NSW / Sydney Area Meet

[Lepmeister]

Yeah I bought these ones from the US as the local ones didn't seem like great quality and these looked better. As luck would have it I bought one to try and it went missing in transit so Amazon replaced it. Then the original turned up weeks later and they told me keep that as well. Then a short time later a relative give me one of the local ones I'd been avoiding as a gift LOL. If I can find them we can do a side by side comparison.QUOTE]

hahaha gotta love a internet purchase double up. I had the same thing happen with a cook kit from the states about 5 years back, still haven't used the extra that I got!

Side by side would be good to see.. and double the goodies.

 

[Lepmeister]

As to location, I haven't really been car camping (looks like we're headed that way) in years so I'm not sure. I also assume we'll want somewhere accessible via normal road car. Guess it depends on how far we want to go and the direction. If we want to keep it simple and want basic amenities the first two places that come to mind are Newnes (not too far past Lithgow but is within national park) and Danjera Dam near Nowra though both can be very popular. I'm not too fussed about amenities for an over nighter though so would be happy if we just pick a state forest and find some flat ground.

I agree normal car access would be the best to give everyone to the opportunity to get there.

Lets get a list of options going and everyone can put some ideas up and then we can come up with a location that suits.

 

[Lepmeister]

Some More Location Options.. Please keep them coming!!

Crosslands Reserve.

Located in the north of Sydney near Berowra. There are two sections, one of which is free and fires are allowed. it has large grass areas as well as a few spots that would suit hammockers. Its has a open and family camping feel, flush toilets and water available. the walk from the carpark to where I would suggest is flat level 500 meters.

Camp next to car - No (500 Mtrs)
Water - Yes
Toilets - Yes
Firewood - No (not easy anyway)

One of the State Forests (Belanglo, Penrose, Meryla...)

Around 1.5 hours drive south of Sydney (and then there are a few forests within 30 mins of each other) I have been to Belanglo many times and it has been great, Penrose once but didn't really find a spot that was great. You would have seen posts from me and others over the years of the old pine road site in Belanglo.

Camp next to car - Yes
Water - No
Toilets - No
Firewood - Yes

 

[Lepmeister]

If a short walk in is a option at all then the places available increases heaps!

Black Ash is a camp site on the great north walk (about 30 mins easy walk south of crosslands) its a cool camp site no views or anything but ticks all the bushcrafty boxes.

Blue Mountains has some good spots too. Cant think of any other than Ruined Castle camp sites which is a little more of a walk, easy but includes the golden stairs.

 

[Lepmeister]

Just a little nudge to make sure anyone who would like to make this meet sees this post ��.

I'll have a new tarp that I'll be testing out. Looking like it will be a perfect match for the Teir Gear Goshwak hammock!

 

[apsilon]

I mentioned this in passing to Lep but I've been thinking about it more this week. I'm setting myself a minor challenge for this outing - wherever possible bring new, untested gear. This breaks my rule of trying stuff before having to rely on it but I haven't had a chance to get out for some time so have a backlog of new gear. So far on my list I'll have a new tent (as long as we're car camping, it's far too large to carry anywhere on foot), mattress, blanket/bedding, billy, alcohol and wood burning stoves, seat, lantern and the aforementioned jaffle irons. I think I can come up with some other utensils/kitchen pieces as well and probably some clothing.

 

[Lepmeister]

product testing and review central! cant wait

I'll also have a couple of new items Torrent 3.5 for those in the know!

 

[Taplow]

Looks like I can make this from mid-to-late afternoon, leaving early the next morning. The Old Pine Road site in Belanglo is ideal - plenty of room to spread out.

 

[Lepmeister]

Looks like I can make this from mid-to-late afternoon, leaving early the next morning. The Old Pine Road site in Belanglo is ideal - plenty of room to spread out.

Great stuff, old pine rd may be closed :-(

 

[Lepmeister]

Yeah so I havnt been down there of late but a friend was there last weekend and the road was sign posted as closed. He was still able to access the one of the old pine road sites, but I'm just not sure if they should have been there.

Do you have any other locations within the forest that you know of Taplow? It's hard to go past the feel of the old pine Rd site! But if it's out of action..... .?

 

[apsilon]

Haven't been there so not sure what the roads are like but maybe closed after all the recent rain? If they get any logging trucks along there the roads can get torn up pretty easily. I couldn't find anything from a quick Google.

I did find there's a dedicated camping area near there, Daley's Clearing. We could always aim for this Old Pine Rd location and if we find it inaccessible move on to Daley's Clearing which shouldn't be closed.

 

[Taplow]

I did drive around a bit in the forest looking for other sites but the Old Pine Road area was the most obvious. Depending on how many of us there will be, I think it should be possible to walk in a bit from one of the roads to find a small site, but may be time consuming. I agree with apsilon - the dedicated camping area is at least an obvious place to meet up. It seemed OK but I only had a very brief look. It was a bit busy when I went in March last year, but it's midwinter now.

 

[Lepmeister]

Sounds like a plan

 

[apsilon]

OK, so to be clear, meet at Daley's Clearing? I've never been there, just found mention of it and the only info on getting there is "Follow the signs via Belanglo Rd and Dalys Rd". Should be quiet being the first weekend after school holidays and md winter. What time are people thinking?

 

[Lepmeister]

Yep lets do that.

Meet at Daley's Clearing. Its easy to find and well signposted

The turn off into the forest comes up a little quick so I just use sat nav that tells me when I'm a few hundred meters from it, its a right turn direct of the hwy. Road turns to a good quality dirt rd follow it past the "Welcome" sign and on for a bit more to see the signs to Daley's.

They were harvesting the Old Pine Rd area over the past couple of months and I would suspect that's why its closed if it indeed still is.

Mid morning meet up if that suits? its a two hour run from my place so I can be there whenever suits you guys.

 

[Lepmeister]

I have driven around a lot of the forest and have a couple of spots that I have noted as 'options' never stayed at them and not saying that we will but at least its a couple of spots to check out.

 

[Lepmeister]

Daley's has always have camper vans and the like when I have driven past, the music could be heard from the old pine site so it must have been loud!

 

[Taplow]

As I'll probably be arriving a bit later than anyone else (between 2 and 4pm), I'll PM my mobile so hopefully you can text me your whereabouts. If no reception, perhaps someone could drop by Daleys at 4pm to rendezvous?

 

[Lepmeister]

No worries

 

[Taplow]

I got motivated to make some jerky again