Quote:
Originally Posted by erick
Thanks Rod and Gary. I cannot see the dip on Google Maps streetview? How close to Binnaway?
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Hi Eric,
The dip is a bit of an inside joke as most of us manage to see it and remember
to slow down.
One year we trekked out to Ilford to try and see the Leonids only to find it
was clouded out. We jumped in the cars and then drove to Coona where Steve
Lee and his wife kindly let us observe from their property. We had a late night
and the Lee's put some of us up in their guest room and a couple of us slept in their
loungeroom on a large sofa that converted to a bed. After the Lee family filled us
with toast and coffee in the morning (wonderful hospitality given we had dropped in
at such short notice), we headed back toward Sydney.
As one of my friends, let us call him 'A', was still tired from the late night, he
allowed another mutual friend, let's call him 'B', to drive his car. 'A' nodded off
in the passenger seat to get some additional rest.
Binnaway is a tiny, sleepy town with a cafe and two pubs. As we came into town I
was following behind 'B' about 100m back and even though he was on the
signposted speed limit, as we headed toward the dip, which is simply one of those
channels to allow stormwater to cross the road, I could see that B was not about to
slow down. I said aloud to my own passenger, "B, watch for the dip ... watch
for the dip" but of course B had no way of hearing this. I watched their station
wagon bottom out on the dip at speed and sparks flew. The rear plastic bumper
of the car came off. B pulled over, retrieved the bumper and threw it in the
back of the station wagon. I sat there shaking my head. The funny thing was that
I don't think 'A' even woke up during the whole episode and 'B' had to explain
to him later on at lunchtime as to why his bumper was in the back of the wagon.
Rod has his own story but was pulling a trailer at the time and so the gear got a
good shake up.
The dip is easy to miss.
I have attached a Google Map (copyright Google).
It is a relatively long stretch from Coolah to Binnaway. As you drop out of warp drive
having done those long mostly straight stretches across the plains on the
Warrumbungles Hwy, you slow down to impulse power and cruise through
a more tree lined stretch before crossing an old railway line and coming into town.
Within a couple of blocks you encounter the dip in the road which is not a problem
as long as you slow down.
You trek via Binnaway if you come the northern route out of Sydney via
the Golden Hwy through Merriwah and Coolah. This is my preferred route.
For those who live in the west of Sydney, they tend to trek a different route
over the Blue Mountains and then via Dunedoo.
A Binnaway tourist brochure can be found here -
http://www.warrumbungleregion.com.au...hure_FINAL.pdf
The Binnaway Dip - Everything you ever wanted to know
