2nd June 2023
Another boy’s weekend camping trip. Not far this time, just up at Burralow Creek near Kurrajong. So about 1 and a half hours away.
I pick up Liam up from school at the start of his afternoon break at 1:40, a maths lesson lost, but he can handle that. I’ve got the car packed and after he gets changed we’re on the road just before 2.
For once the M4 traffic is not too bad and we make good time. We turn off the Bells Line of Road at Kurrajong and after navigating a few suburban streets, we hit the dirt road into the national park. The track in is recommended for 4wd, and while not too bad there are some steep sections that I wouldn’t like to be doing in the i30.
About 6km later we arrive at the campground. The organisation for this trip was a bit of a pain. I first found the place, seeing that it was one of the closest campgrounds to Sydney that looked nice. At the time there was a notice that the campground was closed due to maintenance being done, but it was due to open the weekend before we’d planned. Well that updated to mid Wed this week, then to Friday. I called them on Thursday and the NPWS dude, was not confident it would open this weekend. So I look for some plan B’s around Lithgow. Then at 12pm, they updated it saying it would open at 1pm today, so as we left we at least knew where we were going.
We pull in around 3:30, there is only one other camper here, and a NPWS ranger. We have a bit of chat and he explains some of the changes. Unfortunately, the toilets don’t seem to have been on the agenda.
We find what we consider to be the 2nd best spot…. and start to setup.
We setup the swags, this time I’ve got the stretchers and some really nice cool weather sleeping bags. So it should be pretty comfortable. We setup the Gazebo and the Awning off the car to give us a bit more covered space.
I’ve got the back of the car a bit better setup now too. So we’re a bit more organised all round. The fidge has got its space and the stuff we’ll net to get to regularly is in easy access.
We get the fire going, and as the evening goes on more groups start to arrive. Given the start/stop of the re-opening, I’m not expecting a full house.
Dinner and we enjoy ourselves around the fire.
We have a really early night the new sleeping bags are so comfortable!!!!
3rd June 2023
We both sleep in, did I mention the sleeping bags are sooo comfy?
A cold morning and everything is covered in dew. The underside of the gazebo is saturated.
A bacon and egg roll for breakie and when we’re ready we roll up the car awning and take a drive on what’s call the Kurrajong discovery trail.
There are two tracks from Bells Line of road to the campground, we came in the eastern Burralow Trail, so we take the western Patterson’s Range Trail out. Shortly we turn off to the trail, north of Bell Line of, up Mountain Lagoon road, there was meant to be a lookout here (or a carpark with a long walk to a lookout, it’s not super clear), in the end we don’t find either.
We’re meant to turn right when we reach Comleroy road, but I take a detour to the left to drive down to the Colo River. The water level seems pretty low and a lot sandier/muddier than I thought it would be. Backtracking we make our way back to Bells. While I didn’t think it would be hard 4wd’ing, I thought it might have been a bit more interesting then it was.
As it’s close to lunch time, I take a small detour to “Pie in the Sky” a road side bakery in Bilpin. It’s super busy, as I guess you’d expect a lunch time. The pies where good, but I’ve probably had better. 
(4 / 5)
We hit the Patterson’s Range trail and head back to the campground. These roads are narrow and steep, with some nasty switchbacks, so brining the van down here is probably not an option.
After an afternoon break we take a walk to the nearby Bulcamatta waterfall. The sign says it is 60min return, for some reason neither of us believe it will take this long. Over the Burralow creek and we walk though the bush. There appear to be a few trails off to the side, so at times is not super clear which is the main track. We find what should be a water fall, it looks similar to some of the images I’ve seen, but only a trickle is come down. A bit of a disappointment. The trail seems to continue on so we keep going. The vegetation markedly changes, what was just typical bush/scrub is turning more rainforest with a lot more ferns and the like. We cross the creek again and are heading up this small gorge, with rock walls on both side. We turn a corner and there is this small, but great water fall. Boy I’m glad we continued on, I would have been super annoyed to find out later we’d missed this. A couple of young guys are here, one with his legs in the freezing water…. They soon leave and we have the place to ourselves for a while. As its late afternoon is quite dark here in grotto, the photos make it look brighter than it was.
We wander back, and sure enough if been just under 1hour as we return to the campground.
We return to find someone has setup between us and group number 1. I guess there is enough space, but only just. It’s a bit cosier that I would have liked. I guess you get that when it’s unallocated camping. To top it all off they have three energetic young kids……
We get a fire going a bit earlier, and with all the noise from our new neighbours it does take the edge off the evening.
Liam cooks our hamburgers for dinner and as we eat it starts to sprinkle on and off. It wasn’t meant to rain till tomorrow at the earliest!
Not quite so earlier a night as yesterday.
4th June 2023
Overnight it rained quite heavily, I could hear drips on the swag, given I’m under the gazebo, that’s not encouraging. Eventually just before 8, I drag myself out of a very warm and comfortable bed…into the cold, wet day.
The gazebo canopy is pooling with water all over the place, I look over to the car awning and it’s doing the same thing, with the pole straining under the weight.
I had hoped to do a quick walk back to the waterfall to see it in better light, but there is no better light and we’d get saturated walking there.
So we packup the best we can as the weather cycles between drizzle, full on rain and the odd dry spell. It was exactly what I didn’t want to do, packup in the wet……
Just after 11, we’re all packed and we take the Burralow Creek trail back out. The road is pretty wet, and as we climb out of the valley the fog starts getting thicker.
A great weekend away, nice and close, so we’ll likely try this again. Would have been nicer had the rain stayed away.