Two Weeks of Bliss at Micalong Creek

After our relaxing 9 days at Carcoar Dam we packed up and drove to Micalong Creek near Wee Jasper.  There are several camping areas in the Wee Jasper Reserve, all with plenty of water and some good facilities.  There’s very limited WiFi and mobile phone connection – usually at the top of the many hills.

Our drive through Cowra, Booroowa and Yass was very pleasant with not much traffic even though we were into the first week of NSW school holidays.  We stopped off in Booroowa for a look around the Information Centre and to get a pamphlet on the Woolfest festival which is held each year over the October long weekend.  The festival’s highlight is the “Running of the Sheep” on the Sunday, when hundreds of sheep run through the town’s main street.  It’s on our list for a future year.

About 2 hours after we left Booroowa we pulled into our campsite at Micalong Creek.  The road from Yass to Wee Jasper is sealed all the way but it has some narrow winding parts.  The last few kms in particular are very narrow with some hairpin bends.  We were surprised to have a B-double truck loaded with rock come towards us on this narrow section.  The Yass Council is quarrying rock from near Wee Jasper and some of the truck drivers use the direct road to Yass as a short cut instead of taking the Tumut road and turning onto the Hume Highway to get to Yass.  Hopefully we won’t encounter any of these big trucks on our way out.  We have spent many happy weekends and holidays camping, caving and fossicking in the Wee Jasper area in the 1970s and 1980s so this was a bit of a nostalgia visit for us.  The facilities have certainly improved over the past 20 years!  We set up camp about 5 metres from the river with an olive tree and an apple tree both in full bloom for us to look at.

We have a family of ducks nearby and we’ve spent the past weeks watching the duckling grow from a hatchling, take its first swim through the rocky rapids and now it’s getting it’s true feathers.  There’s plenty of wildlife around – wombats, wallabies, possums and many different birds as well as plenty of ducks.

Micalong Creek is a “General Trout Stream” and the fishing season opened a few days after we arrived.  All of the camping areas filled up for the long weekend and there were plenty of fishermen about.  Unfortunately no-one was catching any fish.  Cherryl caught a small rainbow trout – had to throw it back – and a fellow camper caught a large brown trout, but that was all the luck we had.  Even the local fishing club competition could only manage one 200gm trout.  

The local pair of cormorants was having more luck though and we were entertained by these “fishing birds” seemingly herding the fish downstream and checking out the hollows in the river where the fish like to swim.  We saw them catch a few small fish, so we know there are some fish in the creek.

On the Sunday of the long weekend we ventured to the local market to try some of their offerings.  We can certainly vouch for the sausage sandwiches and the egg and bacon sandwiches – delicious for lunch.  There was plenty on offer with home made jams and pickles, cakes, jewellery, handicrafts, alpaca wool, freshly picked lemons and “trash and treasure” among some of the goodies.  The local karate club put on an exhibition with all ages participating.
We bought a book called “Wombat Pooh” from the author Jennifer Burton, who has also written a book about the Wee Jasper area.  The book is targeted at 4-8 year olds and has been a hit with the grandchildren, particularly since we have a photo of the author with the book and also with Boswell, her dog who features in the story.  One of our fellow campers tried some fruit cake and came back to camp armed with the recipe.  Max’s Fruit Cake is very easy to make - even in the caravan -  and is delicious.

Max’s Fruit Cake

Soak 1kg of dried mixed fruit in 600ml of chocolate milk or coffee milk for at least 24 hours.  Add 2 cups SR flour and mix well.  Pour into a lined cake tin and bake at 160C for 90 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

The weather has been pretty good while we’ve been here with only a couple of wet days when we’ve had to use our generator.  We’ve had cold nights and clear sunny days most of the time.  During our first week it was quite hot – into the mid-20s – for a few days so the children in the camp were swimming and riding the rapids on rubber "donuts" and body boards.  The water is still very cold so they didn’t stay in very long.  The second week has been cooler but still sunny for the most part.  We’ve had our Canberra based grandchildren with us for a few days of “Camping with Grandma and Grandad” in their school holidays.  They seem to be enjoying themselves, especially since we’ve gone through the “technology withdrawal”.  There’s no TV or radio here either so it’s very peaceful just listening to the river.  Robert has taken them into the entrance of one of the caves a couple of times for an adventure.

The campsites here are very popular and are well maintained by the rangers.  At $7.50 per adult per night the cost is reasonable.  There is a playground and hot showers at Billy Grace campground, although only cold showers at Micalong Creek.  The Ranger Station at Billy Grace sells worms for fishing and also fills gas bottles.  Wee Jasper has a pub, but no general store or fuel these days so any shopping must be done at either Yass (about 1 hour) or Canberra (about 1½ hours).