old highway road Bulahdelah

[GTB_an_Owl]

what was the name given to the old windy hill bit of road north of Bulahdelah (near Wooton)

geoff

[Rokketboy]

Hmmm Im not positive but I used to refer to it as the Buladelah Pass or The Cutting. That might be just me and my circle of friends though.

[Robh]

O'Sullivan's Gap.

Regards, Rob

[GTB_an_Owl]

that might be where it was Rob - but i think the truckies had a name for it


geoff

[Robh]

It was also referred to as the Wootton Way. :shrug:

Rob

[kustard]

My sister and I used to call it "The Twisties" but we also knew it as O'Sullivan's Gap as Rob has mentioned.

[iceman]

"the place where the traffic was always really bad at xmas time" :)

[GTB_an_Owl]

well it still is Mike, at Bulahdelah itself

but i an talking about the old "S bend" steep, windy bit near Wooton, north of Bulahdelah
it probably is O'Sullivan's Gap
but i thought it had another "nickname"

geoff

[Rokketboy]

Yup thats another one I remember.

[GTB_an_Owl]

a mate has proffered the name - "Big Dipper" ?

geoff

[mithrandir]

That sounds more like a name for bits of the the F3 at Hornsby or at Mooney Mooney. Both wonderful places to find slow traffic in the fast lane.

[GTB_an_Owl]

yep Andrew

i think mooney is referred to as the big dipper or dipper

thats why i told my mate to keep asking around

geoff

[kustard]

I called my dad last night, he lives up at Coolongolook (just up past Wootton) and while chatting to him I asked him about any names the Pacific Highway might have been called around that area.

After telling me a story about my grandfather when he was in the home army and their plans to blow up the main road at the time (with a whole lot of kerosene) if we got invaded he said he hadn't heard of any other nicknames for it but that his brother (my uncle) used to drive the local Mobil petrol truck occasionally and used to drive through the area a lot and he might have called it something (probably involving a few swear words, hehehe).

My dad did mention that around the 1950's there was a road around through Booral (towards The Buckets Way) which was pretty nasty though he didn't know if it had a nickname either.

[GTB_an_Owl]

keep looking guy's :help:

it's nagging at me, and i just have to find out what it was :question:

geoff

[Rick Petrie]

I think it was 'bloody big winding hill'.
Seriously I think also it was 'O'Sullivans Gap' as Rob said and just north of that was the 'Wootton Bends'.
Some thoughts you may wish to add to your 'useless book of information'.
The original original 'old Pacific Highway' used to go along Bucketts Way through Stroud and Gloucester to Taree and my grandmother always used to say the dirt section over The 'Krambach' Range was a nightmare to travel.
Many a time back in the 20's and 30's she used to relive times of getting bogged in the mud up there and being stuck for days.
The 'new' section through Bulahdelah was apparently opened on 22nd August 1952 and there was a ferry at Karuah before the steel bridge was built.

[GTB_an_Owl]

got an answer from the horse's mouth so to speak

got petrol at Bulahdelah today and asked the girl on the cash register what the name was

she thought a minute and then said "steps and stairs", my husband used to get called out there for a "rollover" nearly every nite.

not what i thought it was - but will have to do

geoff

[mithrandir]

My old Topoview LPI map "Wootton 9333N" calls the spot on the old Pacific Highway at the Stony Knob Rd turnoff O'Sullivans Gap. 32:19.807S 152:15.892E (Australian Geodetic 1966).

It is located in the O'Sullivans Gap Flora Reserve.

I'll see what the new Topoview map says when the DVD arrives.

Edit: Topoview 2006 still calls it O'Sullivans Gap but the coords changed with the move to GDA94. Now 32:19.707S 152:15.963E