Destination: Back Packing Holiday

I have pretty much determined that my holiday is going to be a back packing trip through the wilderness along the ‘Tops to Myall’s Heritage Trail.’ Now I need to decide on just what part of the trail I’ll do, if indeed not all of it.

One of the determining factors for the trip will be the availability of transport. I would need to get to the Barrington Guesthouse in order to start the walk if doing the whole walk, or either get home from the Gloucester area or to the Gloucester area to start the walk. The start from near Gloucester wouldn’t be an issue – that would be fairly easy to solve with Countrylink and family I think (combo). I’m not sure about the Guesthouse option just yet, but looking into it a little. I could easily walk from where I live to the Gloucester area (and for that matter do a return walk if necessary – though I’d prefer to not do so). I also think that Countrylink could easily drop me off near the start of the walk up that way (along the Buckets Way) should that be necessary.

The most likely outcome is that I’ll travel to Gloucester with Countrylink and then get a lift to the walk starting point from my family the next day. I could try getting a lift to the guesthouse with the family also, but that is unlikely to be an option I would think.

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Updating the Website

I am constantly looking at ways to improve the kevinswilderness.com website and add new content to it. With the success of the Google Map that was added to the page dealing with my recent road trip, I have decided to add Google Maps wherever they would prove useful – such as for locations, track routes, etc.

The first part of the site getting an overhaul with Google Maps in mind, is the Barrington Tops page. I am also adding new content to the page as I go. The Barrington Tops page is one of the biggest pages on my site, so the process is taking a bit of time. You will also find the planned itinerary for my backpacking camping holiday here as well as I move along with it.

Visit the page at:

http://www.kevinswilderness.com/NSW/tops.html

Next Trip: Back to Trekking

With the road trip now done and the car returned to Budget (rental), my thoughts have turned to my next holiday. I have a few road trip style adventures in the works, but my next holiday is likely to be a trekking adventure.

In the past I have twice walked across the Barrington Tops, completing the ‘Tops to Myall Heritage walk’ section as far as the township of Craven. I now plan to do the second section of the walk, from Craven to Hawks Nest – not far from where I now live. This has been something I have wanted to do for some time and now I intend to actually complete it.

There is no intended date at this stage, though I would hope to do it well before the end of this year. I would think it likely to be towards the early part of the second half of the year – if that makes sense.

Prior to setting out on this trek, I will be looking to update some of my gear (most of which has vanished in recent moves). I will be looking at a new tent and a sleeping bag for starters, as well as a new back pack. I’m sure there will be a few other things I will need to acquire before I set off as well.

Planning for this trip can all be followed on this Blog… stay tuned for further developments.

Holiday Planning: All out the Window

As my holiday draws closer my plans have changed yet again. Back in November 2009 I rolled my right ankle badly and it has not yet recovered to the extent that it would allow me to do a lot of bushwalking – especially on slopes. So this has meant a complete rethink of my upcoming 2 week holiday.

The theory of travelling to Wagga Wagga before heading to the New South Wales south coast has now been scrapped. I simply won’t be able to do the walking I had hoped to do.

Now I am looking at a road trip – and I’m not too sure just where the roads will actually take me. I will be on the road for 7 days and had thought that a quick trip to Kakadu was a possibility – but it would have to be a very quick trip (and probably without stopping). So that isn’t going to happen.

So what will happen? Not completely sure on that. I do plan to do the following however:

Day One – Dubbo

Day Two – Wagga Wagga

OK, so the above two days are still very similar to the original plan. It is after these two days that things have changed. Instead of turning to the east, I’ll be turning to the west. I just haven’t yet decided as to where.

NEW SOUTH WALES NATIONAL PARKS UNDER THREAT???

The New South Wales government is now considering some level of development in the national parks of New South Wales. Just what level of development that may be is yet to be made clear. It is understood that the development may include accommodation projects, various commercial enterprises and guided bush walks.

Tourism Minster Jodi McKay, a former news reader with NBN television, is waiting on a report from a government commissioned taskforce looking into ways that tourism can be increased in the state’s national parks.

The planned tourism development of national parks is a major step away from the ‘wilderness’ goals of recent times and represents a threat to the wilderness values of national parks and world heritage listed areas.

However, a certain level of development may be appropriate, given the serious deterioration of many of the amenities and signage within New South Wales national parks. Many access routes are also seriously degraded following years of poor management.

Perhaps a quality New South Wales national parks and reserves web site could be developed, with the current web site being quite dated and not particularly useful for visitors to the national parks of New South Wales. Quality information on the attractions and access to each national park would greatly improve the tourist potential of New South Wales national parks.

If quality visitor brochures/leaflets on such things as camping facilities, access routes, walking trails and park attractions could be developed and made available via PDF documents on the web site, potential visitors could plan their trips and this would certainly increase visitor numbers to the national parks.

Quality content and relevant up-to-date information on each national park, as well as well maintained access routes and facilities would encourage far more people to visit the national parks and give visitors a memorable experience.

BELOW: Footage of the Warrumbungle National Park in NSW.