Brindabella Trip

Easter 2006

By Trevor Darling

Participants

Phil Reid -- 80 series.  Trip Leader

Steve Rhall --80 series

Trevor Darling -- 80 series

Bear, Mary, and Blu -- Troopie

Graham, Nerilie, Rebecca, and Hanna Cutting -- Prado

Ross and Sally Shaw -- Prado

Lee and Moira Bradstreet -- Patrol

Day 1

Well things started early for me I met Phil and Steve at the spit bridge 5.30am and we all traveled down to Yass together to the meeting spot. After saying Giday to everybody Phil asked for volunteers to do the trip reports Graham said he would do the verbal so I said I need the swagman points and would do the written. Ok first even if you are trip leader it doesn’t give you the right to park in a bus only zone like Phil did so that is the first fine out of the way. We left Yass and went for a lovely drive through the country side where the rocks grow and the grass is non existent some of the rock formations were quiet spectacular. We missed the turn to the Link Trail where we were to air down but after stopping and reversing we all made it. We drove some nice trails occasionally stopping to check the GPS and maps don’t want to get lost now do we.

Mt. Corrie

 Now we were on our way up Mt Coree to the fire tower, great views could see all the way to Canberra and also all the devastation that was caused by the fires. A lot of the trees are just dead and all the regrowth is coming from the ground not trees re-sprouting like you normally see. We had morning tea up here but the ranger did not invite us up the tower, so we headed off back down the hill and up another one down some more until we came to Flea creek where there were some club members on a private trip we had a chat on the radio as we continued on our way as we were running late to get to the camp site where we wanted to camp. There were rain clouds looming and just after we got to our camp site it started to rain so we had to set up a wet camp. I set up my tarp first then my tent under that so it was not wet. Helped Phil put up a big tarp over his tent and we had enough room under his tarp to get together as a group and have a chat and drink. It started to get cold and still raining so most people were in bed by 9:30pm.

Day 2

We woke to a cool morning but it was fine no clouds after some breakfast and tarp adjustments we were ready to head off on our day of adventure. The plan was to head down to Coolamine Hut as national parks had an open day on where they had some displays and other things happening. The tracks were nice and wet bog holes full and the last one was deep Phil lead the way and nearly drowned the cruiser. Ross was brave and stripped down and walked into the freezing water come mud with a stick and worked out where we should drive to avoid drowning his Prado in the big hole. We all followed his route and had no dramas.

Muddy Track

We got to the Broken Cart Track and found the ruts were getting bigger right at the start of the track we all straddled the first set with no worries except for tail end charlie Lee he fell in and the Nissan was well and truly stuck. 3 80 series 2 Prados and 1 Troopie no worries 1 Nissan problems. Bear tried to snatch out Lee but with no successes so I went back and pulled him out with my Nissan puller. Mean while Phil had run into problems with even bigger ruts further up the track and was stuck after sliding around in the mud. Double diff locks were useless so out with the shovel and he and Graham dug the top of the rut and managed to reverse him out. After deciding that the track was too hard in the wet and there was a risk of serious damage to the cars we decided to turn around and head back to the main trail which was Barnetts Rd. Phil managed to get stuck again turning around so we had morning tea while we were waiting for him. We continued along Barnetts Rd until we got to an intersection that would take use down to the Coolamine Hut and decided that it was too late to head down and would go there tomorrow so we turned left and headed off to Dubbo Hill. We came across a good camp site on the way to the hill and the brumbies must have liked it as well judging by the amount off dung mounds. Down to Dubbo Flats we went and up the other side we stopped a bit later for a late lunch then headed of to the camp site. We got back to camp about 4:30pm and it was already starting to get cold. Phil got the chainsaw out and cut up some fire wood and it wasn’t long before a good fire was roaring. Everybody cooked on the fire then we put a big log on which lasted till the morning. There was the usual chit chat around the fire and when everybody started to head of to bed we checked the temp with Phil’s and Lee’s thermometers it was -4.3. It was a cold night and hard to sleep.

Day 3

We woke to a very cold morning. Lee and Phil came up with -7.9 inside the car and -11.1 outside.

-11 degrees at 7 AM!

 Needless to say everything that was left out over night was frozen solid. I was putting my hands in the fridge to warm them up! We had breakfast then headed out to go to Coolamine Hut. We went the same way as the day before no problems with the bog holes. We turned right down the Broken Cart Fire Trail and found that this part of the trail was in very good condition. There were a few trees along the track that had been cut to let the cars through but Lee decided that one gap was not wide enough and it a log with his left front wheel. About 50 meters later a call came over the radio from Lee I think I have got a flat tyre I watched him go around a corner and sure enough there was a tyre running off the bead. He had split the side wall hitting that log so we stopped to change his tyre while the women brewed the billy and had a cuppa.

Flat tyre

On our way again we turn right on to Long Plain Road then turn off to go to the Coolamine Hut. There was not much happening there today but it was nice and peaceful. I was disappointed with the vandalism that has go on to the hut as I was there 3 years earlier and was amazed with all the old newspapers put on the walls for insulation but found that most of them had been ripped down I suppose by souvenir hunters. National Parks has put Perspex up to protect the remaining papers but it is too late and the huts old charm has gone. Well enough on that we headed of back the way we came to Long Plain Road and went to Cooinbil Hut next and found that the place was full of horse riders camping there. Had a quick look around then went back down the road to a creek where we had lunch and Phil and myself did a bit of fishing for trout but we got nothing. After lunch we headed off back towards camp went on Fiery Range Trail that had not been used for years after cutting through a few trees we came to a big one that we could or go around so it was time to turn around and take the road back to camp. We got to camp started the fire and settled in for a very cold night. You had to keep turning around and defrost your back as it was getting ice on it , our low for the night was a nice crisp -11.4 degrees it was cold I thought I was prepared for cold weather but nothing like this.

Day 4

We had a late start as we wanted to let the ice melt off all the tarps and tents before packing up. We drove to the start of the power line trail where we had morning tea and surveyed what we were about to drive. Nerilie decided to walk up the steep hill for exercise, but I thought that was what we all brought 4x4 are so that you did not have to walk. Any way we all drove up the hill except for Bear as he had run out of LPG and the Troopie was not running to well on petrol and Graham as he was towing a trailer, so they drove around to the top on the road. Phil stopped to pick up Nerilie who by the way had just walked 3 km and beat us to the top and we continued on to the start of the Picadilly Circus track which we all drove with no incidents and then Lee took over as trip leader and took us on a tour of the area that led us down to the main Brindabellas Rd. We stopped there to air up and have lunch and all said our good byes.

I would like to thank Phil for the interesting trip and Lee for been brave enough to drive the only Nissan.