Hume & Hovell Track Walk Photos
This is a single page that presents a Photoshop generated set of 132 pictures of various parts of the walk from Blowering Dam to the Harry Angel Trackhead near Tumbarumba, southern NSW, Australia
The Scene
The track follows close to the original route that Hume and Hovell traversed looking for the way south to Victoria.
The journey along the western side of Blowering Dam can be long, boring and thirsty. There is not much potable water. However as we found you can bath and drink the dam water, although there are some cattle agisting along its western shores.
In 2007 it was at the height of the great drought and most of the creeks were dry in the lower areas. Browns Creek has no water thus we camped along the shore of the dam.
There are several small dams along the track south along the shore but the water is not clean.
There is a phone and help at Blowering Forest Camp if required. There may be not people there during the week.
There is water in small creeks flowing into Blowering at the southern end around Yellowin.
There is a tank with water at Ben Smith's campsite with access to Journama Pond water only 500 m away
Buddong Creek is drinkable and there are numerous campsites south from Buddong hut for several Km.
Water is scarce then until reaching Paddys River Dam. Paddys River can be drunk. Its a bit scarce for water until passing the top of Burra Ck East below Middle ridge where a couple of small creeks flow.
Water is then available as you cross Burra Creek and at Junction Campsite.
Walking from Tumut Power Station up to Burra Ck below Buddong falls is an enjoyable walk along an old briddle trail at a nice incline. Across the tops from Buddong picnic area to Paddys River dam is also nice and fairly even. It gets up to 1100m so even in March it was chilly.
Walking past the Coffee Pot and then below Middle Ridge is nice with ferns and nice even route along the old water race that ran from Paddys Dam to Tumbarumba.
In March 2007 a bunch of old guys from
We drove from home on the
Graham was unable to join us for all of the
walk but had arranged to meet us on the track and to spend a night with us. The
bonus was that he was to bring in some cold beer and red wine with which to
wash down the corned silverside dinner he provided.
The logistics had been based on advice
received from Warwick Hull, Track Co-ordinator from Wagga. He had kindly given
me contact numbers for accommodation, transport as well specific information
related to track conditions.
Seats had been booked on the State Rail bus
leaving Tumbarumba at
We followed the marked track but very soon
after starting, we lost the walking track by dropping to a lower level closer
to the water level. The dam level was very low, at less than 10% capacity, and
following the contour was quite rough. After an hour or so, we stopped for a
drink and made a recce up a spur above the high water level to find the walking
track. At this point we re-joined the track which was a very pleasant walking
surface and well used and maintained. Walkers are well advised to stay on the
formed walking track rather than risk twisted ankles or falls on the rough
going closer to the water level. Besides, the view from the walking track is
far superior. There are spectacular views up and down the Blowering Reservoir
from the track.
It was a very hot day and thirsty walking –
it must have been in the mid thirties in the water bag. Our plan was to camp at
night at Browns Creek Campsite, 9.4 km from Blowering Dam wall. When we reached
this campsite, there was no water and the water in Blowering Dam was a long way
away. The guide book referred to a running creek near the camp site but this
had long since ceased to flow because of the prolonged drought. The toilet
block at this campsite was about to fall over and is in need of repair,
probably as a result of movement to the footing caused by the dry weather. If
water had been available in a rainwater tank, it would have been a delightful
spot to camp. Provision of a tank at this site would be a real bonus.
Surprisingly, there were very few kangaroos and wallabies to be seen.
We camped in the open on the dam foreshore on
the promontory east of Browns Creek Campsite. We were able to re-hydrate, swim,
wash, etc. in the dam. Although quite exposed, we spent a comfortable, but hot,
night. Ron was heavily overloaded and this was relieved by the rest of us
helping to imbibe his litre of port – an example of teamwork at its most
practical. Numerous cattle were being agisted along the western shores of the
lake.
We followed the foreshore forestry road to
Blowering Forestry Holiday Camp, arriving around lunchtime. In late morning,
rain set in which became very heavy and lasted for a few hours. We were all
quite saturated and were grateful of the hospitality of the proprietor of the
holiday camp who allowed us to shelter and have lunch in an outbuilding built
as a bar until the rain subsided. The Holiday Camp was occupied by up to 50
horse riders who we did not see as they were away riding. It must have been a
quite unpleasant day’s ride as the rain was torrential.
After lunch and drying ourselves , we took
the direct shortcut from the holiday camp to Yellowin Forest Park except for
the last section where we followed the power lines back onto the foreshore road
near Junction Park. Yellowin
It was cooler than the previous night and Ant
paraded in his shocking red thermals with the “Ants Pants” design. At least we
were far from civilization and the kiddies would not be frightened.
After following the foreshore road for some
time, we left Blowering Dam at
Just before dusk, a group of Year 9 students
from Sydney Church of England Co-educational Grammar School SCECGS Redlands
noisily announced their arrival. It was their first night out and they were
typical 14 year old boys. In fact, there were 130 students from SCECGS out
camping in a number of groups. The group with whom we shared Ben Smith Campsite
were climbing up to
Our plan was to walk to Buddong Hut because
this day we faced the steepest climb. After leaving Ben Smith Campsite, we were
soon on private land following the edge of Jounama Pondage and the huge pipes
of Tumut 3 Power Station. Then we entered
We lunched at Moffett’s Crossing at the foot
of the climb up to
SCECGS were supported by a Victorian Group
Outdoor Education Group. (www.oeg.net.au)
The climb up to
Graham was waiting for us at the picnic area
with some very welcome refreshments and an evening meal of corned silverside
and vegetables. We made camp on snow grass a couple of kilometers past Buddong
Hut. Good water was obtained from the creek upstream from where a brumby had
met its demise.
A very pleasant, but cold, evening was spent
with Graham. Ron was to leave with him the next morning as he had business
commitments at home. There was a frost during the night and ice was still on
tents, etc as we struck camp next morning. Corned beef and vegetables washed
down with cold VB and red wine is a very civilized way of camping for which we
were all very grateful.
A beautiful day dawned and we headed off up a
ridge above White Horse Creek passing through the former Buddong Creek Gold
Mining Site soon after staring for the day. Plenty of evidence of brumbies was
seen and there were numerous tracks through the timber. Good cover was provided
to the brumbies by the hop bushes, snow gums, mountain gums and candlebark. We
did see several groups of brumbies.
This was a very pleasant section of the track
with beautiful walking conditions on a well maintained track. We had a
break where the track met
From Paddys River Dam, we followed a water
race for some 12 km so the track gradient was very pleasant. We camped on a forestry
road a couple of kilometers past the log book at Coffee Pot. There was no water
here and we were not expecting to get water until close to Junction Campsite.
We did not have an over-abundance of water but the weather was cooler. We were
unsure about availability of water as we had been advised that it would be too
difficult to access the headwaters of East Burra Creek because of the thick
scrub and tree ferns but this concern was unfounded.
We struck camp early without breakfast so as
to get some distance covered before the heat of the day. We found good water
where the track crossed some of the little creeks feeding into East Burra
Creek. We were still following the water race so the walking was excellent. We
stopped for breakfast after we had reached open country after passing gullies
that were filled with tree ferns. It was in one of these gullies that we got
water. This section of the track has several nice stands of mountain ash.
The track left the water race and soon after
left
Along this section was extensive evidence of
former gold mining activities with stones used to form dams and water channels,
etc... The last few kilometers was along the creek through farming country,
still with evidence of earthworks from gold mining years ago and from numerous
wombats at present.
Ron and Graham had ferried a vehicle to Henry
Angel Trackhead so that we did not need to take up the kind offer of Malcolm
from the caravan park.
We were early enough to obtain fresh
provisions from the butcher and grocer and enjoy a wonderful barbecue at the
caravan park in the evening. After 100 kilometres of delightful walking, we
were reminded how fortunate we are.
Our thanks go to the people who maintain the
track – it is a credit to them.
David, Phillip, Ant, John, Greg, Ron, Graham.