Noojee

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping
Location: Tangil River, near Noojee and Fumina
Dates: 25th and 26th July
Weather: Fine
Crew: My whole crew + REM +Jackie
Key Tracks Hit: Just the singular down towards the campsite, Simpsons Rd. A logging/4wd track.
Vehicles Used: Paj + Isuzu MUX
Distance Travelled: 270km
Campsites: The one right on the river.
Fishing: The week before season opened! Dang!
Gear Purchased: N/A
Gear Review: N/A
Food: Hot dogs, stoner cones, kippers on toast, KFC on the way home!
Report: Great to get out again, and Sam's first camping adventure. Site was nice, a little boggy but expected that time of year. Kids had a blast falling in the river and just wicked to get out. Drunk far too much whiskey that night though!!
Rating: 7/10.

Great Walhalla Alpine Trail (Walhalla to Baw Baw)

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping
Location: Walhalla - Baw Baw (1st section of Alpine Trail)
Dates: 26th & 27th May
Weather: Perfect. Fine, no rain, but cold.
Crew: Toon, Ross, Willo, Huggett, SP, LJ.
Key Tracks Hit: Walhalla - Baw Baw
Vehicles Used: Legs
Distance Travelled: 40km
Campsites: Mushroom Rocks
Fishing: N/A
Gear Purchased: N/A
Gear Review: N/A
Food: Curry for dinner, wraps for lunch, bircher muesli for brekky, fancy bacon wrapped eggs for brekky, snags, various snacks.
Report: Wind back the clock and go for a hike. It was pretty special to be able to have all 6 fellas on this trip, something that doesnt happen too often! Huggett cose the destination, and what deemed like an easy overnighter, turned into a grueling adventure! 40kms - pfft simple. But not when you're not 16 anymore, carrying 20kg on your back and the hike is virtually uphill the whole way. Oh and combine blisters from the 7km mark makes this one tough son of a bitch!

Day 1 was a challenge. Very easy first 8kms on flat ground pretty much to the Thompson River bridge (a highlight in itself!). Then its uphill for the next 20km. That was tough shit. Arrived at campsite in dark at 6:30pm, pitched up tent, ate dinner, and we all died in bed.

Next day recharged and sore, ate food and headed to baw baw. Uphill for the first 4-5 km before undulating the rest of the day.

Well worth it, just get better boots and maybe carry less wine and whiskey. Haha. Thanks for the hike gents!!

Pics below on GPS tracking represents the 1st day only (battery ran out so could not get day 2 tracking)

Rating: It was fun, just not enjoyable. The score would have been less if i wrote this up straight away, but now in hindsight it was awesome. 8/10.

Return to the Grampians

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping

Location: Grampians

Dates: 17/5/2018 - 21/5/2018

Weather: Sun 2/5 days, rained 3/5.  We are looking forward to a trip in the TVAN where we encounter no wet weather...

Great Weather the first day, our site immediately after set up.

Crew: REMJP Crew

Key Tracks Hit: Victoria Range Road (1.5 hours heaps to see); Henham Track; Glenelg River Road (nice views), plenty of other random roads in search for more potential campsites.

Vehicles Used: ISUZU MUX

Distance Travelled: 1000+ kms

Campsites: Wallaby Rocks Campsite

Fishing: None

Gear Purchased: None

Gear Review: N/A

Food: Basil Chicken, Sausages and Deb Mash with broccolini, Smoked Duck Pasta, Mooshu Pork Roti Wraps.

Report:

I won't bore you with an extensive report this time but key highlights for us on this trip were as follows

Halls Gap Zoo it cost us $80 for the three of us, so quite expensive but we found to be a worthwhile half day experience for our little on.

Kids will have a ball here

Mount Zero Hike northern grampians, interesting hike as you get squeeze through a ravine to get to the top and neeed to do some rock scrambling as well.  Great views on offer here as well, would be tricky with kids though if they were running around on the loose.

View from the top of Mount Zero, looking the other direction will provide views of Mount Zero Olive Farm

The little ravine made the walk interesting

If you have time we recommend this 2hr walk

Jake loved the walked

Did a Geochache at Paddy's Castle which was a bit of fun, this area offers reasonably nice views and is a perfect place to do an easy 20 minute walk with young kids.  Trail takes you around the back of a rock feature so that you can easily climb to the top to check out the views and have a picnic.

Victoria Range Road, cool fun for some easy 4wding.  Some cracker campspots here as well.  Our favourite was called hot banana, this site has a spectacular view but also a bit of trek to get to ie will add 1.5 hours to your commute time if intending on staying here. Hot Banana would fit two tents or one trailer at a squeeze.  Contact me for coordinates.

Also our favourite not so secret secret spot paid dividends again with amazing views and not much wind this time so we could stay here for our entire duration of the trip.  It was funny though we didn't see anyone for 4/5 days, on saturday though I site was visited by 40 or so dirt bike riders whilst we were having breakfast.

Rating: 9.6/10 just getting better.

1 hour 10 min drive north...

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping
Location: 1 hour 10 min drive
Dates: 28th + 29th April
Weather: Perfect. Sunny and mild.
Crew: Toon, Jax, Beel, Ross, Ella, Alfie
Key Tracks Hit: Various ones on the drive out. Some challenging rocky stuff, but tracks were pretty dry.
Vehicles Used: Paj + Pathy.
Distance Travelled: 250km
Campsites: 1.1 hour north. #21
Fishing: Beautiful stream, kids = no fishing.
Gear Purchased: N/A
Gear Review: 
Food: Snags, bacon & eggs, general easy stuff.
Report: Overnighter with the kids last minute trip. Sweet spot to get out of town at the drop of a hat. Lots of people though, but campsite definitely felt secluded.
Rating: 8/10.

Grampians, go the dispersed camping option!!!

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping

Location: Grampians

Dates: 12/4/18 - 15/4/18

Weather: Some sun, but mainly rain and high winds

Crew: REM Clan

Key Tracks Hit: Certainly not a 4wd mecca, however the scenery is glorious and driving the "4WD only tracks" regularly provides stunning views and relatively isolated places to have a cup of tea or lunch without being bothered by the masses.

Rose Creek Road - Easy, possible 2wd access

Wallaby Rocks Road - Easy but would need 4wd or possibly get away with an AWD vehicle to negotiate some sand patches and loose rocky areas

Hines Road - Easy there were some steep sections but anything a beginner could comfortable deal with

Launders Track - Was possibly the most challenging track we came across, but again vehicles with high clearance will comfortable traverse this area.  Some nice views here as well. Video of a small section attached below.

Victoria Valley Road - Takes you right up the middle and gives you an idea of the size of this park and some great views of the Western and Eastern Ranges, its flat and unchallenging, with sealed sections and takes you through a lot of farm land.  But there were plenty of turn offs that could lead to some interesting 4wding if that is what you are chasing.

Vehicles Used: ISUZU Mux (still sits on stock supension... it'll happen)

Distance Travelled: 1000kms

Campsites: An amazing spot photos supplied, contact me for coordinates will happily share amongst friends.

Fishing: None conducted

Gear Purchased: Supapeg Tent Pegs, very happy with product.  Basically if pulled on, it forces the peg deeper into the ground.  It held our massive awning in position in high winds without a hitch and easy to pull out when packing up as well.

Gear Review: We used our canvas awning for the first time. This runs along the TVAN attached by zips and straps.  Good bit of kit, which provided excellent cover from the elements.  However over this weekend we learnt that the awning should really only be used when forecast winds are below 60 km/hr, otherwise has the potential to be damaged.

 Food: Thanks to Emily food was kick arse as always.  Zucchini, Salmon and Cream Cheese Muffins; Mushroom and Walnut Pesto Gnocchi; Paprika Chicken with butter time sauce and spinach; Lamb Burgers with Halloumi.

Report: We are sold on this area, and will undoubtedly be returning to explore it more.  Grampians offer a range of activities suitable for all levels of fitness and age and is arguably one of the most beautiful parts of Victoria.

The not so secret, secret spot:  Our first campsite was spectacular, only downside was that its location is exposed to the full force of the classic Victorian westerlies associated with cold frontal movement...  Meaning you're going to get absolutely smashed by wind and rain here so only go to this spot if the forecast is promising otherwise you will be stuck in your tent and car for the entire duration you are there.  It is relatively safe for kids despite the fact there was a large drop off exceeding 10 metres in height and is about 20 metres from where you would pitch your tent.

  

The View from our campsite

Set Up Phase

Kids will love climbing all the rocks around here

Location is just below 2000' elevation, so you will find that the clouds sweep through quickly and engulf your site in mist.  We thought this just added to the beauty of our location.

Unfortunately due wind we were forced to pack up and move the afternoon of the second day.  We shifted to Smith's Mill Campground and by this time it was dark.  I keep banging on about it but the TVAN really came into its own this night, piece of cake to pack up and move and then set up again in pitch black.  I did this by myself whilst Emily was busy settling the boy.

Smith's Mill Campground was nice enough, sheltered area with basic amenities and turned out to be a reasonable alternate location.  Emus come through campsite in the morning scavenging for left over food and JP was fascinated by these birds; so that was pretty cool.  It is tent city style camping but a good location to access both the north and southern Grampians.

Another place we visited was Billimina to check out the Aboriginal rock art.  Basically you need to follow the track to Jardwadjali Falls and you will end up at this spectacularly coloured rock which at the bottom is covered in a large number of rock paintings. 

 Our highlight however involved a wrong turn,which followed a climbers trail to the top of a peak.  This took us to an area with a huge number of rock climbing sites and also supplied us with spectacular views of the valley where we decided to stop our walk and have lunch on a rocky outcrop.  Wow!!!

Our lunch Spot

As you can probably tell we had a ball and can't wait to come back again.  Where we stand, its only a few hours from Melbourne and it is a place that will offer a different experience everytime you go back.

Even JP loved the views

For our next trip here, we plan to set up camp in the chimney pots area, we hear that is a cracker jack place to go as well.

Rating: 9.5/10.  With more visits in the future had to leave some scope for higher scores in case we were to discover even better camp spots.

Boroka Lookout

Tangil

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping
Location: Icy Creek / Vesper near Tanjil River
Dates: 10th March
Weather: Sunny, 32
Crew: Toon, Jax, Millie, Huggett, Mischke
Key Tracks Hit: Tracks around Tanjil river
Vehicles Used: Paj, Hilux
Distance Travelled: 320km
Campsites: N/A
Fishing: Very brief session at the river crossing where we stopped for lunch. Kids and dog made it tough to properly have a session.
Gear Purchased: N/A
Gear Review: N/A
Food: Hot diggities
Report: Good 2 hour drive down the monash to the turn off, and then up the hills and was in the bush. Tracks were immediately interesting and there is a HEAP around here that needs exploring. There were some seriously rutted sections that in the winter would pull up some challenges. Nothing a winch and patience cannot handle, but definitely worth a look during the colder months! 2x river crossings. We stopped at one of the rivers to have lunch and the kids had a blast making new friends and walking through the river. The conclusion of this short day trip is that this place needs further exploring.
Rating: 6/10. Would have liked to explore a lot more, but kids were done.

Lerderderg State Park

Lerderderg State Park

Type: 4wd'ing + camping

Location: Lerderderg State Park

Dates: 13th - 15 Jan

Weather: Showers throughout our stay about 15 - 20 degrees (cooler at night).

Crew: Rhino, Em and JP

Key Tracks Hit: Carrolls Lane, Amblers Lane and O'briens Road.

Vehicles Used: ISUZU MUX (stock suspension)

Distance Travelled: 300km round trip

Campsites: Amblers Lane near the LER524 Checkpoint. One of three dispersed camping sites available in that area.

Fishing: Although there is a stream highly doubt anything worth catching.

Gear Purchased: TVAN

Gear Review: Its an awesome bit of kit for camping. A Light trailer with excellent ground clearance, quick to set up and seriously comfortable sleeping area.  This was our second trip with it and it was great to see how it would perform in rainy conditions.  We used a sail awning for exterior cover which sufficed however in future we will opt for the canvas canopy which runs entire length of the trailer and provides far better cover.  We were very happy with it and Jake finds it fun to just play around with everything inside.  In summary in the rainy conditions we still managed to have a relaxing weekend away.

Food: Steak with Chimichurri Sauce, Chicken wraps, and then eggs for breakfast.  Lunch was salads and some bread.

Report:
It's always good to get out away from home to be able to properly switch off from all your responsibilities.

We attempted to enter the park from southern boundary, this track and many others like it were closed and available to Management Vehicles (MVO) and hikers only.  Throughout the weekend we only found a few roads that you could use and these were freshly graded that any 2WD city car would comfortably be able to use.  There was only one section of about 4 km that was 4WD only (a part of Amblers Lane), and for 4WDS without raised suspension would be classed as moderate difficulty when wet.

The forest itself certainly isn't anything to talk about, just a standard bush experience with no views.  We did note however that the insect count was low, no bullants or jumping jacks which allowed Jake to crawl around in the dirt and eat sticks and wombat shit for most of the weekend.  Low insect count may have been in part due to the rainy weather though.

We visited and checked out all campsites available in the park and felt through coincidence that we had set up ours in the best spot.    It was secluded enough from other campers and was located directly off the most difficult incline for 4WDing, it was a moderately difficult short run with large rocks and ruts; many drivers couldn't make it up to the top. Whilst chilling back with a beer it provided us with some free entertainment during the weekend.  We helped a guy with a new unmodified hilux to get up the track, by deflating his tyres and showing him the route that previous drivers had the most success with.

We probably wouldn't come back here, only because we feel there are nicer areas to go that are equally as close to Melbourne.  Unless you like crowds avoid O'briens crossing campsite, shitloads of people and not really pretty enough to justify city block camping.


Rating: 3/10 Got three points only because it really wasn't much of a challenge to get in, and as a result the site and area is not isolated enough to feel like you are on your own and there really wasn't views or nice scenery to justify the number of people that visit the area.