Camping at Bungonia Gorge
12–14 November 2022
Having learned from my previous (and first) solo camping experience at Mount Clear in Namadgi, I had purchased a new and larger tent — a Coleman Instant Up Swagger 2P — and a cotton sleeping swag from AOS.
Sadly the Red Track hadn’t reopened in time for my trip after a lot of rain a few weeks prior. Next time …
The Lookdown is kinda terrifying. I don’t think I’d get my six-year-old out on this.
Unfortunately no solid fuel fires in Bungonia due to people being irresponsible and ruining it for everyone.
Much more comfortable and I would have slept better if it weren’t for the awful Channel-billed Cuckoos startling me at midnight with their loud klaxon-like call which I first assumed was a siren from the nearby quarry.
With the Red Track closed, I set out on the Green Track instead, which heads out west from the campground and follows the edge of the valley above Bungonia Creek past Bungonia Falls and Jerrara Falls.
Unfortunately, while I was dressed for rain (which didn’t happen) I failed to dress appropriately for rain-laden foliage.
That afternoon I lost the gamble. I had picked a nice flat campsite at the bottom of a slope that I hoped would not be inundated with runoff if it rained. Well, it rained, and my campsite got very damp and in an inch of water. That wasn’t very fun, so I packed up and went back to Canberra.
Except I forgot my trail camera.
So the next day I headed back. Which wasn’t too bad, it’s only a 90-minute drive, and it gave me a chance to do some more walking and exploring on the east side of the National Park.
On the day I arrived I did all the lookouts. On the second day I did the west side of the Green Track, and on the third day when I came back to Bungonia to pick up my trail camera I did the east side of the Green Track and a bit of the White Track.
The Orange and Red tracks were closed. I think the Yellow Track was open.
There are apparently hundreds of caves in the limestone landscape. It’s interesting how the porous landscape quickly drains rain away so much of the landscape is sparse and dry, while the depressions that lead to drainage and caves is lush with ferns and moss.
There were a ridiculous number of turtles on the road near Goulburn and I stopped a few times to help them get safely across.
