Robin Miller posted:

Thanks Michael , its amazing how some of this stuff , just falls into place for a story , I can't ever remember seeing 3 seperate cases of Koala's walking within 2 km of track before etc

Robin Miller posted:

Hi Entropy

That fish came closer to not getting home than the report shows , but alls well that ends well.

Robin Miller posted:

Its just so annoying Bob , but this is one time we didn't take the time to pick up rubbish.

Robin Miller posted:

Hi Craig

Just that hill by itself with some others probably would have just been fun, but hours of clearing and getting round obstackles etc by oneself sort of wears you down and your off to a bad start.

It such a beautiful area its well worth a re-visit , but as you say , after a few more have cleared the way.

Robin Miller posted:

Can't slow down Willem ,else my wife will say these no reason we shouldn't tow a camper or worse a "Car........" , can't bring myself to say the word !

Robin Miller posted:

I found it interesting that we were to concerned this time to take more pics Captain , I was trying to think how much damage I would do to a new car in that situation and if a new cruiser/Prado would have made it with less damage.

Member - Leigh (Vic) posted:

Moral of the story is:

know what you're doing,
always assess risks (within your limits)
have a plan and options
carry the right gear
have a friend with you
buy a HF or Sat phone (call a friend)
carry sleeping gear, and
never follow in the wheel tracks of a Troopy!!

Good to see you got out of this OK though.

Tony MD posted:

Hell, sorry for the multiple relies. I keep getting a server time out error when attempting to leave this thread then whammo, the reply gets posted again!

The rocky descent

Mt. McKinty wall

Mt. McKinty morning cloud

A few shots of our trip. Was also a bit busy for too many photos.
Tony.

Robin Miller posted:

Fantastic Stuff Tony , had things not gone well you could have rescued us the next day.
As I read it you were at Peters Gorge Sunday, I was there saturday, but someone else had been before me.

Just trying to follow your path , from Goulburn how did you get to middle ridge (Lazarinni).

How were your mats used, what did you think of them ?

I was very reluctant to try a winch pull up the rock face on my own where I think yours stalled.
Might have to upgrade the winch somehow , cause at times you need to count on it

I hope the downhill rock section was better for my attacking it with the mattock !

Tony MD posted:

I thought that you may have been there after us.
I had spoken to Ken Dwight (WP. Police) & the Mansfield DSE earlier in the week for conditions & was aware that this track had not been cleared of trees so expected much of what we got. I had only just bought a new chainsaw & this was its' first outing!
As for the X-trax, they were an aid to the recovery but a snatch was still required - laid in the ruts on the climb after Peters Gorge. The main issue here though was lack of ground clearance & average tyres on the other 80 series. I actually bought them for the Mt.Mckinty wall section where with some track reconstruction, they could provide an easier climb. Not needed there though. (Had track information from another club trip some years ago - I last did this track solo on a bike in 1983!)
As for the winch, either a double snatch block or an alternative tree could have been the go - & also the mats. I was not aware of how big the tree root step actually was until I had backed off it!.
Our route consisted of Big River road, Frenchmans' creek tk, Boundary tk (blocked by a large tree just past the creek crossing. Detoured back to BRR & did the other end of Boundary tk), Corn Hill tk, Frenchmans gap tk, The German Spur, Army tk, Lazarini Spur, Jamieson - Licola Rd, Middle Ridge rd, Mt. Sunday tk, Low Saddle rd, Mt McDonald tk, nobs tk, Mt. Clear creek tk.
Due to a wet morning & time, we headed out via Brocks,the Bluff link & Bindaree rd to Craigs Hut.The original plan would have us over King Billy, the Bluff to Pikes flat then follow the Howqua eastwards.
As the track over Stilring is closed until 30 November, we simply went up & back to Craigs via Monument tk. Then is was a simple jump across the Howqua Gap to Buller.

Middle Ridge Road waterfall

Nan (xyl) at the start of the rocky descent

All in all a great trip. It would appear that there will be many more trees to clear as the season progresses as the ones I cleared off particularly Middle Ridge road were not by-passable. North of Mt. Mckinty were numerous fresh detour tracks that we thought had been pushed through by the "Monster Trucks".
On Saturday night/ Sunday morning on the Goulburn we has a short shower (tent predominantly dry) & saw lots of lightning activity way over to the east from Mt. McKinty on Sunday night. Monday night / morning on the Jamieson had lots of wind, lightning & thunder but not so much rain. Glad we were off the mountain as had trouble with rocks & tent pegs!
We normally carry some sleeping gear & food - even on a day trip, just in case! The exception was a trip the other month near Noojee & due to slippery conditions (actually used work drop sheets as traction aids - they worked well but are no longer white) & a broken diff, we didn't get back to Noojee until after 10:00pm. Cat came home via a tilt tray courtesy of RACV Total Care.

Catch up on the tracks, Tony.

Robin Miller posted:

You weren't on a bike on that track in 1983 , I was on that track on a bike in 1983 testing the knew monocross first ever water cooled two stroke.

Did a ride from Knockwood , past Peters to Wonnagatta and even used two meters hand held to rescue someone from there - we must have driven past each other many times , gotta catch up some day.

Tony MD posted:

Rode my PE250 from Big River to Mitchells to visit friends for the day. Had been on the track the previous year & thought it was great (North to South). Rode out back through Wrens, Silver mine, Snake Edwards, Moonlight spur, Mt. Terrible & Danes Spur.
Had to take a fair bit of extra fuel.
My backup was a 27mHz hand held - not an amateur then!
Photo is of me at the bottom of the now MVO track from Mt. Clear Creek to King Billy Saddle via Chesters Yard.

Robin Miller posted:

The old PE-250 , good one Tony - hope you didn't carry a plastic leaking jerry on your back like we did and contaminating the food.