Bungendore Spur Road
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Vincent Muller
Oct 4, 2012, 7:20:26 AM10/4/12
to aussie-...@googlegroups.com
Hey guys,
On Sam's recommendation in 2009, I made a day trip out of travelling the Bungendore Spur Road from Watsons Creek to Manilla. It was quite a drive as an observational exercise in road archaeology goes - quite an impressive amount of time and resources had gone into building an maintaining what was essentially a secondary dirt track mountain pass. As I remember, the trip to Manilla took just shy of two hours - so really, if you were to travel the New England Highway to Tamworth and then Fossickers Way to Manilla, you would spend much the same amount of time on a much higher quality road.
Having said that, it's nowhere as fun, and I'm fairly sure I didn't meet another car between Bendemeer and Manilla. Google Maps isn't really being helpful, so the route I took was:
-New England Highway to Bendemeer
-Bendemeer-Watsons Creek Road to Watsons Creek
-Roseneath/Bungendore Spur/Halls Creek Road to Manilla
-Manilla Road/Fossickers Way to Barraba
-Bundarra-Barraba/Gundamulda/Gulf Creek Road to Bundarra
On Sam's recommendation in 2009, I made a day trip out of travelling the Bungendore Spur Road from Watsons Creek to Manilla. It was quite a drive as an observational exercise in road archaeology goes - quite an impressive amount of time and resources had gone into building an maintaining what was essentially a secondary dirt track mountain pass. As I remember, the trip to Manilla took just shy of two hours - so really, if you were to travel the New England Highway to Tamworth and then Fossickers Way to Manilla, you would spend much the same amount of time on a much higher quality road.
Having said that, it's nowhere as fun, and I'm fairly sure I didn't meet another car between Bendemeer and Manilla. Google Maps isn't really being helpful, so the route I took was:
-New England Highway to Bendemeer
-Bendemeer-Watsons Creek Road to Watsons Creek
-Roseneath/Bungendore Spur/Halls Creek Road to Manilla
-Manilla Road/Fossickers Way to Barraba
-Bundarra-Barraba/Gundamulda/Gulf Creek Road to Bundarra
-Thunderbolts Way to Yarrowyck
-Yarrowyck-Armidale Rd to Armidale -
All of which took about six hours. As for the photographs:
-673, 674 and 676 were typical conditions before the descent. I'm also fairly sure this stretch ran through somebody's property - that, or some poor grazier had wayward sheep.
-677 was about a quarter of the way through the descent. The sheer drop on the left would have been 15 metres or so; it got bigger further on.
-682 was typical descent conditions, on one of the several 180 degree bends on the road. I thought this was the worst of the bends due to the visibility, how wrong I was.
-684: things get a little dicier on the way down, the drop on the left probably would have been the biggest here at 20 metres, possibly a little more.
-688 (and my where is it) is the second 180 degree bend. I didn't have any reservations with this one due to the fact that there was a tree (rather than a massive pile of dirt) in the middle.
-689 was the worst of the 180 degree bends. I came down the track on the right and drove onto the left. Behind me was a little turning bay, as this is clearly too tight a turn to do right there.
-691 were the typical conditions at the bottom of the pass prior to hitting Manilla. I think I had just passed a massive battery farm, which was literally a massive building in the middle of nowhere.
And that was it. Hell of a roadtrip for the scenery (especially on the way down), but I maintain that you're better off driving to Manilla via Tamworth if you're in a hurry.
Cheers,
Vincent.
-Yarrowyck-Armidale Rd to Armidale -
All of which took about six hours. As for the photographs:
-673, 674 and 676 were typical conditions before the descent. I'm also fairly sure this stretch ran through somebody's property - that, or some poor grazier had wayward sheep.
-677 was about a quarter of the way through the descent. The sheer drop on the left would have been 15 metres or so; it got bigger further on.
-682 was typical descent conditions, on one of the several 180 degree bends on the road. I thought this was the worst of the bends due to the visibility, how wrong I was.
-684: things get a little dicier on the way down, the drop on the left probably would have been the biggest here at 20 metres, possibly a little more.
-688 (and my where is it) is the second 180 degree bend. I didn't have any reservations with this one due to the fact that there was a tree (rather than a massive pile of dirt) in the middle.
-689 was the worst of the 180 degree bends. I came down the track on the right and drove onto the left. Behind me was a little turning bay, as this is clearly too tight a turn to do right there.
-691 were the typical conditions at the bottom of the pass prior to hitting Manilla. I think I had just passed a massive battery farm, which was literally a massive building in the middle of nowhere.
And that was it. Hell of a roadtrip for the scenery (especially on the way down), but I maintain that you're better off driving to Manilla via Tamworth if you're in a hurry.
Cheers,
Vincent.
Sam Laybutt
Oct 4, 2012, 7:35:45 AM10/4/12
to aussie highways
Great stuff, thanks for posting that Vincent. I hope you weren't cursing me too loudly on the way down :p
The hairpin in 689 is just insane - I don't think I've ever seen anything like on a public road. Your whereizzit photo is a great shot - I try to get shots like that but sometimes fail due to the lack of a wide angle lens on my camera. That one was tight enough (and deep enough) to not have to worry.
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2012 21:20:26 +1000
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Bungendore Spur Road
From: vincent....@gmail.com
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
The hairpin in 689 is just insane - I don't think I've ever seen anything like on a public road. Your whereizzit photo is a great shot - I try to get shots like that but sometimes fail due to the lack of a wide angle lens on my camera. That one was tight enough (and deep enough) to not have to worry.
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2012 21:20:26 +1000
Subject: [Aussie Highways] Bungendore Spur Road
From: vincent....@gmail.com
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com
--
Vincent Muller
Oct 4, 2012, 9:13:43 AM10/4/12
to aussie-...@googlegroups.com
No worries! The drive would be impractical on a daily basis, but as a one-off it was quite a bit of fun to go on an expedition purely to roadgeek. I wouldn't mind travelling the road in the opposite direction to see if there's any difference in experience, but then I'd be pretty satisfied I reckon. Either way, I'm glad for the recommendation :)
As an aside, taking pictures along here was really easy - with virtually no traffic, all you need to do is park your car in an appropriate spot and get snap happy.
Vincent
As an aside, taking pictures along here was really easy - with virtually no traffic, all you need to do is park your car in an appropriate spot and get snap happy.
Vincent
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