Trip Report -Goulburn River National Park, August 6-7 2011.
Participants: Bruce (leader), Catherine, Anne, Peggy, ....
After collecting the walkers in Sydney (and myself on the Central
Coast), we then headed to Maitland for an overnight stay at
Catherine's parents'home, where we bedded down for the night in the
loungeroom. In the process I discovered that I hadn't packed my
sleeping bag in my pack! Fortunately Catherine's mother came up with
an alternative, albeit more heavier than my down bag, but it worked
well.
Next morning, after breakfast and inspecting the resident chooks, we
then set off along the New England and Golden Highways for an
uneventful drive to Merriwa, where a stop was made for coffee and a
few "extras"for the walk, such as chocolate.
Then it was along the Golden Highway for another 8km then into
Ringwood Road for the drive to Lee's Pinch Lookout in Goulburn River NP.
We arrived at Lee's Pinch Lookout parking area and parked the 2 cars.
We then set off SW along the road until reaching a small bypass loop
(at approx point 215220 on Mt Misery Topo). Then it was a matter of
just heading off into the bush.
Goulburn River does have some easy entry points, but most are
effectively blocked by private property. So generally entry invariably
needs a bush-bash, as in this case.
The walk plan for the two days was straightforward: enter the river
gorge via a gully, walk along the river, where the going would be
easy, although with a few river crossings, and exit back to Lee's
Pinch by another gully to the north, either the one explored on a SUBW
trip by myself and Anthony Dunk in 2001, or another unexplored one a
but closer to our entry point.
I had also planned for enough time to allow a return via daylight
following the Sandy Hollow Line via the very scenic Bylong Valley and
the Upper Hunter Valley (including the northernmost part of Wollemi NP).
The way in involved following a dry watercourse/gully to access the
riverbank. At the start Ben took out his brand new GPS and established
his first "waypoint". I requested a latitude/longitude fix - helpful
in the thick brush when it is difficult to find landmarks.
The route involved passing through scrub of varying thickness although
at one point we passed through a mass of Boronia bushes with their
profuse purple flowers and pleasant scent.
As we continued along the gradually sloping (and narrowing) gully
route, it became progressively more cluttered with fallen logs and
branches and thickets of scrub. This made the walk rather tortuous (in
more ways than one) as we went up and down and zig-zagged across,
around, and under obstacles. It was slow going, but eventually I noted
the presence of Riverine vegetation in the gully and knew the river
was not far off. I also noted that we appeared to be following animal
paths which invariably lead to the river.
The first of Peggy's photo's (attached) paint the picture.
At that point we came to a 10 metre drop in the gully, and after some
brief scouting a bypass was found. At this point also, Ben declared
that his GPS was telling him that the river was 3km from the start
point, and it showed that we had now travelled 3km but the river was
nowhere to be seen. Were we lost? I explained to him that it was 3km
in a straight line but we had definitely not been walking in a
straight line - hence the discrepancy.
Anyway, after the abovementioned bypass, the passage to the riverside
became easier and about 10 minutes later we arrived at the upper bank
of the Goulburn River. The upper banks all along the river have the
appearance of being mowed but inreality it is the grazing animals -
kangaroos and wombats - which are doing the job.
Here we rested after the hard slog to have lunch. At this point, Ben
declared that this was a great campsite, so we should just camp here,
and walk up and down the river banks without packs, and return the
next day via the way we came in. I advised that this was but one of
many (and better) great campsites along the Goulburn River. As the
Club's motto is "Press On Regardless", we did, as per plan.
After lunch we started northwards along the River, and soon came to
our first river crossing. Off came the shoes and socks, and into the
river. Right along the river's course there are long stretches of deep
pools linked by narrow points where the river was running quite
rapidly over pebbly shallows. The river was at the deepest I had ever
seen, thanks to the heavy rains earlier in the year locally and
further up the catchment.
We picked one of these shallow crossings and soon felt the icy cold
water on our feet. All crossed without drama, and we continued along
the western bank for another couple of KM. All along both sides were
towering cliffs up to 100 metres high. Meanwhile I was noting the dark
clouds that from time to time were appearing up above, but fortunately
thye rain held off in fact till very early sunday morning.
A sharp curve in the river necessitated another water crossing and
then for a km along a sandy bank to a third crossing, all negotiated
successfully without drama. Meanwhile, Ben had announced that beside
the sandy bank was a great campsite, so let's stop. The sound of
distant thunder, however, told me otherwise. I think that a li-loing
trip down the Goulburn River is feasible next summer if the river
stays at its present level. But a tent-loing trip? I don't think so!
Best to avoid bank-side campsites on inland rivers - you never know!
Anyway the magnificent river scenery beckoned us on.
After another km or so a good campsite came into view, complete with a
medium sized cave into which to retreat in case of rain (which was
looking likely now) and being on the western bank, sheltered from the
northWest wind which was starting to pick up. Like most camp sites on
this River it was on a wide swathe of lawn-like grass, with access to
plenty of dead non-standing wood for the fire.
By coincidence it was also directly opposite the exit explored by
Anthony Dunk in 2001.
A small campfire was lit to cook on, and tents raised in the waning
light of the late afternoon, with the sunlight gleaming brightly on
the tall sandstone cliffs opposite.
As darkness set in we settled down to our various dinners. I prepared
a mix of istant mashed potato (flavoured with some fire ashes which
fell in) and Tom Piper Braised Steak. I had also brought along a small
(375ml) bottle of 1985 Jacobs Creek Claret. When I announced that the
cork had partly broken up and had fallen into the wine, there were no
takers, I was determined it was to come out empty, so I had it to
myself - and very nice it was.
About 11pm we settled into our tents, and it must have been some time
after midnight when the sound of heavy raindrops started pattering
down on the tents. It continued on and off through the early hours,
but by daylight it had let up.
DAY 2:
Morning revealed a valley with low hanging clouds around the cliff
faces giving the valley a romantic effect. After breakfast we set off
again up river along the grassy river banks, with the clouds clearing
as we went. Another three river crossings were negotiated. On the last
one, Cathy threw her shoes and socks across the gap, as most of us had
done at the crossings, but this time one shoe and sock rolled back off
the river bank and into the water. This required a quick dash by Cathy
into a deepere section to rescue the shoe, but sadly the sock sped
down the river and was lost. Never mind, it isn't a proper wilderness
bushwalk if there isn't at least one spill!
By late morning we had reached the proposed exit gully. It actually
had three potential branches to exit, according to the map, but one
looked a bit too good to be true. And an exploratory climb by a couple
of our nimble members confirmed this.
So off we went along the main longer gully. This turned out to be
slightly easier to negotiate than the entry gully, but even so it was
still hard going.
We found an exit from the gully which required a scrample up a short
steep section which required some pack haulage. Once at the top the
scrub became very thick, and careful navigation was required as we
were aiming at a small gap between two cliff lines. Fortunately we
found it and the way up through the gap was through fairly open
country. Hooray, we thought - no more scrub! But our hopes were dashed
when we encountered more and even thicker scrub at the top.
So it was just a matter of "press on regardless" through the scrub,
gradually heading south-east with the intention of reaching Ringwood
Road. In the scrub the numerous twists and turns meant that we
suddenly came to a cliff line, indicating that we had come a few
hundred metres too far south. Oh well, these things happen in the
scrub! And anyway from the cliff top we had a great view of the
surrounding countryside.
It only took a walk of about 300 metres however to find a good pass
down the cliff line. Down we went and shortly struck some more very
thick scrub, which told me that the road must be imminent (thick scrub
seems to like road verges!).
And indeed we burst out of the scrub onto the road, for which we all
gave thanks and inspected our scratches.
Then it was an easy 1 km back to the cars at Lees Pinch lookout.
After a light lunch we drove down the hill to Coggan's Creek, and from
there we followed the railway more or less all the way back to Sandy
Hollow. The road took us through the Upper Hunter, which occasional
superb views of the cliffs of Wollemi NP, and wattle in profuse bloom
all along the road and the railway.
After a short stop for petrol for Ben (he had thought back at Lee's Pinch that he was running low). Then it was on to Singleton, where Ben and his passengers decided to stay for a pub dinner, but Cathy headed off as it was still a long drive home for her (she was dropping me off home on the way).
This was a great trip through a remote area and was quite an educational experience for many of our trip members.
My pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/118404097080236061977/GoulburnRiverWalk67811#
Peggy's photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150262090026587.326693.643321586&l=640a87e81b&type=1