Enough days for High Country trip?

Gaday Ben that's a busy trip.
Day 1 is a long haul. Zeka spur track into Wonnangatta can be slippery in the wet & very tricky at times with a trailer. (I know of several cars that have rolled on that hill)
Day 2 I'd suggest leaving before lunch if you want to get to Dargo before tea. Not sure exactly which tracks you intend to head out on but all exits via the bottom end of the valley are very steep with large erosion ditches. Have travelled with a TD cruiser that struggled in low 1st to get out. In the wet I would detour via East Buffalo track.
Day 3. Heaps to see & do particually if you like poking around old historical sites. 3 days could easily be spent in the area. Talbotville would be the obvious camp site.
Day 4. Another huge day. With the Blue Rag detour then the big run down to Swifts Creek it would take some fast driving to do the Haunted stream as well.
Day 5. This is a short run & would be in by lunch.
Day 6. This is a steady day after a late leave from a big night at the pub ;-) Quite a bit to see enroute if you know where to look.
Day 7. No spare day left as you're still half a day from home.

Your pub bookings will make it difficult to space the trip particually if it rains & the tracks become slippery. I find towing a trailer in the High Country can add 25% more travel time so on the big days you'll have little time to look around. You may like to put some contingencys together in case of heavy rain. One Xmas/New year we took almost a day just to drive the Haunted stream by it's self.
Have fun......Cheers Craig.

Mid November sunset is 8pm so ensure you leave plenty of time, driving on those tracks after dark is not a good idea.

Double check the Haunted Stream track - I'm not sure if it's open following fires yet?

NB. the rivers will be running high _and_ fast at that time of year, exercise caution.

NNB? Ensure you have at least one, capable, chain saw in the group - that early in the season you may have to clear quite a few trees - my record is 10 :)

Mike Harding

2nd the point about the rivers. Give Hearns Spur a miss getting out of the Wonnangatta, particularly if you are travelling with a vehicle towing the camper.

My other question is whether they really have to tow the camper.

I play up there every chance I get as it's my back yard, and I grew up up there. I own a good off road camper which I regularly take into Talbotville. If I take the camper we base camp in one spot for several days and day trip from there.

If I am touring like you are, particularly with a group, I don't tow, I take the tent.

The high country is littered with tracks that are easy in the dry & deadly after even a small amount of rain. The camper may make the difference between being stuck somewhere for 6 hours (if the sun comes out and you get a light breeze to dry the tracks even a few hours makes a huge difference) and several days.

Also, the passing opportunities on many of the climbs are limited at best and non existent for hundreds of metres at a time, so if you encounter oncoming traffic the camper can make getting by each other on some spots incredibly difficult.

If you know the area well you can put them in the middle of your convoy and send a solo vehicle up first to stop any oncoming traffic but it doesn't sound like you will have that degree of familiarity if you are asking the questions you ask.

You don't mention what sort of camper or what will be towing it. Some of the 4cylinder 4wds are incabable of towing anything up in the north east - needing low first just to get the vehicle up leaves nothing in reserve for pulling another 1200kg up behind them.

I wrote the trek notes for a couple of the high country trips on here and I think you are trying to do too much in 7 days. You also double back in the middle of it by going out to Dargo & coming back into the Talbotville area which you can go through from the Wonnangatta going out to Dargo. I wouldn't bother going all the way up to Hotham from Dargo/Talbotville to get to Omeo either. Stay on the dirt.

You cover the same ground again when you talk about doing Ensay to Blue Duck & back to Omeo/Cassilis. The road from Omeo out to the Blue Duck & back is average 35kmh country - particularly for the guy towing the camper. It's not far on the map but its at least a 40-45 min trip even though it's bitumen. You probably won't find a windier bit of bitumen in Vic.

If you do go out to the Blue Duck & I wouldn't on your itenerary, theres good free camping over the road.

If you have a lazy 1.5 million lying around you could buy the Blue Duck while you are out there ... :o) its on the market.

There's definately no spare day anywhere as you really only have 5 days with a day each way to/from Melb.

Email me via my website. Link below in signature. I'll email back my phone number and we can have a chat if you like. Save lots of typing.

Dave

Tend to agree with advice already given Ben.

Your trip plan is a tall order , although possible in the dry , theres a better than 50/50 chance that you won't cross some of those rivers in November , and with heavy snow already its looking harder.

The camper makes it even harder , so I'd re-think your plans allowing for these options.

The central part of what you plan could be done by camping at Talbotville and day tripping.