Keith Longhurst Reserve
At Leith Longhurst Reserve lies The Old Ford Road, one of three historical routes crossing the upper Georges river. Built in the 1890s as part of an employment program it cost 1200 pounds and joined Campbelltown and Minto to the settlements of Holsworthy and Eckersley that existed on the other side before the land was reclaimed for the Holsworthy firing range. Remnants of those settlements still exist inside the closed off firing range on the other side of the river.
Address: If visiting Kentlyn Basin and the Old Ford road at Keith Longhurst reserve Park at the end of Georges river road in Kentlyn.
Old Ford Road walk: 1.3 km each way. Fire trail. Very easy.
Kentlyn Basin walk: 1km each way. Easy with a lot of steps at the end. Note that the Basin walk starts on your right if you are parked at the gate and looking at the fire trail.
The connecting walk between the two would not have been 1km making the entire walk about 3km. The section following the river was overgrown and a little hard to follow at times but just stick to the river. Medium grade? It took less then 2 hours to complete.
Built between 1889 and 1891 for 1200 pounds. The Old Ford road descends to the river to a long gone crossing before continuing up the other side of the Georges River though public access to this section of road is denied as it is falls within the Military base.
You will walk past cuttings and see many of the culverts and sandstone dish drains that still exist today. You can also see points where the stone was drilled to be blasted away and then hauled out during the building process.
Who does not love a great cave?
It is only a short and easy 1.3 km walk down to the river following the road.
Just before reaching the bottom of the ford road is a track leading up river. It is a little hard to make out from the road itself but it is there. There is also a track leading down river that is part of a fantastic loop walk which you can start from here or Florence ave.
but for now lets head up the river.
The walk along the river switches between sections of sandstone and dirt track and can be a little vague in areas but just stay near the river. The scenery is just stunning down here and it is easy to forget that you are just at the back of Campbelltown.
Some beautiful rapids just around the corner from the basin.
The river just above the waterfall is dotted with these amazing potholes of varying sizes.
The Basin itself is a massive deep swimming hole in an incredibly Australian environment that on a hot summers day is full of people enjoying themselves, swimming, fishing and jumping from the rocks into the deep waters below.
But maybe most importantly this is obviously a great place to play frisbee!
Here is Buffy playing with her frisbee on top of the gorgeous waterfall.
And just a few minutes later learning that dropping the frisbee down a waterfall might mean we no longer have a frisbee!
Lucky we always keep a spare!
Have you ever visited…?
