Trail Riding in Australia (1) – January 2017
(Title from the song Wild Horses by Garth Brooks)
Paddy’s River Dam is a beautiful camping area in southern NSW, Australia, ideal for a riding, walking or fishing holiday.
Upside down you turn me
This was impressive even by our standards: within 20 minutes of leaving on our first trail ride we had a horse wedged upside down in the bush. The brown mare had probably not been ridden for 10 years, and when asked to go forward, had instead gone backwards at high speed, surprising both herself and my husband by disappearing into a gully in a flurry of scrub and dust.
Unhurt, he emerged to give her an ineffectual kick. However, with her legs on the uphill slope, there was no way she could right herself; we had to wrestle the western saddle off in order to grab a leg at each end and roll her over. She scrambled up no worse for wear and we resumed our ride, vowing to stick to the tracks until the horses had settled down. 15 minutes later we were again lost in the forest..
A long time favourite
Paddy’s River Dam had been one of my favourite campsites on a previous riding trip, though on that occasion we had actually ridden in. This time we had driven in in our horse truck, a long dusty 18 km on dirt roads, with a rough creek crossing just before the dam. The campsite nestles at around 1,100m in Bago State Forest, just south of Batlow, in southern NSW, Australia. It dates back to the 1800’s when the water was used in mining operations though little is left of the mining town of Quartzville today. It is a year round free camping destination and is 2 wheel drive accessible in dry weather. Due to its alitude, it can get quite cool at nights.
As well as being a popular riding area, families love it, with plenty of space for children to run wild and good trout fishing to occupy their fathers (licence needed). Unlike the National Parks, dogs are allowed in State Forests. There are many camping spots scattered round the Dam, the most scenic probably being those on the southern end where there is a shelter with table and long drop toilets.
An expanse of water, about 500m long by 200m across, it is largely enclosed by eucalypt forest to all sides, apart from a more open grassy section to the north where two creeks converge. We set up our base camp at this end as there was more space to tether our horses. The rather tame local brumbies regularly graze here. Even bolder at night, we would be awoken by sharp nasal snorts announcing the arrival of the stallions, followed by echoing hoofbeats as the herds fled when we emerged from our tent to chase them away from our rather unconcerned horses.
Exploring on horseback
The area has superb riding opportunities on its many forest roads and tracks and even round the reservoirs which are slightly further afield to the north. We only had three nights on this visit but did a couple of nice day rides from camp, the first to Granite Mountain at 1,439m. It was in trying to find the short cut from the dam to the road leading to this, that we had come adrift in the forest. A tangle of fallen logs, wombat holes and scattered thick scrub made it quite hard to keep a direction and a good map is essential. We backtracked and started again and eventually emerged opposite the track leading towards the mountain.
A picnic lunch stop at a green grassy creek broke up the journey, then we were rewarded with a good view from the top. The return route went more smoothly, and we returned to camp on part of the Hume and Hovell trail. This 440 mile walk starts at Yass in NSW and meanders down to Albury on the Victorian border, following in the footsteps of the two explorers who set out from Sydney towards Port Phillip, later to be known as Melbourne, in 1824.
On the second day, we rode out on the forest roads to Paling’s Yards, only about 3km from the Dam as the crow flies, and a popular camping spot for those with bigger trucks as the access road to this side is smoother. There is an expanse of wide open grassy plain, threaded through with a narrow deeply etched stream. Large muddy depressions showed the favourite brumby rolling spots and their well worn foot pads headed off into the bush in all directions, inviting further exploration.
We followed one back to the Dam, winding scenically amongst the tall silvery trees and dropping down for a couple of creek crossings. The younger horses were quite dubious about these but usually followed the lead of one of the older, steadier horses.
Untroubled waters
Throughout it all, there was the serene beauty of the dam, its waters mirroring the sky on calm mornings, waking to the kookaburra’s strident cries or the lyrical burblings of the magpies. Sometimes a cooling breeze arose to stir the surface into tiny waves.Your glance could be caught by a flight of ducks or even, in the quiet of the evenings, the small humpbacked frolics of a platypus. Fish would rise, leaving only ever expanding ripples to show where they had been. It is a perfectly peaceful spot where you could spend many hours in quiet contemplation of its beauty.
A favourite walk of mine is the complete circuit of the Dam. The Hume and Hovell track can be followed down the eastern side, heading slightly away from the water at the southern end, where it diverts to cross a verdant creek on a wooden bridge. It then doubles back to the shelter area on the western side of the dam, where walkers usually camp. From there it is just a short walk back to the top of the Dam. The loop will only take about half an hour but offers lovely views and many places to just sit and enjoy the scenery.
We used our time there to get our horses shod and acclimatized to trail riding again: we certainly did not want to spend too much time in dealing with upside down horses on the next, more challenging, section of our trip, which was to take us into the Pilot Wilderness of Kosciuszko National Park.