Grampians Camping

Adriana
Oiyee, Brittany & Aaron
Stephanie
Mark
Mark, Michelle James & Liam

Saturday, 6^th October 2002

We all met at Deer Park early Saturday morning and proceeded along the Western Highway.  We stopped shortly at the Mobil for breakfast and eventually got on our way again.  Through Ballarat, and on to Ararat, where we stopped for some last minute supplies.  The weather started improving as we made our way closer to Halls Gap, which prompted Mark into a very joyful rendition of "I Want to See the Sunshine after the Rain", with Stephanie providing backup vocals.

We originally planned to camp at Rosea Camp Ground, but being the last weekend of the school holidays it was packed, so we decided to camp at Borough Huts Camp Ground instead.  This was a very nice camp ground with large open grassed areas with Mt Rosea in the background.

After setting up all of the tents, we explored along the river, and then came back to camp for a game of boule.

Dinner was a magnificent feast of calamari in a coconut milk for entrees, followed by seafood paella and camp oven cooked roast chicken.  Needless to say we were too stuffed to even think about dessert!

Sunday, 7th October 2002

Adriana cooked as a very tasty bacon and egg breakfast, with some pretty top notch gourmet bacon.  We packed up camp and thought about what we wanted to do with the rest of the day.  We had originally planned to walk to the top of Mt Rosea, but that seemed too ambitious, especially with young children so instead we did the usual walk through the Grand Canyon up to the Pinnacle, which was certainly hard enough!

We had a late lunch back at the carpark where Mark l and Steph practised their karate moves, then started out on our long journey back home.

Mt Donna Buang

Another trip up to the snow, this time with family.  Mt. Donna Buang is a great location; the snow is great for tobogganing; in fact the runs I believe are better than Lake Mountain.  It's also closer for us than Lake Mountain, and doesn't seem to be as popular as Lake Mountain either, so less crowds!  Warburton also is a great place to visit, and lunch on the Yarra River is magical.

Queensland Road Trip

Wanting a winter escape from Melbourne, we planned a short holiday on the Gold Coast with Michelle's parents, Glenda and Arthur.  Also, wanting to add a bit of variety to the trip up and back, we diverted from the usual Newell path.

The Trip Up

After spending the night in Coonabarabran, we drove into Gunnedah at sunrise and then to Lake Keepit, the site of my Irish ancestor's first settlement in Australia.  Past Tamworth, we drove past the huge granite boulders at Moonbi pass, stopping a short while at the lookout.  On through Armidale and Glenn Innes, we passed some beautiful countryside near Deepwater and explored the Bungulla Station near Tenterfield, before heading to the coast at Ballina.  Sugar cane, sugar cane and more sugar cane and we eventually found ourselves at Burleigh Heads.

Around and about South-East Queensland

We had a great time spending a couple of days on the beach, especially Tallebudgera which is very kid friendly.  We also tried a bit of fishing here, catching a few toadies.  We did a trip up into the Hinterlands, taking in Springbrook Falls, and the Natural Arch; visited Sanctuary Cove; went to Movie World and Wet 'N' Wild; and also visited the Glasshouse Mountains, enjoying lunch at Moss's Cafe with some spectacular mountain scenery of old worn volcanic plugs with a strong aboriginal heritage.  We also explored the rainforest walk at Marie Cairncross, and the arty crafty township of Maleny before heading back, enjoying a delicious fresh crushed pineapple juice along the way.

The Trip Back

Also wanting to make something of the long trip back, so we headed down the coast past fields of sugar cane to Grafton and taking the Gwydir Highway to Glenn Innes.  The scenery along the rocky Mann River was magnificent, but was surpassed by the climb up the Gibraltar Range through rainforest with glorious views.  We passed some promising looking fishing spots shy of Glenn Innes where we stopped for lunch in the park near the visitor centre.

We continuing down the New England Highway through Armidale and on past Tamworth, collecting an unfortunate Kookaburra along the way.  He cracked the windscreen, which I'm sure faired better than he did.  On through Willow Tree, Scone and Muswellbrook where we spent the night.

From Muswellbrook, we headed cross country through Denman and then across through the top of Wollemi National Park, with honeycombed cliffs climbing abruptly from the valley.  We passed a huge freight train, then meandered into the hills, passing the Kerrabee Tunnel before coming out into the valley at Murrumbo Gap and Bylong Flat where we had a close up look at a Wedgetailed Eagle on the verge as we passed.

We continued past Capertee and a number of collieries, skirting the Gardens of Stone which I plan to explore on a future trip.  We arrived in Lithgow and made our way down the windy but scenic road to Jenolan Caves.  We explored two caves, the Imperial and the Orient, both where breathtaking and the first time the kids had been into limestone caves which they were most impressed with.  It was my 4th visit to the caves but still as magical as the first.  Next visit will have to include the River Cave for the kids.

After lunch with the Currawongs, we climbed out the back road to Oberon, through the Gurnang State Forest and into Goulburn for dinner.  Not wanting to spend another night from home, and to be home on my Birthday we continued through down the Hume Freeway into the evening, arriving home some time around midnight, if not slightly after.

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