Meeting point was at the Yetholme Caltex at 9am. After the initial meet and greet we then  headed across the road and pretty much straight into the first track that was a bit dusty, after a short time we came to Mount Ovens trig a lookout  facing west out over Bathurst and Mount Panorama, (very scenic). We then came to a steep hill descent that was fun to drive, but not so for the passenger, I did have my eyes closed for some of it though.

Trip Leaders:   Tony and Janice                                                                                                             Participants:                                                                                                                                       Rod and Lyn                                                           Trevor and Sheryl                                                   Sue and Cherrie                                                       Alan                                                                           Dave and Kerrie                                                     Brian and Kym                                                         Deidrie                                                                       Simon and Cheryl

We then had morning tea at a little camping area at about 11am before headed over to the other side of the Sunny Corner State Forest. Turning onto Blackbutt Mountain Trail, we made our way along up hills and down hills dogging trees and ruts in the road. Until Tony took us on a little track and Rod got us on a 45 degree angle up one climb, which we managed to reverse out of OK, but then Deidrie drive straight up after we had moved out of the way.

We stopped for lunch at a rather large rock at the top of the track. Following on we came to an open paddock with a magnificent view back towards Wallerawang Power Station. After taking in the sights we made our way to camp at Sheep Yards Flat about 3pm. After setting up camp we all headed down to the creek to cool off and Janice had a paddle, Tony tells me she does this all the time.  Just then the wind changed and down came the rain, quite heavy at times, but that didn’t stop us from having a camp fire with umbrellas of cause it rained most of the night.

Sunday morning we broke camp at 9am with a beautiful day ahead of us. The group stopped for morning tea by the river at Turon Gates. Rod went for a walk to take a tat and to his surprise when he looked down at his feet was a big black snake, no doubt he high tailed it out of there lol. Nice drive to Sofala stopped in town for a cold one at the pub and a look around then drove just out of town where we had lunch by the river.

After lunch we proceeded to drive towards Hill End.

Called into the Hill End information centre / museum then off down the Bridle Track to camp the night at Cave Hole Campsite, everyone headed down the river for a swim after setting up camp ,  had a fun night, fire, drinks, and lots of laughs, I also did hear of a hot soapy shower with Kim and Janice, missed that one ?? Monday morning we left the trip early to head home so I will leave the rest of the trip report with Brian

So a big Thankyou to Tony and Janice for a great trip and to all who were there for making the trip a fun one.                                                                                                                                     “Lyn”

We were now down to 7 vehicles in our little convoy, so off we went to see the Cornish ovens which were on the way out to Dixons Long point crossing. As we descended down the steepish track towards the Macquarie River we were wondering how deep the crossing would be this time. When we arrived the normal way across the river was blocked, so Janice being be brave girl that she is waded across the river pointing out any boulders or holes as she went. We all managed to cross without incident. Then the climb back out of the valley and heading towards Ophir. Ophir is where Gold was first discovered in Australia; we circled the wagons at the camping area next to the river and had our lunch.

Then it was the final drive into Bathurst and the end of the trip. We all aired back up again, said our final farewells and departed heading for home a bit after 2pm.

Thanks Tony and Janice for running such a wonderful and interesting trip, it was great driving some of those wonderful tracks in around Sunny Corner and Dark Corner again. I am certain that everyone on the trip had a fantastic time; there were great tracks, fantastic scenery and of cause wonderful company.

Brian