Yengo National Park Day Trip

Yengo National Park Day Trip

My wife and I decided to try out the Yengo National Park trail from Wollombi to Howes Valley (sorta westish from Newcastle, NSW).

WE ARE DOING THIS AGAIN ON 13 NOVEMBER 2010. Meet in Wollombi NSW and leave at 11:00am.

There is a pub there, but no fuel. You can expect to use about a quarter of a tank going through the track. There are NO facilities between the meeting point and Putty Rd. Nearest fuel beforehand would be Cessnock, 25km east of Wollombi.

The track is recommended for 4WD only along Howes Valley Trail, but we managed the entire trip in 2WD mode. IN wet weather or with wet ground, you will NEED to use 4WD and may even want to have all-terrain tyres on.

Up to the start of Howes Valley Trail the trip is very easy with some narrow areas and some steep drops to the side of the road but it's not unmanageable.

Attachment 1 was taken not far into the trip, and lining a bunch of Navaras in front of that will be quite cool.

Attachment 2 was taken from a lookout. There's not a lot of room to park, but the views are pretty good so it might be worth stopping at. The campground is not far from the lookout, about a kilometre following the road around to the left.

Attachments 3 and 4 show the campground - it's not the tidiest area but it will do. There are no benches to sit at or cook on, so it might be a good idea for us to bring a packed lunch like the clever Sydney people did at Polblue. There is a pit toilet - no idea how clean it is, or how it smells - but given the rest of the area, I wouldn't expect anything royalty would be happy with.

Attachment 5 shows the start of Howes Valley Trail. This is where the nice, relatively smooth road ends and the rough stuff begins.

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All of these shots are from the Howes Valley Trail. It's very steep in places and if it is raining it will be a significant challenge. I'd rate this one as "difficult", as you really have to be careful.

There are steep sections that require you to pick your line as you're going up, because once you're on the slope you simply can't see the ground in front of you. There are sandy sections that you don't want to stop in and there are steep downhills that must be tackled in low gear (not low range, I just used first gear).

Attachment 1 shows a typical climb. It is a lot steeper than it looks. You have to pick the line up to avoid the deeper ruts.

Attachments 2 and 3 were taken mid-climb. This was quite steep and I tried to capture it. The car was almost level due to where I stopped on a rise in the ground.

Attachment 4 - It's what we do. 'nuff said.

Attachment 5 - there was only ONE water crossing. It measured about 12mm deep so some of you guys won't even get all of your tread wet.

In the last 3 km of the track are 3 closed gates that must be closed after passing through. In convoy, the lead car would open it, go through and to the side, let everyone else pass and then take up the rear guard. The last gate opens onto the Putty Road itself.

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All in all it's a good but difficult drive that ought to be enjoyed by anyone that hasn't done a lot of off-roading. A few observations:

* If you suffer from vertigo you'll want to close your eyes at times. The drops really are steep. If you DO suffer from vertigo and you're driving, you might reconsider coming along unless you're confident you can avoid looking over the edge. It is, in some places, a very long way down and a tumble would be fatal.

* If you love the accelerator this isn't the trip for you. Negotiating the climbs and descents will need a steady control of the vehicle, nothing too harsh. There are occasions where you are almost "hopping" from rock to rock. It's quite fun, and fairly energetic for the driver with lots of steering adjustments.

* In convoy, we'd need a bit of distance between the vehicles. On a few occasions as we clambered over a rocky rise we'd flick a stone out like a cannon shot behind us. That could take out a windscreen, put a big ding in the bonnet or even punch the radiator/intercooler.

* It's very, very rough in some places - enough to upset the stomach. We looked for a place AFTER the rough area to stop and eat - there was nothing suitable, so we're going to be doing the rough stage on full stomachs. Hooray for internal windshield wipers.

* A great many of the rocks on the ground are SHARP. Try to avoid the larger ones and travel slowly over them to give the tyre a chance to flex over the object. Travel too fast and it may just puncture the tyre.

* It is not a FAST run. Before entering Howes Valley Track we could get up to 60km/h, but once on the track our average speed was just 15.3km/h. There were sections where we climbed up or down at 10km/h or less.

Overall, the journey from Wollombi to the Putty Road just south of Howes Valley is 57km long, and took us 3 hours (we didn't stop to eat - I bought my wife dinner in Broke later on).

I think if we do this run it'll be fantastic off-road experience. The upcoming Currawong run will let you get your feet wet, this one will convince you that your car can cover some fairly difficult terrain as long as you respect both the vehicle and the track.

November seems like a good time to do this run - we'll have Currawong done and dusted in October (hopefully early Oct), and we'll do a Merriwa-Willow Tree run late October. My wife and I will hopefully get a look through this particular run the week after next, because next weekend we're camping at Telegherry Forest Park (which is the camp area just before Currawong - we're doing it to escape, not to try it out).

I have done that track when it was raining, with good tyres its not to bad.

I knew you would like it Tony.

Dave.

I'd like to do this as a run in November, editing the first post to include the details there, but at the moment the 13th November is looking good for us.

Meet: Wollombi main street, it's small enough we could throw rocks from one end of town to the other just about.

It takes 3 hours to drive the length of the road and the campground where we'll stop for lunch is only 1 hour 10 mins from the start.

We could meet at 11:00 - that gives plenty of time for people to get there from anywhere.

How does that date suit everyone?

Bumping it up - this is our next run, meet on 13th November at 11:00am in Wollombi, NSW.

Try to have 3/4 of a tank of fuel at least at the start. You'll use about 20litres of diesel going through and there are no services close to the far side either.

It's a good round trip for people in Sydney and the Hunter areas.

From Sydney, drive up to Cessnock and head out to Wollombi, go through the run and turn LEFT at the Putty Road to head back to Windsor.

From Newcastle, head into Cessnock, out to Wollombi, go through the run and turn RIGHT at the Putty Road to head towards Broke, from there you can go north to Singleton or east to Cessnock again.

For those who are culturally interested: not far (and I mean 5 minutes walk, and we'll actually drive right past it) from where we'll have lunch we'll find some aboriginal stone work. Some of it has been defaced, but there are many impressions in the rocks that may be of interest.

There's also a lookout just before the campground where we'll eat (I included one photo from there, the views are like that in every direction).

It should be a good day. Don't forget we want to get a group shot in front of the rock overhang, where I took this shot below.

sounds good will be there

im in. i will see u all on the 13th.

If you like the tracks in that area you should regeister with National Parks for their discovery series of tours that gets you behind some of those locked gates...

well boys and girls, just found out ill be working both saturday and sunday of that weekend so unfortunately i will not be able to make the trip. i will definately make the next one. hope u all have fun.

So who's going???

I should be there Brad, I am heading out west in the middle of the week but Ill be back.

My mate Mothy on here maybe there aswell.

Dave.

If I make it down I'll be solo, the boss and kids aren't keen to go. Trying to get their permission to camp the night down there somewhere.

Get permission, just say there is a gold mine down here and if you find some you will share it with the boss.

Dave.

There's a park in Broke where you can stay for free, surrounded by vineyards.

Broke Estate (about a kilometre north of the park) sells a lovely dessert wine. Catherine Vale (out on Milbrodale Rd) sells a nice white liqueur wine and Nightingale Wines sells a lovely port.

We'll be there, put an Armidale-Glen Innes-Tamworth trip under our belts this weekend just gone, with the van behind no less - keen to do a run "unloaded".

not sure if i can make it we just started a new contract with hunter8 12 hour days 6 days a week

No point overloading yourself. Earning money is what pays for things like this, we'll have to catch up for Christmas drinks then!

well work just gave me tomorrow off so i will see you there at 11.00

Excellent! We're ready to go too.

Don't forget people, we LEAVE WOLLOMBI at 11:00am. Get there beforehand, we'll probably hang around the pub (there isn't much else there anyway).

My apologies, but as much as I'd love to try out the new ute, I have a date with an electric eel (phew).