Yalwal, This Sunday, 13th Jan

[homedg]

We are looking at heading down to Yalwal (Near Nowra) this Sunday if anyone else was interested in coming along. ;D
I have never been through there before but the plan is to head out to the old Gold mining town at Yalwal, then down to Tianjara falls and across to the George Boyd lookout.
Looks like a pretty easy run and should make for a nice day out.
Let us know if you're interested ???

[casey]

I'm up for a drive, but thats a fair trek - Google Maps says it will take just over 3 hours to get there - making over 6 hours travelling for the day :-/
Got anything closer that you want to check out?

[homedg]

I'm in Campbbelltown region and my Mapsource routable software tells me it is 130km or 1:38 hrs from home.
From the centre of Sydney it is 153km or 2:02 hrs.

I've got maps and waypoints for the trek so nav won't be a problem. Unfotunately it seems that off-roading from Sydney as a base will always cause us to have a bit of a drive.

Would appreciate any notes, or even tracklogs, from others that have done this area.

[casey]

We should have all our camping gear ready pretty soon and will be able to make it a two day trip - have fun down there tomorrow, look forward to hearing about it :)

[homedg]

After a late change of plans we caught up with Casey, Rebecca and "The Colonel" at Wisemans ferry on Sunday morning with plans to explore Yengo.
After a leisurely crossing on the ferry at Wisemans we were in for more leisurely soft roading as we headed along graded gravel roads towards Yengo National park.

We had a quick stop at the old cemetary at St Albans which boasts the grave of one of the "first fleeters". With the graves dated around the early to mid 1800's it was an eye opener to realise just how quickly this part of Australia was settled by the Europeans.

The next blip on our trip was when we had to slow down for a big goanna which had been sunning itself on the side of the road. It quickly scaled the nearest tree then posed for photo's.

A detour on a side track finally gave us a reason to engage low and while fairly flat, the track was narrow and there were some little artic and sandy sections which were a bit of fun.

After some more soft roading we decided to hit the tar and head up to Wollombi for lunch at the pub which is also the home of the famous "Uncle Jurds Jungle Juice". Our burgers were good and the salad rolls looked pretty good as well.

Back on the trail we headed from Wollombi down the Finchley track and then on to the Yengo track. Again we engaged low and enjoyed some climbs and descents which the Rubi just ate up. Another side trip on a track which was obviously rarely used also gave us a bit of fun.

By this time Casey and Rebecca had to head off so we farewlled and headed up first to the Finchley Aboriginal site which has large carvings into the ground level stone, and then onto the Finchley Trig lookout. The views from this Vista are simply spectacular.

This is where things changed. An afternoon thunderstorm came through throwing terrential rain down on us. As we headed down the trails the water was collecting so fast that it was overtaking us and what was previously easy driving tracks became greasy skid pans. Again, a heap of fun and a good end to the day.
While this run isn't overly challenging (could be much different in the wet) it's a great region and an enjoyable day out.

[sir_camel]

Look forward to coming on a trip you run out there Dave! Great report too.

[casey]

It was a good day out. It was pretty dry out there, and mostly pretty easy stuff. But I can imagine that it would have been a lot more fun after a bit of rain though :)