Well, it was another awesome 4WD weekend. Met Andrew and Ron and their partners. They are great companies to travel with. We met up at Licola Muttonwood Campground in the afternoon.
I arrived about 3:30pm and surprise Andrew and Ron both arrived, and with firewood chopped and got a good fire going. Thanks guys. We had a surprised visit,....it's Antony in his 79 series. He didn't just visit us, but also brought along a pile of firewood cut by his brand sparkling new chainsaw.... good on ya! .... Unfortunately Antony had a family commitment so he left around 5ish.
One by one, they all arrived just in time for dinner. Friday night was relaxing night and the camp was excellent.
On Sat morning, we had a quick briefing and off we went. We left all our tent/swag at the camp so we can base camp.
The first track was Mt Margaret Track. This tk is very close to our camp. The first section was a steep rocky ascent. It may be challenging to a few but they all got up without any drama. We were all impressed by Andrew's Narava. It was running AT tyres and 2 inches lift. It just walked up the track just like others with lockers. The traction control worked really well. At one part of the track, there was a very challenging short cut side track that will take us straight to the top. Since this trip was listed as Easy/Med, I decided not to take that option in case if there is any mishap that may delay the progress.
We kept climbing for another hour or so until we reached to the helipad. What the! ... the view was nothing.... when was there last time the view was breathtaking. This time it was just cloudy, and the rain just doesn't stop. We continue on our journey and travel along the ridgeline on Mt. Margaret Tk.
We arrived our lunch point but it started raining again. We quickly finished our lunch, had a few laugh and storytelling. We immediately came across a fairly technical section which required some track building. Everyone worked as a team and quickly turned a hard track into a reasonable drivable track. Gary's 79 series had a few wheel lifting moment. It was great to watch how (inflexible) his suspension is....haha.... that V8 just sounds sweet......
We are now onto Chromite Mine Track. We continued on this track and headed north. Unfortunately this section of the track is a bit overgrown. I believe we all had a few new pin stripes on our truck. We finally arrived our first rocky decent on this trip. This section required someone to help you to spot. You literally drive down the track in blind. You will need to look at your spotter rather than relying on your guess. Gary is a great spotter. With his serious killer look, he helped guide everyone down the track safely. Andrew also helped me to spot. Thanks mate! ....
We pushed on and found some great firewood at a camp. Thanks to Jason's suggestion to check out the camp. We also left Jason's phone number in case someone was looking for their missing firewood :)
Finally we arrived the last part of the route, B1 Track. On my last trip, a Pajero broke a CV at the start of B1 Track. It was a steep rocky climb. It's technical but not overly hard. We all got up with ease.
We finish the track at 4pm. Some had enough and headed back to camp. Some wanted more!
So I, as a good trip leader, always cater for your needs. I quickly look at my Mud-map and found a good loop. We decided to check out the track.
WOW! The start of the track already looked interesting. It's a very muddy off-camber decent. Off I went, I got through it but there was a tricky section that required me to power through instead of stopping the car. Me and Stephen got through it without any drama.
Now it’s Jason’s turn. He slowly drove down the track. “Guys I need help” Jason called on radio. He put his car only an inch away from the tree. If he moved forward, the side of his car will definitely kiss the tree. Tree vs Jeep… you know the winner. I was not aware the problem until John called on radio “Kelvin, come quickly. Grab your camera and I need you to film the winching”. It’s John’s moment he has been waiting for. Seeing a Toyota to winch a Jeep is entertaining. John’s hilux winched the jeep backward to keep it away from the tree. We laid a few logs against the tree so that it kept Jason’s jeep away from the tree.
It was 5:30pm. I had a feeling that this track may turn out to be a real 4’oClock track. I quickly double checked all recovery gear and made sure we had enough supplies (food, drink, firewood) in case unexpected incident.
We continued on the track and it was nasty! There were so many washouts. It was a challenge to the Pajero and Hilux which don’t have a lot of clearance (ramp-over angle).
We worked as a team and explored the track. The track seems to be rarely used. So of the track/turned off were completely overgrown and they were undrivable. We kept follow the track and see where it led us. At 6:30pm, it was getting dark. Now, we are even further away from our camp. We were also heading to the opposite direction and a direction that may lead us back to the wilderness. We had no phone coverage.
We finally arrived to the bottom of the track. It was a river crossing. Looking at the river depth, I was confident to keep it a go and drove upstream towards to the exit. It was nearly 200 meters upstream. I got to the other side, and before I called them to follow me, I walked the track and check out what’s ahead. Damn! There was a big log blocking the track. Well, it’s a hard decision but we have no other option but to turn around and head back the way we came in.
Remember the start of this track? Yes, we need to head back up. Thanks to the logs we laid against the tree, it helped all of us to get pass it. Now it comes to the fun part. We need to drove up this muddy off-camber section. Jason drove up with ease. I had 2 attempts to get up. Stephen nearly tipped his car on the side on his first attempt. He gunned it and overshot! …. He nearly hit the other side of the road. Finally John’s Hilux just ate up the track and he gave it everything. He got up in his first go. Well done John.
We called it a day and drove back to camp.
On Sunday, Gary and Andrew need to head back to Melbourne early. So the rest of us checked out the eastern section of Burgoyne Track. It’s a pretty hard track and luckily all of us had lockers or it would be difficult to get up. We finish the trip at Cheynes Bridge camp.
Well, I hope you enjoy my trip report.
