Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Post Christmas - The Bridle Track

After the ordinary start to our summer break we made our way home and back to work.  After a couple of weeks back at work we decided that we would do a long weekend and head up to the Bridle Track.

We had done a bit of homework about the history of the track and the area.  One thing I didn't pick up was the fact that you can't drive the track from end to end.  The track is closed about mid-way along at the part known as Monahagns Bluff.  Heavy rains, a land slip and a rock slide has the centre of the track closed.

We drove up to Bathurst and while we would have like to go to Hill End via the track we were more than contented to set up camp on the bank of the river and just have a couple of days of free, pet-friendly camping with few others around.

Heading in the first sign was pretty cool - we knew that we were in for an interesting couple of days.


It didn't take us long to get onto the Track in search of a campsite..


There aren't a lot of places in NSW where you can acually camp this close to the rive, with a dog, for free.  We were on the Bathurst side and decided to walk up to have a look at the rock fall that has the Track closed.


Not being able to drive past here, we decided to walk up and have a look at the 'blockage.' 



And this is what has the Track blocked.  A whopping big rock, some of the road has fallen away and there isn't enough room to safely get a vehicle around, other than maybe a push bike...

Nevertheless it was worth the walk up to the rockfall.  The fiew is amazing and you can also see the way the Track was built.

Check out the stone work supporting this little bridge.


After a bit of a walk on a fairly hot day in summer we retired to the campsite for dinner.


We really enjoyed the visit up there.

Access: It is accessible by 4WD. 2WD would be easy OK in dry weather.
Toilets: No.
Showers: No.
Water: Yes.  From the river - given the turtles and yabbies maybe drinkable.
Shop: No.
Campfires: Yes - subject to firebans. Bring own wood.
Pets: YES.
Cost: FREE.