Merriwa - Willow Tree Run

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Old.Tony

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This is a big drive, people, we'll be burning a fair bit of diesel on this one. My wife and I will try to do this one beforehand to give you an idea of how far it is.

The rough trip goes from Maitland, just south of Singleton, through Denman into Merriwa then through some countryside that takes us up onto the peak of the Liverpool Ranges and up into Willow Tree - which is 340km north of Sydney. We then return via the New England Highway through Murrurundi, Scone, Muswellbrook and Singleton to Maitland.

There is a fair bit of dirt road between Merriwa and Willow Tree and no known water crossings. There are no hazards that we know of that will require vehicle recovery - it's basically a nice drive in the country. The rest of the journey is on sealed roads.

Satellite imagery shows a place we might be able to stop for lunch at 31°50'23.73"S, 150°31'5.30"E on the top of the range, but we won't really know until we get there. My wife and I will try to check this out before the day so we'll have a better idea of where we can stop and I'll edit this post accordingly.

People from Singleton - meet us at the corner of Golden Hwy and Putty Rd, there's a clearing on the left side just as the road heads down hill and to the right. If you go past the Broke turnoff you've just gone past where we'll be waiting.

People from everywhere else should meet us at the lake on the left side of the road just over Pvt Trzcinski bridge.

People from Sydney should come up the F3 freeway to its very end, turn left onto the New England Highway and drive through East Maitland. People from north coast should come down the Pacific Highway, turn towards Maitland at Hexham and go through to East Maitland. You'll enter an 80km/h zone and go past the Maitland Showground on the left, then enter a roundabout - follow the sign to Singleton (should be the third exit), go up over the bridge and see the lake on the left side where we'll be meeting.

Times will be worked out when we know how long the journey will take. We're looking at 30 October for this one.

-- Start time from Maitland - 9:30am by the lake, 10:00am from the Putty Road (give or take a little bit depending if we haev any that need to refuel at Greta).
 
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I have done it before, nice trip.

Bring a camera to as the landscape is awesome.

Dave.
 
hi tony
i just finished looking at your run up the barringtons,lovely country,looks like you had a great day
the mrs and i would like to tag along on your wilow tree run
sounds like a good day
i just gotta convince the boss to let me have the day off or come down with some mystery 12hr illness
ile stay tuned
regards
ian
 
It'd be great to have you along!

It's a Saturday, so hopefully won't be too difficult to swing the day off. If you miss that one, you might enjoy the run after it through Yengo National Park (13 November).

This Merriwa-Willow Tree run is a "milk run" - shouldn't be strenuous at all, although we might get some dust kicked up.

Don't forget radios on CH 15 too.
 
Its a long drive, I have a longrange tank so I am right.

Ian bring a camera because on dusk the views at Liverpool plains are awesome.

I should be over the flu by then, hopefully it will piss off soon for another year.

Dave.
 
I'm just calculating the exact distance, but the wife and I will drive it soon so we can be 99% accurate on it (allowing for odometer error).

The meeting place for most of us is 32°43'47.86"S 151°32'37.12"E. Pop those figures into your GPS and you shouldn't go too far wrong.

Distance - the round trip from Maitland is about 383km. Unloaded we'd do that quite comfortably.

There are plenty of fuel stations. If you're shy on fuel on the way up, I recommend the Greta Shell Truck Port. They have high-flow bowsers there as well, and are reasonably priced. The fuel station in Merriwa is one of those dinky little outback places with 1 pump and a guy that adds up the cost on an abacus. Well, almost! Willow Tree, Murrurundi, Scone, Muswellbrook etc all have fuel from a variety of suppliers.
 
Excellent, it will be good to catch up with you again. I expect that short of being confined to an iron lung, Dave will show up as well.

Helen and I have not yet done the route. Last weekend we both said "stuff this civilisation bullshit", packed the caravan and hit the forests again.
 
Its a bloody good run, Graig bring a good camera as the views are like no where else especially on dusk.

Dave.
 
Sure is Craig, despite not being able to get to do the run beforehand to know exact distances and times - I think a 9:30am start @ Maitland by the lake over the bridge ought to see us in through Merriwa and on top of the range for lunch. It should take us about a half hour tops to get to the Putty Rd to pick up anyone coming from the Singleton direction at 10am.

This also means that anyone from further afield won't have to wake at 3am!

I've edited the first post to add these times.
 
I'm going to bring 2 of those little square tables and 4 folding chairs - there'll only be my wife and myself, I'm bringing spares. I hope we find somewhere up the top to stop.

Good stuff with the avatar too, Craig. I can send you the original un-edited image if you want it, it's a 2592x1552 24BPP JPG image, 1.49Mb in size.
 
tony
i wont be taggin along on this one as i have to work saturday:ball:
maybee the next one
wife and i aredoing the dungog to gloucester via frying pan ect on sunday
to get to know the nav a bit better
any tips on this route ??
craig
are you still doing road closures ect for rallies ?? i miss em there a great day out
 
We don't close roads off or anything, we're just a bunch of friends that go off for drives together.

Dungog to Gloucester is all sealed roads, but there are some nice roads in the forest north of Dungog that go through and come back out again. Here's some rough directions to follow some nice roads:

Head towards Chichester Dam and where you see the dirt road heading straight ahead in Bendolba and the sealed road heading down and to the left, take the dirt road (Wangat Trig Rd). Follow this road without deviation until you pass Skimmings Gap Road (there's some picnic tables on the rise to the right). Take the NEXT right, heading for "Telegherry" and "Frying Pan Creek". Immediately after the turn you will see the logging museum on the left.

Follow this road, go straight over the ford and up the hill (Telegherry Camping Ground is in the little path to the right just over the ford - it's a lovely camp spot). Continue on this road and you will come to Frying Pan Creek campground - the road continues on to the right, straight ahead and downhill takes you into the campground.

Now just follow the signs back to Dungog - it's pretty much straight travelling. When you get to sealed roads, continue towards Dungog until you get to the end of the road (a T intersection). At this T, if you turn right you head to Dungog and if you turn left you head to Buckets Way and Stroud/Gloucester.

If you're doing it in the afternoon, watch the cows. There are bloody heaps of them up that way and they move them ready for milking.

The next run is Yengo National Park. It's a challenging drive. I made a thread in Trips and Touring about it.

Hope to see you then - have fun this Saturday!
 
ian
gordons nephew
ive done a few with you ova the years
last one gordon and i done was rally of canberra in 07
(we arent on good terms atm)
the local road closures were always a great day out
 

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