I decided in June of this year that I might lead a trip with some friends up to the
Grampians over the
Melbourne Cup long weekend.
Reminding myself that the area was very badly burned by bushfires only last January, I did a bit of a recce during June to see the area for myself and to check with the local Parks,Vic boys/girls regarding the current track closure situations and more to the point, did they expect the closed tracks to be all re opened on time come Cup weekend.
In June, I was surprised to see many bitumen roads closed as
well as the normal dirt ones.I was told this was due to the falling trees that the area was still experiencing because of the fires. However I was assured that this
clearing programme would
well and truly be completed by November and that I could confidently book my accommodation and experience the regrowth that would be a "once in a lifetime experience" come spring.
I came home, told my friends, we all booked our holidays and accommodation only to be told a week before the cup weekend by a
Grampians promotion officer at the
Melbourne 4x4 show, that the seasonally closed tracks would NOT be reopened until at least Xmas or later. He or she showed me an email that he/she received from Parks Vic confirming this advice.
What p....ed me off about this more than anything was the reason that the Promotions Officer gave me as to why they would remain closed.
I was told that all of these tracks had been long cleared but would not be reopened because in their efforts to fight the earlier fires many NEW tracks had been formed by dozer and that Parks Vic did not want anyone driving on these tracks as
well as the other older ones. They apparently needed more time to place barricades or gates across them or simply didn't want the public to see what they had done to the bush.
How ironic, I thought, that here we are fighting to save tracks and keep them open for public access and we are given all sorts of reasons why they should be closed when the opposite is true to the point that we actually need more tracks
in the bush for fire access.
Open up the new tracks Parks, Vic and we the public, especially the 4wd fraternity will keep them clear. Surely a win/win situation.
Still love the area but these people test your patience big time.
Now........if only we could get a good pub meal at
Halls Gap.
GU (now Navara)