![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cewilson.offroader.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/IMG_0235.jpg\" "\\"IMG_0235\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nRichard and Craig (Fire Chief) along with Peter were already set up so a quick hello was followed by an even quicker set up. Just as we were finishing up Clayton arrived with his young fella so a few quiet drinks around the fire were enjoyed.<\/p>\n
Overall a very enjoyable but very long day. As most people would know, if you ever sleep in it always feels like you are playing catch up. That would pretty much sum up our day. I tried to make up time on the Freeway but it only really results in more fuel being used.<\/p>\n
Best part of all though \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Wollondilly felt warm to us after spending the day in the snow!<\/p>\n
Saturday<\/p>\n
Woke up after a great sleep. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s amazing how I always get a better sleep when camping than I do at home. My father arrived at around 0900h after I dragged him away from stirring Brian up! Being the cheeky bugger he is, he handed me a bag of bacon and eggs and asked for breaky\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6..<\/p>\n
Bob and Michelle (Bobcanfix) arrived just before 1000h so we headed of through Wombeyan Caves to the Goulburn-Oberon road. It took us an hour just to get out to that point. Turning right we made our way to the Abercrombie River and stopped at the camping area for a rest. This would make a great overnight or weekend stop, although it is accessible to 2WDs.<\/p>\n
Continuing on west the weather kept threatening, although it was holding out for us at the time. We turned left onto Felled Timber Road which is approximately 45km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s from Oberon. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a narrow gravel road between a couple of properties before entering the Abercrombie N.P and becoming a track.<\/p>\n Almost immediately you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll require low range for a short drop where you come to an intersection where you can turn right up the hill to the Middle Fire Trail. However we continued straight ahead on Bald Hills Fire Trail approaching the first climb. After making it to the top I radioed through to the other guys that I was going to drop my tyre pressures. They decided to do the same before coming up the hill \u00e2\u20ac\u201c most of us went to around 25psi.<\/p>\n The track continues on until it hits the fence signalling private property. The track itself turns to the right and follows the fence for quite a while. It was slightly overgrown this time and it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look like it had been traversed by a lot of traffic of late.<\/p>\n A bit further on the track gets a little more interesting. The climb up Bald Hill itself is a fun challenge any day, but I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be anywhere near it in the wet. A few pictures were taken and we made it to the end of the track where a sign stated \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcno trailers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Now I could certainly understand this in the wet, but in the dry I personally wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a qualm with towing the Trak Shak through there. Rules for everything now days\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6..<\/p>\n Anyway we made our way down to Silent Creek for a very late lunch whilst the kids (and big kids) had a good kick of the football. I had a chat to Richard and we decided to take the quicker option out of the park. Partly because of the weather closing in, and partly because we knew it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be an hour and a half back to camp once we got back to the main road.<\/p>\n We were quite surprised to see a Jayco parked down in the camping area as both ways in make for a challenge with that behind your 4WD. A little bit of respect was had that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for sure!<\/p>\n We climbed out of Silent Creek on the Abercrombie Fire Trail discovering that the weather wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leaving much of a view from the lookout. We bypassed Middle Fire Trail and took the 900m detour down to The Beach camping area to show the guys quickly.<\/p>\n Back on the Abercrombie Fire Trail I was relegated to the passenger seat (as was Bob by this stage) and we made our way down to the crossing of the Retreat River at Mack\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Flat. This is the worst crossing in the park as a rule, however it was a nice easy run for us today.<\/p>\n A quick run up the hill bypassing Retreat Fire Trail (which has The Sink camping area a couple of km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in) and we were out of the park. I suggested that we continue out to the bitumen road before topping up the tyre pressures as we had quite a few km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s of dirt road to do first.<\/p>\n That all changed as we watched the weather take a turn for the worse. We found an area big enough to get the vehicles off of the road and took the 10 minutes to get the tyres back to road pressures. A few more km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s through the forestry trails and we turned right onto the Goulburn-Oberon road.<\/p>\n Half an hour later through on and off again wet weather and it was a left turn onto Wombeyan Caves road and back to Wollondilly River Station.<\/p>\n Arriving back at camp Jason + Michelle had arrived and set up, and Craig and Peter looked all refreshed from relocating their camp! Dinner was prepared and we again enjoyed a few beverages around the fire, with Craig taking up his guitar and providing some damn good entertainment himself.<\/p>\n Sunday<\/p>\n I think the missus stayed up a tad late and I found myself with the four kids. We got a fire going and breakfast sorted whilst generally relaxing and taking it easy. Clayton had to head home so we all bade goodbye and wished him well. I think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s forgotten about the unwritten rule of the first home writes the trip report \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now a written rule (well typed anyway!!!)<\/p>\n Richard and Bob went and grabbed some great firewood and I ended up doing a quick run into Mittagong to fill up the car \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I was down to about 20 litres of unleaded and I was nervous about towing the trailer out with that small amount. Better to be safe than sorry though.<\/p>\n Craig had all of the kids undivided attention as he entertained with his guitar. It was great to see them having a such a good time and it was most certainly appreciated. I reckon the Wiggles could learn a thing or five from him\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6..<\/p>\n After the kids went to bed; a bottle of Scottish Whiskey (I believe) made the rounds and in turn lead to some (very) interesting debates. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not quite sure that we solved anything that night, but it was definitely lively at times.<\/p>\n Either way we certainly worked out what the next Australian flag should be. I believe that Jason nearly ended up in the river a few times that night. That bank can be quite nasty in the dark when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a tad intoxicated. <\/p>\n I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll let you in on something I learnt that night \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Craig and Peter can debate just as well as anyone else I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve met. Which is good as Richard and Bob had already called it a night deciding to get away whilst they could. <\/p>\n I normally don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rest days as I get too itchy. I did enjoy myself but I much prefer to be wrestling with the steering wheel up some low range 4WD track. However the kids seemed to have a good day and knowing that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be spending plenty of time in the car tomorrow then it was probably the best decision.<\/p>\n Monday<\/p>\n We awoke and did the normal routine. I was disappointed that we weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t packed up by 1000h as we normally are. Due to other commitments the Richard, Craig, Peter, Bob and Michelle headed off after saying their goodbyes, so we ended up hanging around for Jason and Michelle (we had three Michelle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and two Jessica\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on the trip) and travelled out together leaving just before 1100h.<\/p>\n The road out was busy being the end of the long weekend and I ended up relaying oncoming vehicle info to some guys from TLCC over the UHF. We stopped at the tunnel to grab a couple of photos and then worked our way out to Suttons Forest for a fuel refill and some tucker for the kids.<\/p>\n We bade goodbye to Jason and Michelle and then continued on down the freeway. The traffic was the typical long weekend nightmare and I ended up knocking km\/h of my speed and just sitting with the trucks to escape the building rage at some thoughtless idiots.<\/p>\n Gundagai was our next stop where the price of fuel was downright bloody rude. LPG was 15 cents per litre more here than anywhere else on the trip \u00e2\u20ac\u201c over 80 cents a god damn litre.<\/p>\n Arriving back in Albury we stopped and took the cheat option of KFC for the kids and filled up the Prado ready for the work week.<\/p>\n We had a great weekend and it was fantastic catching up with new and old faces from the forum. Its trips away like this that really makes the forum \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchum\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 so to speak and I always look forward to them.<\/p>\n Talking of fuel I used 26.68 litres per 100km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s whilst running on LPG, and 24.83 litres per 100km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s whilst on Unleaded. Overall we used 400 litres of fuel to do just over 1500km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u201c definitely twice the fuel I would use in the Landy.<\/p>\n Total cost of fuel for the weekend – $367.51 so an average of a tad over $27 per 100km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. Keep in mind that we were towing through snow, hill terrain, windy roads, low range work etc.<\/p>\n Working that out against the Landy which used at worst 15 litres per 100km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, times that by $1.50 a litre and we are still $7 ahead per 100km\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the diesel.<\/p>\n Food for thought\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This story continues on from the Cabramurra one… Friday afternoon A quick fill of both fuel tanks in Gundagai and it was the boring run up the freeway to Goulburn. The Prado might be a lot quicker than the old … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n