Monday 22nd January 2024
Leader: David H
Participants: Colin A, Peter, Graham
- Distance Driven: 78 km
- Time Taken: 6h:54m
- Average Speed: 11.29 kph
- Minimum Altitude: 259 m
- Maximum Altitude: 597 m
The sky was overcast, the temperature something less than warm and a stiff breeze snagged at hats and food wrappings and began to worm its way through our January wardrobes. But that would change as the day wore on and the clouds cleared to reveal a clear blue sky and Spring-ish low twenties temperatures. Still no sign of Summer yet.
Eight thirty for nine, and we were gathered at the small town of Wandong, just off the M31 north of Wallan. Briefing done, we headed north, paralleling the Hume, to the delightful little village of Waterford Park. Here we turned east heading up The Spur Road, with gorgeous views over the valley below, and into the Mt Disappointment State Forest where, we had been assured, we would experience steep climbs and descents with deep ruts and challenging rock ledges, along with some easier gravel road cruising. But absolutely NO bog holes. Yeah, right!
I won’t bore you with the details of the route we followed throughout the day, mainly because my VMS GPS mapping thingy chose this day to give up the ghost and, for most of the day, I had only the vaguest clue where we were. No matter. Buttocks clenched and adrenalin pumping, we were having a great time testing vehicle clearances, traction and driver skills close to the limit.
Early on, after a long steep descent into a valley, we found our path blocked by a sizeable tree across the track and the prospect of retracing our way back up the goat track we had just come down. Or… Luckily Colin had the forethought to bring his trusty electric chainsaw with him and although the tree trunk diameter was larger than the saw blade, by tackling it from above, below and both sides, and with a strap and a bit of a tug from Dave’s Jeep, the road was cleared, and we were on our dusty way.
Continuing, we tackled more steep ups and downs with deep ruts and vehicles on sometimes alarming angles, “creek” crossings, one of which found the underbody clearance of every vehicle in the convoy wanting and even had Dave’s Rubicon with wheels in the sky, and, you guessed it, bog holes.
Lots of them. I shudder to think what might have been had we not been avoiding them. One particular puddle challenged our fearless leader who eventually made it on his third attempt. Vehicle number two got halfway and had to be retrieved for another attempt, but eventually made it through. By then, the remaining drivers had figured out that boots full of momentum and a disregard for underbody components would be required and both made it through on their first attempt.
And so the day continued, across hill and dale, through forest, swamp and dust, driving in aimless circles (several déjà vu events were noted) or were they carefully planned loops?
We stopped at some stage for morning tea and lunch, and although it was school holidays and there were several campers at some sites, we only passed one other vehicle driving in the forest. So, for most of the trip, it felt like we had the whole State Forest to ourselves even though we were only about an hour from the Melbourne CBD. We did also manage to find a couple of historic sites too.
We made it back to the blacktop mid-afternoon, re-inflated the tyres (Peter finally found his airing down gear) and Dave declared the trip over, leaving some of us without functioning GPSs wondering where the devil we were. So I continued along the road and remarkably ended up back in Wandong where I gave the carwash a workout.
Another great trip thanks Dave – you’ve again done well.
Text: Graham
Photos: Graham & David H