rkinsey
29th December 2010, 11:48 AM
Only new to the 4X4 scene, I was looking to test the waters, so to speak. I found some day trips out of Sydney that can be completed with relative ease and you can explore different areas at your own pace.
Most of these drives can be done in 2WD without having to engage low range 4X4 but you can get off the track and, as I did this week, take the truck into 4X4 country and really have a look at some sights that you would normaly not get to see.
I took the family up to Newnes Plateau to have a look at the Glow worm tunnel. The family had a great day.
From Minchinbury in western Sydney, we left at 10am and finally got to Lithgow at 12pm. There is still a lot of roadworks going through Hazelbrook to Hartley and this slowed us down to a crawl for about an hour.
From Lithgow, turn right onto Main Street, continue through town and turn left onto Bridge Street and cross the train tracks then turn right onto Inch Street. Follow Inchstreet for about 1 km and then turn left into Atkinson Street. Follow Atkinson Street and this turns into State Mine Gully road which will take you into the Newnes State Forest. State mine gully road turns into Glowworm Tunnel Road.
The road is used buy logging trucks and, in some places, is rutted baddly and requires some slow negotiation. A 2WD vehichle would have some trouble getting through but on our trip I did see a few Ford AU utes at the Glowworm Tunnel parking area so they can do this trip.
The road condition in general is in good condition but like most dirt roads in State Forests, can have quite a few pot holes and damage fram heavy rains.
Got the the Glowworm Tunnel parking area and it is an hour round trip walking to the tunnel and back again down a well maintained walking track. IN the tunnel it is pitch black and the floor has been washed away making it a little difficult to walk through as you are constantly looking at your feet with your torch to find the best footing and you need to stop every now and then to turn off your torch and have a look a the glow worms that look like green stars creating constellations accross the walls and roof of the tunnel. Still a great trip and well worth the effort.
On the way back, we had a look down a few of the fire trails and got to use 4WD low range to negotiate our way into the bush and back out again. Had a ball and want to get into some more of that!
Coming home again we turned off of State mine Gully road onto Bells line of road and came out at the Zig Zag railway and onto Mt Victoria then back to Minchinbury when we arived home at 8PM. All in all a great day out with some sites we would not normally have seen without a Nissan Patrol and I got to try my hand at some 4W driving and cant wait to get into some more.
Here are some links to the treks I found on the web:
This is the link to the trip to the Glowworm Tunnel
http://www.greaterbluemountainsdrive.com.au/downloads/notes-newnes-plateau.pdf
Here is the link to the website that has all of the trips in the Blue Mountains
http://www.greaterbluemountainsdrive.com.au/discovery-trails.php
Most of these drives can be done in 2WD without having to engage low range 4X4 but you can get off the track and, as I did this week, take the truck into 4X4 country and really have a look at some sights that you would normaly not get to see.
I took the family up to Newnes Plateau to have a look at the Glow worm tunnel. The family had a great day.
From Minchinbury in western Sydney, we left at 10am and finally got to Lithgow at 12pm. There is still a lot of roadworks going through Hazelbrook to Hartley and this slowed us down to a crawl for about an hour.
From Lithgow, turn right onto Main Street, continue through town and turn left onto Bridge Street and cross the train tracks then turn right onto Inch Street. Follow Inchstreet for about 1 km and then turn left into Atkinson Street. Follow Atkinson Street and this turns into State Mine Gully road which will take you into the Newnes State Forest. State mine gully road turns into Glowworm Tunnel Road.
The road is used buy logging trucks and, in some places, is rutted baddly and requires some slow negotiation. A 2WD vehichle would have some trouble getting through but on our trip I did see a few Ford AU utes at the Glowworm Tunnel parking area so they can do this trip.
The road condition in general is in good condition but like most dirt roads in State Forests, can have quite a few pot holes and damage fram heavy rains.
Got the the Glowworm Tunnel parking area and it is an hour round trip walking to the tunnel and back again down a well maintained walking track. IN the tunnel it is pitch black and the floor has been washed away making it a little difficult to walk through as you are constantly looking at your feet with your torch to find the best footing and you need to stop every now and then to turn off your torch and have a look a the glow worms that look like green stars creating constellations accross the walls and roof of the tunnel. Still a great trip and well worth the effort.
On the way back, we had a look down a few of the fire trails and got to use 4WD low range to negotiate our way into the bush and back out again. Had a ball and want to get into some more of that!
Coming home again we turned off of State mine Gully road onto Bells line of road and came out at the Zig Zag railway and onto Mt Victoria then back to Minchinbury when we arived home at 8PM. All in all a great day out with some sites we would not normally have seen without a Nissan Patrol and I got to try my hand at some 4W driving and cant wait to get into some more.
Here are some links to the treks I found on the web:
This is the link to the trip to the Glowworm Tunnel
http://www.greaterbluemountainsdrive.com.au/downloads/notes-newnes-plateau.pdf
Here is the link to the website that has all of the trips in the Blue Mountains
http://www.greaterbluemountainsdrive.com.au/discovery-trails.php