Mt Ovens & Mt Schafield area (between Lithgow and Bathurst)
Saturday, 17th March 2018
Participants:
Phillip Favaloro and Linda – Nissan Patrol
Eric (Guru), Dianne and Laura Liney – Toyota Tabletop Landcruiser
Francois Da Costa, Jack, Carlos & Raymond – Toyota Hi Lux
Jon and Karen Beuman – Toyota Prado
Roger Riley – Land Rover
Neil, Megan & Sarah Kitchener and Alanna – Nissan Patrol
Alex Ralston and Paul – Toyota Prado
7 vehicles, 18 people.
Our meeting place for this 4WD trip was at Queen Elizabeth Park, Lithgow and met the Liney family at Sunny Corner Rd and KM Junction Rd intersection where we entered the forestry with a convoy of seven vehicles.
It was scenic drive through the pine plantation on Old Camp Rd and into a clearing at the intersection of Mitchell Creek Rd and Bicycle Track where we had morning tea and ‘aired-down’ the tyres. We continued on the Bicycle Track on unnamed tracks/roads whatever to Mt Schafield Rd. The more adventurous (Francois, Neil & Eric) took a track that veered to the right and informed us of the magnificent uninterrupted views of the area. We joined up and the convoy continued onto Pine Spur Trail and crossed the creek onto McBees Rd. Our adventurous Francois took a track showing his occupants the great outdoors of 4WD driving (this was their first experience of 4WD driving) ending up with 2 wheels off the ground and needing to be winched out. After that episode the rest of us took the chicken track that ran beside it. A big ‘good onya mate’ to Francois for tackling this track. (We came across this particular track on the Mt Ovens 4WD trip last year and discussed whether to tackle it and did not). Again travelled on unnamed tracks and roads till we came to Lyrebird Rd, then Stoney Trig Rd where we had lunch alongside the shady pines around 12.30pm. We continued along Stoney Trig Rd onto Lyrebird Rd and back across the creek onto Mitchell Creek Rd and again unnamed tracks/roads to Mt Schafield and then a steep descend along Bicycle Track to the intersection of Bicycle Track, Mitchell Creek Rd and Old Camp Rd where we had afternoon tea around 3.45pm.
All in all it was a great day with magnificent views of the area and a variety of easy to difficult tracks travelling through pine plantations and the great Aussie bush.
– Dianne Liney