High Country Trip
27th December 2004 - 7th January 2005

Day One 27th December 2004 written by Bryce Messner

Our meeting place was Hawks Nest at 7.00am and we were pretty well all on time. A little disappointing that a number of last minute withdrawals reduced the number to four full time adventurers, the smallest group I’ve taken to the High Country. It may have been a blessing as it’s easier to keep a small number rolling on time and may be the way of the future.

We headed to Albury in convoy of four with a lot of chitchat to melt away the kilometres arriving at Holbrook our morning tea and rest spot. This small town on the Hume Highway was renamed after WW1 in honour of a Submarine hero Commander Holbrook a VC winner who was born in the district. A scale model of his sub sits in the park, as does the shell of HMAS Ottway a decommissioned sub donated to the town.

Our next stop was Wadonga, which was lunch at KFC’s and then onto Myrtleford. Arriving there mid afternoon we passed through town and stopped to admire a very good condition County Dual cab Ute V8.

Eventually crossing Lake Buffalo Dam, we then followed upstream the Buffalo River, to our excellent campsite along side the river, with plenty of fallen timber to collect. Please VicParks don’t ban chain saws like NSW.

A great night was had by all on our first night and first campfire. We also made friends with the only other campers here, the couple also driving a Defender, a130 Dual Cab TDI from Victoria.

Day Two 28th December 2004 written by David Williams

No early risers this morning, the fires where restarted and breakfast cooked at a leisurely pace. Bryce rechecked the oil leak from around the brake vacuum assist and deemed it to be a minor concern at present.
We where lucky at this camp, only one other couple on the river flat and they where L.R. owners themselves.
Just after 0930 we were ready and left the Buffalo River flat.
It was warm and dusty. All following Bryce, we then turned up a track that headed straight upwards, sections washed out and rutted. Low second and a steady crawl up to a helipad at 900 metres with a magnificent view over the surrounding valley. It felt good being in off-road mode. This track to Lake Cobbler was indeed adventurous having many steep rutted ascents and of course descents over it’s length.
We stopped at Cobbler Lake and had lunch. The wind had now come up and was quite cold. Jackets on we stood around with hot coffee and tea.
During the stop a group of trail bike riders motored in came over for a brief chat, Andrew knew them from his part time job in a motor cycle shop at Hornsby.
After lunch we walked to the falls, a sharp drop over the escarpment hundreds meters below.
On the road that left Cobbler Lake, looking back we could see the Dandongadale Falls (Victoria’s longest falls with a drop of 255m) tumbling over pink and orange sandstone plateau.
From Lake Cobbler we drove to Pineapple Flat. On one of the narrow tracks we came up to another Off-road group with about fourteen vehicles. They pulled over on their long down hill section and allowed us to continue the climb up, they were in fact the Victorian Land Rover Club, with quite a number of other vehicles in their number, the trip leader in a Nissan.

Pineapple Flat was crowded when we got there. It would have been better to move on but it had been prearranged to meet Herve and tribe on his way back to Sydney on this river flat. We found some relatively flat ground alongside the river and made camp. Herve arrived soon after.

Andrew went in for a swim, a brave lad seeing how cold the water was. He wasn’t in long.

That evening we sat around a great fire from wood collected on the track on the way in and carried on Bryce’s roof racks.
Everyone must have been tired, as it was an early night for everyone.

Day Three 29th December 2004 written by David Williams

It didn’t take long this morning to get breakfast and have everything packed. The river crossing was not too deep at around ½ a metre or so, goodbye Pineapple Flat. I was looking forward to this morning as I wanted more pictures of Craig’s Hut and more so, the Snowy Gum trees in the area.

It was an easy drive up to Craig’s Hut and luck was with us – we where the only ones there making photography easier. It was overcast giving great light. Last year you could not see 10 feet in front of you in the fog, it was lousy weather for photos then. Currently the hut is being restored and has a lot of roof iron exposed at present and much new timber panelling repairs to the walls.

We then drove up to Mt. Sterling at 1770 metres. This track is often closed due to its deep mud/wet areas – definitely a dry weather only track.

The Snow Gums in this area are spectacular, twisted everyway imaginable and then some. And the colours… If you are lucky to be there in a light drizzle you will be spellbound with the blood reds, greens and blues of these trees.

At Mount Sterling we stopped in a parking bay and walked along the rubber mat track to the trig. It was clear and cold and haze was covering Mt Hotham in the next valley over. It had snowed a few days ago in the higher reaches and the air was still cold, the wind chill factor making it miserable and had us grabbing for our coats.

From here we drove through to Mansfield for fuel and lunch and a top up at the grocery shop for some. We didn’t leave till late at 14.30 hours and headed towards Jamieson.
After Jamieson on the Mansfield Woods Point Road we started to look for a camp and this was not going to be easy. The Victorian crowds where enjoying the holidays and it was a good road and 2wd access. All the flats where crowded all along the river.

We found a small vacant flat campsite with nice shade tree, but it was small and no wood. David in his Series III and Herve went on to search for another campsite, while we guarded this one. They found a track heading down and across the river. They crossed and found another flat site right on the river and called us over. They warned us of a big rock shelve at the exit.

We drove across and I still managed to hit the rock. I got caught on the steering protector and just as the front left wheel started to drive up the rock I stalled. There was water on the front driver’s floor and all I could think about was the computer under the seat. The car restarted and continued forward. The passenger’s side step rubbed along the rock and I was across.
A short distance, about 200metres, up the track was a camping flat, not much bigger than the one on the other side but very secluded and with firewood.

I then inspected the computer box under driver’s seat and the bottom of the box was damp in some areas and still dusty in parts. It was a good seal but still needs some work done on it to make it more water-resistant. I had put some silicone around parts of the box. I was lucky. I heard that when Herve inspected his that there was estimated 2 cups of water at the bottom of the box and a bucket on the floor and his dealer was going to here from him, darn new car!
My steering protector bar had done its job well and was bent up against the steering damper. I had also bent this on previous trips, now it needs to be replaced back home, for now its OK and not hindering the damper.

The side step had flexed up into the sill and made small dents. Nothing major. I had reinforced the driver’s side already to make it flex less but maybe I should consider rock sliders. The 130 wheelbase makes the centre sill prone to damage due to reduced ramp over.
That afternoon the two car showers got under way and cleaned all and sundry. Then with a good fire lit, the camp ovens where brought out. The roast pork that Herve cooked sure smelt good. A very pleasant night was had by all, and we were looking forward to what new territory the morning would bring, and new adventures to add to our lists.

Day Four 30th December written by Herve Moran

We had joined the club on the 28th of December, after having spent a few days on the beach in Gippsland Victoria. Crossing from Licola to Jamieson was an experience in itself, as the pass (Frog’s Hollow) was under a couple of inches of snow, and snow was still falling quite heavily.

Anyway, back to the trip itself. Lifting camp in the morning, our first assignment was crossing the Goulburn River to rejoin the main road to continue on to Woods Point. This was an eventful exercise, and the first time my new Defender got into 4WD. I found out what many have found before me, why Rover just can’t make two the same. If my Grey Xtreme had fantastic seals, the new white one has holes everywhere. The 20 seconds of crossing a meter deep river resulted in about three buckets full of water finding its way into the cabin. Good thing the seals are crap at keeping water out, because it let the water out as fast as it filled up. Dave W had an undesirable encounter with a large submerged boulder, and made his steering rod protector deserve its name (see picture 1 for details).

We then climbed German Spur Track, a beautiful mountain track which Ian’s Rangie loved so much, it decided to spend most of the day there (picture2). After we all learned a little about handbrakes and lubricant, we proceeded down the track again.

Further down David W followed Bryce’s Defender through a long bog hole, only not as fast and went down to the sump. A quick snatch from Ian’s Rangie cleared him of the obstacle in short time.

We drove onto Woods Point, a nice little mining town worthy of a future more thorough exploration and visit. We then proceeded looking for a campsite east of Mount Baw Baw National Park. We found a spot with plenty of cut timber and proceeded to stack it on Bryce’s roof rack. Bryce took off in search of the perfect campsite, the riverside had none and after climber this huge mountain for half an hour and not finding the helipad, decided to return to where we were. Of course we wasted our time loading the roof rack, and the campsite was great as it turned out with water only a short downhill walk.

Out came the ovens, the stubbies and we got a fantastic fire raging and a great night was had by all.

Thankyou Bryce and all the participants for letting us share a few days of their High Country Trip.

Day Five 31st December written by Andrew Cort

After a night of rabbit stew and campfire dinners, we set off at 9am on the dot to cross a little river to start our day of driving up the long winding hill and a climb of 1000mtres. Herve & Jacinta and the kids had to return home the way we came, and so we said our good byes as we climbed to the clouds.

I grabbed a lift with Dave and his Series 3, which was awesome, because you could take off the door tops and hang out the car with the wind in your face. With the conversations over the Uhf’s turning to cars and bike’s, we found ourselves at the helicopter pad on top for lunch. From here, we could see many tracks that curved their way up the mountains. They looked extremely hard and interesting. After the tea and chocolate biscuits, we looked at the map and started to realise that these hills were our way out of the mountains.

Therefore, we headed off just waiting for the track to drop off to the side of the mountain to start our very steep descent. Just before we did, Bryce stopped to talk to some young guys with a jacked up Hi Luxe wagon. Bryce said on the radio that this is where it’s going to get interesting so take it slow. With the little Series owning the mountain on the way down we could see to our left a track that look highly impossible to get up. We came across a deep river that supplied some fabulous photos for all. When we got every one across, we realised that the hill that made your hearts stop just looking at it, was our way out!

Going up this hill was like walking up a steep hill, getting to a ridge, thinking it’s the top but only seeing there’s a steeper hill still to come that looks highly impossible. I was in the Series and was a little nervous, but half way up I told my driver Dave that these were the best cars for 4WDriving. We all got up safely only to hear over the radio that Bryce’s car wasn’t going anywhere. We all got out, and the mechanics on the trip started to have a look only to say that the clutch had blown up. Wasting no time, we tied Bryce’s car to Dave’s car to tow it up this last 200m steep hill.

After many attempts, Bryce’s Defender wasn’t going up with just Dave’s Defender 130 towing it, so we connected Ian’s Range Rover to make it a two-car snatch. On the third go, Dave’s drive train snapped in half, and no not at the uni joint in the middle completely twisted it in half. So now we had a situation with a one Defender with a blown up clutch and another with a snapped drive train, also not forgetting an over heating Range Rover. So now what other cars did we have, just a Series 3 to pull up 2 Defenders, not happening.

We had to winch Dave’s car up to the top, which took 3 hours hydraulic winches are painful. In addition, Bryce’s Defender was still down the bottom but started winching himself up. A guy called Mr. Toyota (Mel) in a Toyota Ute with diff lockers had stopped to help us. We connected four snatch straps together and Mr. Toyota started to snatch Bryce up the hill. Only getting 4meters a snatch strap broke bending Mr. Toyota’s number plate right around, and after breaking another two snatch straps we were completely stuck, one which cracked Bryce’s windscreen. We had now been on this hill four hours and lots of equipment had broken.

This is when a Nissan patrol group pulled up with their 4.2-turbo diesel’s with every gadget on them. They gave a helping hand by pulling Bryce up the hill and letting Bryce see the top of the hill for the first time of the day.

After we thanked them, we were told that the rockiest and meanest hill was yet to come, it was down hill that did create a dilemma, because Bryce only had his brakes and Dave had only front wheel drive. We decided that my Dad in the Range Rover would connect himself to Dave and act as a safety weight and Mr. Toyota, would do the same for Bryce. Towards the bottom, Bryce was getting a little fast down hill and the Defender began to run away but Mr. Toyota held on and guided him down nicely. Dave didn’t have any problems and both Bryce and Dave gave my camera a work out that day!

After saying thank you to Mr. Toyota we headed off to find a New Years Eve camp site with only two hours of light left, we pulled up next to the Macalister River at Cheynes Bridge and we all went for a swim.

The night wasn’t that bad, some how five of us found binoculars and we all sat in a group looking at a group of girls swimming, that was of course, until they saw us!

Our mate “Mr. Toyota” spent the night with us, even going off to cut a stack of wood for our fire and enjoyed the bungers we let off. We all knew this was going to be the end of the trip but no one discussed it because the laughs were too loud and the stories were flowing quite nicely all the way until two in the morning.

Day 7 1st January 2005 written by Bryce Messner

Not too many sore heads awoke today and it was a fine new day. After breakfast it was decided not to stay any longer and ring NRMA for tows home.

As both David W and myself had Premium cover we both decided, as it would be over a week before the local mechanics would be able to look at our cars to go home. An 80 series towing a car trailer arrived in the afternoon for my Defender and a tilt tray for David’s. After some interesting loading procedures on my car we headed to Heyfield and the RACV depot. In the depot we both arranged for respective tows to Sydney and me to Orange. I was to leave first as I was already on the trailer, and as soon as road tyres were fitted to the 8o series we were off (Pic).

David was taken to the nearest Caravan Park to wait the return of the trailer for his journey home.

Not taking the route I would of chosen, we headed up the Princes Highway to Caan River then inland to Bombala then Canberra, Yass, Boorowa, Cowra then onto Orange arriving 10 hours later at Clive’s house around 3.30am in the morning. I managed to stay awake for most of the trip, one I would not like to repeat.

That afternoon parts were ordered from Graeme Cooper via Anthony and they promptly arrived by 9.00am the next morning, what great service!

Over the next couple of days we dropped the gearbox and transfer case (about 2 ½ hours) and found the clutch plate had absolutely no friction pad at all only bare steel (Pic), I guess 170,000km of hard use was pretty good?

A thorough clean of the gearbox, dust out the bell housing of disintegrated clutch pad, new pressure plate, clutch plate, thrust race, spigot bearing and selector finger it was already to be put back together. And as you do with all these major jobs replace all nylocks with new nuts. Also a good time to put a spanner to all the nuts under the car and tighten all those loose ones and there where a few. New rear brake pads, new rear Bilsteins completed the job.

Thanks to Clive, Neal & Chad for the many hours’ work and an excellent job, I learnt a lot doing this repair, and thanks to Sue again for putting up with me. Clive’s Daughter Lisa has taken possession of a Dk Blue 1986 Range Rover in fantastic condition and now all members of the family drive Land Rover products daily… Father, two sons and daughter can any one beat that, and not only that they all are multiple Land Rover owners, each owning a number of series vehicles, most in going order.

Until next year, same time, same crew all resigned to complete the trip.