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Published: April 23rd 2012
Flower Girl
Caroline, on her Birthday at Errinundra State Forrest,with her posy of Wild FlowersIt was Thursday morning before the Easter weekend, we were out of bed early putting the final touches to packing the truck so that we could head off on a group trip to Errindundra later in the day.
We had both booked the afternoon off work with the intention of leaving at midday so that we could do a couple of chores before heading off to Williamsdale to meet with the rest of the group.
Thursday morning at work went swimmingly well so we set off bang on time, headed home to throw the swag on the roof, have a quick shower and head off, stopping at two important places on the way, the camping shop and ARB (Andy’s favourite place).
At Williamsdale we are the first to arrive at the service station, the service station had closed up and was for sale, but no matter it was just a meeting point, by 4pm everyone had arrived so the group of 6 of us headed South in convoy.
The roads were busy but then it is a public holiday weekend, the police were out in force doing breath testing
in places, one of our group got pulled over but they soon caught up with us.
We knew it would be dark when we arrived at our destination anyway, but Jeff and Sandra who are leading the trip planned a short break at Bombala giving us opportunity to top up with fuel, make a cup of tea and grab a sandwich. We regrouped at Bombala which also allowed for someone who did not make the 4pm set off time at Williamsdale, to catch up with the group.
We all chatted on the UHF on the way down, it is nice because it breaks the journey up, but of course it becomes a necessity as we become more remote and a vital tool to keep the group in touch with each other and ensure that we are all on the right track, especially as darkness is descending earlier with the recent clock change.
I won’t say too much about where we drive from here, but we eventually arrive at the camp site in Errindundra State Forest, it is not a signposted camp area and from conversations with others in the group, it
Happy Birthday Caroline
Caroline opening her Cards seems to be a little known spot and every time they come here there are no other campers in site and not a single vehicle approaches. There are no amenities here so you do have to be completely self-sufficient.
When we arrive, Tony and Linda, Clem and Leslie and Roger and Fi were already there as they had left Canberra about lunchtime, they had already set up there camps up.
Roger and Fi, are in their Brand new T-Van and its their first outing, They had come by a little bit of Inheritance and have called it Prix D’more (The Price of Love)
It is a clear starry night and very crisp and cold in temperature we disperse to various areas of the campsite to set up, Andy and I choose a site a little bit away from the group, we are sleeping in the swag so a little bit of privacy is better for us, Sandra wanders over to me and Andy and then mentions that as we are in rainforest area there are leeches here so be sure to spray the insect repellent. At that point I tuck my jeans into
my socks spray some rid around the feet and wrist areas to be sure to keep the leeches off.
It does not take us long to roll the swag out and make our bed for the night it looked cosy enough and I had recently purchased some thermals to keep warm at night as we had been told that the nights there get really cold.
A small camp fire is made and we all sit around to wind down from the journey and well before 10pm we all slip off to our respective camps to retire. Before unzipping the swag I give the canvas a big wack just to make sure there are not any leeches hanging around.
Albeit a cold night we are very warm inside the swag.
Friday morning arrives bringing with it a beautiful sunny day and Andy wishes me “Happy Birthday” oh yes I had forgotten that it was my birthday, but I had brought my cards with me, bashing the swag again before getting up, just to make sure that any leeches on the canvas are flung off, well, it was
a bit disconcerting in the night when I awoke to see one of nature’s slinky’s sloping past my eyes on the exposed mosquito netting!
So once up and about, a cup of tea was placed in my hands I opened my birthday cards, some of them were from England which did bring a tear to my eye when I was reading the messages that my Mum and Dad and friends had written, a day like today does make me miss home.
We join the rest of the group around a smouldering camp fire, we all chat and it is decided that we will do a trip out to explore the area, because we have 11 vehicles in total it was decided to split the group into two smaller groups to make the trip easier to manage.
We are in Linda and Tony’s group and just after an early lunch we head off, of course Andy is always on the lookout for Wombats, but he is disappointed when Tony and Linda see one running down the road in front of them, but by the time we got to that point, the wombat
Fallen Logs
The Rangers had cut this, but we can across situations like this and had to do it ourselves had long gone and vanished into the bush.
Near the Ada River Camp site there is a turn off marked for 4wd only, Linda and Tony head off up the track and asked us to stay a little bit back while they scope the first part and of course being that it goes up a steep incline it does allow for safety. A short while later after confirmation comes over the UHF Andy and I follow.
At this point we are crashing through a very overgrown track, Linda reckons it is a good couple of months since someone has driven this track, we are whacked from bushes and trees from all sides, not to mention the underneath.
Eventually at a very awkward point, very steep and the terrain is slippery with gravel and small rocks, we struggle at the first attempt. We make sure that the driver behind us has left us plenty of room, he confirms that we can drop back a bit. Andy prepares and gives the V8 engine a good punch and away we go, we head up the slope and there is no going back this time.
At the top we meet Linda and Tony to wait for the rest of the group.
It seems that a few other members have some difficulty too, but after a bit of coaching and patient waiting we finally meet up with everyone and head off again. Not long after we come across a fallen tree, with a little bit of effort from the group we manage to clear the track and get us all on the way. We came across a few track blockages on the way, some we could not clear so had to divert.
The terrain is pretty amazing taking us through some awesome scenery and down some pretty amazing tracks, finally we arrive at the piece de resistance – The Monument! Everyone who had been here before had kept quiet about “The Monument” it was a surprise and it sure was a surprise when we had arrived.
An old bus remains in the bush, it is very dilapidated but it still has the tyres on it talk amongst members reveals that a bus used to bring the loggers up to the area, I don’t know why this one
La Prix D'amour
This is roger and Fi'S T Van, this Easter weekend trip was the first time they had stayed in it, and they loved it. to make it even more special it was purchased with mney from a family inheritance
the price of Love didn’t make it back.
Moving on as it was time to get back to camp for some tucker, we pick a track it is steep but after about 15 minutes of driving, Linda and Tony tell us it’s a no go, there is a massive tree trunk across the track and there is no way we are shifting it and there is no way round it. Unfortunately we are all on a steep slope (at intervals) and we now have to turn around.
Andy and I can see Tony and Linda below, they attempt a turn, there is no way we are going down to try and turn in the same place, there is a small push off to the side where the grader has been so we do our best to turn, the angle is not very pleasant and although I am sure we were far from it, it seemed that we were going to tip over, we both held our breaths as Andy manoeuvred the truck into position and soon we were away heading back up to wait for the others to turn so that we can regroup.
Over
This is Roger's Troopy
Fi calls it the mistress as Roger spends more time with it . the UHF we find that Linda and Tony are having to winch their way out, later finding out that their predicament was worse than ours, one wheel was off the ground and it was sitting pretty high, a nail biting moment but one that is easily remedied with the right experience and equipment.
We headed back to The Monument, found another track, there was another blockage which we cleared only to find that we could not get through anyway as there had been a landslide. Turning around was easier this time, but of course it was now getting late and we had to backtrack somewhat to find a route back to camp, which was not difficult but it took time.
On the way back to camp we picked up some firewood, arriving back when it was dark it was not long before we had the fire going and the second group came in shortly afterwards.
We had some dinner and the group got together at the camp fire, an evening was spent regaling stories of our adventures of the day, the night was getting windy and once again by 10 most
of us had gone to bed. Fortunately the wind is keeping the ground dry which means it also keeping the leeches off.
During the night though I opened my eyes and saw a leech making its way across the mosquito netting of the swag, thank goodness it is raised from our faces!, I soon drifted back to sleep, and we awoke to a pretty cold morning.
Saturday was a free day to do anything we wanted, some people went out for an explore, we just pottered around camp and the truck for the morning.
Andy wanted to service and sharpen the chain saw and stow some of our equipment and check it over, so I sat in the sun and had a read and around lunch time, we decided to go and have a drive down to the rain forest board walk, which was about half an hour away.
On route we were distracted by a track that we decided to go and explore, which took a couple of hours, and eventually we arrived at the board walk.
We grabbed our hats and our camera’s
and set off, and as soon as we got on to the board walk, we came across 30 or so people who were also walking through the forest with no shoes and socks on, ok then!!
The walk was quite lovely, great to be out in the fresh air, a little cold but lovely all the same, sadly no wildlife, the rainforest was somewhat enchanting.
We drove back to our camp, obviously taking a detour to go and explore when we saw that some managed logging was being carried out ,it was a steep climb, but ended up be nothing exciting.
When we got back, most people where there, and the discussion round the rejuvenated camp fire was gathering more wood for tonight.
Andy and I said that we knew where there was logging been carried out and there was a lot of spoil that would be of no interest to the loggers and had discarded it, which would make for easy collection.
Jeff, Andy, Bob, Tony and Misha, grabbed a couple of chain saws, jumped in Jeff’s ute and headed off.
Please note, we take our environment really seriously and this is a state forest where chain saws are allowed to be used, we only ever cut up wood that has already been felled, and never wantonly damage our natural surroundings.
While they were out, some of us played boules, which was quite pleasant for such a sunny afternoon, it was a nice easy relaxing game.
The boys came back, with a ute full of cut logs for tonight’s camp fire, it was all stacked and we went off to prepare the dinner, to contribute to tonight’s dinner. As tonight’s theme was “Italian” everyone had to wear the colours of the Il Tricolore (The Italian Flag).
We had previously been asked if we wanted to provide, Entrée’s, Main Course or Dessert, we chose Main course, and as we were doing Chicken Fettuccini, we had pre prepared and cooked the Chicken a couple of days ago and froze it so it was just a simple task of cooking the fettuccini and preparing the sauce.
Following a hearty minestrone soup to start, the people who were to provide a main course
had placed them on the table, beer and wine were flowing and the evening was pretty well in full swing.
By the time we had got to dessert ,there was not much room to fit it in, and we were both amazed at the stupendous effort everyone had made in providing such a magnificent meal.
With dinner done, the always enthusiastic Linda said that there was going to be a ghost walk at 8.30 and everybody had to attend, and the only light that was allowable was a candle, that could only be relit 3 times, anything after that and you were to make a gold coin donation to charity.
Everybody was assembled, well most people were and off we went, Andy had a torch in his pocket as he intended to go and look for Wombats, so as the group turned one way in the darkness Andy and Bob turned the other.
Every got back to the camp fire about 30 minutes later, it was great fun but we didn’t s see any ghosts, apparently somebody had been hung in the area years ago.
Andy came back and said he had seen a Wombat, it was very brief and the Wombat didn’t hang about when the torch was shone on him, one thing people don’t readily realise is that Wombats are very round and tubby, with very short legs but they can run very fast for short spaces of time.
Soon it was time for bed, it had been another full on day, but our bed called.
Sunday, we woke to a sunny morning, we were out of bed and washing up from the night before, we had a “Ready to go time” of 10.00am as a group of us was going to Hicks Point light house, via Cann River.
We set off through the state forest for about 50 K’s then eventually hit the bitumen, soon we were pulling into the quaint town of Cann River and we headed to top the fuel tanks up before, parking outside the bakery, as we were just gagging for a coffee.
We set off again, and just outside Cann River, we turned on to a four wheel drive track towards the light house. The track was
pretty spectacular, it gave us an abundance of terrain, mud, sand, gravel and of course plenty of dust, deep ruts and topped off with a nice little steep descent to a river crossing and another steep ascent to get out of the valley.
We drove through a very busy little campsite which is right on the edge of the beach, but eventually we arrive at a dead end where we all decamp for a short half hour walk up to the Point Hicks Lighthouse, named by Captain Cook after one of the crew members of the Endeavour who first spotted land at this point.
We were viewing the wildlife on the rocks as the path went up past the beach, we spied a huge colony of Long Neck Cormorants basking in the sunshine.
It was a lovely walk, in the sunshine with our friends and soon we were at the lovely old light house, which disappointingly we could not go up, someone had said they do tours but something like only one year.
We all stood at the memorial looking out to the ocean, hoping to spot a
Whale or possibly a shark, but sadly nothing came in to view.
It was time to leave, so we turned on our heels and started the walk back to where we had parked our vehicles.
Once back from the lighthouse we prepared lunch and then went and sat on the beach to eat it. Caroline wandered off to paddle in the cold waters and feel the sand between her toes.
Time was moving swiftly on so at 2.45 we left the beach and headed back toward camp. This time we did not take the 4wheel drive track we took a more direct route back to Cann River and then onwards to Errindundra and where hopefully the other group will have a camp fire waiting for us.
We were going to be later back than originally intended, but the general consensus was that we had a terrific day out with the Tony and Linda as trip leaders, once again through some of the most amazing Victorian Countryside and eventually nearing camp we see that the fog had descended.
It was around 6.30pm when we arrived back
The Monument
This old bus, must have just died in the forrest,it used to bring loggers in to the area. at camp and we find that the other group had set up the camp fire and they were all sat round keeping warm and having happy hour, it really was not long before our group joined in with everyone else.
The Campfire had been burning most of the afternoon and there were lots of glowing coals, this was great as we intended to cook a piece of laaaamb in the camp oven, yes I did, put to many A’s in to represent a sheep baaaaaaring.
We prepared our dinner, and placed the camp oven on a small patch of coals just outside the main fire as it was so hot, our dinner probably cooked for an hour or so and when it was ready it was welcomed and we were really hungry.
We had had a great day, as busy as usual, our dinner had been a success, but it was time for bed, the evening was quite cold, so Andy wandered off to the swag first, torch in hand and when I finally went to bed, he was already fast asleep.
The following morning as usual he
Fun Guy
Were just Fungi's was out of bed first and when I got up (although I think we omitted to mention that I was actually out of bed first on Saturday) , Andy had said that when he went to bed last night, about 20 metres from the truck he had seen in his torch light a Wombat, snuffling around, which just made his day.
We were leaving today, about 10.00 am so had a lot of things to do before we left, we had a great time in Errinundra and hope to be back soon, actually maybe not too soon as it will be cold up here in the winter.
Post trip Note : There were a couple of people, Roger and Fiona who are retired and decided to stay and extra night, they sent some photo’s when they returned and the day we left there was about 6 inches of snow dumped on the area
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Wendy & Tony
non-member comment
Belated happy birthday
Happy birthday Caroline! Good to see you are still enjoying the wilds, not just working.