Bound out to Bondo

Springy 6 hr and 12 hr rogaines

The 2022 Spring Rogaine – on the 5^th November – was held in Bondo State Forest, west of Canberra.

Congratulations to all the springy rogaine teams.  Ivan Koudashev and Xanda Kolesnikow won the 12 hour event and the 6 hour winners were Sarah and Mary Fien.  Everyone enjoyed a dry day and, for the 12 hour teams, some wonderful moonlight.  However, there were a lot of wet and muddy shoes at the finish.  Check out the photos here

Many teams saw snakes and (unfortunately) feral horses.  The orchids had just started to flower and kept some teams on their toes trying to avoid stepping on them.

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped run the event, and the control collectors who also had a beautiful sunny day on Sunday. Also thanks to Hartley crew who kept us all fed and even made a very yummy breakfast on Sunday morning.

A few teams managed to get lost driving out to the event. This stemmed from following google advice rather than the “how to get there” in the final instructions on our website.  Please don’t take google “shortcuts”! And remember we will always put a rogaine sign at major turnoffs.

If you lost a bag of highlighters, a hammer or enamel mug contact Jean.

The area is all native forest with some fire-trails and tracks (unfortunately some made by feral horses).  The bush is unburnt and looks fantastic after all the rain.  The flowers will be blooming too.  Altitude is around 1100 metres so there are patches of snow grass.  

How to Get There

The Hash House is located at in Bondo State Forest, east of Tumut, on Barnetts Road. The co-ordinates for the Hash House site are:  -35.361508, 148.572621

DRIVING INSTRUCTIONS:

From Canberra:  It is about 100kms to the HH, but will take 1.5 to 2 hours.  There are no petrol stations along the way so charge up or fill up before leaving town.  Cross the Murrumbidgee River at Casurarina Sands or Uriarra Crossing (Note -  check that it is not closed, https://www.cityservices.act.gov.au/roads-and-paths/act_public_road_closures ) and make your way to the Brindabella Road.  This turns to gravel about 50kms from Canberra.  At the top of the Brindabella range, continue straight ahead into NSW.  For the next 10kms the road is very narrow, windy with blind corners.  Please drive conservatively. There are some places to pull off to let faster cars pass.  Be considerate!

After crossing the Goodradigbee River, the road is wider but still gravel.  It is 25kms to the turnoff.  You will notice yellow triangular kilometre signs on the north side of the road.  Just after the “21 km” sign you turn left onto Barnetts Road. (Rogaine sign here).  Turn right after 6.5 kms to stay on Barnetts road and it is 3kms to the Hash House site. 

From Sydney:  Take the Hume Hwy to Gundagai and turn off to Tumut. From Tumut take the Wee Jasper Road then turn onto Bombowlee Creek road then Brindabella Road.  This way is all sealed until about 1km before the turn to the right onto Barnetts road.  (see above).

Do NOT take any short cuts into the HH from the Brindabella Road.  These tracks are not well formed and could be very boggy.  

Map and Course Details

The map is printed on Teslin paper and is SRA3 size (32x45cm), 1:25,000 scale with 10 m contour interval. Magnetic north lines are marked on the map. The course contains native bush with a number of old tracks and feral horse trails. The course setters’ notes and control descriptions have been printed on the back of the map. The altitude ranges from approximately 1000m to 1300m.

The map is printed on Teslin paper which is very tough and generally does not need to be covered in contact.

There are areas of scrub in the creeks and some patches of blackberries so we advise you to wear long pants and long sleeves.  Gaiters are very strongly recommended for snake protection.  We have seen 4 snakes and that was in cool temperatures.

Other Information

Snakes: A special mention that snakes have been seen in the area even in winter!  So please wear gaiters and/or long pants.  We will want to see that you have a snake bandage in your first aid kit.  The course setters’ notes on the back of the map include information on how to give first aid to a person who has been bitten.

PLB – personal locator beacon: If you have one of these units, bring it with you as phone reception is very poor in the course area.

Event volunteers

If you have queries contact the Event Contact listed below.