Bunyip into Warby

Type: 4wd'ing  

Location: Bunyip into Warby

Dates: 31st July 2021

Weather: Fine, 18. Warm winter day!

Crew: Toon, Jax, Sam, Mac

Key Tracks Hit: Throughout bunyip into Warby. Many tracks were closed, but still a few open. Just had to find them. 

Vehicles Used: Ranger

Distance Travelled: 280km, 12.8l/100km 6 hours. 

Food: Road side hot dogs for lunch. 

Report: Was a long time coming, but great to get out. Beautiful day, as usual so much to explore in this area. 

Rating: 7/10

Otways - Dandos Campsite

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping 

Location: Dando's Campsite Otways

Dates: 22nd - 25th

Weather: Slight drizzle but fine. 

Crew: Toon, Ross, Willo, LJ, Huggett

Key Tracks Hit: N/A - not much 4wding done. 

Vehicles Used: Paj, Ranger, Hilux

Distance Travelled: 650km

Campsites: Dando's

Fishing: N/A

Gear Purchased: 

Gear Review: 

Food: Damper, bangers and mash with brocolini, slow roasted tacos, bacon and eggs, meat pies, nachos, fried chicken. 

Report: No kids, dad's session. Started off at willo's house for 1 night, then hit up campsite for 2 more. Was awesome. Had to winch some dude out, and ross had to winch himself out. Not much more needs to be said, it was awesome. 

Rating: 10/10

Snowy River National Park

Type: 4wd'ing + hiking + camping 

Location: Snowy River National Park, near Buchan. Specifically Jacksons Crossing area and McKillops Bridge. 

Dates: 26 Dec 2020 - 31st Dec 2020

Weather: Cold and hot. Typical melbourne. One day it was 30+ the other it was 7 and freezing cold!!! I guess it is the snowy's. 

Crew: Toon, Lisa, Jax, Billie & Sam. 

Key Tracks Hit: Jacksons Crossing Tk, Varneys Tk, Waratah Tk, Monkey Tk, Bowen Link Tk, Deddick Tk, Little River Junction Tk, Turnback Tk

Vehicles Used: Ranger

Distance Travelled: 1036.9km @ 14.3 l/ 100km, 24:44:51 of driving.  

Campsites: Hicks Campground & McKillops Bridge. Jacksons Crossing was full. 

Fishing: 0 catch ,0 bites. Fished the Snowy River and also the river by Hicks Campground. 

Gear Purchased: N/A

Gear Review: Bloody Primus gas cooker is fucked. Gas leaks out the hose connection and was on fire. Need to get a new hose or a whole new cooker. Still not sure yet where the issue exactly is...

Food: Cereal, bacon & eggs, hot dogs, magic noodles, tuna packets, wraps, rice crackers & hommus, bangers & mash, lasagna, corn cobs, hamburgers, pasta & red sauce, pub meal at buchan etc etc. 

Report: What a wicked place. Soooo much to see. Should have done the full deddick tk and the staircase, but full car with kids and no convoy vehcile we chickened out - oh and it was wet and slippery with rain, so maybe wise call. Lots of flies, as the locals call it "Buchan Flies". McKillops Bridge was awesome, great spot, pristine river to chill and swim. Next time take lilo's drive up to mckillips bridge and float down to the campsite. Little River George is wicked (Victoria's deepest George), well worth a look. Need to also drive Armstrong Tk, that apparently is a sweet track. Spent a fun night with some hippies on my birthday of the 30th before heading home the following day. Was going to spend a few nights at a campsite somewhere around lakes entrance, but little sam was done. 

Rating: 8.5/10. 

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.