Fire and Rain part 3

Fire and Rain part 3
Steady rain fell for most of the night and in the morning the clouds started to break. A late start for the day. The tents required a bit more time to pack up when they are wet.

Today we plan to get more fuel and set up camp at McKillops Bridge. Driving along Black Mountain Road we passed two vehicles that had fire fighting gear on board. A lighting strike had started a fire on Native Cat Track day before and they were going to put it out. The road had been closed after we had got through to the Snowy River Road.

Mt Seldom Seen lookout was the stop for morning tea. A long drop toilet on the side of the mountain had a great view of the valley below.
A loo with a view.

The fire tower was manned and the convey was informed on how they spot the fires and with the help of the other fire towers in the area pin point the fires to with in a few meters. Ken had spotted the fire on Native Cat Track and called it in.

Lunch and refueling at Buchan then back to McKillops Bridge to camp. Light rain again that night was a bit of a worry about what the tracks were going to be like he next day. With the sun burning off the low cloud we were going to give the Deddick Trail a go. If it was too wet we would return and go to plan “C”

It was a good thing that the track was not wet as I did not have a plan “C” to go to as yet. The drive started out with gentle climbs and winding tracks through the Eucalyptus forest. The rain brought out the strong smell of the Gums. A dried mud puddle revealed the foot prints of a wombat and Lyre bird that had crossed the track before us.

Rain started to fall again just as we were climbing to one of the highest points on the track and some of the vehicles had to have a second go at a climb. As soon as we were all at the top the rain stopped and the humidity was as high as the trig point we were at for morning tea.

For every good climb there is a good decent and cautiously we made our way down. I have been using the Magellan Explorist XL GPS and on a track that I am not familiar with it shows green lines close together mean steep climbs or dissents, blue lines rivers or creeks, the name of the track that I am on and the name of tracks that are coming up. I still have the paper maps but for information on the move I don’t know how I managed before.

The GPS didn’t show any restraints for lunch but a creek crossing was coming up and that was our lunch break. The rest of the drive out to Yalmy road meandered through more of the biggest gum that I have seen in a long time. The McKillops road snaked it’s way back to camp following the Deddick and Boning Rivers.

To be continued…..

Wayne