Bungonia Trip

[Lizzy]

Hi- went down to Bungonia a couple of w/e's ago and had a marvelous time. Walked down, down, down to the slot canyon on Bungonia Ck and up thru huge boulders . Then it was down to the Shoalhaven River to find a supreme campsite- one with a nice sandy beach and mezanine level of shaded grass for the tent. Spent the afternoon leisurely swimming up and down the river and being nibbled at by tiny fishes. Next day was the relatively short but steep walk back out via Mt Ayre- wouldn't want to do that on a 40 degree day thats for sure. Marvelous trip, no one else around- I highly recommend it if you have a spare couple of days.
Cheers Liz

[johnw]

Hi Lizzy. Thanks for sharing. I know Bungonia quite well although haven't visited for maybe 12 months or more. Only ever done day trips there but there are some great campsites along the river. Yes, it's very steep going up the white track to Mt Ayre (and down it ). I wouldn't like to climb it the heat either and usually consider Bungonia a 2-3 season proposition. But it has spectacular gorge scenery and walking (shame about the quarry though ). Only walked down the red track through the slot canyon once but recall both arms and legs getting very sore by the end. Anyway you've got me thinking about an overnight trip there in the cooler months. The trestles track (blue track) to the old Tolwong copper mine ruins is another good walk, as well as a couple of trackless options that we've done there.

[juju]

Looks lovely. How long to walk in and out? A good first timers overnighter? How is the water for drinking - or did you BYO? Julie

[Lizzy]

Hi John- yeah I would normally do it a bit later in the year but the forecast and day were a bit overcast and not as hot as usual so it turned out excellent and the river was great (:

Hi Julie- its not a long walk - just very steep. We walked down the end of the red track into the canyon (less than an hour of very steep walking) dumped our packs and then went exploring back up the creek/canyon. This turned out to be a good option as its a 'choose own adventure' style with scrambling over/under/around huge boulders. For this part you can take as long or as short as you like-- I think we may have gone for about1.5-2 hours return. After returning to the packs its a bit over a km of walking along the creek to the Shoalhaven River. Toward the end their are lots of campsites. We got to river and spent awhile walking up/down/ over to the other side to find the best (according to me!) campsite. The walk out took about 2 hours (the first 1.5 being very steep). The tracks are well marked or you are following the creek/river- so if you are relatively fit (not that my legs didn't ache later!!!) and don't mind steep in/out and scambling (if you do the canyon) its a great walk. We carried about 1.5 L of water each and I used a steripen on the Shoalhaven water. If it was a hot day you'd porbably want to carry a bit extra. No fires but you can use a stove. You can also walk down from Long Point (at Talong I think) which is a better graded walk down to the river but I haven't done this yet.
Goodluck Lizzy

[melinda]

I tend to think of the gorge as some sort of mythical place.
I've never seen anything else quite like it in NSW.
When you walk thru it you are totally awed by the size of the walls surrounding you!
Unfortunately I don't have any good photos.
It would be great if someone could post a few for others to see!
(PS The nearby quarry is sacrilege, somebody should be shot for that effort!)
Melinda

[Lizzy]

I think the quarry is closed/closing down this year on the gorge side and but they will still be mining the other side and backfilling.... (I think). Didn't take too many photos b/c the battery pretended it was dying but here are a few more shots...

[melinda]

Cheers Lizzy,
It really is a special place.
Melinda

[juju]

Thanks Lizzy and thanks for sharing it with us, Julie.

[Dazza45]

You can also walk down from Long Point (at Talong I think) which is a better graded walk down to the river but I haven't done this yet.
[quote="Lizzy"]
Hi Lizzy
If my memory serves me correctly the walk down from Long Point at Tallong is a lot easier on the legs. Although it is a few years since I visited Bungonia I have some good memories of days spent there.

[wallwombat]

I've been drinking the water out of the Shoalhaven for over 20 years and it is fine. Delicious actually. I have never heard of anyone having a problem with it. It all flows down to Tallowa Dam which is a major Sydney Catchment Authority Dam, so a lot of you probably drink it anyway.

If you walk down Long Point it is still a bit of a walk up river to Bungonia Creek.

I prefer to walk up the red track to Bungonia, rather than the white track. It's steeper but shorter and there is a bit of shade, which you wont find on the white track.

A good weekend trip is down the white track to camp on the Shoalhaven, then next day walk up Bungonia Creek, dump packs at the start of the red track and walk up the creek to explore the canyon and the boulder choke. Return to packs and walk up the red track. Simple and good.

[Lizzy]

we were on the Shoalhaven canoeing a couple of weeks ago and the water (though probably fine) looked pretty ordinary.... all stired up from all the rain. Was pretty happy to have brought water in the canoe so did not have to worry.

[odnuas]

I have been going to the gorge/shoalhaven river area for about 15 years. Some of the campsites (particularly the one at the bottom of the Long Point track) are among the best you will find. i agree the Long Point track is easier on the legs but I reckon the white track has the best views coming down!

[Scottie]

I recently hiked the red track and found the gorge absolutely amazing. Next week I plan on starting at talongs long point lookout camp the night on the shoalhaven river before hiking up to bungonia. Very excited.

[ribuck]

Had a nice trip there yesterday and today.

Down at Long Point (75 mins), upstream along the Shoalhaven to Bungonia Creek junction (30 mins), along the White Track up My Ayre (105 mins, but I'm an old bloke remember), a quick side trip to the Lookdown with its very spectacular airy patform, down the red track upstream of the gorge (60 mins), camp. Next day through the big boulders back to the Shoalhaven junction (3.5 hrs), downstream along the Shoalhaven (30 mins) and up the Long Point track (110 mins).

The boulders in the gorge are spectacular as always.

There seemed to be a lot of goats in Bungonia Creek this time. When I got back to Long Point there was an NPWS guy who said he had placed and retrieved cameras to survey the goats! He said the cameras trigger by body heat. They would also photograph bushwalkers

[GPSGuided]

Have this on my to-do list. Any comment on the ease of passage through the boulder field within the canyon?

[ribuck]

Any comment on the ease of passage through the boulder field within the canyon?

1. When passing through the boulder field, don't be tempted to slither down any place where you can't get back up again. There ARE lots of dead ends.
2. Whenever the "obvious" route doesn't go, there is a non-obvious route that does go.

In the downstream direction, there is one point where you must leave the boulder field and climb a few metres up the left bank before "spiraling" back down around some big boulders. There is another point where you must leave the boulder field and climb a few metres up the right bank before returning to the creek via a debris-filled ramp.

Provided you look for the good route rather than ploughing forward regardless, navigating the boulder field is both straightforward and satisfying. There's no rockclimbing or dodgy scrambling needed. But don't do it during wet weather - the limestone becomes unbelievably slippery.

[GPSGuided]

Thanks!