by | Jul 8, 2007
We set out from Gosford Station on the friday night for the fairly long drive north to the Gloucester River camping area, in the easten part of the Barrington Tops Wilderness Area. As there had been some last minute cancellations by people we found that all of us could fit into Nazih’s station wagon, so Wendy’s car was left at my place. Rather than take the slower Buckett’s Way to Gloucester with its risk of hitting kangaroos at night, we took the Pacific Highway freeway to Nabiac and then inland to Gloucester. This took us past the imitation “Ayers Rock” that the Leyland Brothers had built in the 1970’s as a tourist attraction, and we decided to stop there for a bite and coffee. It looks like a monstrosity but the food is good. Back on the highway Nazih entertained us with Arabic songs from the CDs he had brought along.
by | Jul 2, 2007
What a wild few days of weather! Friday morning was cold and windy with a not too favourable forecast for the afternoon. We decided to buy a lift pass and practice our telemark turns at Thredbo for the day, which was good fun for all, even Nicole who injured her ankle. We had fish and chips at the pub in Thredbo that night and then went to camp at Ngarigo.
by | Jun 24, 2007
I made a last minute decision to go for a ski last weekend. The weather was clear, calm and fairly warm and the snow was powdery. Most of the ice from the long weekend is now covered (except maybe on the very tops) but the cover is pretty thin below 1800m. I went in from Guthega and had to walk halfway to the swing bridge before finding enough snow to (just) ski on. Another week or two and it should all be perfect:) Blue Lake is completely frozen and the ice climbs all look in good condition but not yet filled in by snow drifts, tho I didnt get up close.
by | Jun 11, 2007
The weather during the week prior to the trip had been somewhat inclement – and after a stormy Friday in town – we decided to leave on Saturday morning instead of driving to Newnes on the Friday evening. It rained overnight and was still raining heavily on Saturday morning – so more phoning around and we left later (9:30am) rather than earlier. A phone call to Rik at Blackheath in the Blue Mts was not encouraging (“its bucketing down outside, grrrrr……) – he was not keen to join us on the walk. We had an early lunch in the Mt Vic servo as we watched the rain teem down outside. This was not encouraging either. Nevertheless, we decided to press on regardless.
by | Jun 11, 2007
This trip was to compete in the annual ‘Paddy Pallin’ 6 hour rogaining event, run by the NSW rogaining association. I didn’t get a lot of interest from SUBW people wanting to compete so I’ll just tell you how much fun it was and how much you missed out on! You can see the results at www.nswrogaining.org. All up about 650 people competed!
by | Jun 1, 2007
We meet up at the Glenbrook rail commuter car park, noting that there were no other crazy mountain bikers willing to take the challenge that lay ahead of us. Considering this night was the first day of winter, we were surprised by the “relatively” warm air temperature by blueys standards.
by | May 27, 2007
After a leisurely stop at Blackheath to buy last minute supplies and consume coffee and bakery products we drove down into the Megalong Valley towards Carlons Farm to start the walk. The weather was fairly warm; heading down Breakfast Creek we managed to startle a red belly black snake stretched across the path catching some sunlight. The creek contained a healthy flow of water and some rock-hopping skill was required on several occasions to cross over and follow the path.
by | May 27, 2007
The full compliment of 8 people turned out for the walk on a glorious sunny Sunday. After picking up people from the train at Woy Woy we drove up the hill and parked in Brisbane Water National Park. We headed first down a ridge that was capped with flat sheets of sandstone and saw a number of aboriginal engravings, including people, fish, kangaroos, and shields.
by | May 20, 2007
Last week’s rain had gone by Friday evening, when 3 cars coming from different directions rendezvoused on the Putty Road beneath clear starry skies and welcome autumnal coolness. We consolidated into 2 cars for the drive out along a fire trail to our camp site, which was a cleared area beside the trail where there was room to park.
by | May 12, 2007
We started early on Sunday morning, so I could make it back home early to prepare a Mother’s Day dinner. So we met up with Bruce at Wondabyne station just before 9 am.
