Brithday Roadtrip Part 2: From Hill End to Turon River

Roadtrip from Turon River to Hill End: Photos taken by Me and Hai using Canon 70D DSLR

My Birthday Roadtrip back in May continues from Ophir Camping Ground to the historic town Hill End then to Turon River Camping Ground.

From Ophir we drove to the beautiful Hill End. Hill End was a former gold mining town flourishing in the 1850's with a population of an estimated 8000 people. Once the gold rush was over - the population dropped to 700 people by 1945.

Today, it is home to approximately 166 residents that operate the local pub, hotel, general store, cake and antique store. For a small town, the scenery still packs a punch - especially with the beautiful trees lining the roads and the restored buildings.

The only place open was The Royal Hotel. We walked in finding ourselves in a pub area with three locals sitting around having a beer on a Wednesday at 2pm. They promptly stopped talking and looked over at us - clearly they knew we were not from the area. After an awkward encounter with the bar tender who kindly offered us an instant coffee from the dining room, we decided to drive off. Hill End is beautiful and has historical significance but it is barren in some areas and we felt out of place.

We wrapped up our Hill End visit by driving out to Merln's Lookout in the south-west of town. It overlooked the quiet area and is quite worth the trip.

Turon River was where me and Hai decided to sleep overnight. The view of the cliff face made an impact as we drove in and parked the Jeep down by the river. We made do with sleeping in the Jeep as at the time Hai had a back injury so he couldn't pitch a tent and chop wood for a campfire.

It was stunning to wake up to and was made better when Hai cooked instant ramen noodles for breakfast. There are opportunities to cross the river on the left to reach the other bank. You can then drive (4WD access only) inland to following the Turon River bank. There are a few good camping spots here along the bank - slightly rocky but if you moved some rocks around there is soft ground to sleep on in a tent.

We hit the road again and made our way towards the Roasting Pits and then back down to Lithgow...... stay tuned for more posts on my special Birthday Roadtrip.

Turon River Camp Site


Hill End