It is hard to believe that we are in a drought, because there was no evidence of that in Powelltown. The trip started at 10:30am, Peter, Jean Bellis and Friend, Rick and Josh Koster, Jamie Scott, Gerry Devries, Kris Redden and family, and Doug, Grace and I (trip leaders). The trip changed direction due to a substantial number of road closures in the south of Powelltown. We turned on to Coles rd then Black sands, left onto Portas Rd. Seeing we hadn’t been 4wding in the north side of Powelltown for a number of years we were unsure what the roads were like. Quite worried as we were still on unsealed dirt roads, and very easy for a 2WD to navigate we thought this was as interesting as we were going to get. Great a scenic drive of Powelltown, just what we had planned!!!!
Turning right onto Britannia range track (the open part of the track), we spaced the cars out for the steep, rocky, greasy incline. Yeh ! Things were looking up; we engaged 4WD for the first time on the trip and made the climb. Very interesting, grip on your tyres was a must, but all too soon was full of clay and mud adding to the fun. All six cars made it to the top without a hitch, and you could feel the smiles on people’s faces that we had finally found a good track. The ruts were amazing in some spots, deep and wide and you could just imagine the size of the cars/tyres that had been here before us. Sometimes we think it is great being that bit smaller because you can tip toe up on the edges of the ruts or to the side of the track and get though what seemed an impossible track.
We came to the top of the hill and looked down before us, a massive bog hole, 8 meters wide, 10 meters long and no way though, unless we wanted a swamped little Subi. Doug and I proceeded down the track and there was a chicken track to the right, a little tight but a very possible way round. Through we went, keeping in mind, Kris had his Discovery and Jamie in his land cruiser had to fit. The track was fine and the ruts for once help us navigate and push you around pass the big gum trees, though a small puddle and then up the hill with culvert along the way.
This was the first of many obstacles for the day. We just couldn’t get grip, and our car, when we hit 5 thousand revs seemed to cough and lose power. Not what you want when you are climbing a slippery hill in 1st low range. We got just over the first culvert, but the loss of momentum cost us dearly. The greasy clay on the track would make some non sick frying pans jealous!! As luck would have it a group of bush walkers came by just as we had come to a halt. The rest of the club members walked across to see if they could help. A decision was made for us to back down the hill to an area where we could pull off and let Jamie though to snatch us up the track. Once we were at the top it was Gerry’s turn.
He certainly wasn’t sneaking up, all you could hear though the bush was his turbo whining, and he made it up the hill - in one attempt what’s more. Next was Peter, he managed to get to the same culvert that we did and was snatched up the rest of the way. Rick got up without a hitch - one attempt also; LSD and plenty of power is the way to go.
Next Kris, who carefully navigated his way around the chicken track got up the hill to our favourite culvert, gave it a few shots and awaited Jaimie’s welcome assistance. While everybody was making there way up the track I could see from the map we were only about half way along ritannia range track. How much harder was it going to get? Time passes quickly when you are all helping each other up the hill. It was 1230 and people could here the stomachs growling.
We made an executive decision to find a clearing that was safe to pull off the track. In doing this we came to the top of a hill and in the distance we could see an even bigger bog hole than before, but another chicken track. Doug and I proceeded down and the angle of exit was way to steep and we could see we could get into some serious trouble. While reversing out of the situation, 2 guys on trail bikes pulled over and spoke with us, "about 2km up the track are a group of guys changing a gear box on the track and there is no way around them". Very thankful for the information, we all turned around a drove back to the top of the hill, parked our cars and stopped for lunch. All I can think of was that we had to go back the way we came, at least we were going down hill!!!
After lunch we continued back to the beginning of the track without a problem. At this stage Gerry parted company with us as he had prior commitments that he had to attend to. We tuned right onto Portas track and, after a quick look at the map and discussion over the CB we decided to take 1 more track as it was only 2:30. Famous last words!
Turning on to Justice Track (not sure who the justice was for!!!) we stopped at the bottom of what looked to be another steep, long slippery hill. We sent Rick up; he made it to the top, commenting it was a bit slippery but should get up with out a worry. We all made it up calling each person though when it was safe. We took over the lead from Rick and descended down, within a few meters began slipping and the ruts and rocks just kept getting bigger. I quickly called over the CB "everybody stop and do not come down the hill". Luckily it was only Rick and ourselves. We finally stopped at the bottom of the hill, and Rick and Doug got out of the car to access the situation in front of us. There was a seemingly innocent "pool" in view which had a sand base and was holding quite a lot of water.
Doug picked up a stick to measure the depth of a rut in the bog hole. He was poking the stick in the ground right from where the ruts started and the stick disappeared half a meter. There was no way that we could get though this sandy bog hole. We could hear trail bikes in the distance, and it was the two guys from before. They decided that they would give the hole a go. The first bike went though and his trail bike virtually disappeared - leaving only the seat and handle bars above the mud. The sand was like quick sand. This just reinforced that we had to turn around and tackle the hill before the rain got to much heavier or we would have to camp here the night. It took the two guys on the trail bike and Rick to get the bike out of the rut, about 20 mins later we managed to turn the two cars around and tackle the hill.
At this time we had told everybody to turn around and wait at the top of the hill. Leaving us enough space should we be able to get up.
We put a snatch strap between Rick and our car and started to proceed up the hill. We stayed in the ruts (not our choice) with digging and making ramps out of smaller rock to get up bigger ones, we were defeated. While we were both trying to get out, Kris had managed to get stuck in a very deep rut, and Jamie was assisting with his land cruiser. Thanks to Rick for getting us so far up We un-hitched the snatch and let Rick drive up by him self as the rain was making it really slippery. He got to the same part as Kris got stuck and was snatched though by Jamie. While this was going on I was trying to make the track clearer of big rocks and dig out the centre of the rut so we wouldn’t drag the diff to much.
Jamie reversed down and we hooked on, it took about 15 snatches, using the winch once, and thank goodness we were the last car because no other cars would have made it up. We made it to the top just on dark. What would we have done if we didn’t have Jamie, Thankyou! We looked at the clock and we had been stuck on the track for 2 hours, wow time moves quick. We got out on to the main road and pulled over at Yarra Junction to say or good byes and our thanks to all who helped. We were muddy and wet, our cars were dirty, but showed that we had fun. What was a moderate trip turned into a hard trip due to weather conditions. Fun was had by all, we were a bit later than expected but were thankful it was Saturday night cause we had Sunday to recovery and clean up. Thanks to all that came, and thanks again Jamie. Apparently (Les Scott), Jamie thinks you missed out on a great trip.
Attendees:
Friday
Daryl and Rose arrived the earliest, even after a short detour that took them on a 130km trip, followed by myself and Katie, then later Peter and Jean. After a late hello and good night we all retired to bed.
Saturday
As 9.30 approached the only other car that arrived at Rawson Village accommodation was Martin Foot. We were starting to wonder where everyone else was, when Doug and Kate walked over to say everyone else was waiting at the Rawson Village shops. Once we were all together, we headed off around 9.50 in search of some snow to drive in. Since this year has been to best snow season for some time, and also on the pre trip Katie and I had found much snow to drive through, we figured that this would be a good year. It wasn't long before we turned of the bitumen, and then had to wait for someone to lock in his or her hubs. (Obviously not a Subaru driver!)
It took a little while longer that the pre trip to see signs of snow, as there had been a few warm days, and a few days of rain since that had washed away a lot of the snow. After a brief stop along the road, we moved on to a picnic area for morning tea. Snow was covering the road in many places, but not really enough to pose a challenge or problem. It was too early to stop for lunch as it was about 11.00am. Many snowballs were thrown, and photos taken. Comments were made about there being more snow than the last few years we have traveled in this area, although Katie and I had seen much more 2 weeks earlier.
We moved on towards our lunch stop, and found more snow across the road. In places it was a little deeper, but still no problem for any one. By the lunch stop at The Triangle, most people had worked up an appetite, and were quickly setting up gas stoves and the like, to have a hot lunch. While heating and eating, a group of about a dozen older Land Rovers drove by, including a 101 Land Rover.
After Lunch we were on the move again, this time towards Matlock. A bit of bitumen again, before more gravel and snow on the road. After a short drive we arrived at the next turn at Jessup Airstrip. This is used by the DSE during summer for fire spotting, and bombing if needed. Here the snow had not been driven through yet, so those towards the front were able to make there own tracks along the road. This road would eventually lead us past Bells Portal, and another weir that are part of the Thompson catchment, and pumping arrangement for Melbourne Water, before coming back to the place we had morning tea.
This would also be our 'arvo tea' stop. It was now around 3.00pm, and everyone was amazed at how much the snow had disappeared in the last four hours. More photos were taken, as 'after' shots, to the mornings 'before' shots. As several people were in need of being back in Melbourne that evening we made our was back to Rawson for a group shot of the vehicles, all 11 of us for the day, and Les Ralph who arrived just as we finished for the day.
Those staying for dinner, cleaned themselves up and sat around casually until 7.00pm when we went across to the Bistro for dinner. After a very tasty dinner, the rain had set in, and most of us went across to the Lodge to look at photos, and have a chat about the day's events, before retiring for the night.
Sunday
Sunday morning started off with a drive out to the Thompson Dam wall to have a look at the water level. As expected it was well down on previous visits. The group decided that since most of had been to Walhalla two years ago, we would not go this year, and instead went along South Face Road. This is to be the new access to Mt Baw Baw from next year, for traffic traveling form the east. It was started as a major logging road, before previous governments restricted logging. There is less than a kilometre to finish the road, but this will still cost in excess of $500,000 to complete.
To make our way to the Mt Baw Baw tourist road, we take a small track to the Tanjil Bren road, and back on to the Mt Baw Baw tourist road. Not far after returning to the bitumen we found a large group of cars on the way to Mt Baw Baw stuck on the wrong side of a large tree that had fallen across the road. Many were surprised when we brought out a chainsaw, e-flares, safety vests, satellite phone, and recovery gear to deal with the problem tree. They did not understand why we were so well prepared when we only in cars, and on a main road. It didn't take long to cut through the tree, once the chain was sharpened, (borrowed saw) and everyone was on there way again.
We decided to have lunch at Tanjil Bren as it was now about 1.00pm. Daryl and Rose had to leave via the main road for Rose to get to work on time, while the rest of us kept traveling the back ways that I know. Not far out of Tanjil Bren, there was a sign warning that a bridge was out in 14kms distance. This did not worry me, as I knew of at least 2 other ways past. Ten kms later there were 2 signs saying that both roads had their bridges out. Damn! I knew people had been traveling through, and thought thy must be using the back back road, so we went this way first. Guess what? There was no bridge! It appears to have been washed out in the floods. After checking the map, and another further remote back track that was impassible, we went to the main logging track to check this missing bridge, only to find it in place, and quite sound and usable. (Must remember to notify some one that the sign needs to be removed).
Now it was only a short trip back to the Princes Highway at Trafalgar. A quick stop for some for fuel and toilets, and the rest of the group continued on their way home, while Katie and I contemplated unpacking.
Attendees:
Saturday and Sunday
Saturday only
Sunday only
References
Elisabeth Freeman & Eric Freeman, 2006, Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, O’Reilly, California, USA
Images and text Subaru 4WD Club of Victoria [Source]
W3C Schools website 2010 [Source]
W3C Markup validation service 2010 [Source]
W3C CSS validation service 2010 [Source]
YouTube Subaru Club Site [Source]
