I took a group of 6 down into the Nattai Valley on the weekend. For one lad it was his first introduction to camping. We left the parking area at Wattle Ridge at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon and were down 3 hours later. We camped at Hidden Flat and drew our water from Allum River. ( This must surely be the smallest "river" in NSW. More like a small creek. But the water was great.) A very pleasant evening was spent around the fire on what turned out to be quite a mild night.
Next morning half the party decided to walk back out the same way whilst I led two others around to Thirlmere Lakes NP. We set off at 9:00AM and kept moving steadily until a short lunch stop at Golden Moon Ck. By 3:30 PM we were at the gate on Blue Gum Ck where my car had been dropped by the other party. It was a very pleasant day.
Interestingly as it had taken 3 hours to get down on Sunday this means that provided you had a car at each end the whole trip could be done comfortably in a day of about 10 hours. As most of the track is in good condition this would make an excelent circuit for those in training.
K.