Bushwalk Australia

Hey guys,

Can anyone think of a good venue to teach a group of mates nav over 2 days? We are from Sydney so ideally would not be looking to go too far, was initially thinking Bungonia or the Budawangs but it might have to be a bit closer to home.

Looking for somewhere where we can start on track the first day then off track the second, with the off track part not being a ridiculous bush bash but with rivers, spurs etc.

Cheers

James

The area around Bell out to the Wollangambe would be good for teaching basic navigation. There are plenty of creeks, ridges etc with some good high points and some reasonably dense scrub to practice following a bearing. It is all in quite a small area too, so you don't have to cover a lot of ground.

My suggestion would be Splendour Rock in the Wild Dog Mountains

There are some track notes here: http://bushwalkingnsw.com/walk.php?nid=804

Doing the 'day 1' suggested in those track notes should cover off the 'on track' part.
Then you can also do the 'day 2' there, although the route described has a rough footpad on it, so if you want to set more of a navigational challenge, then an alternative would be to come back Cattle Dog Ridge and Bellbird Ridge - like this:

http://topo.notto.be/#ll=-33.801622,150 ... M%60AnJBoB

The spot where you turn off the Kennel Flats track is marked by a cairn, and there is also a rough footpad most of the way to the cliffline above Cattle Dog ridge, but the footpad does get faint in spots and so you need navigate from each top to the next. Once you get to the cliffline you'll need to siddle round east to get past it, then descend a trackless ridge down to the creek, before heading upstream to Bellbird Ridge. There is no track on that until the very top where you will have to scout around a little bit to find the easy scramble up through cliffline. From there it's about 2km of firetrail back to the car.

For off track navigation, the best place (by far) I have come across is the area south of Matadoro Ridge, near Bungonia. Most of it is in Morton NP as far as I know.

Lots of well defined features, very open vegetation (no scrub), no big cliff lines, only moderate elevation variation between hills and valleys (50-100m climbs) (provided you don't go too close to Shoalhaven).

If you do it as an overnighter, you can camp down on Washedaway Creek or Shoalhaven- which is always a good thing.

If you want to do on track as well, do one day at Matadoro (off track), and another at Bungonia (on track).

Clarence

clarence wrote:For off track navigation, the best place (by far) I have come across is the area south of Matadoro Ridge, near Bungonia. Most of it is in Morton NP as far as I know.

Lots of well defined features, very open vegetation (no scrub), no big cliff lines, only moderate elevation variation between hills and valleys (50-100m climbs) (provided you don't go too close to Shoalhaven).

If you do it as an overnighter, you can camp down on Washedaway Creek or Shoalhaven- which is always a good thing.

If you want to do on track as well, do one day at Matadoro (off track), and another at Bungonia (on track).

Clarence

I'm going to second Clarence's recommendation. The openness of the area is quite unique and allows you to really see how the features on the ground are reflected on a map.

clarence wrote:For off track navigation, the best place (by far) I have come across is the area south of Matadoro Ridge, near Bungonia. Most of it is in Morton NP as far as I know.

Lots of well defined features, very open vegetation (no scrub), no big cliff lines, only moderate elevation variation between hills and valleys (50-100m climbs) (provided you don't go too close to Shoalhaven).

If you do it as an overnighter, you can camp down on Washedaway Creek or Shoalhaven- which is always a good thing.

If you want to do on track as well, do one day at Matadoro (off track), and another at Bungonia (on track).

Clarence

Hi Clarence,

This area sounds interesting. Is it roughly the location I have circled in the pic attached? Also how do you drive to Matodoro ridge, It looks like there are allot of gates marked on the map, some being locked?

Cheers

James

The secret's out. Not being in the Morton NP or Bungonia SRA, it is one of the few roughish roads in the area you're actually allowed to drive on. The gates are not locked, but make sure you shut them or they will be, as the road crosses private property. Much is single lane, so take it easy. I drove part of the road a few weeks back (till a piece of tree jammed underneath dislodging a drive shaft boot - I'm told a freak event) and suggest it may be a bit rough for your typical sedan, but an AWD with some reasonable ground clearance should be okay.

JCB81 wrote:
Hi Clarence,

This area sounds interesting. Is it roughly the location I have circled in the pic attached? Also how do you drive to Matodoro ridge, It looks like there are allot of gates marked on the map, some being locked?

Cheers

James

Hi James, I haven't been there in years, so good that Grabeach updated details on access (which is pretty much how I always found it). The road is the "standard" route to access Greater Horseshoe Bend and the like. We always managed with 2wd vehicles.

The area you marked is pretty much it... And the area south of here down to Nerrimunga Creek is much the same.

My thought is that the rainfall drops off to a certain threshold in this vicinity, meaning that the vegetation is so much more open than it is 10km east (eg Ettrema plateaux). In fact a more open understorey than any popular bushwalking place I have ever seen in the greater Sydney area.

The west side of the Tolwong Road (eg around Wineglass Tor/Peach Tree Canal) is very similar in openness, but just a bit harder to get to. A lot of the west side of the Shoalhaven further south is also very open, but harder to access due to private property etc. Also once you get too close to the Shoalhaven, the escarpment is very large and you will spend more time moaning and groaning to get up and down the hills than in actual productive map reading.

Allchin seems to cover a lot of off track country in his walks, so it was good to see his concurrence with my assessment. As far as scrub-free terrain with a good range of moderate topography it is indeed unique.

I'm sure he can give you his opinion on this area also.

Clarence