Once in a lifetime weekend drives near Sydney? THIS WEEKEND?

[isaac]

Hi all -

Arriving Sydney Australia from San Francisco this Friday. Have approx 48 hours free to get into trouble before a week of meetings back in the city. Anybody want to go for a drive?

Happy to either take a local expo portal member out for dinner/beers in exchange for some savvy local roadtrip planning (which needs to occur in the next couple days) OR along for the ride, if somebody else wants to stretch their legs OR maybe rent your car/truck rather than pay some wonderful multinational rental car company. Would love to go see something off the beaten track, get some exotic new colors of dust in my clothes etc. You know what I mean.

Drop me a note at ******edited*************** in the next 24h if you're interested. I am headed to the airport in an hour.

- Isaac

 

[Christian P.]

super jealous...

check with Martin Solms (AfricaNetwork.org), he lives in Sydney and perhaps has some free time. Awesome guy.

 

[isaac]

Maybe...

From Sydney to Kosciuszko and back via Snowy River and the coastal road

Sydney NSW Australia
1. Head south on George St toward Bathurst St 300 m
2. Turn right onto Liverpool St 260 m
3. Turn right onto Harbour St 16 m
4. Merge onto Cross City Tunnel via the ramp on the right to Harbor Street/Harbour Bridge/Eastern suburbs/Airport Toll road 1.7 km
5. Take the exit onto Metroad 1 Partial toll road 11.2 km
6. Slight left onto Metroad 5 (signs for Metroad M5/Liverpool/Canberra) Partial toll road 45.1 km
7. Continue onto Hume Hwy/National Highway 31 209 km
8. Turn left onto Yass Valley Way (signs for YASS VALLEY WAY) Go through 2 roundabouts 10.5 km
9. Turn left onto Grand Junction Rd Go through 1 roundabout 800 m
10. Continue onto Green St 250 m
11. Continue onto Wee Jasper Rd 50.1 km
12. Turn right to stay on Wee Jasper Rd 4.6 km
13. Turn right to stay on Wee Jasper Rd 33.6 km
14. Turn left onto Billapaloola Rd 9.7 km
15. Turn right onto Bombowlee Creek Rd 18.5 km
16. Turn left onto Wee Jasper Rd 2.7 km
17. Turn left onto Snowy Mountains Hwy/National Route 18 (signs for Cooma) 91.7 km
18. Turn right onto The Link Rd (signs for Cabramurra/Khancoban/Tumbarumba/1/5) 15.2 km
19. Slight left onto Kings Cross Rd 120 m
20. Continue onto Goat Ridge Rd 4.1 km
21. Turn left onto Snowridge Rd 10.0 km
22. Continue onto Tooma Rd 48.2 km
23. Turn left onto Alpine Way 112 km
24. Turn right onto Kosciuszko Rd 1.9 km
25. Enter the roundabout 89 m
Jindabyne NSW Australia
26. Head west toward Barry Way 140 m
27. Exit the roundabout onto Barry Way 4.3 km
28. Turn left onto The Snowy River Way Go through 1 roundabout 29.3 km
29. Turn left onto Barry Way 250 m
30. Turn right onto Barnes St 290 m
31. Continue onto The Snowy River Way 6.3 km
32. Continue onto Barnes St 4.1 km
33. Continue onto The Snowy River Way 42.1 km
34. Turn left onto Monaro Hwy/National Route 23 21.0 km
35. Turn right onto Snowy Mountains Hwy/National Route 18 14.6 km
36. Turn right to stay on Snowy Mountains Hwy/National Route 18 43.9 km
37. Turn left onto Princes Hwy/National Route 1 (signs for Batemans Bay) Go through 1 roundabout 113 km
38. At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit and stay on Princes Hwy/National Route 1 Go through 12 roundabouts 170 km
39. Turn right to stay on Princes Hwy/National Route 1 30.7 km
40. Slight left onto State Route 157 (signs for Moss Vale/Tourist Drive 8/Tongarra Road/Albino Park) 190 m
41. Turn right onto Robyn Rd 550 m
42. Turn left onto Kimbeth Cres 220 m
43. Take the 1st right onto Black St 110 m
44. Turn right onto Station Rd 400 m
45. Take the 1st left onto Princes Hwy/National Route 1 Continue to follow National Route 1 Go through 1 roundabout 35.6 km
46. Slight left toward Southern Freeway/National Route 1 (signs for National Route 1/Sydney/Freeway) 1.1 km
47. Continue straight onto Southern Freeway/National Route 1 21.1 km
48. Continue onto Princes Hwy/Metroad 1 15.2 km
49. Turn right onto President Ave 5.3 km
50. Turn right onto Kingsway 1.0 km
51. Turn left onto Gannons Rd 800 m
52. At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto Captain Cook Drive Go through 3 roundabouts 9.0 km
53. At the roundabout, continue straight to stay on Captain Cook Drive 500 m
Captain Cook Drive

... with detours for gravel roads and better ideas?

Isaac

 

[isaac]

Update

So I ended up staying in the Blue Mountains area rather than driving all the way down to Snowy Mountains. Yesterday I drove Cox's River Road --> Six Foot Track, through the Jenolan Caves and up to Bathurst, and the Bridle Track toward Hill End. Terrific driving. Kangaroos everywhere at dusk, didn't see one other vehicle per hour, more bushwalkers than traffic. Perfect. Only complaint is the stinging nettles, yikes!

Rental Subaru Forester acquitted itself nicely. Suitably mountain goat on the tracks, through 10x small fords, some greasy yellow clay, and a lot of eucalyptus forest.

This place is 4WD paradise. I've never seen anything like the density of well-equipped vehicles... it is THE dominant automotive subculture here. It would be like exchanging every ricer import in LA or muscle car in Detroit... for a well equipped, go-anywhere 4WD. Land Cruisers, Patrols, Pajeros, Hilux... Blue Mountains just overflowing with Our Kina People. Example:

http://www.visitnsw.com/__data/assets/image/0006/19464/varieties/fullview.jpg
http://www.visitnsw.com/things-to-do/adventure-and-sport/4wd-and-offroad

Wish I had another month here. Sadly, back to work tomorrow.

- Isaac

 

[isaac]

NSW trail guide books

For the next folks in my situation, for the record: I bought and highly recommend these two books:

4WD Treks Near Sydney: http://www.boilingbilly.com.au/store/viewItem.shop?idProduct=13

New South Wales 4WD Top 50: http://www.mapworld.com.au/collections/4wd-and-camping/products/nsw-4wd-top-50-atlas-guide-hema

The Boiling Billy book includes really good route notes (comparable to rally tulips) including reverse-order mileage and details on non-taken turns and intersections, which is a great addition -- nothing worse than the ambiguity introduced by omitted, important details. The photos are also great, and accurate. However the Hema book does a better job with regional maps showing the location of the individual trails/treks, which allows you to sequence multiple trails into a day/trip, which is hard to do with the "4WD Treks" book, which presumes reader is familiar with the trail locations or starting point towns. I found myself having to keep both books open in the car to avoid driving past interesting trailheads.

I'd give both 4 out of 5 stars on some absolute scale (ie, yes, they could be improved slightly) but am very happy... wish books like this were available everywhere. World would be a better place.

I also highly recommend the official government information booths along the Great Western Highway. The one just west Penrith, the ladies there were particularly great. We talked for 20 minutes about the 4WD tracks within a 2 hour drive... and Ice Road Truckers, and driving in the Himalayas. One woman said she drove the 6 Foot Track 25 years ago in a Citroen DS... here I thought I was having fun doing it in a Forester. ;-) Wonderful place, Australia. Hope I can come back again, for a long time.

- Isaac

 

[zeroland]

Hi Isaac,

Just managed to read your posting. I live in the Northern Beaches (North of Manly) so easy to meet up for a beer or two.

Where are you staying at the moment?

 

[isaac]

Thanks Christian, and hi Martin. Appreciate your email yesterday. Sorry it didn't work out... would have loved to meet up but am returning to California today.

Happy Australia Day!!!

- Isaac

p.s. Went down here yesterday after work, to say goodbye to the roos:
http://www.wildwalks.com/bushwalkin...cox-s-river-return-via-dunphy-s-campsite.html

Dunphys Camping area off the Six Foot Track in Megalong Valley. Sooooooooo many kangaroos... up close and rooey. Gorgeous even in the raink. Nice spot efor any future visitors to Sydney...