Victorian High Country Trip 12^th Jan – 20^th Jan 2008

Attendees:

Peter & Gloria – Nissan

Colin & Renate - Nissan

David & Luke (Visitors) – Toyota

Bert, Michelle, Matthew & Emily – Jackaroo (Reporters)

DAY 1 Sydney to Yackandandah

Uneventful trip down. Met up with visitors David and his son Luke (AKA Learned Luke) Emily’s new boyfriend. Arrived in Yackandandah set up camp in the caravan park and went for a stroll into town. Whilst in town David found himself the perfect woman (a female dummy that didn’t talk). There was a pub at either end of town and we stopped in one pub for a drink and decided to go to the next pub for dinner. After everyone had finished their drinks Emily was shooing everyone out the door saying “On to the next one” like she was a seasoned pub crawler. Back at camp an amphitheatre was set up in the back of the Jackaroo where we all settled down to watch the movie Strange Bedfellows which was filmed in Yackandandah. The tone was now set and the comment every evening was “What movie are we going to watch tonight?”

DAY 2 Yackandandah to Pineapple Flat

We were all awoken with the comment “I am bigger now” as Emily turned four today. Travelled to Bright to pick up last minute supplies (fresh bread etc) and then headed into the High Country. All I can say is WOW everywhere you looked the scenery was spectacular. After stopping to check the map a few times we arrived at our camp at Pineapple flat which was an absolutely lovely campsite next to the King River and we had it all to ourselves. Movie of the night was The Man From Snowy River in preparation for our trip to Craig’s Hut tomorrow.

DAY 3 Day trip to Craig’s Hut and Mansfield

As David and I were extremely excited about going to Craig’s Hut the saying of the morning was “We are going to Craig’s Hut today”. More spectacular scenery and we were able to take home souvenirs from the hut. As the hut has just been rebuilt again there was two piles of remains from the old hut and building materials from the new hut these were labeled as to take and  do not take. It was then on to Mansfield to refuel etc. On the trip back to camp the Jackaroo started to misbehave by having complete engine misfires and Peter got stuck in a mud puddle and had to be rescued by a Toyota.

Movie of the night was The Nugget.

DAY 4 Pineapple Flat to Howitt’s Hut

We were all awoken (except for Matthew who was going through a growth spurt) with the screams FIRE FIRE FIRE from David. We all thought David was joking as he had a reputation of being a bit of a joker but it was soon discovered that it was for real and the fire extinguishers quickly came out and the situation was rectified. The Jackaroo was renamed Jacqueline in the hope that if we spoke to her nicely she would behave. We headed out along the road we were supposed to travel on only to find it closed so we had to go past Craig’s Hut again much to our disappointment (not). Once at Howitt’s Hut we meet a group of horse riders doing a trip and discovered that one of the horses was the horse that Tom Burlinson used in the movie which was a nice little bonus for us. The horse is now 32 years old. We also had a wrangler wonder into our camp for a chat and we decided that he could be Tom Burlinson. No movie tonight but fire ban was lifted so we could have our first campfire. We all eagerly waited to see how David would wake us up tomorrow.

DAY 5 Howitt’s Hut to Talbotville via Zeka Spur and Wonnangatta Valley

Uneventful trip. More stunning views. More FLIES. Very pretty campsite with a great running river which was a much needed bath for everybody. Bert and Luke built a great dam and made a river ride for the kids. No movie again just lots of great conversation around the campfire.

DAY 6 Day trip to Dargo

Nice drive into Dargo over 24 river crossings. Restock supplies, refuel and some maintenance on Jacqueline in the hope that it would fix the problem. Lovely lunch at the pub and then back to camp for another swim and night around the campfire. By this point in the trip Emily was absolutely in awe of Luke. As far as she was concerned Luke knew everything and could do anything hence he earnt the name learned Luke.

DAY 7 Day trip to Pinnacles

Interesting drive out to the Pinnacles via Billy Goat Bluff track. You can certainly see why it was called Billy Goat Bluff track as it was a big uphill climb over rough terrain. Absolutely stunning 360 degree views of the high country from the fire tower. On a clear day I’m told you can see all the way to the ocean. Jacqueline misbehaved badly on the way back to camp and much to our disgust had to be towed up a hill by a Nissan. We limped back to camp on the downhill from there. We then had a discussion about whether the hard route out via Blue Rag was going to be attempted with Jacqueline sick or did we take the easier main road out we decided we would wait and see. The weather then made the decision for us as it started to rain and continued throughout the night.

DAY 8 Talbotville to Albury

Woke up and it was still raining so it was definitely too wet to attempt Blue Rag so we all packed up in the wet and took the main road out. Saw the high country in a different light in the mist and rain which was also beautiful. We had planned to stay in Albury for the night which was just as well because Jacqueline only just made it there. David and Luke continued on to Sydney and the rest of us remained in Albury overnight.

DAY 9 Albury to Sydney

Peter and Gloria left for Sydney first thing in the morning. Colin and Renate and Bert and I stayed on for a while to change the fuel filter in Jacqueline under the advice of the NRMA service man and left around 11am. Jacqueline started to misbehave again near Sydney but we made it home.

Jacqueline has since been to the car doctor and it has been decided that the fuel pump is faulty and she is off for a new fuel pump next week.

Thank you all for a great trip and your patience and support whilst we had some car issues.

Michelle and Bert.