Bob’s wonderful drop log fencing at Lutons
Monday 16 April: Lutons Crutching Shed – VE. Take Rhonda to Lutons to meet the KHA crew.
Summary
Distance: 4.2km | Climb: 90m | Time: 9.25am – 3.35pm (6hrs 10mins), including lots of breaks and slow walking | Grading: S/E; E(5)
Photographs
Photographs are available, where you can start a large sized slideshow.
Video
Waypoint and Track Files
Download the .gpx file. (Right click, Save Link As…, Save – if you want to use it.)
To use in Google Earth, do File, Open… and select Gps or All files as the File Type.
Track Notes
Rhonda had contacted me via this blog and I was happy to take her to Lutons, as Bob and a KHA team were working in the area. Rhonda has an interest in a block near the Naas Creek ford.
We met at the Namadgi Visitors Centre outer car park at 7.45am and drove to the Old Boboyan Rd (South)/Naas car park to meet Bob and his remaining crew at around 9am. Wonderful to see a big Land Rover truck approaching from the other side of the gate – we were to drive, not walk!
However, the day did not start well when Bob, after our greetings and introductions, said “OK John, where are you taking us?” Due to mis-communication or no communication, I was unaware that I was to guide to a few sites.
I’m slow on my feet (thinking wise) and had a blank GPSr, but immediately thought of James Brayshaws Hut site. Great, Rhonda and the KHA gang had not been there! So we paid the site a visit.
Next stop as we drove along was David Brayshaws cairn.
We then visited the Boboyan Homestead site and the others were able to reveal a few extra sites to me – the 1866 homestead site, the chicken coup site and the coolrooms site. We also found some tin debris up the nearby rise (the dunny?).
We drove on to Lutons Crutching Shed, were Simon made a fine cup of coffee to go with Rhonda’s fruit cake for morning tea. The place looks a real treat to my unskilled eye – rotting wall posts have been removed and replaced, partial repairs have been scarfed in, the roof and walls have been repaired, more work on the wonderful drop log fencing repairs/replacements. Bob gave us a demo of (large) log splitting with a chainsaw (all ticketed, eye and ear protection, leg chaffs).
Ranger Ben called by and we wandered over to the Crawford Homestead site. Not the area Rhonda was interested in. Bob spied some deciduous trees on a further knoll, so we walked over there. Definite granite flagging.
After lunch, I was again able to redeem myself with a visit to Alexander Brayshaw’s 1879 Hut site, which the others had not seen.
Finally, after a good look at Rhonda’s map, we drove over the Naas Creek ford and a few tens of metres up the Old Boboyan Road. We walked west off the road to a small rise, the area seemed familiar to my poor memory. We did find a small rubble heap and possible hut site post holes. Is this the same as the Winston-Gregory Old Boboyan Rd (South) Unnamed Hut site? The locations differ, but some of the 1978 W-G site locations (pre GPS of course) are a little off. We wandered a little further up the east side of the road.
So at last Simon, Jean and Bob dropped us back at our vehicle.
A wonderful day with new and old friends. Fabulous to see the work KHA do – hats off to them. The day fitted well with Matthew Higgins’ article in the latest CBC it on ‘slow walking’ – an opportunity to take in sights and sounds as we walk.
Track Map
Party
5 walkers – Rhonda B, Simon B, Bob S, Jean, me.