High Country Trip.
I studied one of the maps my boss gave me and decided to head over towards Licola as it looked like there were a few tracks with a lot of river crossings.
We left Bec's house mate a note saying where we were going and if she hadnt heard from us by Tuesday evening she would have alerted search and rescue.
It was raining quite a bit Sunday morning, but we loaded LJ up and hit the road.
We stopped in the pretty little town of Yea for breakfast and last minute supplies.
We then carried on to Mansfield, where I would top the fuel tank up for the last time before hitting the tracks.
That done we headed through Jamison which would be our last bit of civilization for a few days.
The road soon turned to dirt as we headed for our first 4wd track.
I knew the Goulburn river is quite a big river in places so when I spotted a crossing of it marked on the map, with a caution next to it I thought it sounded interesting.
We found the track and turned on to it.
Being the middle of summer, I didn't think the crossing would be very deep.
This is the Goulburn in Winter in full spate, closed for obvious reasons!
With the first river crossing safely under our belts we headed up the steep track and climbed for the next half an hour of so before reaching the top and driving along the ridge.
We stopped for a quick break and I aired the tyres down, the fronts to 25psi and the rears to 28.
A quick timed photo of us both.
Stunning views out both sides of LJ as we snaked along the ridge.
The scenery was constantly changing and the wild flowers provided a nice sprinkling of colour.
The High Country has lots of historic huts scattered around the mountains, lots of them are old cattle mens huts which were used by the cattle men as they moved their herbs around and to shelter from bad weather. These huts can still be used today as a place of refuge in bad weather, although a lot of them have sadly been vandalised.
I was a bit surprised to turn a corner and see a
new hut, which certainly wasnt marked on the map.
Whoever had built it had done a pretty good job and gone to a lot of effort!
It even had a bit built on the back.
I just hope Parks Victoria dont pull it down for being an illegal hut.
We reached the end of our first track.
We then turned right and headed up to Mount Skene. I last drove this road about 18 months ago on the snow trip I did.
We stopped at a look out half way up.
It turned out to in fact be a
non scenic look out. I'm guessing it was once before all the trees grew up.
We carried on up the mountain and once again the scenery changed again, this time we were surrounded by ghostly white, dead trees.
Last time I got a photo of this sign things looked very different!
This was August 2013 on my first Australian snow trip:
OK.............................
Back to this trip.
We carried on over Mount Skene.
We soon found ourselves at the top of a the very challenging "Barkley River Jeep Track".
We wouldn't be driving it today as driving it without another vehicle would be really foolish and dangerous.
The next track was quite tight with lots of overhanging trees.
We were soon back on the main dirt road dropping down the mountain.
We went left, heading towards Licola.
We soon turned off this main dirt road, onto Middle Ridge Road which was a 4wd only track.
The track had lots of fallen trees and we just managed to squeeze under them all, probably 10-15 in total.
We then got to our second river crossing, again just a trickle today. It was a different story when I last drove it, on the snow trip. On that trip it was deep and fast and killed 2 of the 10 trucks in our convoy.
Dramatic function On.
How I found the river crossing last time I was here, on the snow trip:
We carried on with
this trip.
We turned onto Bull Plain Road and soon reached our turning for Black Soil Gully Road.
This track looked quite challenging on the map with lots of switchbacks and a warning about it being slippery when wet.
It wasnt too hard and we soon reached the track we were heading for, the Macalister River Track.
Our first of many river crossings on this track.
We drove the first few crossings looking for a decent camp site and then decided to turn around and head for the really good one we had spotted near crossing 1.
The tent was soon up and I chopped some wood and built the fire.
We thought it might rain so I set the awning up to cook under.
We spent an hour or 2 relaxing with a cold one beside the fire.
Then I cooked us dinner, steak which we had marinaded in a sticky BBQ flavored marinade 24 hours previously and mash potato.
It was delicious!!
Washing up in the river I spotted a peculiar looking creature that looked like a spider, but only had 7 legs and was gliding on top of the water.
The river was very low but in winter it would be a raging torrent!
You can just make out LJ and our camp site on the right of the pic below.
The river led down into a nice plunge pool where the Macalister and Caledonia rivers meet.
We continued with our evening sat round the roaring fire with cold beer and cider.
The next morning we were awake bright and early.
I cooked us cheese and egg sandwiches.
The plunge pool in the river looked like the perfect place for a morning skinny dip to freshen us up!
More timed photo wizardry!
We packed everything up and prepared for another day on the tracks. We had realised by this point that it was going to be a glorious bright sunny day!
A quick photo with the sign before we began our 10 river crossings.
We intended on turning right onto Butcher Country Track, but as I wanted to do all 10 river crossings we continued on and then turned around and came back to the turning for Butcher Country Track.
Butcher Country Track is where I blew the rear diff on LJ on her first Australian 4wd trip and ended up having a nightmare of a trip.
So I was slightly nervous about being out here solo encase something similar happened. But then LJ is really well maintained and I had confidence she would make it!
Its very steep and rocky in places.
As is usually the case, the pics dont do it justice for just how steep and rocky it was.
We drove up onto and along the ridge of the mountain and were treated to stunning views!
We turned off onto the Link Track.
And soon passed the meadow on top of the mountain where we camped on that first trip. It was here that I spent all night striping the blown diff out of the rear of LJ.
Still climbing up the mountain.
The last section of this track was the longest, steepest hill I've ever descended!
I dont know what the dozer driver was thinking when he pushed this track through, but he clearly didn't have time to make switch backs and instead went straight down!
I was actually a bit scared at times coming down this one as I was in first low the whole way and I was constantly feathering the brakes on the whole way down. It was ridiculously steep, with lots of loose rocks and with a very nasty drop down the mountain off the one side.
But we made it safely down.
After changing our underwear we could continue with our next track, The Caledonia River Track.
This next track had a whopping 14 river crossings!
So as not to miss any we turned right and drove the first 5, then turned around and drove all 14 in a row.
Originally I had thought of driving this track from North to South but I was put off slightly by the warnings on the map for the Dingo Hill Track.
As being out here on our own I was keen to avoid anything too challenging and with the last track only being marked as
Steep at the end and that being bloody steep, I hate to think what a
Very steep track must be like!
So we drove the first 5 crossings.
We passed an older chap in a white 80 series who stopped for a quick chat. We would pass him again shortly and he would then follow us for most of the day.
We drove the first 5 crossings and then turned around and headed back to drive all 14 in order.
We passed the guy in the white 80 series who had stopped for lunch.
We encountered a few bog holes, but luckily they all had by-pass tracks so we avoided these car killers!
After crossing number 14 the track began to steeply rise from the valley and the track became much more challenging.
Again pics dont do it justice for just how steep this was.
Fortunately there were switch-backs but these were quite tight and required a shunt to safely get around.
Backing up too far on these hairpin switch-backs wouldn't be pleasant with a sheer drop to the valley floor below.
This would be the longest, steepest climb of the trip and we would be crawling in low first for about 30 minutes. I was carefully monitoring LJ's engine temp and it got almost to 90, not over heating but another 10 degrees and it would have been.
Of course the inaccurate factory gauge never moved above halfway and wouldn't have until the engine would have already over heated.
Apart from one little brown trouser moment while negotiating some rock steps where I ended up with a front wheel 2ft in the air and had to carefully reverse, pick a different line and put the rear diff lock in, we got up OK.
The track then became less steep and much easier going.
Apart from one little rock section that required the rear locker.
Eventually we emerged onto the main dirt road, after many hours of technical driving we were both a bit relieved.
We would follow this road for the next hour as it winds and drops its way down from the mountains to the valley floor and the pretty little town of Licola.
A quick toilet stop gave me the chance to get some pics.
Amazing views on our way down, although it was by this point a bit overcast.
I like the road down from the mountains, its a feet of engineering how its cut through the rock and twists and turns its way down with lots of hair pin bends.
And finally we hit bitumen again!
A few K's later we were in Licola.
Enjoying ice creams and hot pies.
It had been a long hot day behind the wheel and I was keen for a swim in the river, so we found a suitable river side camp site along our intended route home, just a few road k's from Licola.
This bridge was built to replace the previous one which got washed away in huge floods in 2007.
A nice refreshing dip.
We found a suitable spot and found a fire still smouldering.
Tent up first.
Then it was time for dinner.
LJ's mudflaps proved to be good at keeping the wind away from the gas stove.
The sky was looking pretty dark so we decided to set the awning up encase it started raining whilst we were cooking.
Bec helped by hammering the pegs in.
I was very impressed with the lamb shanks!
Pretty amazing that they can be stored for up to 18 months without being frozen or refrigerated.
The lamb was beautifully tender and juicy and literally fell off the bone.
We then spent the night around the fire.
Enjoying a couple of cold ones.
I had a walk along the river in the morning and there were lumps of concrete everywhere from the old washed away bridge. (Although non are visible in the pic below.
)
Aired up the tyres and put the mud flaps back on.
And hit the road for the 2.5 hour drive home.
LJ didn't miss a beat and drove the whole trip beautifully!
Home and safely tucked up in the garage.
It was a great trip and I really enjoyed it!
It was Bec's first time 4wding and first time camping and I'm hoping she enjoyed it and will want to go again!
Its just so nice to get out of the city and leave all the people, traffic, concrete, pollution and chaos behind and just get out there and relax, explore and switch off!
Hope you enjoyed the trip report guys.
I've got a lot of really exciting things happening over the next 6 months, but cant say too much just yet.
