Yalwal to yonder.

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Yalwal to yonder.

Postby puredingo » Mon 06 Jul, 2020 5:24 pm

Over this last weekend I set off to complete a missing piece of a puzzle I’d been working on, it meant covering a small part of the Eastern Ettrema....and here’s what happened.

Very early Saturday morning I set off down the Yalwal Rd hoping my stealth start might miss the usual campers and general public which I try and avoid like the plague but as it happens the road down to the camp ground off the Turpentine range was closed, so people wouldn’t be a problem... but following my loose plans may be. So I pulled off the road into the Old Burrier Fire trail and parked up and headed off, a couple of klms along, indicated on my map is Matson pass. I needed to get down to Yalwal creek and there is no way I’m walking the road! So “why not?” I asked myself as I dropped down through a rocky but easy knoll onto the second skirt of this plain and clearer more level walking you will not find but still living in hope that the pass would be obvious. By luck I happened right upon the pass and after a short scramble I was at the creek. Along the creek runs a very defined track, it looks like the NPWS have done major work here, the soil looked freshly turned as though machinery has been in and ribbon TAGS!!! Avert your eyes if these give you the Tom tits because they are absolutely everywhere!,

From here I crossed the Yalwal creek and made my way up a long and winding spur without a name. It runs between Sanke Ck and Myrtle gully and was a pleasure to do business with, really scenic. Up and onto the plateau above, I gained access on the Northern most point weaving through the rocky out crops with magical views over Eureka Cr to the West and the pass from which I had just came back east. Making my way down the plateau in a S/W direction I hugged the Western walls tight as I needed to drop off at any opportunity to make my way into Bundundah Ck. This took some doing and for a moment I thought it was going to be useless but then, like most of the time, a gap in the tall faces opened up and I slid through and down to a much awaited drink from the clearest water I’d seen for awhile.

A pleasant little Ck the Bundundah is although definitely no Kowmung nor Murriun nor Wollondilly even. The banks are thin and any flats are totally weed choked beyond belief. Still, the 4 or 5 klms I did of it was nice and it wasn’t long before I ambled up to old Jenny Atkins selection, right on selection Cr under the 12 apostles spur.
Jenny Atkins was a pioneer settler in these parts and spent the majority of her time either fussen and a fueden with distant neighbours or keeping the population of horny prospectors at bay by any means...guns,dynamite or plain old clubs, for this spritely spinster her crusade of chastity for her two daughters would last a lifetime.

Anyway, I set up camp here for the night the flat itself was useless, again a mass of weeds and fallen trees. I did find some remnants of the Atkins homestead but really, just what looked like a collapsed chimney, some small stone walls, foundations...not much. Then I climbed the aforementioned spur above me, had a wonder up strike Ck and settled in for a cosy night on the creek bank. (After I wrestled for about an hour putting up my macpac sololight...I loath that tent with all my being)

Next morning I would start my eastern journey home so up Atkins spur I went, skirted around Morley saddle where I searched high and low for rumoured aboriginal artefacts to no avail and then made my way under the eastern walls of the plateau I’d been on the previous day. Hugging high under the walls I discovered a pass back up onto the plateau climbed up and enjoyed the views east from what I missed the day before. It also gave me a good look at the spur I was to take down to Danjers Cr, under Belmore flat. And off I went down fletchers spur with little drama and within an hour I was creek bound.

From here It was just a matter of following the creek back to the dam and then the car...it wasn’t that easy.
No sign at all of any track just thick scrub on heavily slopping banks. At one stage I’d got totally sick of this billy goat stuff and decided to climb a scree wall up the ridge and take it from there. When I reached the top, as luck would have it, I stumbled upon the old mining site Eureka!! I exclaimed and had an explore around the mine sites which sit in a deep quarry. Road bound from here and a slog back to the car on the zig zag track, up and up again I went still avoiding people....and it was an awesome weekend.
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Re: Yalwal to yonder.

Postby kanangra » Tue 07 Jul, 2020 11:15 am

Gee mate what an interesting trip. Fascinating. Glad to see you are still getting out and about.

K.
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Re: Yalwal to yonder.

Postby michael_p » Tue 07 Jul, 2020 2:27 pm

Sounds like another good trip. Enjoyed the extra historical information.
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Re: Yalwal to yonder.

Postby mirv2535 » Sat 28 Nov, 2020 5:07 pm

great report thanks for posting some good current info for some future trips I am planning
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