Trip Reports

HIGH COUNTRY IN MAY

Story by Kathy Walker - May '04

Those of us who attended this High Country weekend had a great time—read on! We were to meet up at McDonald’s at Pakenham at 7:00 AM sharp for a 7:30 AM departure. Well, the Walkers don’t seem to know what ‘sharp’ means. They were late. And I mean very late (does that constitute a fine Bill?). When we finally arrived after a few choice words along the way we checked in with our Trip Leader Mark Andrews (CITYWEST Vice-President), and Katelyn ‘Snoozy’ Andrews. Mark headed off followed by Colin and Kathy Walker and Peter ‘Shunt’ and Josh ‘Malteser Man’ Morley as Tail-end Charlie.

First stop was Traralgon to ‘gas up’, and then we pressed on to Licola for morning tea and a stretch. On leaving Licola we soon left the black top behind, too—through the gate and we were ‘on the dirt’. Travelling along quite nicely up the hills and, oh no ‘not the Walkers again’! Colin stalled halfway up a hill. The cause—he ran out of fuel! Well, not really—just forgot to switch tanks, (ummm, I think that’s another fine, isn’t Bill?). Off we go again and the higher we got the more spectacular the scenery became. We came to the first of 6 or 7 crossings of the Macalister River. The weather was fine, sometimes cloudy and a little cool - but exhilarating. We stopped after river crossing number 4 or 5 to have lunch. After a relaxing lunch we pushed onwards and upwards steadily climbing all the time, and really enjoying our trip. We decided to camp in a clearing halfway along the track we were on.

The camp site was one frequently used from look of the way things were set up. We were fortunate enough to have been left some firewood all ready for our camp fire (nice of the last campers to leave it for us). We set up our tents and so on, and Shunt (with some help from Josh) got the camp fire burning and what a good job he did (must be the boy scout in him). We had an enjoyable ‘sit around the campfire’ and Josh got us all going with one of his games ‘Cartoon Alphabet’. Katelyn and Josh learnt a bit about some cartoon characters from the past making the adults in the group feel a bit ancient with the comments of ‘who’?

During the night we had rain, not just a shower but quite a few downpours. If it kept raining we might have had to stay put, I thought to myself, and our fearless trip leader had only advised us to bring enough food for the 2 days! But the night before I’d noticed that Shunt was well-prepared with his food box full of goodies so I thought I could stick with him if the need arose!

The morning dawned quite cloudy and still a little wet with a shower or two before breakfast but nothing bad enough to keep us there. We broke camp and were on the road again by 9:00 AM. After travelling for about an hour on the track which was a bit wet and slippery, Colin got stuck on a rocky (and muddy) section and needed to be winched up. We thought this would be a piece of cake but no not so, Colin’s winch would not work (another fine, I think, Bill!) not because of poor maintenance but who knows at this point? What an embarrassing thing to happen on your very first club trip.

Out came the ‘bag of tricks’ and then the big decision—which tree would be the right one for the anchor point? I must say these blokes tried a few trees before they settled on which one was the right one, then they decided that, no, they had to change their plan again and use another tree. After about 11/2 to 2 hours, and the threat of showers looming we finally had Colin up and over the rocky ledge on this section of track. We set off again and further up the track a voice came over the radio: ‘Shunt can you come up here and help me with wheel placement’, yes, our fearless trip leader was stuck on a rocky ledge. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and with Colin in the back for more weight, (sometimes being a big fellow comes in handy), they got ‘Pajman’ going on up the track. Now it was the turn of the two Troopies. ‘Shunt’ came up first so that if we needed to winch Colin’s ‘Tonka Toy’ he would be prepared. With a bit of rocking and rolling, wheels lifting off the ground, ‘Shunt’ had no problems tackling the job.

Then it was Colin’s turn, he gunned the pedal and with a burst of power that ‘Tonka Toy’ reared up on its back wheels and tackled the job with ease. There were more hills to climb and we did these easily. We got to the end of the Butcher Country Track and had a quick lunch stop on the Howitt High Plains as time was running against us due to the fact that the roads were wet and muddy. Speaking of which we did some really serious ‘mud dancing’ along the way. We were still taking in lots of magnificent scenery and taking lots of pictures—or at least I was. After lunch we proceeded along the King Billy Track and got to the turn off for Bluff Track and Lovick’s Hut only to find the road closed for the season. No problem—we just took the Brooks Road, although it too a little longer than we planned.

We ended up doing some night driving and arrived in Mansfield at approximately 8:00 PM. After a quick snack we were on the road again and looking forward to hot showers and comfy beds. We said our goodbyes over the radio when we reached the Western Ring Road. A good weekend was had by all with lots of fun, plenty of 4x4 driving and good company. We’re looking forward to the next trip!

- Kathy Walker