Our trip started Thursday 2.00pm, after leaving work early, we drive down to Adams place where Smokey is in the driveway and we say hello to Adam and Keith, our travel partners for this most anticipated trip, our first stop would be afternoon tea at the rest stop at Towong, then on to camp at Jugiong, setup and stroll down to the pub for dinner, according to the website the pub is open on Thursday, as it turned out, the pub was shut and opens on Fridays, so it was down to the Motel which thankfully was open and open to the public and serves beer as well as meals, a beer was ordered, then tea and not long after ordering Howard rolls into town, our other travelling partner, we call him, tell him we are at the Motel and not the pub and he comes back to join us for a chat and a beer while we have our dinner, once we had finished dinner it was off to camp to settle in for the night.
Up early next morning for an appointment with Blue Rag Range Track, breakfast at Morrisons Cafe in Holbrook, lunch and a fuel up in Bright, then off we go, getting to the beginning of Blue Rag at around 1.00pm, this si quite a good track, not very hard, but in some places it can be tricky as you can't see all that well in places.
So from here we headed for camp at Lankey Plain Hut just off the Dargo High Plains Tr, seems the boys have been doing mud runs around the hut, which made it not very suitable to camp at, in fact it was disscusting, so we drove back to the intersection and drove along the track a bit more to find a much more suitable camp and waited for the others to arrive, they are people we know from another forum, some we have met before and others we were meeting for the first time, they arrived about 6,00pm and we all settled down for the night with introductions and a few drinks around the fire.
In the morning we awoke to a very misty camp, it was -1c over night, but was very warm in the new swag, Howard didn't fair so well in the back of the Cruiser, saying he was very cold during the night.
Some ice on the swag
We had breakfast and packed up ready to go by 8.30am, Dave and Fiona had orginised this trip, and they would lead us from here for this part of the trip, so up Blue Rag Range track again and then a left turn onto Nth Basalt track for our run down to Sth Basalt and Talbotville, not long after turning onto the track, about 3 or 4 ks we got the call on the radio that Dave had picked up a stick, which it wasn't unfortunately, it was a little more worrying than a stick.
After much head scratching and Adam climbing under the car, it turned out to be a buggered Tensioner bearing, after some discussion, it was decided that Marion and Jen would go into Wodonga to pick up said part, Marion had rang the Nissan dealer in Wadonga and they had a complete assembly in stock, Glenn would tow Dave to the rail carriage at the inersection of Sth Basalt, where Adam, Howard and Dave pulled the rest of the car apart so Dave could re-assemble it and meet us at the next camp, everyone pitched here to help Dave get back on the road as soon as we could, as you would expect.
Special thanks go to Marion and Jen, Adam, Howard, Keith and Glenn and the others that did there bit to help Dave and Fiona, well done everyone.
After making sure Dave was OK to wait for Marion and Jen to return, we would take over leading the group on to do the next part of the trip, down Sth Basalt to Talbotville and on to Billy Goat Bluff Tr and up to the Pinnacles, then back down to our camp on the Wonnangatta River, we met so many car going up Billy Goat, it was like Pitt St, 4X4 Earth forum had a gathering in Talbotville, so there were 4WDs everywhere, nothing too bad though, the view from the Pinnacles are amazing and we had such a clear day you could almost see the ocean.
From the top
From the Hellipad
After coming down Billy Goat and on our way to camp, Howard called up to say something was wrong, he had sheared the centre bolt out from his leaf springs, the axle moved back and was rubbing on the rear guard, so we pulled over to see what we could do, as with Dave, everyone did their part to help Howard while he pulled it apart, while Howard and Keith worked on his truck, Glenn, Rob and I cut some fire wood and gave Howard some extra help when needed, Kerry and Adam sussed out our camp for the night, so once Howard was all good, it was off to camp.
Thank You everyone, a great team effort again to get Howard going, this saved us so much time, we didn't have to do anything but set up, start the fire and have dinner, then relax around the fire.
Camp
Next morning we would press on and meet Dave and Fiona and Marion and Jen for the rest of the trip, we met up on Cynthia Range and Eagle vale track, because of Howards drama, he would leave the group and head for Melbourne to have his truck looked at, from phone calls later, he got as far as Stratford, before calling the RACV and the truck was flat bedded to Bairnsdale for repair, he picked it up next day(how good are these guys at The Springworks in Bairnsdale) and headed off to his daughters place a little earlier than expected.
There was nothing but great driving from here on as were the previous tracks, we went down Wonbat Range track to Wonnangatta, we were going to do Herne Spur, but Dave got a report that there was a 1 metre drop into the river at the bottom, so it was decided that Wombat would be a better option, after getting down into the valley, we had lunch beside the old Homestaed and had a bit of a look around then left to go to our next camp, this was going to be Howitts Hut, but we got there fairly early so we decided we would push to Lovicks instead, while going up Zeka Spur we had a slight hicup when we had a suspension failure and going down to the bumpstops, boy it's bumpy sitting on the stops, we had to do a hard reset to get going again, we got a further 2 suspension fault warnings along the track, but these only required engine off and start again to reset them and it was fine after that, thank you Glenn and Adam for your help here, 20mins and we were off again and up to Lovicks for the night, collected some firewood and we set up for another cold night, our new swag is brilliant, so toastie warm inside.
Up next morning, a little later this time, we had been out to Picture Point on a previous trip, so Kerry and I decided to do a slow pack up and wait for the others back at Lovicks before heading off again, this was the final day with Dave and Fiona and Marion and Jen, Adam, Keith and us would be going our own way, but first we would go down to Mansfield and met up with Rich, another friend we have met before on MySwag for a chat before heading off to camp at 12 Mile reserve on the Jamieson River, I wanted to have lunch at the Jamieson Brewary too, so after saying our hellos to Rich and a bit of a chat and said our goodbyes to Dave and Fiona, Marion and Jen, we set off for the Jamieson Brewary for lunch and a beer, very nice it was too, cheers
From the Brewary it was on to camp at 12 Mile reserve, we had the place all to ourselves.
Then on to camp
An early start for the journey home, leaving camp at 7.10am, this would be a long day, we made home by 4.30pm that afternoon, so not a bad drive.
I would like to thank everyone for making this a great trip, Kerry and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, great tracks, great camps and great company.
Thank you Dave and Fiona for a well organised trip, thank you Adam and Keith for your company for the entire trip.
Participants
Baz and Kerry (2.7l Discovery 4)
Adam and Keith (2.8l GU Patrol)
Dave and Fiona (3.0l GU Patrol)
Marion and Jen (3.0l GU Patrol)
Glenn (TD4.2 100 series Cruiser)
Howard (79 series TDV8 Cruiser)
Rob and Dillon (TD4.2l GU Patrol)
Baz.
Up early next morning for an appointment with Blue Rag Range Track, breakfast at Morrisons Cafe in Holbrook, lunch and a fuel up in Bright, then off we go, getting to the beginning of Blue Rag at around 1.00pm, this si quite a good track, not very hard, but in some places it can be tricky as you can't see all that well in places.
So from here we headed for camp at Lankey Plain Hut just off the Dargo High Plains Tr, seems the boys have been doing mud runs around the hut, which made it not very suitable to camp at, in fact it was disscusting, so we drove back to the intersection and drove along the track a bit more to find a much more suitable camp and waited for the others to arrive, they are people we know from another forum, some we have met before and others we were meeting for the first time, they arrived about 6,00pm and we all settled down for the night with introductions and a few drinks around the fire.
In the morning we awoke to a very misty camp, it was -1c over night, but was very warm in the new swag, Howard didn't fair so well in the back of the Cruiser, saying he was very cold during the night.
Some ice on the swag
We had breakfast and packed up ready to go by 8.30am, Dave and Fiona had orginised this trip, and they would lead us from here for this part of the trip, so up Blue Rag Range track again and then a left turn onto Nth Basalt track for our run down to Sth Basalt and Talbotville, not long after turning onto the track, about 3 or 4 ks we got the call on the radio that Dave had picked up a stick, which it wasn't unfortunately, it was a little more worrying than a stick.
After much head scratching and Adam climbing under the car, it turned out to be a buggered Tensioner bearing, after some discussion, it was decided that Marion and Jen would go into Wodonga to pick up said part, Marion had rang the Nissan dealer in Wadonga and they had a complete assembly in stock, Glenn would tow Dave to the rail carriage at the inersection of Sth Basalt, where Adam, Howard and Dave pulled the rest of the car apart so Dave could re-assemble it and meet us at the next camp, everyone pitched here to help Dave get back on the road as soon as we could, as you would expect.
Special thanks go to Marion and Jen, Adam, Howard, Keith and Glenn and the others that did there bit to help Dave and Fiona, well done everyone.
After making sure Dave was OK to wait for Marion and Jen to return, we would take over leading the group on to do the next part of the trip, down Sth Basalt to Talbotville and on to Billy Goat Bluff Tr and up to the Pinnacles, then back down to our camp on the Wonnangatta River, we met so many car going up Billy Goat, it was like Pitt St, 4X4 Earth forum had a gathering in Talbotville, so there were 4WDs everywhere, nothing too bad though, the view from the Pinnacles are amazing and we had such a clear day you could almost see the ocean.
From the top
From the Hellipad
After coming down Billy Goat and on our way to camp, Howard called up to say something was wrong, he had sheared the centre bolt out from his leaf springs, the axle moved back and was rubbing on the rear guard, so we pulled over to see what we could do, as with Dave, everyone did their part to help Howard while he pulled it apart, while Howard and Keith worked on his truck, Glenn, Rob and I cut some fire wood and gave Howard some extra help when needed, Kerry and Adam sussed out our camp for the night, so once Howard was all good, it was off to camp.
Thank You everyone, a great team effort again to get Howard going, this saved us so much time, we didn't have to do anything but set up, start the fire and have dinner, then relax around the fire.
Camp
Next morning we would press on and meet Dave and Fiona and Marion and Jen for the rest of the trip, we met up on Cynthia Range and Eagle vale track, because of Howards drama, he would leave the group and head for Melbourne to have his truck looked at, from phone calls later, he got as far as Stratford, before calling the RACV and the truck was flat bedded to Bairnsdale for repair, he picked it up next day(how good are these guys at The Springworks in Bairnsdale) and headed off to his daughters place a little earlier than expected.
There was nothing but great driving from here on as were the previous tracks, we went down Wonbat Range track to Wonnangatta, we were going to do Herne Spur, but Dave got a report that there was a 1 metre drop into the river at the bottom, so it was decided that Wombat would be a better option, after getting down into the valley, we had lunch beside the old Homestaed and had a bit of a look around then left to go to our next camp, this was going to be Howitts Hut, but we got there fairly early so we decided we would push to Lovicks instead, while going up Zeka Spur we had a slight hicup when we had a suspension failure and going down to the bumpstops, boy it's bumpy sitting on the stops, we had to do a hard reset to get going again, we got a further 2 suspension fault warnings along the track, but these only required engine off and start again to reset them and it was fine after that, thank you Glenn and Adam for your help here, 20mins and we were off again and up to Lovicks for the night, collected some firewood and we set up for another cold night, our new swag is brilliant, so toastie warm inside.
Up next morning, a little later this time, we had been out to Picture Point on a previous trip, so Kerry and I decided to do a slow pack up and wait for the others back at Lovicks before heading off again, this was the final day with Dave and Fiona and Marion and Jen, Adam, Keith and us would be going our own way, but first we would go down to Mansfield and met up with Rich, another friend we have met before on MySwag for a chat before heading off to camp at 12 Mile reserve on the Jamieson River, I wanted to have lunch at the Jamieson Brewary too, so after saying our hellos to Rich and a bit of a chat and said our goodbyes to Dave and Fiona, Marion and Jen, we set off for the Jamieson Brewary for lunch and a beer, very nice it was too, cheers
From the Brewary it was on to camp at 12 Mile reserve, we had the place all to ourselves.
Then on to camp
An early start for the journey home, leaving camp at 7.10am, this would be a long day, we made home by 4.30pm that afternoon, so not a bad drive.
I would like to thank everyone for making this a great trip, Kerry and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, great tracks, great camps and great company.
Thank you Dave and Fiona for a well organised trip, thank you Adam and Keith for your company for the entire trip.
Participants
Baz and Kerry (2.7l Discovery 4)
Adam and Keith (2.8l GU Patrol)
Dave and Fiona (3.0l GU Patrol)
Marion and Jen (3.0l GU Patrol)
Glenn (TD4.2 100 series Cruiser)
Howard (79 series TDV8 Cruiser)
Rob and Dillon (TD4.2l GU Patrol)
Baz.
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