Photographs by P. Ellis, D Ortiz & S Sunley

Map -1:25,000 Colinton

On Saturday 24th October 2015 I joined up with six other members of the Canberra Bushwalkers, led by Sean Sunley for another of Sean's wonderful Sub 24 Hour Bushwalks in Namadgi National Park south of the nation's capital. The plan was to meet at the bridge over the Murrumbidgee River at 1.00pm. It was a very warm sunny day with little cloud.

Within minutes the rest of our group arrived in their vehicles and they included Sean and his wife Julie, Sdenka and Doug, both of whom I had walked with before on Sean's previous walk and newbies David & Athol. Quick introductions were made and we signed Sean's walk register form while Sean gave us a quick preamble about the walk. We then set off in our cars for the one hour drive to the track head.

We headed south along the Naas Road, passing the Namadgi National Park Visitors Centre and followed this bitumen mountain road as it ascended, descended and wound its way around the local hills, passing Apollo Road which takes you to Honeysuckle Camping Area, then the Orroral Valley Road until, just after the turn-off to Rendezvous Creek, the bitumen ceased and we were faced with unsealed gravel - which wasn't too rough at all, in fact it was quite smooth. We pulled over to take in some excellent views at Hospital Hill Lookout. A metal gangway leads to a platform that looks down and over a long grassy plain across to some magnificent looking mountains of the Bimberi Wilderness Area that include Yankee Hat, Mt Gudgenby, Mt Kelly, Mt Burbidge, Mt Namadgi and the Mt Scabby Range as well as other features such as Bogong Swamp, Yankee Hat Rock Art site, Middle Creek and Rendezvous Creek. A great short stop to take some photographs.

We continued about 15km along the gravel road until we reached Mt Clear turn-off on the left and followed this dirt road for about one kilometre. We arrived at the Mt Clear car park just 100 metres after the turn-off to the camping area at 2.00pm. The flies swarmed on us as soon as we left the safety of our vehicles. We wasted little time putting on our boots, gaiters and rucksacks, locking the cars and heading off down a wide four wheel drive track. The countryside is old farmland, mostly sheep grazing, surrounded by wooded hills. The track now forms part of the Bicentennial National Trail. We noticed signposts directing us to The Borders and to Horse Gully Hut which is just 7km away.

The trail undulated distinctly whilst following the trail, we ignored the turn-off for The Borders and followed a track across some fields. Eventually the track reconnected with the main trail after a side track headed off to the other destination. We descended to the first of three creek crossings in the next few kilometres. Several of our group took the effort to change out of boots and socks into sandals for the short crossings. The rest of us didn't bother as the crossings were very short and they had stepping stones at one side that allowed us to cross with the minimum of wet feet.

The second crossing was only 100 metres away, but after that we had a 2km walk to the final crossing before the trail ascended quite steeply over a distance of a couple of kilometres. We passed through a locked gate and continued along a high contour line able to look down on Naas Creek, which would become the Naas River not far from today's destination. We continually came across mobs of Eastern Grey Kangaroos that watched nervously as we approached, then bounded off into the scrub as we got too close for their liking.

As we came to a small bend in the road Julie got really excited and called out to Sean to hurry over as she had come across a baby brown snake. It was no longer than four inches long and no thicker than a worm, smaller than the jelly snakes you get these days in confectionary mixes, but no less deadly than an adult. The youngster wriggled its way up the embankment as we continued on, wondering where the mother and father were. It was the only snake we saw all weekend.

We soon came to a small side track with a signpost and a hitching rail. The signpost announced this was the track to Demandering Hut, one of the two high country huts on this short trail. We walked the short track of just 300 metres to take a look and arrived there at 3.40pm for a pre-arranged afternoon tea break. The hut is small but very cosy. At present it has no drop toilet, though it does have a rain water tank. It was good to get the rucksack off the back for 20 minutes while we had a look around, enjoyed a fresh drink and munched on biscuits or muesli bars.

As we headed off back to the main track we were informed that we had about 2km of walking to go to our destination. We were now passing through eucalypt forest so we had some respite from the hot sun. At just after 4.30pm as we reached the bottom of a small slope we could see through the trees a flat grassy area and what appeared to be a corrugated iron hut. We had arrived at our destination - Horse Gully Hut.

The hut has a wooden frame but has corrugated iron sheets covering the structure. An ample concrete fireplace is big enough to warm the large hut which also has an adjacent water tank. Nearby is a drop toilet and across the field is a hill covered in trees. Nearby there is an old Quince orchard. Ample firewood can be located by those willing to walk further than 200 metres from the hut. The hut also comes equipped with a bush saw and several other tools. Check this link out for more details.

HORSE GULLY HUT

The tent sites were well spread out as there was plenty of room. Sdenka pitched her tent right in front of the hut, while Sean & Julie pitched theirs on the grass on the other side of the trail. Doug and I pitched south-east of the hut no more than 50 metres away while Athol and David chose the high ground behind the hut. It all panned out well. Once the tents were up we grabbed the bush stools from the hut and sat outside, swatting the flies as they came near.

Some of our group entertained themselves with a game of Yahtzee, while David, Doug and I organised gathering and cutting of firewood. As the sun started to disappear over the ridge the flies got fewer and fewer so with the last hour or so of daylight we grabbed our cooking gear and food and prepared dinner on the grass outside the hut. It was all quite pleasant in the cooling conditions and a varied range of stoves and pots were used in the preparations.

As it started getting darker we packed our utensils away and returned to the hut which now had a roaring fire going. The fireplaces decorated with Doug's traditional fairy lights and candles. It was so warm in the hut we didn't even notice how cold it had got outside. We sipped on port and enjoyed chocolate and chatted away until after 9pm before heading for our respective tents.

I had a pretty good sleep but was was awake at 6.00am and out of my sleeping bag by 6.30. I exited my tent and wasted little time making my way to the hut to get breakfast. Sean and Doug had got the fire going, but I fired up my Optimus gas stove and made myself a coffee followed by cereal. I watched envious as Doug fried up some bacon and eggs on his stove - oh those were the days I remember them well. Maybe I should reconsider my menu on these short overnighters.

Sean wanted us packed up and ready to head out by 8.30am so we had one hour. By the time breakfast was finished the sun has risen over the ridge and was just touching my tent. The flies had also made an early appearance and they were thicker than yesterday. I decided to speed things up and unhooked the tent fly and hung it on a nearby tree. I then packed up all my sleeping and cooking gear before dismantling the tent and packing it up into the rucksack, just in time as Sean called a 3 minute warning just as I was putting my gaiters on. A quick photo call was ordered then we headed out just before 8.35am. Sean was keen for us to finish before 2.00pm and thus retain the 'Sub' in the Sub 24 Hour Bushwalk.

It was another clear sunny day and the temperature was already warm. We commenced the return to the cars following the route we had walked in on and by the time we had reached halfway up the first hill some of us had slowed down. It wasn't that the hills were steep. just that the ascents were long and drawn out. The downhill walking in was almost unnoticeable, but when you're facing a continual uphill stretch, no matter how steep, it soon gets tiring.

We passed by the side track to Demandering Hut without fanfare, most of us concentrating on tackling the hills without looking up too often. Doug and David absolutely flew along and forged ahead. Sdenka and I seemed to be next with the others casually bringing up the rear, content to take their time and plod along chatting away amiably to ignore the climbing.

We continued to stroll across the countryside soon descending to the first of the three creeks where Doug and David were creating a better stepping stone system. It was now 10.00am as we sat on a grass embankment after crossing the first creek for a planned morning tea break. We were about 40 minutes from the car park and we sat in the sun or shade and enjoyed more of Athol's biscuits, Sdenka's muesli bars and Julie's mixed confectionary.

10 minutes later we were off again, crossing the remaining two creeks and then uphill and across some old fields to arrive back at the cars at 10.50am. I had an 87 kilometre drive home, plenty of distance to think over the weekend's activity which hopefully there will be many more of in the coming months.