Lake Mountain

A day trip to play in the snow with some awesome friends and family

This was a day trip to Lake Mountain with some good friends, and to give the kids an opportunity for some snow play.  In fact for some of the kids, it was their first snow visit which of course they all enjoyed tremendously!

Werribee Gorge Circuit Walk

Participants:

Oiyee, Russell, Mark L, Mark F

This was a very enjoyable walk along parts of the Werribee River and an old aqueduct, continuing into Werribee Gorge and then climbing a spur and walking along the ridge top before descending through open forest back to the starting point.

It is generally recommended to do the walk in the reverse order that we tackled it, likely as the climbs are not as steep in this direction. As I was still recovering from surgery, this would have probably been a much wiser choice!

Higganbotham Mine Explorer

This was a reccy trip to allow me to plan a group trip into the area.  It was a very nice day out, but I decided to not turn it into a group trip.  We were looking for the Higganbotham mine site, which we did not find as I wasn't sure what quality the last bit of road was going to be like, the day was getting late and we were on our own so I didn't fancy getting into anything I wasn't going to get out of easily.  But anyway, on with the trip...

Yarra Glen, Melba Highway, Toolangi; a path much taken.  This time though, instead of heading left into the Murrindindi Scenic Reserve, we turned off Murrindindi Road under the powerlines and drove along Ginter Road into the northern reaches of the Black Range State Forest.  We passed WPT12, which was a quite deep pool of water which flowed under the road and would make a nice little picnic spot.  Further on, we came to Higganbotham Track which was a really great little 4WD track climbing up the valley wall.  The track was very well graded and nicely curved as it ran along the hillside through the trees.

We turned off left onto Balaclava Track, and then onto Grants Track as I had heard that there were some interesting shafts and diggings along this area.  We soon found a number of deep shafts and excavations along the side of the track, which I presume were above the Higganbotham mine site at the bottom of the very steep valley.  After exploring all around and finishing our cappuccinos we continued along Grants Track, which came along the top of the ridge offering great views into the Murrindindi Valley, across the Sheehan Hills and beyond.  This would be a very nice campsite on the top of the hills; I could imagine looking up into a beautiful clear star filled night.

Though the map showed the road continued on down to the mine site, the road was getting steeper and I suspected that it was going to pass into private property and I didn't enjoy the prospect of getting all the way down only to find a locked gate, so we backtracked to Higganbotham Track, and drove along the ridge on Beatsons Track.

We came to the continuation of Grants Track, and toyed with the idea of driving down to the mine, but as I have said in the opening paragraph we have left this for another day.  We explored around Stanley Homestead site before driving into Limestone and on back home.

Track Summary & Travel Times

Track Name	Surface	Travel Time	Average Speed
Home to Murrindindi Rd	Sealed	Not recorded	Not recorded
Murrindindi Rd	Gravel 2WD	Not recorded	Not recorded
Ginter Rd	Gravel 2WD	Not recorded	Not recorded
Higginbotham Tk	Easy 4WD	Not recorded	Not recorded
Balaclava Tk	Easy 4WD	Not recorded	Not recorded
Grants Tk	Easy 4WD - nice views	Not recorded	Not recorded
Beatsons Tk	Easy 4WD - ridge track	Not recorded	Not recorded

Range Rover Club Trip - Caledonia/Butcher Country

Mark, Liam and Mark

Many others from the club

Friday

This was the trip were I learnt no matter how much hassle it is setting up a tent, it is infinitely more comfortable than sleeping in a car!

Our meeting place was at Licola at 9:00am, so we all set out on Friday night after work.  We drove to a lovely spot south of Licola called Cheney's Bridge where we slept the night in the car.  Very uncomfortable, especially when you have a 6 year old kicking you in the head all night!

Saturday

As we had arrived quite late at night, we had no idea what the area looked like, so we did a quick explore around in the morning light, had some breakfast and then made our way into Licola to the meeting place.

After introductions and pre-trip discussions, we drove up Tamboritha Road towards Arbuckle Junction.  We stopped at Benisons Lookout where we could see Lake Tarli Karng, a walk we must do some day!

Morning Tea was at Dimmock's Lookout, which has quite spectacular views into Bryce's Gorge.

We were soon driving down Caledonia Track, which has had significant track works, and I'm told is a much easier track then in it's earlier days.  Evidence of the old track and it's quite steep sections where visible from the many switchbacks the track now has as it descends down to the river below.

There was nowhere along this track to stop for lunch, so we stopped on the track for lunch near one of the crossings.

We passed a few others 4WDing in the area, and even came across a mountain biker in the middle of nowhere on his own!

Our campsite was a excellent spot near the end of the track at a bend in the river, where it ran along a rock wall.  There was some quite deep holes in the river which a number of people made the most of with a swim.

Sunday

After packing up camp, we headed up the Caledonia Link Track, quite a reasonably steep bit of track which gave some trouble to a few of the group and some enjoyment to the others.

We had our morning tea at a helipad, and Liam managed to catch himself a grasshopper.  We were soon on Butcher Country Track, which took us past a rocky escarpment with some very nice views, if it was a little scary with the track so near the edge!

Lunch was at a bend on the MacAlister River where Butcher Country Track ended.  This would also be a quite nice campsite, with the river cascading over some rock faces.  We were all too soon herded up by the sound of the cowbell long before Liam could get his feet too wet, and we made our along the river on the aptly named Macclister River Track, making many river crossings and seeing many great campsites.

We drove out along Black Soil Gully Track and Bull Plain Rd, had afternoon tea by the Bridge over the MacAlister, where we also had a demonstration of wheel changing with a Hi-Lift jack.  A shortcut along a short 4WD track to miss one of the switchbacks of the bitumen road was the end of the off-roading for the weekend, and we drove through some very picturesque valleys into Licola, where we made our goodbyes, thanked John for a fantastic weekend and headed on home.

Track Summary & Travel Times

Track Name	Surface	Travel Time	Average Speed
Home to Cheynes Bridge	Sealed	Not recorded	Not recorded
Cheynes Bridge to Licola	Sealed	50 minutes	60Km/hr
Tambaritha Rd (Licola to Arbuckle Junction)	Gravel 2WD	1 hour	50Km/Hr
Howitt Rd (Arbuckle Junction to Caledonia Tk	Gravel 2WD	35 minutes	50Km/hr
Caledonia Tk to Link Tk	4WD	1 hour 45 minutes	10Km/hr to 15Km/hr
Caledonia Link Tk	4WD with Steep Ascents	Not recorded	Not recorded
Butcher Country Tk	4WD along ridge rops and descents - great views	Not recorded	Not recorded
Unknown	4WD along Maccalister River - good campsites	Not recorded	Not recorded
Glencairn Rd	Gravel 2WD - windy	Not recorded	Not recorded

Craig's Hut Day Trip

Participants:

Adriana, Oiyee:	Honda CRV
Fot, Marisol, Jacqui and Stephen:	Honda CRV
Beryl & Kurt:	Toyota Surf
Mark, Michelle, James, Liam, Glenda & Arthur:	Nissan Patrol

We all met at my place in Eltham, did introductions and soon made our departure about 9:30.  We drove out through Yarra Glen and up the Melba through Yea and stopped for a Morning Tea and biscuits at Bonnie Doon.  We continued on towards Mt Buller, turning off at Mirimbah towards Telephone Box Junction.  The road was getting pretty rough, so I stopped to let some air out of the tyres, which works wonders in creating a smooth ride on the rough roads.

After a quick toilet stop at Telephone Box Junction, we made our way on towards Circuit Road.  At some point along the road we found an extensive growth of Blackberries, so we all pulled over and had a feast.  We were soon on our way again and headed up Clear Hills Track, which was in fine condition and posed no problems for the CRVs.

After exploring the hut and taking in the views, we sat beneath the tress near the car park for our picnic lunch.  Whilst we were eating, a wedding arrived, complete with Bride & Groom on horseback and drizabones, and even a Scottish bag piper!

We planned to drive up to Mt Stirling, but the road soon became too rough for the CRVs, so it was back down the way we came and we then continued along Circuit Road.  I drove down a side track to see if I could find King Hut, but I hadn't been there before, and I had no real indication how far we had to travel so I gave up and came back to the others who had waited at the turn off.

We were headed towards Bindaree, when Adriana had a blowout on her rear tyre.  A group on horse back we were passing called it into us on the UHF.  After much hunting around to find out where the jack was stored on these CRVs, we had the tyre changed and were on the move again.

The last part of the track was too rough for the CRVs, so we parked them and ferried everybody across the Howqua to Bindaree Hut in the Patrol and Surf.

It was starting to get fairly late at this stage, so after our explore of the hut, a warm cuppa, and a splash in the river for the kids we made our way back to Circuit Road and into Mansfield for Fish & Chips, and our long drive back home.

Enoch Point

Going stir-crazy after my Op, I decided to do a family day trip up to Enoch Point which I had heard much about but had never visited.  We travelled in via Cumberland Junction and down Big River Road, where we came across a snake on the road.  It looked like a Tiger Snake, and also seemed dead.  Closer examination showed this to be incorrect, and I very quickly jumped back into the car!  The trip to Enoch Point via Big River Road was definitely the long way, and the road was very rough, or at least it seemed so in my condition.  We took a short cut into Enoch Point, crossing a small stream and had some trouble on the creek exit where it climbed up over a rocky shelf.  But we eventually crawled up past some old huts and into the township.  We had a nice lunch on the trackside shared with a kookaburra where some exploring uncovered some old house foundations and the remains of a leather boot, nails and all.  A bit of fishing in the river up from the falls before it got dark, and a fruitless look for the cemetery (Damn forgot to bring my maps!) before continuing on down Big River Road with a few more fishing attempts then on to home.

Track Summary & Travel Times

Track Name	Surface	Travel Time	Average Speed
Home to Cambarville	Sealed	Not recorded	Not recorded
Big River Rd	2WD Gravel becoming easy 4WD	Not recorded	Not recorded
Enoch Point	Shallow creek crossing followed by steep 4wd across rock ledges	Not recorded	Not recorded
Big River Rd to Jamieson Rd	Easy 4WD becoming 2WD. Some shallow creek crossings	Not recorded	Not recorded

Aussie Trips 2002

2002 was filled with many fantastic escapes, and a number of trips to places I'd long dreamed of going to, but until now had remained just place names on maps. My favourite track of the year must be the Barkley River Jeep Track. I wish I'd taken some photos!