Ettrema - What am I Missing?

[Allchin09]

Also I forgot to mention that I found an interesting gadget on a star picket along the trail. It looked like a camera to me? Perhaps for observing wild life?

You weren't in Water Board restricted area where you kanangra?

[kanangra]

Gee I never thought of that I don't think so?

K.

[Swampy460]

You have had your photo taken by NPWS, the cameras are used for monitoring wild dog activity.

Swampy

[kanangra]

Is that right? Well they got a shot of my ugly mug looking down the barrel. that'll give someone a shock. There were signs saying 1080 baits had been laid by NPWS in March this year. It did look a new bit of gear. Never seen it before.

K.

[Wollemi]

Well I am back safely. All went according to plan. I was dropped at Coolandel at 10 on Wednesday and walked out to Tallong RS at 3:00 PM yesterday. The only problem was that my train wasn't due till 8:00PM and there were none in between! So for good measure I walked the 10km into Marulan to try hitching. A total of just under 80ks all up.

Did you really bushwalk ~70km in 29hrs, inclusive of camping on the tops? <confused>

[kanangra]

Ah yes I did. I took it pretty steadily too because I had not been through that way before and the track was very overgrown for the first day. The trip also included a crossing of the Shoalhaven Gorge which took a fair bit of time.

k.

[Wollemi]

I found an interesting gadget on a star picket along the trail. It looked like a camera to me? Perhaps for observing wild life? Never seen one before.

This good-news article has a picture of a tree-mounted digital monitoring camera.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environ ... 2usxv.html

~~~~

70km in 29hrs - inspirational !
Well done, Kanangra. Perhaps you are of the UL brigade.

[kanangra]

Not really. I don't even weigh my pack usually but by chance this time I did. It came to 7.5kg. including food but excluding water. Most of the time I was carrying around 2.5l so say about 10kg. all up. Not UL by any means. But I find that weight quite manageable even for long hauls through rough country.

K.

[kanangra]

Here is a photo from the trip.

[Woodchopper91]

I have just finished walking ettrema creek from bullfrog creek to the shoalhaven river. And have also walked the entire drovers ridge trail from tolwong to yalwal creek

[kanangra]

You're the only other person I've heard of doing it. What did you make of it? Great little route isn't it?

K

[Allchin09]

How far and long a trip is that?

[Woodchopper91]

We walked ettrema over 5days/4nights. It was a fantastic trip, some compusery swims and wet feet every day, we camped at myall crk, tullyangella crk, below cooee flat and at the junction of yalwal and ettrema crk. Drovers ridge walk was ok, not alot to see but had the best camp site on the cliffs over looking lake yarrunga,

[jeffyffej]

An excellent trip. I will post more details when I get a chance. As suspected the track along Drovers Ridge is very overgrwon now. Found it very difficult to locate near the beginning but once on it I was able to follow it sort of. If I feared I had lost it every now and again I would happen upon a sign, like an old mud flap or a piece of blinker or a stubby bottle.

Hi all and Kanangra,

Got a couple questions for you regarding the Drovers ridge trail and hoping you could help with a little info..

You said it was very difficult to find at the beginning.

On six maps it shows the trail starting from the Shoalhaven river side but have found this link that shows the trail starting from down Yalwal creek a bit

( http://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/7PW4MLGdiA ).

Which way did you go to find the start of the trail?

also, how overgrown was it from the start out until to the lookout near Gunmarl saddle? looks okay on SIXmaps but not sure when the image was taken.

if anyone could help with a little info it would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Jeff

[puredingo]

Mate, I had a poke around there a few months ago. I walked up the shoalhaven then took a left and walked up yalwal Cr to the flat where the map indicates a road up onto the the drovers track and ridge. Found the gully where the road is meant to take off from but no reconisable road or track heading up.

i walked the old road that follows the Western? bank up to Ettrema Ck and back which was scrubby, thick work and was actually easier either side of it such was the tree fall. BUT the country definitely opens up once you get a bit distance from the river so i suggest you find that gully and just make your own way up and surley you'll hit drovers.

What condition Drovers is in K will have to answer but if it's anything like down below...Allow time!

[kanangra]

I came at it from the junction of Yalwal Ck and the Shoalhaven. (This I think was a mistake.) Anyway there is NO track on the other side of Yalwal Ck at the junction anywhere!!!! Once I figured that out, after pushing through lantana on the steep bank for over half an hour, I just headed straight up to the top of Pannikan Hill. I then cut across country hoping I would eventually cross one of the old tracks shown on the top of Pannikan Hill. This took a while but I eventually found the track. Very overgrown and indistinct. I came to a junction and went left for a short while. As this was heading downhill I figured this was the track up from Yalwall Ck shown on the map. This was very overgrown. given how overgrown it was it does not surprise me that Pure dingo says it was impossible to locate down at the creek. So I returned to where I had cut the track and went the other way. This is the start of the Drovers Ridge Trail. It was overgrown but could be followed without too much difficulty. Depending on the vegetation it was either a bush bash or open going. Once on the "trail" I really enjoyed it. It remained rough for the rest of the day. I ended up camping just past a small creek where I got water. This was the first running water although there were several pools on the rock outcrops over which the track passed. Next day The track improved slightly and then became an open dirt road at the first property gate. From there to Tolwong and on to the lip of the Shoalhaven gorge was a breeze. I found a bit of a track at the top of the descent but lost it on the way down. It is really steep. Crossed downstream and picked up Badgery's track on the other side.This is a very clear if steep up hill pull. From the carpark I walked into Tallong and then because there was no train for 5 hours into Marulan.

K.

[puredingo]

He ain't jiving about the lantana. I dropped down onto the Shoalhaven river via an unnamed spur further down stream and was met by a band of lantana that would rival The GWC. My only way through was when I hit a creek I hugged the bed and went under it.
Big wild dog population in there though!