Camping at Mt Franklin

This was a quick little 2 day get away on the Australia Day long weekend.  Michelle had heard from a neighbour about Mt. Franklin and what a nice place it was so we packed up the car and headed off.

We took the turnoff from the Midland Highway and began the ascent of this extinct volcano, passing an echidna on the road side along the way.  Too slow to get a photo though, unfortunately.

The road wound along the crater wall, and then came into the most beautiful shaded campsite, that was well protected by the steep crater slopes.  The place was crowded, most likely due to this being a long weekend.  But  I think it would be a lot quieter on a normal weekend making this an ideal weekend getaway.

A good portion of the campground was taken up by a large group in medieval outfits.  Along with armies in chain mail, shields, battle axes and swords.  Their tents were also in theme, with the main tent fitted out inside with candelabras!  I'm sure there must have been a suckling pig on a spit as well.  A few battles ensued over the day which the kids certainly enjoyed watching.

We spent some time relaxing here at the campsite, as well as driving up to the summit of Mt Franklin to see the views.  We also drove into Hepburn Springs, stopping at the Chocolate Mill for some very fine chocolates along the way.  At the Springs, we walked along the now dried up creek bed, and taste tested a number of the different springs.  Liam sampled the Sulphur Spring, but wasn't overly impressed.

We spent a good part of the afternoon here, exploring around the park grounds, with the kids playing in the playground, and  running along the many paths in the park.  We then headed back to the campsite for dinner, a magnificent Spaghetti Bolognaise cooked in the Trangia.  What a magnificent contraption!

After dinner, we decided to head off to Wallace for a surprise visit to Mum's.  Along the way we spotted two Wedge Tailed Eagles soaring over Mt Franklin, and further along past Spargo Creek we saw another Wedge Tailed Eagle on the roadside.   We headed back to camp after coffee, taking the back roads through the forest which took a good 10 to 15 minutes off our return trip.  The campground was remarkably quiet given the number of people there.  Even the ubiquitous Gold 104 listener, who thinks the entire campground enjoys their taste in music kept the volume down to where it could be barely heard.

After a damn good sleep in, we cooked up the bacon and eggs, and then packed up at a leisurely pace.  The plan today was to see what the campground at Slaty's Creek was like, as that was our fallback option if we couldn't squeeze into Mt Franklin.  We eventually found the campsite, which was nice enough though very dry and rocky, and the creek was completely dried up.  With some water flowing through here it would be a lovely place to camp.

We then drove up to Georges Lake, which had a boardwalk through the trees to a lookout.  Shame that there is no camping allowed here.  We stopped off on the far side of the lake for lunch and then made our meandering way home through the forest (a couple of wrong turns.  Thank goodness for GPS, which eventually got us back in the right direction!).

Craig's Hut - King River Day Trip

Participants:

Mark, Pius, Smitha, Praveen and Suresh

This was the first of what I hope will be many trips into the Victorian Bush for our Bangalore team mates as they come out to visit Australia.

Pius was kind enough to round everybody else up and bring them to my place, from where we began our journey shortly after 9:00am.  We headed out past Healesville, and had the first of many smoko stops for Suresh at Selover's Lookout, looking over Maroondah Reservoir.  The weather wasn't looking good, but we were hopeful it would clear up by the time we reached the High Country.

We continued through the Black Spur, winding amongst the lush Tree Ferns and Victorian Mountain Ash.  The Ash is the tallest tree in Australia, which can reach heights of 100 metres.

The road proved too slippery for one car, which had run off the road down the embankment just before St. Ronan's Well.

We had to wait half an hour or so whilst the car was retrieved.  A little bit of excitement for the trip!  The planned stop at St. Ronan's Well to sample the mountain spring water was given a miss, since the traffic built up from the blocking of the road would have kept us delayed much longer still.

On the move again and we stopped near the Archeron Cutting for a quick morning tea, to enjoy the views of the Goulburn Valley, and to give Suresh a smoko.

After passing through Alexandra, we moved off the highway onto a shortcut to Bonnie Doon which took some time off the journey, as well as taking us through some scenic, if dry farmland.  Coming around a corner over a small bridge there was a snake lying across the road.  It appeared dead, and there was no chance to stop or swerve to avoid it, but on reversing back to see if it was Ok or not, it was nowhere to be seen.

Back on the main road towards Bonnie Doon we spotted three Wedge Tailed Eagles soaring over the road.

After passing through Mansfield we came across a farmer herding his sheep with a quadbike and two sheep dogs.  I asked the guys if they used dogs to round the sheep and goats up back in India.  Praveen said it was much cheaper to have a human round them up then to train a dog!

We turned off the sealed road just before Mt Buller at Merimbah and started heading up the mountains.  We passed Telephone Box Junction, with it's many cross country skiing trails now being walking trails during the summer.

We continued along Circuit Road and almost missed the turnoff at Howqua Gap.  Changing down into real 4WD, we started our ascent of Mt Stirling.  The road was in very good condition having been recently graded by its appearance.  Still it was a real taste of off-road, especially as we crawled over the many cross-cut drains and through a couple of tight switchbacks.

The track levelled off amongst the Snow Gums, which was a perfect place to stop, stretch the legs and spines and take some photos.

We spotted some cattle left to graze through the bush, but they moved off to a safe distance as Suresh approached.  The cows in Australia aren't quite as friendly as the cows back in India.

Bidding the cows farewell, we were back in the car to make our way to Mt Stirling summit.

A short climb brought us to the peak, which had panoramic views across the High Country and back to Mt. Buller, where Suresh and Praveen had both visited on a previous trip during the snow season.

There was a crisp breeze, so it was jacket time for most but the weather was starting to fine up nicely.  We passed a father and his young son who were hiking across the hills as we continued on to Craig's Hut.

The views from Craig's Hut are always fantastic, and even the cloudy day couldn't spoil them.  We explored around the hut, and were almost able to convince Suresh that the graves were real.

After exploring the hut, it was time for lunch before backtracking a little to The Monument, a peak half way between Craig's Hut and Mt Stirling.  We made our descent off the mountain down Monument Track, which wound down fairly steeply in some parts, passing over some rocky shelves along the way.

We drove down to Bindaree Falls, where the bridge over Bindaree River was out. We drove down the ravine and through the creek to the other side of the bridge and made our way up the walking  track to the falls.

The walking track passed under the falls allowing a scenic view through the cascade and past the tree ferns back down the river valley.  We were soon back into the car and making our way towards King Hut. 

Another bridge was unsafe to cross, so we took the small ford alongside it; a photo opportunity Suresh couldn't miss.

Not too much longer and we arrived at King Hut.  Can you believe it, more cows!  We put the Billy up to boil, and made our way down to the river.  Suresh slipped on one of the cobblestones and got a foot wet, but most unfortunately I missed the photo.  We enjoyed the cool water and the serene location by the river for a while, and then returned to the hut for our afternoon tea break.

After coffee and Oreo's, we drove along King River Basin, crossing the river some 6 times before arriving at Pineapple Flat camping area.  The river was quite low, barely coming up to the steps on the car with the crossing into Pineapple Flat being the deepest.  A couple of kids fishing by the river crossing probably didn't appreciate our arrival!

More leg stretching and exploring along the river to help break up our drive.  A number of people where camped here, it truly is a popular camping spot.  We crossed the river again on our way out, with the kids still fishing beside the river crossing.

We thought we were on our way back out of the forest heading home, only to come around a bend in the track to see a gum tree fallen and blocking the way out.

After attacking the tree with an axe, a drag chain, a winch and the muscle power of 4 guys, 20 minutes later we eventually cleared enough of the tree off the track to get through.  The rest of the trip off the mountain into Mansfield was thankfully uneventful.  We stopped at Flakeout in Mansfield for dinner and spent another two hours on the road, arriving home at my place at 10:30 in the evening.  I didn't envy the rest of them who had another 45 minutes or so of travel back to their respective homes!  A long but enjoyable day.

Upper Yarra Reservoir Park Camping Trip

Participants:

Oiyee, Laiyee, Jim, Carina, Jessica, Aaron, Brittany, Amber and Rachel

Mark, Michelle, James & Liam

Friday, 2nd January 2004

We all met at Lillydale and drove together to Upper Yarra Reservoir late afternoon.  We set up the tents and had a late dinner (10:00) in the mess hall in the relative cool.  After dinner, we all went on a night forest walk, where same as last year we saw an eel but no other wildlife.  Not to mention that the gas bottle was empty so we couldn't get any descent light happening around the campsite.  So off to bed, and it was a rough night at that.  I had no attachments for the compressor, and the air mattress had a large inflation hole with no means to attach the compressor to blow up the mattress!    To add insult to injury, some Bozo decided it would be fun to set off a firework at 1:00 in the morning.

Saturday, 3rd January 2004 

We had a relaxing morning, with the kids running around chasing each other when they weren't playing on their Gameboys!  The young girls delighted in watching the ants climbing the trees and were most excited when they found cicada shells clinging to the tree side.  Well, everybody had to have one then!

We had a long chat with Stuart the Ranger as we paid the Park fees.  He reckoned he new who the culprits were that setoff the firework last night, and was quite keen to nab them.

Jim stayed behind with the kids whilst the rest of us drove into Warburton to see what could be done about getting our air mattress blown up.  Necessity is the mother of invention, and I was able to buy standard compressor fittings, as well as a garden hose tap fitting which worked perfectly to blow up the mattress.  We picked up some fire wood, refilled the gas bottle and got some other essentials, including icy poles!  It was damn hot.  We headed back to camp, to find Jim playing cricket with the kids.

In the afternoon, we visited the Big Peninsula Tunnel on the Yarra River, and Liam had a swim with a snake as well as making friends with a dragonfly.

The road up to the water race and mine shaft was closed with a locked gate so we went looking for the Goldfields walk, but I missed the path entrance.  We walked down the wrong track, and soon gave up as it was too damn hot.  I eventually spotted the right track on the way back but none of us could be bothered now, so we went back to the campground where Jim and the kids played cricket and soccer. A couple of Irish guys joined in for the soccer game, which they took quite seriously!

After dinner we got the campfire going where the kids toasted marshmallows and generally had a great time playing with the fire.

Sunday, 4th January 2004

Time to pack up and head home.  There was the ominous sound of thunder rolling up the valley as we started packing up the tents, and needless to say we didn't get everything packed up before the rain hit.  It wasn't too bad though, with most of the stuff we didn't want wet  thrown into or under the cars whilst we waited out the storm.  We stopped into McDonalds at Lillydale for lunch and then made our way home to unpack and recover!

Aussie trips 2004!

More trips to places I'd never before visited as well as further exploring some old favourites. The camping in the snow is the highlight so far.