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Baby Troupe Online - www.baby-troupe.i8.com
Trip Report - Lithgow Day Trip - 28th August 2004
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Convoy,
Col &
Mike - Baby Troupe
Nigel
& Vicki - Toyota Surf
Silvin
& Kerry - Mitsubishi Pajero
Trip
The
previous day, I was informed that the weather could turn out wet &
overcast, so I informed all our travellers via email to be prepared for
it.
Unfortunately
one of the group had a call from work around 6:30pm the night before, so
we were one vehicle down for the trip already & with the weather
being forcast as possible showers, I was starting to think that more may
cancel.
The next
morning I awoke to beautiful sunny weather at home & I said to
myself as I was leaving, I hope this stays just like it is, as this is
great weather to be outdoors doing some off road driving.
I met
Mike at Pennant Hills & waited for about 20 minutes for the others
& when they didn't show, I decided to head out anyway & treat it
as a recce for another trip.
When I
arrived at Richmond, I was greeted with a little surprise & that was
our other travellers were waiting for us there. Apparently I was told
about it, but I guess for some reason I either forgot, or misunderstood.
Oh well, all is well anyway, just a little late on the start.
After a
brief breakfast at McDonalds Richmond, we set off towards the Zig Zag,
where we left the bitumen roads for the bumpy trails of the area. Our
first stop was Bungleboori camping area, where we aired down (20psi was
the desired pressure for this trip for all the vehicles), visit the pit
toilets & then head off to the Lost City Lookout for the Morning Tea
Break.
While
standing there, we all had a bit of a chance to chat properly &
introduce ourselves, Mike, Vicki & myself all work in the same
building, but Vicki's partner, Nigel, Silvin & Kerry were all
unknown to me. The track conditions to the Lost City Carpark were all
quite good & the offshoot tracks we will be taking in the October
& November trips all looked to be in good condition.
Once we
had all finished morning tea & taken in the views of the Lost City,
we headed over to Sunnyside Lookout via the Powerlines Track &
Blackfellows Hand Rd.
These
tracks were a little more appetising with a few ruts here & there
& the occasional small step to drop off, which we all seemed to get
our hunger for harder tracks calling. At Sunnyside lookout, the view was
as spectacular as ever & the weather was perfect without a cloud in
the sky
From
Sunnyside lookout, we all headed over to the Spanish Steps Carpark,
where we went for a brief walk down the steps to the creek below before
returning to have lunch. After Lunch, I decided to have a little play on
the rock steps on the track leading down to the spanish steps & it
seems that my playing encouraged the others to have a little fun here as
well, as each of us drove down to the locked gate, turned around &
came back up.
From there we headed back to Black Fellows Hand Rd, which we followed to a few potential camp sites for an upcoming trip & an offshoot track that leads up to some aboriginal paintings in on the wall of a cave.
After
this we checked out the Newnes Valley Lookout & returned via a
medium grade track through Gardens Of Stone National Park, where we had
afternoon tea.
From
there we headed back to Bungleboori from which we followed a few
different Powerline tracks back towards the Zig Zag Railway. At the Zig
Zag, we all pumped our tyres back up to highway pressures before saying
our goodbyes & returning home.
Col (BT)
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