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Lake Wallace, Hill 981 and Marrangaroo

This was a three-nighter to remember and I'll explain what the heck Hill 981 means shortly.

The camp began slowly on Friday, 11th April, after work, I headed through the mighty WestConnex road network from Nth Sydney to the M4 Western Motorway and almost made it from one end to the other in record time (for a Friday arvo) and wound up getting stopped for an hour due to a tip truck catching fire. There were two vehicle fires in Sydney that afternoon, with the other in the Lane Cove Tunnel, though that one didn't affect me.

The truck was destroyed and the firies had traffic moving again as quickly as they could. The run through the Blue Mountains was uneventful and I met up with Dave from Shintara at the Blackheath takeaway, where we both ordered up big.

From there, I grabbed some firewood for the first night, staying at Lake Wallace, which was a lot more peaceful than last time, when a rowdy bunch decided to get into a brawl in the wee hours. Lake Wallace was a stepping stone for the next part of the camp and we stayed the night on top of an un-named mountain with a clearing on it. It was pretty bare-bones but there were plenty of stumps from trees around.

Given that this peak is 981 metres above sea level, my guess is that over time, all these trees has been struck by lightning and destroyed. As the peak appears to not have a name, I am just going to call it Hill 981 for the purpose of this article. You can see it for yourself here and it wound up being a decent camping spot. For the benefit of those thinking of staying there, there's a few things to mention:-

1. It appears to be crown land, but there's no signage either allowing or disallowing camping or having a fire.
2. There is no water or power.
3. There are no ablutions.
4. If there is inclement weather, don't expect to see it out. This area is well exposed to the wind and in a storm it will get rough.
5. A lot of sight seers drive through, so don't expect quiet before dark. One group of tourists saw around 20 four wheel drive vehicles of all brands and colours, shapes and sizes stop in.

As the weather was fine, we decided to stay the night. Tea was a quick affair - I just had soup and toast - and it was then time to sit under the full moon by the fire and sip a few ports.











On Sunday, we had brekky and then packed before continuing our way along the Pinnacle Fire Track. We had plans on staying at a small camping area right down on where Dark Corner Creek and Daylight Creek meet up, again in an un-named area but due north west of Portland. As there were too many gum trees there with "widowmaker" branches over most of the camping area, we decided to move on to Marrangaroo, which has been on the list for some time but ended up being a good place to stop, despite the fact that the previous campers were simply a bunch of pigs. Wet ones, paper towels and even half a packet of fags were left on the ground and all had to be kicked aside. They also left their campfire burning, which is simply not acceptable.

Camp was made and then the fire left for us was stocked up with wood and relit. It wasn't long before the correct atmosphere had been created. Tents were set up and then it was time to think about food. Dave settled for bangers, bacon and eggs whilst I cooked what I normally eat at home on a Sunday night - rissoles with mash and peas - all cooked up on the new Jetboil stove I recently purchased. This model doesn't seem to be available in Australia because the gas outlet on it isn't approved by our local 'experts'. Yet, as there have been no reported issues with this in the US and Britain, where it is sold, I can't see why it won't work here. I have also purchased the Luna burner, which plugs into the Jetboil, meaning that I have three burners, to allow a full meal to be cooked up without having to cook things one after the other.



After tea came ice cream, then the rest of the night was by the fire discussing the five hours of hard driving, including up and down steep rocky grades of up to 40 degrees. It is at times like this that we are grateful for low range gearing and the abiility to let air out of the tyres - making things a lot easier on ageing kidneys.

Then it was bed time and the night was quiet. I ended up having three good sleeps, two uninterrupted by the need to visit the tree in the middle of the night and when a good night's sleep is obtained, the days go a lot better.





After brekky on Monday morning, we broke camp and headed to the pie shop in Wallerawang for a late morning tea, then it was off to the Shell in Lithgow to use their car wash to hose away all the grime from the trip away. Two utes that were absolutely filthy now look like they've just come from the showroom.



Camp #5 is done for the year. Where to next is still in planning.

Written at 20:29 on 14 April 2025 by Brad.
Posted in the Camps section. Comments: 0 ·

Back again, to the Snowy Mountains

It all started out fine, but was to get wet and quite inconvenient before things got better. I headed back to the Snowy Mountains for five days of rest, recreation and was hoping for recuperation at the same time. All Dave and I got in our travels was a lot of aggravation at the hands of the useless and over-rated NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. More on that later in the article.

The five dayer started out as event-free as possible. I left work early so I could avoid the traffic snarls at the start of the Hume Motorway, where the M5 and M7 Motorways merge. Drive South was the order of the day. I'm no mathematician but how the road people expect a two-lane road and a three-lane road to merge into a four-lane road and not expect a log-jam is something I can't work out. To make matters worse, the M7 is being widened to three lanes and this will just make matters worse in the long run, as there doesn't seem to be a plan to make the four-lane Hume any wider to cope. I guess leaving work at 11:00 instead of 13:00 to get out of Sydney may one day become a thing.

Anyway, south I did head and I arrived at Yass for the first night. A stop was made at Goulburn on the way down, for a late lunch and I was quite hungry by the time I got there. Sometimes we stop at Trappers Bakery but this time I was left a bit disappointed in the pie, which was overstocked with grissle. The sausage roll and apple turnover were good though.



Camp was made at Joe O'Connor's Park, where there is a free campground. I set up and then went to the hamburger shop just outside the gate to grab some tea and then went back to wait for Dave to arrive. The first night was peaceful enough and a light breakfast was followed by the drive to where we were supposed to spend the second night - McIntyres Campground in the Brindabella National Park.

However, we would not arrive at our destination, due to the NPWS making an unscheduled (and unannounced) decision to carry out some roadwork, which the road had to be closed down for. Now, whilst it is not unreasonable to expect the Government to maintain roads and we certainly have no issue with it, even if it means changing our plans, in this day and age it is not reasonable to go ahead with it and not tell everyone. There is the Internet, there is the World Wide Web, once known as the Information Superhighway - and on the NPWS website there is an "alerts" section, where things like road closures, floods, fires and vermin culls get announced. Not a word was said, and we wound up doing something like an 80-90km round trip for no good reason. Ever since the change of government two years ago, things have been getting a bit ridiculous with these sudden moves, and also other matters like track closures without a reason and removal of services from campgrounds, such as rubbish removal and I even remember a time when the NPWS provided firewood at many spots, to discourage people from collecting their own and risking fines. I mean, why would a debt-ridden government assist people from coughing up their hard earned and lining a government's pockets...? It just won't happen in this day and age.

We ended up staying at one of the grounds we were thinking of heading to later in the week - Fleas Creek. I am not sure why it is called that name but rest assured, there are no fleas! It is quite the picturesque area. The ground isn't that large and there's lots of trees, and of course the creek, providing some white noise to fall asleep to. We cooked tea and sat by the fire with a few drinks.



Later in the night, the thunder and lightning came. It felt like we were going to cop a serious storm so we battened down the hatches and headed for higher ground - the rooftop tents. When the lightning was at its peak intensity I came back down and sat in the ute for about an hour. Even though the frames of these tents make a good Faraday cage, I wasn't prepared to test out how good or not-so-good it may have been. After the storm had passed, I returned to the first floor for the rest of the night. Quite a lot of rain fell but the tents held up.





The next morning we had a light breakfast before packing and heading to the next spot - Rock Flat. Along the way we'd happen by our next issue with the roads. As we drove toward another spot we ended up not being able to access we found the road getting too narrow for the paint jobs on our trucks to resist and we turned back only to find ourselves (almost) bogged in a patch of red dirt which we came in through with no problems. One at a time, and with several attempts each, we got out of the mire and back on to hard ground, but the rain wasn't done yet. During a dry spell we did stop for lunch next to a written-off Jeep.



Someone did a good job on it too and it looked like it had been rolled. An hour or so later, we were at Rock Flat, and setting up for another wet night. The rain held off until the middle of the night and we were thus able to have tea and sit by the fire until our usual turn-in time of 22:00 to 22:30. We woke the next morning to a big pool of water in the campground and the need to towel down our tents and awnings. That said, at least the thunder and lightning had given us a miss this time and a good sleep was had.



The next morning we headed for Tumut to have brekky, refuel and grab a few things from Woolies, before heading to where we believed there'd be good weather for the rest of the trip - Behrs Flat on the Geehi River.



We have stayed at Behrs Flat before and despite the massive size of this ground, found it fairly peaceful. We opened up our rooftop tents and awnings and let them dry out in the sun. There is nothing like packing up a dry camp I have to say. So, whilst we weren't certain that the good weather would last, we made sure things were as dry as possible.



The final two nights were spent at Behrs Flat and it was fairly relaxing. Someone camped about 100m away did decide it was a good time to start up his generator though it wasn't close enough to be unbearable. It is amazing that people continue to use these things on camps - they are so 2001. With the advent of lithium-iron batteries, DC-DC converters and good wattage solar cells, why would anyone want to bring a generator and have the stench of petrol in the boot of their car, not to mention the fact that they do disturb other campers? It just doesn't make any sense. I own two generators and the larger one has never been on a camp since I have owned it. The smaller one, just 1kVA, has been on a few camps in the dim, dark past but it was only ever used when my group was the only one in camp.

My current electrical setup includes two 200Ah batteries, a Redarc 50A DC-DC converter, and a 350W solar panel. All that together has meant I have never once run out of power and the silence is golden. Since shifting from a station wagon to a ute, I haven't had a chance to shift the solar panel over but I still haven't run out of power, despite putting my 80 litre Waeco fridge into service for this camp. And she uses lots of power. So there you have it - generators are yesterday's news.

The other annoying thing that seems to affect a lot of campgrounds without fire rings these days is the number of people who seem to deliberately set their camps up without first giving thought to where their fire will be. The plot we chose had something like six places where fires had been lit at various times in the past. Seriously, why isn't one enough? We chose an existing one and then built the camp to suit - the way it should be done.





The one downside to Behrs Flat was that there was a lot of horse flies around. These bitches of things just bite, bite and bite again. Fortunately, only the females find this necessary, like mosquitoes, they need blood to feed their eggs. I had three huge bites on one of my feet for more than a week and they itched like hell. In a part of Australia that is home to the second and fourth deadliest snakes in the world, I was more worried about horse flies!



The weather remained warm and sunny for the two nights at Behrs and on the last day we broke camp and headed for Jindabyne for fuel and food. We stopped at the pie shop for a late brekky and then Dave and I parted ways. I had to head back to Sydney to unpack and get ready for work the following week and Dave wanted to spend a night at Thredbo Diggings, which he did.

Will there be a return to the Snowy to sort out unfinished business? The short answer is yes. But who knows when. It could be in a couple of months or towards the end of the year.

Written at 20:33 on 8 April 2025 by Brad.
Posted in the Camps section. Comments: 0 ·

The Woolshed - the first camp in the new truck

It had to happen - a camp with the new rig and so soon after purchase too! The Colorado performed well on its maiden camp so much is expected for the future and whilst quite a few camps (solo and with others) are planned, each camp will be broken up only by hard work on the fitout. New drawers have already been installed, which means I no longer have to lug around two road boxes filled with my kitchen gear and electrical 'things', such as powerboards, light globes, Anderson connectors, etc. Life is getting easier already.

Unfortunately I was not able to acquire the new rack kit I have on order for the canopy in time, but that is down to impatience and the need to camp as much as it is on sloppy stock control with the supplier. The rack kit is about a week away, apparently, and once I install it, the rooftop tent can be transferred from my station wagon to the ute. Not prepared to settle for a rating of 80kg, I've almost doubled that to 150kg with the kit I managed to purchase and I am looking forward to it being a part of the rig's fitout very soon. I should also be able to install my awning and the camp dunny as well, so I am excited about the next trip away, fully kitted out shelter-wise.

The first night of the camp was spent at The Woolshed, a camping area in the Turon National Park, which has been on the wishlist for a couple of years and now it's done. An otherwise peaceful night was broken up by a bunch of yahoos careening into the campground in a Patrol and finding their way into a large hole close to the edge of the Turon River. Some of the crowd were in a ute, which towed the Patrol out of the hole and then they were all on their way fairly quickly. If ever there was a reason not to be a dickhead behind the wheel, this was it and in reality, the hole the Patrol bogged in probably saved a few lives that night. Only metres from the hole was a cliff about three metres high with a fall into the Turon and then the salvage operation would have been a bit more serious.

You can see the stack for youself on Shintara, where Dave has included a photo of the Patrol in the hole.

As the crowd drove off, the night quietened down and Dave and I enjoyed a few drinks by the fire. The night would remain a warm one for some reason and by Saturday morning, we'd get the added benefit of no condensation on or in our tents - packing up dry is always a good thing.

After a small breakfast and breaking camp we headed for Mudgee, for the usual fare at the pie shop on Market Street. Following this, fuel and a few supplies from the supermarket were obtained and we were on our way to the next campground, this time on crown land near Turon Gates. The journey was broken up by a quick refreshments stop at the Royal Hotel in Sofala - Australia's first gold mining town.



Crown land means no rules, no fees and anything goes - up to a point. We found an unoccupied spot in the wider river bed and with no rain forecast we knew it would be safe to camp there. The Turon seems to be heading for a complete dry up as no serious rain has fallen in the catchment for a while now. Could an El Nino finally be coming? Time will tell.



Camp was made and it was time to relax before cooking tea. Dave had a steak which he cooked in a new skillet with a folding handle for the first time. I had a can of spaghetti with bacon and onion thrown in. Quick meals with an easy clean up so more time could be spent relaxing by the fire and trying not to think about the fact that this was the last night of the camp.

Another warm night was followed by Sunday morning, another light breakfast and then the pack to head home. We both stopped at the Shell roadhouse at Lithgow to wash our trucks and then it was time to head back to the Emerald City.

Written at 19:30 on 27 February 2025 by Brad.
Posted in the Camps section. Comments: 0 ·

The end of an era, and the start of a new one

This has been coming for a long time but last weekend I decided to head out and purchase something that will make life a lot easier on camps, moving forward.

I am now the proud owner of a four wheel drive, to wit, one Holden Colorado four door ute, complete with a canopy, all of which seems to have been quite well looked after by its original owner.

This ute will not so much replace the Holden station wagon I've been driving for the last eight years or so, but complement it - with both vehicles to be kept and serve distinct purposes. The wagon will continue to be my 'town car', and also used on the occasional long-distance trip where camping is not involved, with the ute being used for camping trips large and small, from this point onwards.

And, not to be one to purchase a car, take it home and just leave it in the driveway, I took it into the Blue Mountains on Sunday to put it through its paces and it worked a treat. Some photos are below.

The next task, and a fairly obvious one, is to fit the ute out for camping and this will invove spending some money unfortunately but that is what a salary is for I suppose. My first tasks are a new roof rack system to support the installation of my rooftop tent, awning, camp shower and solar panel. Following this, the space in the rear will be set up the way I want it with some drawers, a fridge slide, battery bank, water tank, inverter and water heater, plus a few other odds and ends. More on that at a later date.

Written at 22:09 on 17 February 2025 by Brad.
Posted in the Camps section. Comments: 0 ·

Back to the Snowy Mountains

The first camp (for me) included a return to the Snowy Mountains for three nights in company with Dave from Shintara. We did decide to do things a little differently this time, where I suggested a place to eat - a place where Dave hadn't been before and my last time there was something like 30 years ago. The Paragon Cafe in Auburn Street, Goulburn was the place and we headed in on the first night of the camp to get stuck in to the tucker on offer. Dave opted for the works burger and a Coke whilst I had the flathead and a chocolate milkshake - in the metal cup, no less. I will be going back!

From there we headed to the Denison Campground near Adaminaby - a place we've camped at several times before. We did arrive late and were careful to get out roof tents up and a few things unpacked without disturbing the other campers nearby. After sorting a few things out we called it a night but it wouldn't stay peaceful for very long. About thirty minutes went by before a pack of truly inconsiderate arseholes rocked up and spent the best part of an hour, leaving their engine running whilst setting up the camper trailer they towed in, including operating four very noisy levelling jacks. It really does go without saying that there are people in this world who do not deserve to participate in camping trips because there are some unwritten rules (which we did abide by) and one is that there is no fucking noise after 22:00hrs. The lack of respect for those around these people was astonishing and the length of time this went on for just demonstrated that they simply didn't care who they were disturbing.



The next morning, we had brekky and then packed for the journey to where we'd stay the second night - Old Snowy Campground. Before setting up, Dave took the opportunity to sort out the spooling of his new winch and this simply required him to unroll the cable and then roll it back on to the winch neatly so when in use, it won't jerk about. I parked my car about 25m ahead and attached the rope to my towbar, then whilst I moved Dave's ute forward, he watched the rope to make sure it was going back onto the winch correctly.



Following that, camp was made for the night and some relaxation by Gurrangorambla Creek was had before meals and the campfire prepared. As does often happen, we were welcomed to the site by a kangaroo and her joey who both decided to inspect our fire before it was lit. We couldn't help notice that a lone female camper had shifted away from yet another noisy bunch. I guess it is a sign of the times - groups of people just running amok and not showing consideration for anyone else. Because all these remote campsites and online site bookings and are no longer patrolled by park rangers, people think it is a licence for 'anything goes'. Tea time came around and for me it would be curried sausages and rice. I did want to pre-cook this and just reheat in camp but circumstances meant that cooking it all fresh and having a big wash up to do afterwards was the only way it was going to happen.



In preparation for Sunday, 26th January, which is Australia Day, it was mandatory to wolf down some barbequed tucker and get stuck in to some alcoholic beverages. The following morning came around and another quick breakfast was followed by a pack of camp so we could move to the final destination for the long weekend - Ghost Gully Campground which was over on the other side of Tantangara Dam - one of the 16 dams in the Snowy Hydro-Electric Scheme and also the site of the water inlets for the 2,000MW Snowy 2.0 project.



Being quite hot that day, we did manage to find a site at Ghost Gully which provided some shade and this helped with relaxation through the afternoon. We both made our lunches and to continue with the theme, I cooked up sausage sandwiches with eggs, bacon and onions. Dave would save his bangers for tea time and he'd have those with a steak cooked over the camp fire, whilst I would cook up beef rissoles, mash, carrots and home-made gravy, never being one for boxed gravy. As night fell and the fire crackled, we toasted King and Country under the Australian Flag by the fire that night and proudly so. We both hit our racks at about 23:00hrs.



The Denison and Old Snowy grounds will one day get some return visits, as the stays are quite relaxing - noisy campers aside. However it is likely that Ghost Gully will be passed by on future visits to the Alps due to the fact that the road passes right through the middle of the ground and we did find that few that are driving through bother to slow down, meaning bulldust is thrown into the air which then floats into the camp sites. Old Snowy is in a bit of a valley and is quite picturesque. On Monday, I had to return to Sydney to prepare for a return to work following the long weekend but Dave had an extra day off and spent that night back at Adaminaby before making his return trip.

Overall, the weekend was a success and a couple of new camping areas were tried out, whilst with mixed results, this is worth doing so we have a better idea of where to go back to in future trips. The big task I have now, is to decide where to camp next.

On a final note, this was the first big test of the new rooftop tents. They are proving their worth in terms of speed when making and breaking camp, but also in terms if me not having to bend my back as much when packing heavy tents and lifting them off the ground into the car. My Oztent RV-5 weighs about 30kg when packed and separate bags contain the optional extension kit and side awning whilst the larger Oztent Jet Tent F30 weighs more than 45kg in the bag, plus its extension kit.

Don't get me wrong - both are very good quality tents and are fantastic for base camping in one spot for 3 days onwards but I am not getting any younger and for the quick or multi-site camps that we are all doing these days, such heavy accommodation is becoming a handful. My new roof tent can be unpacked and set up in around two minutes and there is no lifting to do. Packing it away is equally easy. Dave's tent is a different make and model but is equally as easy to unpack and pack away.

Lastly, a couple of photos of Lake Eucumbene, which is well down on previous levels, due to the need to stop the water flow through Providence Portal, a tunnel which carries water to this lake from Tantangara Dam, which is also very low due to the new tunnelling work on Snowy 2.0.



If the lake was at 100% capacity, I'd be under about 25m of water where I had my car parked. This lake is the largest water body in the Snowy Scheme when it is full.

Written at 21:15 on 4 February 2025 by Brad.
Posted in the Camps section. Comments: 0 ·