Field Research At Spooky Barrington Tops

[Titla]

Hello, I'm a new member from Newcastle. I've been obsessively researching the hairy man phenomena for the past 6 months, and would call myself a believer but not a knower. I feel my armchair research has taken me as far as it's going to in the belief department, and have decided the only way to really know is to see sign for myself out in the field. If the yowie is out there, I very much wish to KNOW. That is where I'm up to and that is currently my aim.

For the past couple of months I've been engaged in some field research. Started out at the northern part of Sugarloaf and saw no sign. I also didn't think it was the best area for yowie as it's was quite dry and with little running water. But I started there because it was within driving distance from my home without having to camp overnight.

I then decided I needed to go further afield and camp at either the Watagans or the Barrington Tops region. I decided on Barrington Tops as I thought it was the most bio-diverse region within a couple of hours drive from my home.

Studying the terrain of that region, I liked the look of the southern valleys, particularly Chichester and Wangat river catchments as they are the most significant sub-tropical stands in the region. As it's winter, I thought that would be the best bet.

The Wangat river catchment is more difficult to get to, so I decided to go up Chichester Valley to the end of the road, them find a camp for a couple of nights and do some hiking/field research. Unfortunately I discovered that road only goes so far before turning into private land, so you can't actually access the upper Chichester valley by going up it from the south.

Went back home and did more research, then decided on the Allyn River valley. I thought I'd camp at the White Rock Campground as it's the furthest campground up the valley. The road ends at that campground and seems as if it would be the territory boundary if yowie were around. There is a road that goes further, but it's a hardcore 4WD track that is likely seldom used.

So Saturday morning past I headed up to White Rock Campground and spent the night. I was the only one at the campground and would have been the furthest person up the valley. There were others camping in the campgrounds further back down the valley, but none up at White Rock.

Never been intimidated camping alone in the bush, but I found I was quite anxious early in the night when I had the fire going. Had a butcher's knife at my elbow and was thinking about the story I'd heard of a man in the early 1900s who had been found headless in the Upper Allyn valley lol. When the fire went down I felt a lot better though, I think because with a big fire they could see you while you can't see anything. But in the dark, I felt a lot more secure. I might hold off on the fires in the future when camping alone in isolated yowie territory.

In any event, no activity occurred that night.

Next day I had a pretty wicked migraine so took it easy at my camp. Later in the afternoon I felt slightly better so went for a walk. Headed up that no-access road further on up the valley from White Rock Campground, only to find the going got a bit too muddy, so I turned back. I was also hearing heavy footsteps going through the thick bush about 30 metres directly off to both sides of me which I thought could be a wallabies. So turned back at the mud section, looked at my offline map.me map, and decided to walk back down the to the valley to another bush hike that goes off Lagoon Pinch Road.

Did that hike, then was walking back along the Allyn River Road towards White Rock Campground about 5pm when directly to my left in the forest about 20 metres there was some crashing footsteps obviously reacting to my walking past. Again I thought, that could be a wallaby, however as it stopped walking, which was after only a few footsteps, whatever it was pulled a large branch down from a tree. It wasn't a crashing through the timber sound, it was distinctly a large branch being ripped down from a tree. Then nothing.

That spooked me due to the fact it was just going on dark and it was very close to my camp. I was planning to spend the next night there, but I decided not to spend the next night there and packed up and left as soon as I returned to the campground. I was also feeling really ill when I got back to the campground so that wasn't helping.

Not sure why I was so spooked or if the migraine caused me to feel particularly vulnerable at that time, but I've never felt so intimidated by the bush before. I hope that I'll get braver with further exposure. I didn't feel frightened at Sugarloaf when I was field researching, but I'm also thinking the Barrington Tops region is perhaps a bit more of a serious place than Sugarloaf. A 4WD came through while I was breaking down my camp and I thought if they stayed to camp the night I'd feel ok to stay on too. But they did a U-turn and headed back down the valley.

There are also a couple of other campgrounds further back down the valley closer to Ladies Well, which do feel a lot safer if camping by yourself as it's not on that borderline territory. I might do that next time. Does anyone else here camp at White Rock Campground by themselves?Perhaps for now it's better to not do research around where I camp if the camp is in a vulnerable location. Maybe I can camp, then drive somewhere else during the day to do my field research, then return back to the camp at night.

Does anyone here know of any places or plans of attack for seeing some sign or experiencing some activity close to Newcastle? Would The Pines Campground in the Watagans be a better option than the Barrington Tops region? There seems to be more reports out of the Watagans, although I would have thought the Barrington Tops region would be more fertile ground to support yowies.

Sorry for such a long introduction, thanks for listening.

[sensesonfire]

Hi Titla,

Welcome to the AYR forum. You seem to be determined in pursuit of a Yowie but be careful not a good idea to be camping on your own if venturing deep into bushland. As they said in the X-Files the truth is out there so good luck but be vigilant.

[Titla]

Lol yeah I think you're right, I'll have to be more conservative about my camping arrangements

[AL Pitman]

Nothing like the smell of BBQ to attract a hairy .
I think that if they were going to harm you we wouldn't be reading this report .
However probably a good idea to get a research buddy at least someone will hear your screams Lol
Welcome to forum
CHEERS

[Titla]

Cheers Al. Yeah I'm probably overreacting, I think the worst part about it is they're so strong, dark, and hairy, combined with the fact they're intelligent. I feel like such a big p*ss after this trip, thought I was braver lol. All I needed to do was walk into the bush to investigate the footsteps and especially the ripped branch, but found I didn't actually want to come face-to-face with a yowie where I was hearing the sounds.

Tracks and game trails are alright, but it's real thick dark viney jungle off the track up there where the sounds came from. But still, I have to get better at this, and I will. As you inferred, they usually don't want to harm you. Pity we have to go out there unarmed. I wouldn't shoot one on a whim, but it would make for a more secure-feeling experience when actually going looking for an intelligent predator that's twice a gorilla. I still can hardly believe they're out there, mind boggling reality! Some real life Matrix red pill sh*t.

[AL Pitman]

I think most researchers when they first become aware that they are out there let the fear take over and reading the reports here in AYR exacerbates that to a large extent.
But I think that you will find in time that you will be able to camp freely without more than the normal concerns that come with it .
Read some of Rusty’s reports they are educational at the least and may alay the thought that you are going to be carried off and consumed Lol.
However as Dean can attest just as in humans there are bad apples in every box so just be aware , if it doesn’t feel right than trust your gut instinct
Cheers

[Titla]

Wise words. I've spent the past 6 months nearly every day listening to hundreds of reports from North America and Australia, trying to learn as much as I could about them. Then this was my first camping trip since then. So probably my imagination from the reports is currently dominant over the reality of the field. I think I'll try reversing that trend and spend a greater balance of time in the field and less time listening to reports from now on.

Most reports are of the negative and distrustful type, however my favourite are those very rare positive ones where a human befriends hairy men, such as the Glagg Saga, or the one from Sasquatch Chronicles where an old lady has had very close contact with a troop for a few decades out of her home (as reported by a third party).

I mean flesh and blood friendly contact cases, not the reportedly psychic contact cases of which there are many. There aren't many such positive flesh and blood contact cases though, they seem to have an almost absolute instinctive distrustful of man. But perhaps that's the very reason why they've survived along side us to this day.

[Titla]

How's this for a tick bite. Photo taken this morning, bite occurred Saturday afternoon on my field trip. It's getting worse. Going to doctor later today:

Tick.JPG

[Cricket]

Hope not cellulitis! Good Ur getting that looked at by a dr

[Titla]

Hope not cellulitis! Good Ur getting that looked at by a dr

Hi Cricket! I haven't heard of cellulitis before, but I've been to the doctor and he says it might be an allergic reaction. He says it's bacterial so he's prescribed antibiotics as well as anti histamine for the itching.

I haven't started the course yet, I want to wait another day to see if it's going to start improving on it's own. If it's not starting to improve by Friday I plan to start on the antibiotics. So far it's just been getting worse and worse.

This is the first tick I've ever had so I'm not sure if it is indeed an allergic reaction or if it's because I dumped the guts into my arm. What happened was I was walking along then felt my arm and felt the tick. Thinking it was something else I swiped it and it didn't come off. So I assumed it was a thorn or something stuck in me so I grabbed it and pulled and it didn't come out. So I grabbed it even harder and pulled and still didn't come out. Until this time I hadn't yet looked at it.

Then I looked and saw it was a tick. The thing that makes me think it's not an allergic reaction to a normal tick bite but is a reaction to having the guts dropped into me is because as soon as I did all that grabbing and pulling it started hurting and developing that red reaction like you see. It was much smaller on the day but is getting bigger with time.

Anyhow when I saw it was a tick I went and got my tweezers and pulled it out by the head. It didn't come out easy at all, thought I was going to pull my arm off in the process of pulling it out lol.

I'm hoping this reaction is due to the unusual situation of the guts and that this won't happen with every measly tick bite. I asked the doc but he didn't seem to know a lot about it.

[Dion]

Hi there Titla

Welcome to the forums.

Its not unusual to be a little bit scared of the bush once you know what lurks in them, you never see the bush the same way.

Thanks for a detailed report of your adventures I enjoyed the read.

I hope that tick bite is getting better, I once found about 20-25 of them on me once, found them one after the other after numerous hours and once the bite you know what they are, luckily they came off alright.

[Cricket]

Cellulitis is basically inflammation of your skin from an infection and is treated by antibiotics.. if it's getting bigger and not getting better I'd go back to see the dr as if it is cellulitis and gets worse you may need IV antibiotics to make it better .
Hopefully it's getting better tho!

[Titla]

Cheers Dion! Thanks for enjoying my first tentative little baby steps out into the yowie field (belch) The tick reaction does seem to be improving now so I guess I get to keep the arm.

25 ticks at once, that's crazy man. Sometimes I wonder what yowies/bigfoots must go through as they have to be collecting them like a broom in the forest. Probably have to groom the c**p out of one another constantly, their hair is worse than deer, chimps, just about everything except maybe sheep. I sometimes worry about the rogue ones that have no-one to groom them, poor blighters. No wonder the rogues are temperamental.

Medically did you have any ill feelings or adverse reactions to 20 ticks apart from the emotional shock? I agree with you, now when I feel something I don't go pulling at it

[Titla]

Cellulitis is basically inflammation of your skin from an infection and is treated by antibiotics.. if it's getting bigger and not getting better I'd go back to see the dr as if it is cellulitis and gets worse you may need IV antibiotics to make it better .
Hopefully it's getting better tho!

Thanks Cricket, thankfully it's starting to improve now, glad I don't need the course of antibiotics. The doc said exactly the same, if it got much worse go straight to the hospital for IV antibiotics. But looks like I'm out of the woods!

[Cricket]

Glad it's getting better! We have a small acreage of basically lawn my husband got a tick on his back from standing next to the only section of our block with a long piece of grass (by long it was his height from the bush we back onto) so easy to get ticks around here... Sounds exciting re your encounter!!!

[Titla]

Getting them on the back is what I worry about the most as you can't get at your back like everywhere else when out there alone. They do seem to collect easy at times, I had only arrived for an hour when I got this tick, didn't take long. I'm assuming it got on my hand and ran up my arm due to the fact I had long sleeves on and it latched on inside the bicep. Nasty buggers, but suppose they have to eat like the rest of us! We're fair game just like everything else in existence lol

[Dion]

Medically did you have any ill feelings or adverse reactions to 20 ticks apart from the emotional shock?

The only feelings I had was one of annoyance, I got them all from Springbrook, I was there with another person, it was about a half an hours walk back to the car, once I was back to the car and the body temperature started to come down after the walk I got this odd feeling of something biting me, like I say you know when you have one.

I found them one after the other, up my arms, legs, chest, back, just not me privates.

Whats worse is that while driving in the car you could feel another biting that you had missed and when there is nowhere to pull over and check yourself you have to endure the pain (itch) so to speak, until the next rest stop.

Also another time at Springbrook we were camping on expedition, there were around 7 of us this particular time. I was one of the last to hit the bed and unbeknown to me I woke up in the morning with something that had eaten a little patch on my neck. It could have only have been a tick and my neck was sore for a number of weeks, what's strange is this little spot on my neck inflamed up exactly around the same time the following years, until I guess the poisons were gone.

[Titla]

Medically did you have any ill feelings or adverse reactions to 20 ticks apart from the emotional shock?

I found them one after the other, up my arms, legs, chest, back, just not me privates.

Glad they missed your privates haha. Apart from "down under" I wouldn't want them on my skull. But it's good to hear if we happen to get covered in them we're still ok.

[Robert P]

I've never camped at White rock before.
But I do regularly camp about 10kms to the west, on the other side of Mount Allyn.
This is in private property off Cabrebald trail.
Cheers Rob

[Titla]

I've never camped at White rock before.
But I do regularly camp about 10kms to the west, on the other side of Mount Allyn.
This is in private property off Cabrebald trail.
Cheers Rob

Hi Rob, thanks for replying! I've got it, one valley over on the Paterson River. Looks like a good area. Do you prefer Barrington region to Watagans for field research? I would have thought the Barrington region is more biodiverse with greater food sources, although from what I'm gathering so far there's more reports coming out of the Watagans.

[bubble1]

Hi Titla, good to read of your interest and your adventures, never seen a hairy mate, but I think I am more scared of Ticks, had a few on me over the years, look forward to your next adventure in the bush, Pete

[Titla]

Hi Pete, Alan here. Heading out to The Pines for a couple of days tomorrow. It's been raining cats and dogs for the past few days so this trip will be about finding a footprint or even a trackway

[Robert P]

I've never camped at White rock before.
But I do regularly camp about 10kms to the west, on the other side of Mount Allyn.
This is in private property off Cabrebald trail.
Cheers Rob

Hi Rob, thanks for replying! I've got it, one valley over on the Paterson River. Looks like a good area. Do you prefer Barrington region to Watagans for field research? I would have thought the Barrington region is more biodiverse with greater food sources, although from what I'm gathering so far there's more reports coming out of the Watagans.

I don't really go up there for field research, more so to get away in the bush with my family, which I do a lot of.
But also being aware of what's out there, and keeping an eye out for any signs. I haven't seen anything on the Patterson river area, but driving in have seen a lot of tree breakages in certain areas, which to me seem to be a corridor where they move through.

I have camped a lot in the Watagans for years, and have never had an experience. but have a look down Howes road area, backing onto The pines picnic area, that's where I have seen breakages and tree structures.
Cheers Rob

[Titla]

Rob you are the man, I'll definitely be checking out Howes Road while I'm there. To see structures or breakages out in the field would be big deal for me. Much appreciated.