Baal Bone Gap and Newnes
18th and 19th August 2007

List of vehicles and passengers
1. (Me) Nissan Patrol GQ - Wayne and passengers Jay and Bella
2. Kneesan Poohtrol GQ - Colin and Robin
3. Nissan Patrol GU - Karl, Michael (wheelies) and Craig
4. Landcruiser G60 - Dennis and Leanne
5. Forerunner - Shaun
6. Hilux Dual Cab - Chris, Jake and Jess
7. Jeep Cherokee - Graham and Lorraine (from Lithgow)
8. Subaru WRX - Jay and Bella with a camper trailer in tow

I was packed up and ready to go Friday night so that I could be up early on Saturday morning to be at our first meeting spot - the vacant lot next to the Penrith Bowling and Recreation Club. A few vehicles turned up at Penrith - Hilux, Subaru, Landcruiser, Kneesan Poohtrol and Forerunner - all ready to leave at 8.00am.
The convoy followed Landcruiser with me as Tailend Charlie. We arrived at Lithgow at approx. 9.30am at Jeep Cherokee's house where Jeep and another Nissan joined us. This is where we had to inform poor Subaru that he had to wait at Lithgow as it would not be possible for him to negotiate the 4WD tracks, particularly with the camper trailer in tow. So I took over the towing of the camper and promised Subaru to bring the trailer back on Sunday, hopefully still in one piece. After tucking Subaru in the garage, we all headed off towards Ben Bullen and the Garden of Stones National Park with me leading the convoy and Jeep bringing up the rear. We hope not to loose Jeep as he has all the tucker for the weekend.
On entering the fire trails, we stopped to have our front hubs engaged (on those who needed to). I then headed off again, leading the convoy off on an easy 4WD run - up hill and down hill passing through some interesting terrain. We made it to Baal Bone Gap Lookout where our passengers had an excellent view of the valley below. After leaving the lookout, we headed off towards Baal Bone Gap with my driver stopping at a spot for our crews to take pictures of the spectacular sandstone gorge. The trails were lined with a wide variety of plants especially the beautiful tree ferns. A little further on, we had a steep climb up out of the gap to an intersection where my driver was lost - do we take the left fire trail or go straight ahead? The decision was made to go straight ahead, which turned out to be the right way. After some 4WDriving and another couple of lookouts over the Wolgan Valley, we came to the end of the spur and a steep descent down to the Newnes Road. After crossing over the road, we traveled about 1klm to Black Fellows Hand Rock parking area where we had a rest and the passengers had their lunch stop for about 1 hour.
After a good lunch break and with the passengers once again loaded up, we headed for Newnes. Newnes in the early 1900s was a Shale oil mining town. There are now only ruins left behind from those early days that provides for a very interesting walk. Worth another visit in the future and bring along some more passengers. At approx. 2.30pm we turned onto the track that lead to Karl's property. The track into the property was easy 4WDriving and I enjoyed flexing my suspension. After some of the passengers set up camp, my driver opted for the comfort of the log cabin instead of setting up the tent. Michael voiced his objections, and said Wayne snored too much. Some of the passengers then collected firewood for the evening campfire. They sat down to enjoy a couple of drinks and some nibbles. Graham and Lorraine along with some eager helpers, then started to prepare dinner, which I believe was a fine BBQ, vegies and salad. After dinner, everybody sat around the great campfire - it was so warm, even I could feel it warming my paintwork. As time passed, one by one they all slowly went to bed except for Michael and Chris. They stayed up with us vehicles. One of the local possums come down out of his tree to pay a visit, looking for scraps of food that may have been left out, but alas, there was none.
Next morning, some of the people were up early and had the campfire going again. Cups of tea and coffee were soon on the go, which then led on to hearty breakfast. After breakfast, I was fired back into life along with the other vehicles and we were soon off and away. Back across the Wolgan River and into Newnes. The river crossing was shallow and the sand was firm, which meant there were no problems in crossing the river. We stopped in the parking area and our passengers deserted us and went for a walk to look at the ruins, such as the Bee Hive Coak Ovens etc. On returning to Karl's property, the passengers loaded us with their camping gear and then stopped to have some lunch - hungry lot these passengers. They were well fed that's for sure. The camper trailer was hooked up and we headed off towards  Lithgow. We traveled over some rough corrugations and up through the Wolgan Pass on our way back to Lithgow. I was able to then pass the camper trailer back to the Subaru for the journey home to Sydney.
As we pulled into Lithgow it started to rain, the first for the weekend. Everybody said his or her goodbyes and off we went again. On the way home, the Kneeson Poohtrol's passengers had a stop in Bilpin to buy some fruit. My fellow vehicles and passengers arrived back safely in Penrith at about 3.00pm. A great weekend was had by all, looking forward to the next one.