallaby on our right immediately after we crossed. He must have been used to visitors as he didn’t hop away from us as we stopped only a metre away from him to snap photos. We went through Woolshed Flat camping ground looking for a table and chairs in a nice spot but ended up on the other side and came to Coolamigal Creek Trail where we turned back. Eric took the track near the river where there were table and chairs where we enjoyed our lunch together.
On the way out we passed a sign to River Ron’s Hut which is no longer there. The hut was pulled down by National Parks as it was deemed unsafe. We left the Turon NP along Lochaber Link Road and out onto Lochaber Road. At the end of the road, we turned left onto Upper Turon Road toward Turon Gates. Our destination was Sofala and a night of camping.
We were now in the Turon Gates area. Along the way, Eric turned onto a small side track up a hill to admire the view and take photos. Rob with the help of Phillip’s tripod took a group photo, the first of a few. It was now time to continue our journey.
When we reached Palmers Oakey Road we turned right. This was after going across the causeway on the Turon River. We spotted a Pajero NA two door on the right and Eric said it had been there for years. Further on, we passed a couple of cows grazing. Rob stopped to take some pictures. Came to our first locked gate and Eric has spotted some feral goats. Down by the river was a private camping set up. Eric warned us about some sheep on the side of the track and one of the sheep decided to run in front of Phillip’s car.
We finally went over our last causeway for the day, across the Turon. We had reached our destination, Greenpoint camping ground near Sofala. A quick drive around looking for the best camping spot, and after a while looking at several possibilities, we were back where we started. Time to set up our tents for the night and have dinner. One of the fire bugs started a fire and we all sat around the fire eating chocolate. Thank you, Ralph and Dianne.

Daylight saving finished and we all got an extra hour of sleep (or time to snore according to some!). We had no rain overnight and it was sunny and partly cloudy in the morning. It was now time to get moving, have breakfast and pack up and we left the campsite at 9.30am. Before hitting the black-top Eric took us up a steep hill requiring some ‘right foot’, low range and careful wheel placement. Ralph suffered a few hard thumps to his undercarriage and Rob pushed a few buttons and crawled up in comfort. Everyone successfully conquered Eric’s little test, so we turned right on Turon River Road then right onto Denison Street. Denison Street went straight onto Hill End Road. Phillip took his time as we were still running low pressures in our tyres. When we reached Hill End we needed directions to find the others. Just keep going and veer left at the monument. There they are! We continued through Hill End and turned left onto The Bridle Track. The track had been graded since last time we were there last year on the October long weekend. The road was like an express way with whoop-de-doos. Mind you don’t get to close to the edge, it’s a long way down and they will never find you.
We stopped at Turon Crossing Reserve for morning tea at 11.00am and left at 11.30am. Back in October the place was full. There was a big screen TV and even a hot tub. Today we were there alone. Eric knocked down a couple of wasps nest from the shelter before we left. After leaving the reserve, we proceeded across another Turon River cause way on our trip to Bathurst. Bathurst was 59km from here.
Our next stop was Mary Flynn Reserve. We went in as far as we could go and then turned around and stopped down by the river. Rob wanted a group photo. What a sight, seeing Rob get back in time for the picture. We used the lower track as the other track had a tree across the track. Back at the top of the hill we had to do a sharp right onto the bridle track. Rob made the turn in one go. Down the track, we stopping to view and take photos of a ute in the river. Possibly went over the edge or drifted from somewhere down the river.
We were now at Mulligans Bluff. This is where the rock had closed the road. The old road is now closed off and you go up, over and around the hill and down the other side. What were they thinking? It just started to rain a little as we were going over the top, but it did not last long. Down the bottom of the track, we were warned to watch out for the cattle as they were very close to the track.
It was now 12.50pm and a good time to stop for lunch. Black Gate Reserve had a shelter and picnic table & chairs. There was even a loo. We left the reserve at 1.40pm and proceeding onwards. We turned left onto Box Ridge Road and started climbing a hill. Coming to our first locked gate. Second locked gate and more sheep ?another 1or 2 locked gates. We congregated at the corner of Box Hill Road and Turondale Road to pump up our tyres, have a chat and say our goodbyes. The Lineys were turning left and we were turning right onto Turondale Road and heading to Bathurst/Kelso on our way home after a great weekend.
Thank you, Dianne and Eric, for organising the trip.
Linda and Phillip