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.