Finding a Camp

[RonK]

Some times I was simply behind a bush or three within 50 metres of the highway. No issues.

My concerns about bush camping in the north are not with landowners and people in authority, but with the nutters like Bradley John Murdoch.

Solo travelling in some of the more remote places has it's dangers. I had shots fired at my camp on the Arnhem Highway years ago, and am very careful now to be sure my camp cannot be seen.

[clackers]

Some times I was simply behind a bush or three within 50 metres of the highway. No issues.

My concerns about bush camping in the north are not with landowners and people in authority, but with the nutters like Bradley John Murdoch.

Solo travelling in some of the more remote places has it's dangers. I had shots fired at my camp on the Arnhem Highway years ago, and am very careful now to be sure my camp cannot be seen.

Yep, not too keen to set up a tent in a roadside rest stop. Would seem like asking for mischief or even trouble.

[RonK]

Some times I was simply behind a bush or three within 50 metres of the highway. No issues.

My concerns about bush camping in the north are not with landowners and people in authority, but with the nutters like Bradley John Murdoch.

Solo travelling in some of the more remote places has it's dangers. I had shots fired at my camp on the Arnhem Highway years ago, and am very careful now to be sure my camp cannot be seen.

Yep, not too keen to set up a tent in a roadside rest stop. Would seem like asking for mischief or even trouble.

Too right - I've had a sleepless and anxious night at a rest area when a bunch of drunken yobbos turned up.

[petie]

My concerns about bush camping in the north are not with landowners and people in authority, but with the nutters like Bradley John Murdoch.

Solo travelling in some of the more remote places has it's dangers. I had shots fired at my camp on the Arnhem Highway years ago, and am very careful now to be sure my camp cannot be seen.

Yep, not too keen to set up a tent in a roadside rest stop. Would seem like asking for mischief or even trouble.

Too right - I've had a sleepless and anxious night at a rest area when a bunch of drunken yobbos turned up.

Me too, more than once. And they weren't even on the bike!

[rama]

Not sure if this would apply to Australia, but the advice by a friend of mine who did a round-the-world tour a few years ago is to head for the local police or fire station if you need shelter or just to fill up your water bottles for free. He even slept in an empty prison cell in S.America!

[WarrenH]

I also found reference to being able to camp for 24hours on Stock Routes.

The 24 hours is historically the time that prevents the location, from being over-grazed. This time has not changed from the 1800s, the stock had to move on each day, by law. As a consequence most TSRs remain the original vegetation of Oz, the vegetation prior to European colonization. They are ribbons of genetic inheritance and valuable wildlife corridors.

I'm a huge fan of camping on the Travelling Stock Routes and in the Travelling Stock Reserves of NSW because if we don't use them in NSW, we could loose them. They are also (generally) pristine places, that have been used by drovers and shepherds since the mid 1830s. The TSRs in NSW and Qld along the Great Divide form the backbone of the Bicentennial National Trail.

The majority of my campsites are on TSRs. I can only talk or write about the ACT and NSW TSRs. I've not enjoyed the TSRs in the other states, except for knowing that TSRs no longer exist in Victoria. Victoria has moved to roadside grazing (permits). In Qld, there are 73,000 kilometres of extant TSRs, Qld has it together, and an amazing heritage to have preserved. In Qld the TSRs are called the Travelling Stock Route Network.

In NSW there are now only 1,600,000 ha of TSRs, after short sighted Governments sold many off. Most of the TSRs east of the Divide are now TSReserves but they are the historic campsites of the TSRoutes. Basically it is only along the Divide and West of the Divide that the big TSRoutes remain unbroken. From the Victorian Border we can still remain on a TSR right up to the Cape.

In NSW there are still 3,500 TSReserves. It is only in the Northern Rivers LHPA Region of NSW, where there are not many reserves remaining and where cyclists are charged a fee to camp. The TSR campsites are between 16 to 25 kilometres apart generally. That was the distance depending on the terrain, that stock could be walked in a day without over-stressing the animals and to access water.

Recreationally, we do not need to have liability insurance or submit permits to access a TSR. All we need to do is contact an LHPA Regional Ranger (from the Livestock Health and Protection Agency) to be granted access ... 48 hrs notice is best, but 24 hrs in advance is usually OK. If you are linking the TSRs together, tell the Ranger several TSRs at once, with your estimated times of arrival. In NSW, the directory and atlas The Long Paddock details everything, including the availability and access to water (either from mills, pumps, bores, tanks, dams, creeks or rivers and even from springs, etc) on the TSRs. I purchased a copy of The Long Paddock from the Goulburn LHPA Office, for $35 and $10 postage. The LHPA site ... http://www.lhpa.org.au/contact" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The first TSR in Oz was gazetted during the drought of 1835, after Aboriginal stockmen drove cattle from Lake George in the Southern Tablelands to Berridale in the Alps. The Bradfield Highway across the Sydney Harbour Bridge has not been decommissioned, that's the craziest and generally unknown TSR in OZ. One day it might be needed again. At Williamsdale Cricket Ground and on the Tharwa Common, and beside Mount Stromlo Forest Park (next to the Uriarra Rd carpark), are a few of the TSRs, here in the ACT.

The closest extant Travelling Stock Route to the ACT, is the Monteagle Travelling Stock Route. It starts at Coffee's Bridge, North of Boorawa, and it can be linked to other extant TSRoutes and remain unbroken, all the way to the Gulf.

A crossing on the Tootool TSRoute in the Riverena.




Waiborough TSReserve in the Southern Blue Mountains.




Yaouk TSReserve on the Murrumbidgee River below the Yaouk Bill Range, on the Frost Plains of the North, the Australian Alps.




The signs should read, Reserved for Travelling Stock and Touring Cyclists ... https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/pag ... 66476&v=Px" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The TSRoutes and TSReserves on and within 10 kilometres of the Bicentennial National Trail, are detailed in the BNT guide books.




A corner of one of the 60 maps from The Long Paddock. The stars are the locations of Travelling Stock Reserves.




The NSW State Forests maps show the TSRoutes and TSReserves in yellow.




Warren.

[Daggo]

Sadly I can't get a copy of the "Long Paddock" for love nor money. And I am a LHPA rate payer! I rang around everywhere and I couldn't even get a loan of one to copy. No longer in production.

The only trace I can find on the net are a few scans that have been uploaded to various forums around the place (and I think all of those were you Warren). I'll have to pester my cockie mates to see if they have any copies the next time I get to cross Sandstone Curtain.

I do have a set of maps produced by the Young/Boorowa/Harden/Weddin RFS. But they are just 1:100000 where they have added property owners names.

So here is the beg. Will someone kindly lend me a copy for a week, so I scan it and make it into a PDF. And I'll make that available to everyone here. And return your copy.

Thanks.

Daggo.

[WarrenH]

Daggo, G'day. I've just located two copies and the LHPA Office is holding one, for you Matt. Easily sorted. Enjoy your tour.



There is a free publication, that can be requested from Visitor Information Centres in the Riverena called Bird Trails of the Riverena and Southwest Slopes of NSW. It has the TSRs from the 13 regions, mapped. It is a first class publication and well worth having ... https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/pag ... 08591&v=64" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you're interested, I've just downloaded to my dA Gallery, posted in the Scraps section, a full size (6.23MB 7514x4969 pixels) 1888 Map of the Travelling Stock Routes and railway stock trucking stations of NSW. To download it, the green arrow is on the right hand side of the page ... http://wildwassa.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... a good map to see how comprehensive the TSR coverage was, back in its heyday.

If you are cycling in a region and call into an LHPA Office, listed on the LHPA website, there is always a TSR directory there, that you can take photocopies from.

Warren.

[Daggo]

Thanks for the chat Warren. It's after lunch now. I called and with much joy I now have my very own copy. Paid for, and in the post today. Arrrrr Daggo happy

Thanks mate. Your blood is worth bottling.

Daggo.