Hey guys and gals, just thought I'd post a report of a non 4wd trip I did recently.

One of my other hobbies is gold prospecting, you'll never get rich from it, but bloody hell, when the gold bug bites, it has you forever!

This trip was a lot more successful than some, I reckon my concentrates will come to 2-3 grams, for about one day of digging. Still way less than what I'd make working, but the thrill of finding gold is magic.

Reedy creek is a lovely place to camp, there are dozens of sites along the river, and Beechworth is close by, old Ned had his trial there and was sent to Melb to be hung. The Beechworth bakery of course and the Beechworth honey shop. And a few nice pubs. The Beechworth brewery is also there, I might suggest the pale ale, it's a ripper, you can buy it in town from dan murphy's if you can't visit.

We had a visit from a local rock wallaby that fed from my hand, there was also plenty of small lizards and goannas around.

Generally a really nice relaxing time 3 hrs from home and I didn't bust or bend anything, a great family friendly place 20km from beechworth or wangaratta, but you feel like you are miles from anything, and the kids can pan and find real gold in the creek.

So how was the Wallaby stew?

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Forgot to say, the camping areas are on the road that goes between eldorado and Bechworth. There are dozens of them, most are very small, only allowing 1-2 vehicles, and the access roads are often washed out pretty bad, so a 4wd is needed on most of them (just for clearance). Wood is in good supply, but it's a really dry area, make sure you put any fires out really really well, the creek is normally got plenty of water, Feb March is can dry up though. Bring your own drinking water, I wouldn't use the creek water even if you boiled it. And please take your rubbish home! Most of these spots are actually really clean, unlike a lot of the high country, so "take it in take it out"

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Ah take it in take it out, if only everyone lived by that simple rule

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A better class of people, the prospectors, lol seems they respect there bush more.

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Yeah I often hear 4wd'ers say they don't litter.

Their reply is often Nah it's not us that do it.

Well who the hell does it then?

You don't see too many bushwalkers around places like wonangatta etc.

On almost every 4wd trip I have had to pull people up for tossing cans etc in the fire.

It's really simple. Take it in take it out.

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I get sick and tired of asking people not to throw cans, subbies and rubbish  in fires, some even think I am the unreasonable a hole for expecting people to take there rubbish home and not just burn it, screw them I say. I am happy to say what I believe and not be concerned with what others think.

Great trip report by the way

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Don't feel bad about giving a lecture At least you can sleep at night knowing you've done the rite thing. We were at Merringtons a few weeks before Xmas had to pick up half bag of rubbish and clean whatever shit they tried to burn in the fire pit before setting up camp. A bit annoying but hopefully the next person to camp in that spot appreciated how clean we left it.

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Mother nature will do more damage than some kind of hobbie, in one foul swoop. There use to be camp spots near licola,in a matter of days ,the camp sites where washed away,land and all, the Macalister is a lot wider now.

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Nice report Mark, not sure that I would have your patience with gold panning, but glad to hear it was all worthwhile this time.

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