So we are away.
Zac and I left home at 6:30 this morning and headed bush! We made Buxton just before 7:30am and made a quick stop to grab Zac some butter menthols to help him get over his cold, then pointed the car into the bush behind the Catherdral Ranges.
Was a good start and we saw many rabbits on the trail before coming upon a herd of Kangeroos. We tried to get close enough for a photo, but they hopped away. I think Zac got the best photo on his ipod! Will upload later.
Soon got sick of the boring tracks around the Catherdral ranges, so we headed deeper into the bush towards Rubicon State Forest, and finally found the first mud to put on the new car, a small puddle, but it didn’t come cheap cause in the bog hole we got attacked by a stick that went straight through the side wall of our rear tyre…. that’s right, not even 10am and we got a puncture!!!
Made it back onto the flats and have just changed it. Nasty stick as you can see in the photo.
******later that day ******
So we have found a great little campsite that is secluded between two main (and packed) campgrounds down by the Big River in the State Forest north of the Yarra Ranges National Park.
Had a great day of 4WD’ing, covering about 200kms, up and down mountains (some very steep and scary) and along alot of ridges.
Once into the Rubicon State Forest, we finally found some decent tracks by picking anything that was classed as “seasonal closure”, and weren’t disappointed. While there wasn’t much mud, we did climb up and down some very steep tracks, a few that had Zac a little concerned!!
After passing under a very old bridge, we came across an aquaduct that wound it’s way through the forest, and some very old buildings. My guess is an old saw mill, but I can’t be sure. We then headed up a steep track and found a clearing on top of a mountain to stop for lunch at an altitude of 1000 metres (zac was impressed!). We unloaded the car and cooked up hotdog’s and boiled the kettle for a cuppa while we sat in a really nice and peaceful clearing.
Just as we were about to eat, a couple of trail bikes passed by, stopping for a quick chat. Nice enough people, a guy and girl out for a ride. I asked him about the track he had just come down, and he asked if I knew where I was. I shrugged and said “not really, but doesn’t matter cause we are just picking tracks at random”. He offered me a look at his map, but I said I had my own and so they headed off.
We ate our hotdogs as they disappeared down the trail, then packed up and headed off along the ridge top trail. After winding through some treacherous tracks, we started back down as I wanted to get out of the hills and down near the river down south to camp for the night, and that was still a ways to go. That was when we came across our trail bike friends again… well at least the girl. We stopped to ask if she was ok, and she said “umm… not really, we are lost… do you know where we are??” I pulled out the ipad, and pinpointed our exact location… got to love technology!!
That was when the guy reappeared from further down the trail. Turned out the poor girl was exhausted not having done much riding before, and was not comfortable with some oft he steep desents. We offered to follow them down, but the guy declined saying “Nah, it is not much further down and get’s a lot better after the first bit!”
Wasn’t he wrong!!! As Zac and I made our descent, we commented several times that “…she is not going to like this bit!!!” was very very steep in places. LOL.
Was coming down the hill that I picked up some rare reception just as Fi rang to see how we are going, so we paused on the track facing straight down hill for a chat.
Once down the hill again, we hit Snob’s Creek rd which was pretty much just a gravel road and headed south before another quick ascent to 1000m again before heading down the hill to the camp sites.
We weren’t to impressed with the first one we came across as it was packed, so we headed further up river, and turned into a little track off the main road to find an awesome and secluded campsite next to the river.
So, we are just relaxing and killing time by the river before tea having already setup the swags and garthered enough wood for a fire.
Biggest issue here is that being in the valley, the reception is non-existant so guess you will not see this blog until we get home again tomorrow.
Anyway, more adventures to follow….
Here are some photos from the day
