Day 0

From Wollongong, head south on the Southern Freeway (F6) and then Princes Hwy to Nowra. Continue south on the Princes Hwy through Nowra until the Kalendar Street intersection (near the Archer Hotel). Turn right on to Kalendar Street and then take the Albatross Road exit (the 2nd exit) at the roundabout.

Head southwest on Albatross Road for approximately 7 kms. Turn right at Braidwood Road. Continue roughly southwest on Braidwood Road (around HMAS Albatross) for approximately 16.5 kms to the (recently upgraded) Turpentine Road (a.k.a. Nowra/Braidwood Road) intersection.

Veer right on to Turpentine Road. Approx 16 kms past the intersection the Tianjara Falls lookout is reached. Continue roughly west along Turpentine Road for approximately 8 kms to the farm gate on the left side of the road that is the start of the access road (across private property) to the Sassafras entrance of Morton National Park.

The farm gate is unmarked and is easy to miss if you do not know where it is. It is located at the top of the mountain, directly opposite an old slab and corrugated iron house. If you have a GPS, the grid reference is [GR 499 120 SASGATE]. About 20 metres inside the gate (remember to close it) there is a small sign on the left indicating that this road is a public right of way.

The track is followed south through private land for approximately 3.6 kms to the NPWS car park and a locked gate. There are a number of forks and closed gates along the track, stay on the main track and close the gates behind you.

Leaving the vehicle(s) at the car park, head south along the fire trail for 800m to the NPWS camping area. This is our camp for the evening [GR 496 079 SASCAMP].

Day 1

From the camping area continue south along the fire trail past Bhundoo Hill and Newhaven Gap to the 2nd NPWS gate. This gate is appoximately 6.4 kms from the camping are and marks the former NPWS park entry.

Continue on the fire trail, which turns south west. About 3.3 kms past the gate Camping Rock Creek is reached and just across the creek on the left side of the trail is the area known as Camp Rock. After another kilometer or so Red Johnny's Cave is found in the scrub on the left side of the track. Continuing on, the track enters The Vines rainforest area and the Quilty's Mountain turn off will be reached (~4.7 kms past the 2nd NPWS gate).

Turn left and follow the track southwards, uphill, for ~600 metres to the top of the small hill. From here there is a track heading west that leads to the base of Quilty's Mountain below the Aboriginal stone arrangements. Access to the site is via a narrow chimney to the left of the lowest ledge. From the top of the chimney we scramble up a series of ledges to the plateau and (try to) follow the meandering series of rock cairns to the stone arrangements (bora ground).

From the bora ground, head approximately west for 1.5 kms to Endrick trigonometrical (trig) station [GR 440 012 ENDRICK]. Between the bora ground and the trig station a watch should be kept for an appropriate camp site. There are a number of intermittent watercourses on the to of Quiltys Mountain and there are expected to be rock pools containing water, but it is recommended that you carry water for the evening.

Day 1 - Alternative #1

If a suitable camp site cannot be found, descend from Quiltys Mountain and return to the old timber haulers track at the top of the small hill. Follow the track roughly south west, downhill, over and under fallen logs. Three small creeks are crossed on the way down, before heading up a steep uphill section to the ridge between Sturgiss and Quiltys Mountains. The easily missed track leading to Hidden Valley, marked by some faint carvings in a fallen log, is passed on the left. Continue past this track for about a kilometre to camp near Styles Creek [GR 435 986 STYLCRK].

Day 1 - Alternative #2

Again, if it is decided not to camp on top of Quiltys Mountain, a second alternative is return back to the main fire trail. Turn left and follow the fire trail through a rainforest area known as "The Vines". After approximately 3.5 kilometres there will be a good camp site on the west side of the track at [GR 452 042 QUILCMP]. There is water available at the Endrick River approximately 500m further down the trail.

Day 2

Assuming that the night was spent camping on Quiltys Mountain, the morning can be spent exploring the mountain. Regardless of the camp site the route for the day is to return to the vehicle(s) is by reversing the route from day 1.

Notes

Notes on Hidden Valley from The Northern Budawang Range sketch map (9th edition, March 1998):

Notes on Quiltys Mountain from "Bushwalking in the Budawangs" by Ron Doughton (3rd edition, 2004):