Huggetts Crossing - Avon Wilderness Area

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping 

Location: Huggetts Crossing - Avon Wilderness Area

Dates: 20/11 - 22/11

Weather: Fine, top of 30 but mostly mid 20s

Crew: Toon + kids, Ross + kids, Huggett & Dan

Key Tracks Hit: Huggetts Track, Mount Angus Track, New moroka Rd, Pleydells Spur Tk, Valencia Creek, Marathon Rd, Lees Creek Track, Freestone Creek, Lower Block Tk, Dolodrook Tk, Hickeys Creek Track. 

Vehicles Used: 17 Ranger, 18 Range, 05 Paj. 

Distance Travelled: 600km round trip, 183km of which was off road!

Campsites: Huggetts Crossing

Fishing: N/A

Gear Purchased: N/A

Gear Review: N/A

Food: Snags, Applie Pie, Cereal, Waffles, Pies & Sausage Rolls, Hotdogs, Pasta, Lasagna, Nachos, Bacon & Egg rolls, lollies. 

Report: One of if not the best trip. 2 dads, 6 kids and we still managed to get on the road early. 8am on the saturday and then 9:15 am on the sunday (after a full camp pack up!). Got home on the saturday around 5:30 - so taht was an epic 138km off-raod adventure!! In total i recon we hit about 30 river crossings, and we scaled some very gnarly ascents and descents. Most epic tracks were Valencia Ck, Lees Ck, Freeston, Dolodrook and Hickeys. Views were amazing at places, and as usual there is so much to explore out here. The rivers were surprisingly warm, so swimming in them was very enjoyable. Kids had a blast. Was great that Huggett and Dan came up Sat night, which meant we had a good convoy on the Sunday. Finished off by swimming in the bogan waterhole on the macalister river. 

Rating: 10/10

Avon Wilderness Area / Huggett's Crossing Camp - Places to Hit

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping - has it all. 

Location: Avon Wilderness Area

Dates: 

Weather: 

Crew: 

Key Tracks Hit: 

Vehicles Used: 

Distance Travelled: 219km one way or 3 hour drive from Nunna to Huggetts Crossing. 

Campsites: Huggett's Crossing, Demody's Campgroun, or Valencia Creek Camping. 

Fishing: For sure. 

Gear Purchased: 

Gear Review: 

Food: 

Report: https://www.visitgippsland.com.au/do-and-see/nature-and-wildlife/parks-and-reserves/avon-wilderness-area 

Rating: https://www.ffm.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/26267/FS0042-Avon-Mount-Hedrick-Scenic-Reserve.pdf 

Victoria's Deserts - Wyperfeld, Big Desert, Murray-Sunset, Hattah-Kulkyne

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping
Location: Wyperfeld, Big Desert, Murray-Sunset, Hattah-Kulkyne
Dates: 4th - 10th July
Weather: For winter weather, it was perfect. No rain. Most days and nights was top of 15, low of 1.
Crew: VB Family
Key Tracks Hit:

Vehicles Used: Ranger
Distance Travelled: 1613km @ 14.3l / 100km @ 32:20:15 of driving.
Campsites: Snowdrift (Wyperfeld), Lake Albacutya (Wyperfeld), Rocket Lake (Murray-Sunset), Big Billy (Big Desert)
Fishing: N/A
Gear Purchased: N/A
Gear Review: N/A
Food: Bangers & Mash, Applie Pie, Cereal, Porridge, Sausage Rolls, Souvas, Shake Pancakes, Salad Sangas, Satay Sticks & Rice, Toasties, Pasta etc.
Report: Finally got a proper camping adventure! 6 days on the road exploring the Vic deserts. What a place, too much to see in just 6 days. Huttah-Kulkyne is a wicked park, lots more animals here than the other parks. Wyperfeld was pretty awesome, especially Snowdrift campsite. Other than Big Bune, the Big Desert is tough terrain as it is dense and high shrub so cant see much scenery compared to the other 3 parks. There was one section of track we went through in the Murray-Sunet as we were traveclling East the Carwarp South West RD. That is a bugger - you cross farm land and there is no definitive track. Without the PDF map and it being GPS, we would have certianly got lost, but as we veered offtrack it was obvious as the track marking was not following road, so had to find new tracks. Was awesome fun though!! Snowdrift campsite was the best, then Rocket Lake, then Lake Albacutya. Firewood at Big Billy is shit, no large wood, so you go through it pretty quickly. Most other wood around the desert is awesome solid and burns very well. Pie oven working a treat now, the trays are the thing that makes pies soggy - you need to keep the wire racks to ensure good heat flow. Sausage rolls, apple pie and toasties on the road.... priceless. Lots of KM in the end, but good trip!!

Rating: 11/10

Upper Big River - Horseshoe Bend

 Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping
Location: Upper Big River - Horseshoe Bend Campsite
Dates: Queens B'day Weekend 5th June - 8th June.
Weather: Cold but dry. No rain, top of 10 low of freezing maybe -4 low.

Crew: TAL family, Ross + kids, WAM family, LJ + hugo.
Key Tracks Hit: Enoch's Point round to Mt Terrible, down Newmans.
Vehicles Used: Paj & Ranger on the tracks.
Distance Travelled: 350km
Campsites: Horseshowe Bend
Fishing: Yes, 1x rainbow.

Gear Purchased: DIY hot plate mansion.

Gear Review: Hot plate mansion is awesome. Road chef cant roast a chook properly, it just steams it. It was like a poached chicken. Other than meat pies and warming up already cooked food, it seems like a useless piece of kit. Mind you, meat pies in the bush is pretty good - but it would be better if the raod chef actually cooked it rather than steamed it.
Food:

• Brekky: Bacon and eggs sangas each morning, pancakes, coco pops, nutri grain, damper
• Lunch: Hot dogs, snags, magic noodles, wraps
• Dinner: Roast chook (in the damper pots, didnt work in road chef), party pies and sausage rolls
• Desert & Late Night Snacks: Stoner cones, apple pie, Bitterballen, fried chicken

Report: Finally got to get out camping following covid restrictions. Headed up towards big river, but every other bogan thought that was a good idea too. Thanks to Ross leaving early managed to secure a site otherwise we may not have found something. Great to have everyone out there bar Huggett and NSP, and all kids seemed to have a blast. It was pretty darn cold though at night, so needed lots of firewood and good sleeping bags. The Sunday 4wd'ing around the tracks was supberb with awesome views. Tracks were not challenging at all, but it was good exploring. Jamieson township is nice, need to find a secluded campsite along the Golburn River somewhere. That would be epic.
Rating: 10/10. Was awesome.

Warburton

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping
Location: Warburton
Dates: 23/5/20
Weather: Fine and cool.
Crew: VB + Bergo + kids
Key Tracks Hit: See screenshot
Vehicles Used: Paj & Ranger
Distance Travelled: 150km
Campsites: N/A
Fishing: N/A
Gear Purchased: ARB 78L fridge, MSA drop down firdge slide, drifta drawers, road chef 12v oven, hulk air compressor
Gear Review:

• MSA Fridge slide - solid bit of kit. Works well and super handy to have given the fridge sits ontop of the drawers so would make it very hard to reach down into the bottom of fridge without having it drop down. However, i think the Clear View slide is a better design than the MSA and i feel i should have bought the clear view. Also the msa drop slide has a bolt on the right hand side that catches the webbing of the ARB fridge bag, and it has already started to rip the fridge bag!! Horrible design by ARB
• ARB Fridge - works well, draws hardly any power. Its a fridge. 
• Drifta Drawers - slide beautifully and a heap of room inside. Good buy, way easy to install. 
• Road Chef - first use of this kit. Jury is still out on this, as it didnt cook the pies to a crispy state. They came out soggy, even after checking out a number of times and extending the cooking.  
• Hulk Air Compressor - Used the air compressor for the first time outbush, and a hole started to emerge from the cord which made the air compressor not work! Should be under warranty and get it replaced. This better not be a sign of more issues to come...

Food: Pies, sausage rolls, hot cinamen donuts.
Report: Finally the VIC government allowed us out of our homes following COVID restrictions. Hit the tracks and got dirty. Dissapointinly many tracks were closed, so couldnt really explore this area even though it wasnt even past queens b'day weekend. It was drier than i had thought given all the rain, but there were a few puddles and slippery slopes to get the heart racing. Nearly slid off a small rock bridge which would have been nasty damage, but car stopped about 3cm short from falling off!! Didnt break anything which is always good (other than the air compressor hose).
Rating: 8/10

Hilux KZN 165R Safari Snorkel Install

Type: Safari Snorkel Install
Location: Home
Dates: 12 April 2020
Weather: Overcast
Crew: Huggett, Dan HZ
Key Tracks Hit: Path from driveway to shed in backyard
Vehicles Used: Hilux
Distance Travelled: 1km
Campsites: N/A
Fishing: N/A
Gear Purchased: Safari Snorkel
Gear Review: Not used yet
Food: Hot Cross Buns for lunch, and afternoon tea

Report: Figured it was time to get a snorkel after grossly misjudging a river crossing from last fishing trip.

Bought the snorkel from https://www.outbackequipment.com.au/. Delivery time was great given we're in the middle of the lock-down.

Big thanks to Dan for helping out with the install and the photos!

Below are a few pics and tips for the install.

All parts supplied.

Tools required. Other tools required (not shown) include a jigsaw with metal cutting blade and ring spanners. Ratchet ring spanners would be very helpful.

Step one. Open the hood.

Remove the inner arch liner. Tip - the clips are little bastards. Easiest to cut the off and get new clips. 

Remove inner guard ducting.

Interesting observation - mud and dirt build up behind arch lining. Worth removing the arch lining every so often and giving this area a clean. 

Remove air entry duct.

Jam a cloth into the air filter intake to prevent any debris (metal filings etc) getting in there.

Place and tape template to front guard.

Mark out holes. Tip - Apply tape to the drill/cut positions. Helps stop the drill from skipping across the metal.

Check the markings a few times, then start drilling. No turning back now.

Hole saw.

 The safari instructions said to do the rest of the cutout with a hacksaw blade. That would have taken all day. Easiest to use a jigsaw.

Paint the cuts.

Cut air entry duct. Tip - Be careful with this cut, try and leave as much pipe as possible to overlap with safari hose.

Apply silicone to air filter intake.

Re-fit air entry duct.

Install threaded studs into snorkel.

Fit snorkel. SWEET!!!

Install and tighten nuts.

Tip - Found it very trick to install nuts and washers. There is only just enough room to get your hand in to place the nuts and washers over the studs. The studs are inclined downward, and the washers keep falling off before getting the nuts on. Tape the washer and nut together to get them on.

Apply silicone to snorkel to air entry duct hose.

Fit to snorkel to air entry duct hose to snorkel and to air entry duct. This was an absolute bastard. Tighten hose clamps

Fix bracket to pillar.

Finished!!!

Rating: 8/10.