Any interest in a shorter July inland trip?

[Dave]

At tonights meeting, following which I had to cancel the proposed Desert Trip, a few people expressed an interest in a shorter trip in July (school holidays only for me).

I thought perhaps something like Sydney > Balranald > Lake Mungo then following the Darling River to Menindee Lakes > Wilcania > Bourke and back to Sydney. This would probably be a 7 day trip Sydney to Sydney. A full day at Mungo and another at Menindee for sightseeing (beautiful places). Lets say 18 to 25 July

As an idea, check out - http://www.darlingriverrun.com.au/ an initiative of Outback NSW Tourism.

IF there is any interest, I would be happy to do a quick trip plan before the next club meeting at Wooders in June.

Please post FIRM expressions of interest.

[TK421]

Hello Dave
Tho weeks is too long and also to expensive. I agree - but instead of 7 days - why not 5 days? It would be better to have a day to prepare before going, and a day to recap on return. Also, by including extra days at the end of a trip allows for complications if and when they occur. Considering the last trips, I would hate to get stuck somewhere at midnight with no where to go and in the middle of nowhere...
5 Days - to a destination that is not so distant, also allows for looking around, walking, sightseeing, exploring, visiting etc.
Last trip we made to Mudgee, we took half a day out exploring grave yards - and that was not planned. It's always fun to do something at the spare of the moment - it makes driving fun.
Something to consider - post your plans on the web for people to look at - have alternatives to the planned trips and try things out. We can even create a brochure for the occasion if needed...
TK

[glend]

TK, it would be very taxing on everyone going to try to do the (Balranald, Lake Mungo, Menindee, Wilcannia, Bourke loop) trip in under seven days. I think Dave has the time about right. However, I see your point and believe that we need to develop some more weekend or long-weekend trips proposals for people that can not get away for that long, or who are trying to keep their costs down. I'll have another post on that shortly.

[Dave]

I agree too! It would be great to have some shorter but still multi day runs. Unfortunately trying to find interesting tours on dirt (not necessarily vertical dirt) emphasis on "tours", generally means having to get a long way away from Sydney.

Barrington Tops can be a 4 or 5 day away trip - but I don't know all the tracks. Waterfall Way from Armidale to Coffs is BEAUTIFUL, but again mostly bitumen. What sorts of trips do we want to do?

Another interesting drive is down the Barry Way (dirt) from Jindabyne to Buchan to Lakes Entrance on the Vic Coast, then back up through Omeo over the range on dirt to the Murray River, then back round the Alpine Way to Thredbo. Unfortunately NOT in Winter. Again, probably looking at a full week to do it comfortably with side trips (McKillop's Bridge etc).

There are many possibilities I suppose, but we need people and time. Remote (Desert) trips from Sydney are all going to be 14 or more days Sydney to Sydney because they are remote. It just isn't any fun trying to do several hundred k's every day, and you don't get to see much. To make the trip worthwhile - and they ARE - you have to take your time, also for safety and sanity!

Open to proposals!

Dave.

[jeepney]

I'd be interested to go to Barrington Tops.

How about the route done by the NRMA Careflight Run? I think it started somewhere in Lithgow and ended at Stockton Beach?

[Dave]

I wouldn't mind going there either, but I don't know the route.

I put up the "Darling River Run" idea because people were expressing interest in inland. If there are a few people interested in somewhere else, like Barrington, I'd be interested in coming along.

Any other posts / people / ideas?

Dave

[glend]

Can we establish how short is shorter? I have another thread running on weekend and long weekend type trips:

http://www.sydneyjeepclub.com/index.php?topic=1499.0

Typically these trips would be to places like: Yerrandierie, Wombeayn Caves, etc.

Is a short inland trip a week?

We have a weekend trip coming up on the June Long Weekend to the property at Bylong,

The next offical (public holiday) long-weekend is the 5th of October, which might be a good time to do the Jenolan Cave to Yerrandierie trip (which seems to have some support).

The July school holidays are another period where people might want to get away on a short trip, but it would need to start trip prep soon.

Do we need a trip committee? I'd like to see some structure around trip planning. People are throwing ideas around and there seems to be some interest. I am happy to help out in anyway I can with organising these short trips. Dave?

[Dave]

Hi Glen,

It is getting confusing isn't it? I threw in the idea of a one week inland trip to replace the Desert Trip - because people said they were interested in doing something - and started this thread to guage interest. Obviously no takers for my proposal to Mungo etc.

We probably should not have started talking about going anywhere else on this thread. Jeepney's Barringtons idea should have been a new thread - because no one can see that destination in this Subject heading. OR it could have gone through your thread.

Anyway, if a trip somewhere gets up in second week of July school hols, then I am interested.

Dave.

[Maggie]

We probably need someone to make the decision to lead a trip and post a definite trip with definite dates and see where you go from there.
Give people plenty of lead time to organize their calendar.
Any member is welcome to post a trip whether it be a weekend, a week .. post up a thread and see how many takers you get.

Maggie