Bangadilly National Park

After scouting the access to the southern portion of Bangadilly National Park last week it was time to walk in and camp overnight along the river. No tracks are noted on the ground to link up the two fire trails but some easy navigation and a good track out along a ridge kept the bush bash to a minimum.

With a hot day with temperatures in the 30's I put off the walk until the afternoon. Starting from the Mt Penang Rd at 1530hrs with the temperature still 32 degrees I headed down to the Bangadilly Trail and followed this until I found a side track heading north in the general direction I wanted to go. This followed a ridge with good views into the Wingecarribee Valley and eventually led me out to spot height 621 as noted on the Hanworth topographic map.

Would have liked more time to explore this outcrop at spot height 621 but as it was nearly 1800 hrs I needed to keep going and set up camp.

 From here a very steep drop off the ridge with no track through open forest with little undergrowth on the bare shale slopes. Once at the base of the ridge I followed the fence line along the edge of the National Park. The paddocks on the other side of the fence had deer grazing. By this time it was 1800hrs and overcast so with the poor light the deer photos were too fuzzy to blog.

The Wingecarribee river Trail starts at the end of the paddocks and winds along the river to a large clearing where I set up camp for the night. Access to the river is limited with a belt of scrub and weeds between the trail and the river. The river banks are at least 1 metre vertical and mostly undercut so not easy to even get down to the river to replenish my water. 

1830hrs by the time I made the clearing after walking 9klm. Quickly putting up the tent and collecting some wood for the fire gave me a little time for feet up and a read of my book.

 A dinner of  Back Country Cuisine Beef Stroganoff which was very good before the obligatory night photos to pass the evening. Then some more reading in the tent before sleep at 2300hrs.

The campsite clearing in the morning. 

Up at 0600hrs and after a quick coffee I walked back along the trail for about a kilometre till I found a way down to the river to collect some water to filter. Watched a platypus here for a while before returning to camp for breakfast and a leisurely pack up of camp to start walking again at 0900hrs

Rather than return the way I came I headed further up the Wingecarribee River Trail before it  ended abruptly at the park boundary and I crossed into some paddocks and pushed through some regrowth to hook back up with a firetrail which headed down to a ford over Barganglo Creek under Mt Penang. Before I got to the ford though, I cut through some paddocks to meet up with Mt Penang Road again for a steep uphill back out of the valley and an easy 4klm walk back to the car, completing the 8klm from camp by 1130hrs 

Looking across the paddocks to Mt Penang, where I walked last week. 

Fire trail out through Grey gum / stringybark woodland along the ridgetops.