Originally planned as the Charlie McNamaras Hut trip, our Melbourne Cup weekend adventure encountered a change in plans due to the closure of the Dargo High Plains road. Quickly adapting, I decided to shift our base to Buckland Valley. On Friday night, we reached Beveridge’s Station, set up camp & Fire and enjoyed an early bedtime
Saturday 4th November 2023
Up early getting breakfast and coffee going for a big day ahead. We had a quick briefing and we hit the tracks at 9.00am. Navigating Selwyn Creek road and Tea Tree track in 2WD, we detoured to Mt Sarah for a break. Airing down to 20-22 psi,
At the beginning through the rutted section there wasn’t any water or mud so we made it through that section easily. Then the track veered to the right and straight down, 1st Low Range for a rocky decent.
The track went down for some time to the Wongungarra river crossing, it had a sandy entry point and a rocky exit. We made it with no worries at all, and pulled up for lunch in the tiny camp spot. After lunch we had the very steep climb up to the Heli Pad, very steep in sections. We came out onto Brewery track turning left then onto South Basalt Knob track, in 2wd now we made up some ground. At the intersection where the Old Railway Carriage was (burnt down from the last fires), we continued along Ritchie road, still a 2wd track it was very interesting, not a hard track then you come across a area called VFL Park which didn’t make any sense at all. We eventually came out onto Dargo High Plains road (which was open). We turned right,the dust was terrible, couldn’t see in front of you at all then fog rolled in, making the dust into mud which smeared across your windscreen.
We then turned left into Downey track then to Mathieson Spur track, steep down to the Dargo River. It was about 5.00pm and I wanted to look at Harrison Cutting but we didn’t have time. So we turned left and drove along the Dargo River to Collins Flat campground then across Dargo River which had a interesting 2 foot step up on the exit point. Up Stock Route track up to Berrigan road then left down Murdering Spur track. This track was rutted, rocky, steep and very slow going. 4-5 River crossings later we turned left on Dane track and through some deep bog holes and into Camms Top Place. We made it to camp at 6.30pm, a huge days driving! Charlie and Trevor were waiting for as at camp, with the fire going and had a relaxing night around the fire to a few beers talking about the big day.
Sunday 5th November 2023
Up nice and early and ready for another days driving, leaving before 9.00am we retraced our path through the bog holes and up Danes track, which hadn’t been driven for a very long time, it was very over grown and getting onto Messmate track was the same just driving through trees and shrubs scratching the side of your vehicle. We made it to Wentworth Falls, walking down the 150m pathway to the Falls which was spectacular and worth seeing. We then made our way around to Haunted Stream track.
Getting to Dawson City at 12.00pm and a few vehicles stopped there for lunch we proceeded on the Haunted Stream track which has 54 river crossings and every single crossing has a beautiful view of the landscape. We had lunch along the way, getting out of Haunted Stream around 4.00pm, we looked for a Camp spot but couldn’t find one. So we headed out through the Private Property and through the closed gates onto the Great Alpine road, Tambo Crossing, was closed to the public. So we aired up and headed up Great Alpine road to Ensay and turn left onto Doctors Gully road, and found a camp here, lit the fire and had a well deserved swim in the river.
Monday 6th November 2023
Leaving Doctors Gully at 9.00am heading to Swifts Creek. We spoke to one of the locals about Charlie McNamaras Hut and he advised us the track was closed but there was another way in. This was going to add too much time onto the trip, so we didn’t make it to Charlie McNamaras Hut. So we took off and went a looked at a very old gold mine in the area before getting onto Berrigan road and driving around to Dogs Grave Hut, where we had lunch. Leaving here we went down Dinner Plains track, which has got rough and rocky in sections and some big bog holes. We made it to Dinner Plains township. We headed along the Great Alpine road through Mt Hotham to Harrietville. We stopped here for a beer at the Snowline Hotel, this is where some headed for home. The rest of us headed to Smoko and found a camp on the River near the bridge, set up camp, cut fire wood, lit the fire and had a bath in the River. Sat around the fire that night till we hit the swags.
Tuesday 7th Melbourne Cup
In the morning we all packed up camp at different times and headed for home, out through Bright and Myrtleford.
Participants:
• Russell. 105 LandCruiser
• Andrew. Triton
• Ian and Jenny. Nissan Patrol
• Luke. Hilux
• John. Triton
• Wayne. Hilux
• Geoff. Isuzu
• Brett. Hilux
• Frank. Nissan Patrol
• Charlie and Trevor Isuzu
• Ian B. Nissan Patrol
