Xmas trip – Pyrenees Nov 2015

Mark lead the Xmas trip to the Pyrenees, between Avoca and Ararat. Most club members hadn’t been to the area prior to the Moonamble Muster in June and so it was decided to further explore the area ourselves. Camp was based at the Glenpatrick campground, with nice open space, some shade and toilet facilities but no fresh water. Went for a drive on Saturday, Lee of all people was the only one who got stuck. There were some good tracks and everyone enjoyed the weekend. About 45-50 people attended in total with 11 cars including a guest appearance from Viv and Hoddo. Raffle was drawn and everyone received a prize.

Snowy River – Nov 2015

Left Broadford, met a few others at Porepunkah, and a few others at Ensay. Plenty of rain, which saw some leave after the heavy weather. Ten cars on the trip all up. Went to Mt Seldom Seen. Camped at Timbarra River on the first night, which was a beautiful spot. Second night stayed at a nice spot which was hosting a horse event. Did some good tracks. Camped on the beach at Jacksons Crossing, which was very picturesque (more rain). Went and had a peek around Buchan Caves, which is worth the visit. Fantastic trip and a excellent job done by John in regards to organising the trip.

Strathbogie Ranges – Sept 2015

Had a good weekend, met up at Euroa on Saturday morning, about six vehicles including one guest. Fantastic scenery. Went up to Mt Buggery where our guest, John, managed to avoided a disastrous situation – thankfully he had the experience to back down to safety. Had a nice camp spot for the night. Next day followed a few good tracks, found some old mines and got back home around 6:00pm.

Western Australia 2015/16

Words by Richard.

Day 1 of the Perth trip had the attack of the’gremlins’. My aircon packed up but managed to fix itself after 2 hours and one of my wheel arch linings managed to break free with a lot of noise. Matt’s accelerator cable managed to detach itself so that involved some roadside repairs by P2. Then P2’s cruise control also decided it had enough and stopped working and to top it off Paul D’s aircon also stopped but managed to fix its self a couple of hours later. But apart from that a good drive.

 

Day two. Morgan to Port Lincoln via Port Augusta approx 650 kilometers. An uneventful drive unlike yesterday. Georgia has booked herself in for a shark diving trip much to her mothers discussed.

Day three saw us take a drive to Memory Cove via a good track with great views. We took kayaks with us for the beautiful beach . P2 was the one with the ‘job’ of carrying 3 kayaks but managed to loose one on the way. All followed by dinner out.

Day four. Was a move from Port Lincoln to Coffin Bay. The men and Georgia took a fishing trip charter about an hour out of Port Lincoln Spilsby Island. Matt won the biggest fish bet we had and Georgia caught the most. I caught the least! P2 was a bit ‘travel’ sick even after rubbing Vicks into the belly button (he claims it was the coffee). We caught 50 whiting. The ladies and kids spent the afternoon shopping and eating ice cream in Port Lincoln.

Day Five. Paul and Franca opted to stay at camp and have a quiet day and a bit of kayaking. The rest had a great day out driving around Coffin Bay National Park. Trip started with me getting stuck within 200m of hitting the sand, but as Paul pointed out, had I put the car in 4wd? No.
Great drive along Seven Mile Beach with a lunch stop with some snorkelling and kayaking. Then on to Mullalong Beach and Reef Point with a mix of sand, rock and dirt tracks with Matt cutting his foot at Reef Point. The day was finished with an other great drive across the dunes at Gunyah Beach.

 

Day six. Left Coffin Bay to Streaky Bay via the Flinders Highway. Uneventful trip with issues. We celebrated new year at Streaky Bay watching a fantastic firework display on a 40c day. The fireworks lasted a good 30 mins. All in bed by 1am News Day.

20 Dwyers at the Haystacks

Day seven Matt and family along with Georgia and I decided to go to Murphys Haystack which is an interesting rock formation. Matt then went onto Point Labatt to look at seals. The two Pauls and families went Perlubie Beach which was hosting a sports day which has been going for a 100 years. They played volley ball and won the first game! And lost second game to the eventual winners. Also many others games including sack racing and swimming. Thomas won $25 in 800m run and $10 in swimming.
Day eight saw us traveling from Streaky Bay on the Eyre Highway across the Nullabor to Cockbiddy and a brief stop on a lookout over the Great Australian Bight. Also plenty of eagles to be seen eating the road kill on the side of the road. Georgia and I trying to cook dinner in a howling wind at the campsite, when the rest of the sensible ones had a dinner in the diner!

Day nine was another day driving the Nullabor from Cocklebiddy to Esperance. When we arrived at Balladonia Georgia and I opted to take the Balladonia track which cut off about 200 kilometers of the trip to Esperance whilst the rest did the ‘hard top’ option. We did hear a couple of bad reports on the condition of the track from the service stations, but it was a relatively easy track being mainly sand and rock with no issues.

… and then the remaining facebook updates became photos.

Snow trip, August

Met at Broadford train station – six vehicles in total. Met Lee at Jamieson around 9am. Went to Mt Terrible where there was some snow and the kids made snowmen. Found some river crossings. Had lunch at Knockwood. Some cars left from the trip there and returned home for the day.

The others continued on towards Lazarinis Spur and found some bigger river crossings. Some good wet tracks; bit of a challenge. Still driving into the night and didn’t get to the pub until 6:30pm. Had a good night. Next day left towards Matlock where there was lots of snow. Headed towards Cornhill Road towards Big River.

Good weather all weekend. A couple of vehicles had some problems, though a good weekend had by all. Paul did a good job with organising.

Upper King River, April 2015

Eight vehicles on the trip; Mark & Ashley, Matt, Shane, Wazza & Jocey, Simmo & Jen, Scott, Simon and our guest Mark in an early GQ Patrol. Met in Broadford, filled up in Mansfield. Bit of rain on the drive up, Scott & Simmo reporting that there was plenty of rain that night/morning, Had morning tea at Tomahawk Hut and dropped the tyres down. Followed No. 3 Road (bit too bumpy for a road) to meet Circuit Road, then followed that all the way around to Bindaree Falls. Long drive on 2WD dirt road but the falls were pretty spectacular with the short (400m) walking track leading in behind the falls. Had lunch at the falls carpark. Back up to Circuit Road, then up Monument Track. First and only bit of low range 4wd for the day. Headed on to Craigs Hut; heaps of other tourists – bikes, horses, 4WDs. Still pretty spectacular looking views with the hut and the backdrop. Made our way down Speculation Rd and stopped at King Hut for a look. Decided this was a pretty good campsite and pulled up stumps despite it only being mid arvo. Mark R managed to snap the joint where the pitman arm connects to the tie rod. He was trying to manouver his car in position at the camp! Quick decision was made to leave the vehicle there and for someone to take him in to Mansfield to call RACV. Rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get the fire warm, which it eventually did by the time people started going to bed.

Next morning Scott volunteered to take Mark in to Mansfield. Our guest Mark took off with them also while the rest of the crew headed off for some 4wding. The main group went in to Pineapple Flat, up Burnt Top Tk, Wild Horse Gap Tk, then had morning tea where Wild Horse Gap Tk meets up with Lake Cobbler Road (Wild Horse Gap). Headed down Lake Cobbler Road then cut across to the top end of Lake William Hovell via Basin Tk, Long Spur Tk, Sandy Tk and Top Crossing Tk, Didn’t go in to see the lake, instead turned up Buckland Spur Tk and stopped at Tomahawk Hut to air up and head home. On the way home, back in phone reception, we touched base with Mark, Ashley & Scott to find that they were all safe with Mark’s hilux out of the forest waiting for repairs the following day in Mansfield.

Southend SA, Easter 2015

Lots of beach driving, 9 cars attended. Beach was quite busy. Campsite was really good, had plenty of room. Had a campfire on the beach. Drove down to Carpenters Rocks, very soft sand. At one point 7 out of 8 cars were bogged in the sand. The next day went from Southend on to Robe and lunch at the pub. Went back along some tracks found some big dunes. Paul had a canoe towing through the sand, which was quite enjoyable. Paul D nearly had a roll over on the beach but easily avoided the situation. Next day was for relaxing, done some fishing and just enjoyed the atmosphere.

Wonnangatta/Talbotville, March 2015

Simon and Mark met at Broadford, headed to Benalla then over to Myrtleford and down to Abbeyard for lunch. A few cars out on the roads/tracks. Followed East Buffalo Track, onto Shultzes Tk, up to Mt Selwyn and could see burning off in the Wonnangatta Valley. Down Wombat Spur and encounterd a interesting water crossing exit at Humpffray River. Got into Wonnangatta around 5 o’clock and made camp. Nice quite spot. David made it to camp 12:30am.

Next day had a look at the cemetery and site of the old homestead. A lot of traffic on the tracks going up Hernes Spur. Followed Cynthia Range dropped down to Talbotville around midday to meet up with Matt & Waz. Found a perfect camp spot and made camp. Then went for a drive in the afternoon up to Bulltown and the Crooked River track where Wazza had done his first 15 or so water crossings.

Next day packed up early and headed up South Basalt Knob Track. Got up to Blue Rag, met with a beautiful view but no real 4×4 challenge. Then headed home via Bright, Myrtleford and the Hume Fwy.