19-20th August 2006
Reconnaissance Trip
Three vehicles
participated in this recon trip to the
Daniel (2003 Nissan
Navara)
Aaron, Karen and Leo
(2000 Nissan Patrol)
Karl (2003
The purpose of the
trip was to find tracks and trails without spending the entire day turning
around half a dozen vehicles. It was also time to test out Dan’s new Navara
Ute, recently purchased and chock full (well almost) of new goodies.
Stay tuned for the
Club’s trip out here with the rest of the crew.
Dan's Ute was
trialing new Tough Dog springs and shocks, and his new Dual battery setup.
Aaron and Karen were
trialing their new dual battery setup also, and both were happy with the way
their Waeco 60L fridges (also new) ran on the batteries.
I wasn't testing
anything, but I did have a hell of a time with my radio mike, nothing a good
thump on the console wouldn't fix!
A long drive north
from Goulburn had us at Bummaroo Camping Area, in the southern part of
How cold could it
get??
The fire had a lot of
trouble keeping burning with the –2 deg heat (sic!)
By bedtime, it had
dropped further, to –3.3 degrees. We had a Digi-Temp thermometer measuring the
temp as air con people do!
The fire couldn't even
keep us warm so off to bed we went. Aaron and Karen had the luxury of a tent,
Dan had a traditional swag, and I had a hoop swag.
Dan was so cold, he
had to drag the swag and himself towards the fire, and spent most of the night
stoking the fire (is that what's it called now?!) to keep warm.
Morning had us out of
bed bright and early, only cos it was warmer around the fire than in bed.
When your laying on your back, breathing, and your breath
condenses, freezes and falls back onto your face in little crystals, its time
to get out of bed!!
The Digi-temp was
busy measuring the overnight temps, and with the minimum setting we discovered
just how cold it did get……
Shall we make the
Club trip the same time next year????
By the time we
defrosted, it was mid-morning. Some exploratory tracks from Bummaroo Camp into
the surrounding hills found some nice tracks with a few nice camping clearings.
Shame there were a lot of Pig scratching’s about, would make nice camping if we
brought the gun along next time!
Back on the road, it
was off finding more tracks. All the pre-trip identified tracks were closed
off, or thru private property, so we just kept looking. A gate here, a gate
there, and we were in a Pine plantation, and sure enough we came across the northern
entrance of the
Dan testing out the
leaf spring suspension….
Not quite as comfy as
the Pathfinder…
The Patrol made a
meal of it
Some more steeps
My beast hasn't had a
mention yet
From here its was gentle driving with some interesting sections. The park
comprises another three camping areas...The Beach, The Sink and Silent Creek.
Saturday night found
us unable to find any designated camping areas as they weren't shown on Topo
maps, so we found a nice quite camping spot next to the trail.
Another –6 deg nite,
and we used up all the fire wood.
Mental note to one’s
self: Bring MORE firewood
Silent Creek has
limited camping spaces, but it has pit toilets and a local resident
That’s the pit toilet
by the way! Next to Emu
The Beach is a nice
spot also, with limited places and pit toilets also, with a few river play areas. Aaron decided to wash his Patrol, much to
his disappointment later on Sunday.
We never got to the
Sink, that’s for next time.
On the way home,
Aaron and Karen’s truck has power problems, I'm sure water got into the fuel
tank during his wash, but after some roadside repairs, it was back to
August 2006
© Copyright Vertical
Climb 4WD Club
