Mallee and the Border Track

Up again with the birds, we took it easy and were in no rush to pack up camp, even though we were on the move today. We had a relaxed bacon & egg breakfast and sat around the campsite feeding the birds.

We eventually got around to packing up camp, under the watchful eyes of the Butcher Bird. A quick game of football and then we were off towards Mildura.

The Hattah Store had signs up protesting the creation of a toxic waste dump nearby. Is this crazy? Why would such a beautiful place, on the border of National Parks be considered as the site for a toxic waste dump????

We stopped in Mildura and stocked up on supplies, had lunch at Hungry Jacks, yuck, and picked up some custard tarts and vanilla slices at the bakery, yum! Time was passing quickly and we visited lock 10 on the Murray.Neither I or the kids had ever seen a lock before, and as a bonus we got to see this one in operation as a small boat was travelling down river.

We arrived at the Perry Sandhills at about 2:30; much later then on our previous trip so I was getting worried that we wouldn't reach camp tonight at a reasonable time. So we cut short our visit here, only staying about 30 minutes. But it was still long enough for the kids to accumulate a few kilos of sand in their shoes and pockets, which ended up in the car, sleeping bags, and all the way back home!

We had to backtrack into Wentworth to get onto the Victorian side of the Murray, and were soon travelling along the Old Mail Route. Though we had spotted a few Stumpy Tails so far, this road was teeming with lizards. James eventually lost count, but we managed to miss every single one of them.

We came to Kulnine near the gate to Ned's Corner, which looked quite a nice spot on the banks of the Murray, but there were already some campers there so we continued on through the gates towards Lindsay Island, passing numerous Wedgetailed Eagles.

We arrived on Lindsay Island at about 4:30, thankfully not too late, and we navigated the tracks through the flat dry muds plains of the island. The track down to Lock number 7 seemed closed by a gate, though there was a track around the gate so we returned and headed down a nearby track to the river.

There were a few people camping along the river bank, but we easily managed to find a really nice spot with lots of shady trees close to the river, complete with a picnic table and a sandy beach. The kids played in the water while I set up camp.

Dinner tonight was a traditional BBQ; very tasty and enjoyable! We sat down to watch a movie on the laptop, but I turned the laptop off as it was booting up, corrupting the hard drive. Not being able to watch a movie wasn't a big deal, but not having anywhere to store my digital photos was a real hassle. Additionally, I was going to be without digital mapping and tracklogging as well! I managed to get the PocketPC connected to the GPS; I didn't have any maps on the PocketPC, but at least I could keep my track logs. Until the batteries died in the PocketPC that is; I hadn't brought the recharger with me. Damn it!

Mallee and the Border Track

Well, we were woken to the raucous sounds of the Apostle Birds outside our tent, followed soon after by the Choughs. It was like a wave of noise flowing over thetent. We stuck our heads out the tent flap to see them checking around looking for food. It is probably one of my favourite campsites, and the birds are very endearing. We relaxed around the campsite enjoying their company for the morning, sharing a little of our bacon & egg breakfast with the butcher bird.

Shortly after 9 we drove to the nearby Murray River, exploring along it's banks and setting up on a nice beach for the kids to swim. We spent a good 5 hours here, having lunch in the screentent to escape the flies. The kids had a great time playing in the sand and swimming in the shallows.

We continued our drive through Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, looking unsuccessfully for the wreck of the Florence Ann. We explored some dunes near Sextons, with James finding a tumble weed which gave endless entertainment; dragging it across the dunes and letting the wind blow it back. Eventually it rolled over the dunes into the distance with Liam chasing it over the horizon. We also spotted our first stumpy tail for our trip on the road, as well as numerous emus

Back at the campsite it wasn't long before all of the birds came around again. We played a bit of footy, and the kids climbed trees while the friendly Choughs, Butcher Birds, Apostle Birds, and Ravens did their scouring of the campgrounds.

Mallee and the Border Track

We left quite late on the Saturday. James was feeling sick on the Friday, and was only a little better on Saturday morning, so we took it easy to wait it out. We left home about 1:30 after some final food shopping. We had to quickly duck back home because I forgot the casserole, but finally we were on the road. Basically we folllowed the Calder, stopping into Bendigo to refuel the car and grab some cash.

We stopped in Wycheproof just after 5 for a leg stretch, viewing the old steam train at the side of the road. This would be a good lunch time stop, with a nice park with bird aviaries with a cocky asking us "How Ya Goin'", historic displays and BBQs

We arrived on the shores of Lake Tyrrell near sunset at 6:15, and did a quick explore near Bailey's Road Lookout.

We arrived at Lake Hattah in the dark around 7:30 and setup camp, finally settling down to dinner at 8:50. James had faired well on the trip up, and had no problems getting stuck into his dinner. We had returned to this campsite specifically as not only is it a very nice and scenic campsite, but last year we were enthralled by the friendly and cheeky birdlife. I'd told James and Liam that we couldn't be sure if the birds would be here like last year, and so not to be too dissapointed. We would have to wait to morning to see...

Cleft Rock Walking Trip

James, Liam and I went out for a little driving and exploring around near Marysville, as well as planning to walk along the Cleft Rock Walking Track.

We turned off to highway at Dom Dom Saddle Picnic Ground, and headed down Dom Dom Creek Road, which was reasonably steep and slippery in the wet. We passed some walkers and then headed along Dom Dom Road and Fisher Creek Road, coming to the deep bog hole we had encountered on a previous trip. Somebody had put branches across the edge of the hole, as a warning to others and we managed to drive around without any problem. However, we came to grief on another rutted muddy hole around the corner, requiring the winch to get out.

We turned off Archeron Way up White Hill Track, which continued along towards Carters Gap though it wasn't marked on the map. The logging in this area changes the roads and my maps are way out of date.

We passed where Cleft Rock Walking Track intersects with the road, but there was absolutely no sign of any walking track, so we continued to the locked gate at the end of the road and went on foot up the forest roads with some excellent views across back to Dom Dom and the Cathedrals.

The track wound back and forth between the tall gums and fern filled gulleys and eventually we found ourselves at the helicopter clearing, a large cleared grassy area where we relaxed for a bit before exploring further.

There was a sign on the ground indicating that the track was clossed due to logging, but that would have been in reference to the walking track along Road Eight, which we didn't intend following. Our notes indicated two ways to approach Cleft Rock from the hilltop, one from the corner of the clearing, and the second from a walking track that ran along the edge of the clearing.

Neither provided successful. the forest had well and truly reclaimed the walking track, though we did find an occasional track marker there was no sign of any path. I may come back on a more adventurous day, armed with machette and a full day to battle the forest but we had to give up. The walks from Siseman's Melbourne's Mountains are largely falling into disrepair.

We rested in the clearing again, chatting to some walkers from the Diamond Valley Walking Club as Liam licked his wounds from battling the forest.

We continued back down the way we had come, and once at the car headed off in search of somewhere for lunch.

We passed the roadside puddle we had found on a previous trip full of tadpoles, and stopped to collect a new supply. They were smaller this time but we managed to collect a few for our water fountain back home.

I decided that we would have lunch at Keppel Lookout, and we set up our BBQ on the picnic table over looking the views of the Steavenson Valley.

The kids played with the frisbee on the top of the lookout after lunch as I sat back and enjoyed the views.

Wolfram Mine Search continues

After some research that gave me some clues to where this elusive mine was, we decided on an impromptu trip back into Marysville, with all hopes raised that we would actually find the mine this time. I'd found a DNRE report on various mines and mining relics in the Yarra Valley Area, and it had GPS references of the mines, including the Wolfram Mine. The co-ordinates were given only in 3 places, so the accuracy was +/- 70 metres, but I was ever hopeful.

There had been quite a bit of rain over the weekend; all of the paddocks through the Yarra Valley were flooded, which was a nice change from all of the drought we had experienced in the preceeding years. We did a quick stop at an orchard on the way up through Coldstream, and picked up some very delicious and juicy Fuji apples. We stopped in Healesville for some supply shopping then headed on over the Black Spur, which had snow cover. We stopped for lunch at the Bicentennial Trail Campground off the Anderson Mill Road. It was a little chilly, with some recent snowfalls. The kids found a huge earthworm, about a foot long when stretched out!

We'd already bypassed on Strickland Spur Track, given how wet it was, and also had given Strickland Link Track over for another day, and judging from the snow at the campground, which was at an altitude of 560 metres, it seemed like the right choice. We kept to the main forest roads, which soon became covered in a light snow as we climbed up Mt Kitchener and aross Paradise Plains.

Wilkes Creek Track was covered in snow, and knowing how steep it was further down, we left the car at the top and walked. Best to be safe since we were travelling alone. We weren't too far down the track when we heard the sounds of 4WDs climbing towards us. Two cars passed us climbing up; they'd left the third of their convoy at the bottom of the steep climb, unable to get up the slippery track.

They returned with a shovel to try some track building, but eventually snatched the remaining car up the track and out. The guy had already slipped down the track on his earlier attempt, so we were quite glad we'd left our car up at the top and walked. The walking had proven tricky enough with the kids having fallen over a couple of times, much to their amusement.

I'd passed the point marked on the GPS with no sign of the mine, and continued walking down to the hut ruins we had seen previously. Even with a nice sharp machette, there was no way to explore any distance into the bush. The hut was about 220 metres north of the expected GPS point, so I wonder if the datumn was wrong. Giving up looking around the hut, we continued slowly back up the steep slippery hill, and searched further at the expected GPS point. But nothing but thick snow covered bush could be seen. The GPS was indicating the mine was 30 metres off to the east of the track, in what looked like a small clearing. But it may as well have been 300 metres. Again, we had tried and failed. Dejected and tired we returned to the car.

We followed our previous trip down along MMBW Boundary Road, which was covered in snow and quite scenic to drive along. We returned home via Marysville for a cappucino.

RRC Snow Camping

Participants:

Various members of the Range Rover Club, Pajero Club and Land Rover Owners Club

Mark L, Mark F, James & Liam

Friday 6^th August

As per the Caledonia Trip, the meeting place was at Licola on Saturday at 9:00am, so we left Friday evening after work, packing, shopping and other bits of running around.  We arrived at Cheynes Bridge at sometime close to midnight and, remembering our past experiences, setup the tents for a comfortable night's sleep by the Macalister River.

Saturday 7^th August

We followed the same path as the Caledonia Trip, heading out of Licola and through the Wellington River Valley.  There are numerous campsites along the Wellington River which I'm sure we can include on a future trip to Tarli Karng.  We stopped briefly at Bennisons Lookout and then continued up Tamboritha Road.

The snow along the road side gradually increased until there was good cover at the Lost Plains.

Howitt Road was thick with snow as we approached the Gorge Carpark, and we were able to set-up camp nice and early before lunch.

We walked across pristine snow fields whilst the kids played in the snow.  The weather was absolutely magnificent with clear blue skies and no wind.  It was quite warm, and I fell asleep relaxing on the camp chair after lunch.

The kids found the remains of a snow fort which they repaired and played in for hours.

In the afternoon Mark and I went for a walk up along Howitt Road past the Gorge, passing others in our group who were Nordic Skiing.  We stepped over the seasonal closure gate, which was half buried under snow and walked along the road past boulders with icicles, snow gums in the snow and the upper reaches of Shaw Creek which was running well beneath steep banks of snow.

Back at camp the kids were having a ball with snow fights and sliding down the hill on toboggans.

The more industrious made a snowman.  The temperature soon dropped to 3 degrees as the sun went down, so we heated up our lamb stew and cous cous for dinner.  This was the only time I really felt the cold, sitting at the picnic table in the relative dark surrounded by snow.  The dinner was warming, but it took a bit of effort to get the toes warm.

We spent a little time around the campfire, but most of the heat was traveling upwards and not outwards so we made an early night of it, heading to the warmth of our sleeping bags about 8PM.

Sunday 8^th August

We awoke about 7 in the morning to a pristine campsite.  A light dusting of snow had fallen overnight, which James experienced at one of his 5 trips to the toilet.  We had a very warming and filling breakfast of porridge, honey and banana which cooks magnificently in the camp oven over the gas stove (no worries about burnt porridge!)

The kids played in the snow houses some of the regulars on the snow camping trip had made while we packed up the tents ready for our 9:30 departure.

We headed back into Licola, passing many rocky outcrops and cuttings with the distinctive pinkish-red rock.  Debate over the radio of the basis for the rock colour varied from low grade copper to iron ore.

A short stop in Licola for coffee and tea and a real toilet and then we made our way up the Jamieson-Licola Road.

The going became tougher as we approached Mt Skene, and we got to a point about 5 or so kilometres from Mt. Skene where even the Pinzgauer couldn't even make it any further.  We returned back down the mountain only to find the only convoy member who had fitted chains was stuck and bogged.

After lunch on the roadside, we made our way along South Road and across the ridges of Mt Selma before returning home via Matlock and Marysville.