Great Northern Road - Bucketty Precinct - Yengo National Park - morning tea and Lunch and camping areas 2nd camp / lunch spot Bucketty, New South Wales, Australia
By HansJJ on 27-Jun-24. Waypoint GA28192

Geocaching takes you to many interesting places this series of Virtual caches will take you to lunch camping spots.

Over the years; caching has brought me to many interesting places which in turn many top camping / lunch spots.

The BIG problem is many had traditional caches & for many reasons they have been archived. So, my idea is to make them Virtual caches on the Australian caching site so people can enjoy them also & there isn’t any cache maintenance issues to be had into the future.

A Track off Settlers Road that leads to 2 off camping – lunch spots

The Great North Road Convict Trail, surveyed in 1825 and completed in 1836, was constructed using convict labour. Up to 720 convicts - some in chains - worked on the road, which spanned 264 kilometre, connecting Sydney to the settlements of the Hunter Valley. It features spectacular and beautifully preserved examples of stonework, including buttresses, culverts, bridges and twelve-metre high retaining walls. Only 43 kilometres of the road remains undeveloped and relatively intact. Running through and alongside Dharug National Park and Yengo National Park, this section has been named the Old Great North Road. It goes from Wisemans Ferry in the south to Mount Manning (near Bucketty) in the north, and includes the oldest surviving stone bridges in mainland Australia. The road is closed to motor vehicles but makes a great walk over two or three days - or an exhilarating day's cycle.

Three ways to explore the Great North Road

European settlers were lured into the Hunter Valley by productive land and soon demanded a road be built to connect settlements and to transport supplies in and out.  Unfortunately, the road never became a popular connection due to improvements in shipping and the road was considered to be too remote - think feed and water for horses and bullocks rather than the fast food drive thru's and petrol stations of today.

Today parts of the road can still be driven but other parts are closed to vehicles making them the perfect playground for bushwalkers and mountain bikers.   While it isn’t the fastest route for Sydney siders to make their way into wine country it’s definitely a great way to go for those who prefer the road less travelled and take a look around.

The road is considered to be a great feat of engineering with remnants including stone retaining walls, wharves, culverts, bridges and buttresses. These can still be appreciated right along the entire Great North Road even in busy Sydney City suburbs including Epping and Gladesville, right through to the more remote parts of the road at Wisemans Ferry in Dharug and Yengo National Parks.

Best ways to experience the road:

1. Bushwalking

2. Mountain Bike

3. By Car

Follow the entire route from Sydney to Newcastle.

Plan ahead to follow the route by road - parts of the trip are remote and parts are on dirt road.  You won't be able to drive on the closed section between Wisemans Ferry and Bucketty but there is an alternate route via Settlers Road to St Albans and then following the St Albans Road to Mogo Creek.

About the track – unable to find any info about it – if anybody has any – please leave in your info in your log & I’ll will add it to this page.

The track leads to a dead end / turn around – No 2-camp spot & this is your typical vehicle bush track. Being a no through track & depending on how long the last vehicle travelled this track & what the weather has been like you may need to do some bush trimming – clearing the track.

About No 2 – second camp – you will come to the end of the track – once you reach GZ this is camp No 2. Nice view from up here with its own rock surround fire pit already made for you. This is a bigger camp area with 2 levels but mostly nice & flat.

To be safe I would say the minimum car requirement is a 4WD with low range gear box gearing – for this camp / lunch spot. (some will say I’m over doing it but this is lasting many years & all-weather conditions)

Co-ordinate’s listed is for GZ of 2nd camp – morning tea / lunch spot

Track entry point off Setters Road is S33° 06.892' E151° 07.550'

All you need to do to log this Virtual is take a photo or photos of your stay / visit & 1 of them with your GPS in it

Hints