Jamieson to Macalister Gorge

We knew the Melbourne Cup weekend was going to be a big trip to the best 4wd real estate in Australia the amazing High Country, and we nearly had the most vehicles on this trip compared to other trips, as everyone has been locked up for so long and needed to get away.

The weather week’s before the trip wasn’t that good with the High Country in places had up to 85mm of rain, so I was told that some of the tracks were wet and slippery and very rutted and the rivers had come up another foot or so. So I put up a message on our Facebook page saying that all winches are to be checked and working as well, and very good All Terrain tyres or mud tyres with plenty of tread unfortunately we had 3 vehicles pull out because of the situation up there. So we still had plenty of vehicles, 14 vehicles met on the Friday night at Knockwood Reserve Campsite on the Woods Point- Jamieson rd, when most of us turned up about 8.00pm the fire was going and we sat around for a bit before heading to bed.

Saturday

In the morning everyone was fairly excited to hit those tracks, as everyone was packing up their camping gear Steve and myself went down to Moonlight Spur track to the river crossing to check how deep it was going to be, it wasn’t to bad came up to the top of the tyres. So we were going up Lazarinis Spur track but that river crossing would of came up to our rooftop it was that deep, so I made a quick change to the trip and headed across to Big River way first. We headed down to Moonlight Spur track through the river crossing easy then the climb out the other side we travelled the easy drive along Moonlight Spur up to Matlock track turning right and headed along here a bit then left down Hope track which has two small hills but very easy this brings you down to Big River rd turning left and back into 2wd for a bit, passing some of the campsites we got to Boundary track and turned left up here, at the start has a nice climb and some switch backs could be very slippery just after rain, we got to Corn Hill track but we kept on going straight along Boundary track on this small bit of Boundary track has two separate tracks one is Extreme and the other is very easy we took the easy way as the Extreme track is very steep and rutted and huge rock steps. The track finally comes out onto Camp track where we had smoko at a little campsite. After a break we continued along Camp track and we had a fairly big tree to get around and as every vehicle went around made it harder for the next vehicle to get around, this track comes to Frenchmans Spur track which is really easy so back into 2wd again passing the logging area we got onto Warburton – Woods Point rd traveling along here a bit we turned left up Corn Hill up to Mt Matlock which is at 1377m we had some lunch. The views weren’t very good as the fog rolled through, so a quick break and we were off heading to O’Tooles campsite, we had two vehicles pull out here and went their own way as they had to head towards home the next day, so we headed along Walhalla rd for about 30mins then we got to O’Keefe track and turned left, the track had just been graded which made it very slippery the track heads straight down then through the river crossing then straight up again where you had to keep the momentum up without getting stuck, at the top the track turns into McGuire track with some really tricky sections in it, this track winds it’s way around the bottom of Mt Useful then we got onto White Star track which is really easy at the start then the down hill section to the river is very steep and rutted and slow going, we went through the Donnelly river crossing and up onto Donnelly Creek rd we turned left travelled up a bit and turned left down into O’Tooles campsite, the campsite was fairly empty so we got a spot by the river and we all fitted in easy, as everyone set up camp I went and got firewood came back to an already lit fire I set up and we had an afternoon around the fire then Paul and Fiona turned up about 6.00pm coming in late from another direction to join us they set up camp and we had a good night.

Sunday

In the morning we all slept in as I think we all needed it and we didn’t really have that far to go so we cooked up breakfast and sat around the fire a while then packing up camp, we had a quick briefing and I decided to add some extra tracks in, so we took off at 10.00am leaving O’Tooles campsite we headed along Donnelly Creek rd till we got to Army track and Lloyd’s Hut is on the corner we turned right and headed up it was very steep at the start but a good drive then there’s a massive rock step or the chicken track so we took the chicken track instead then the track becomes easy, then when the track winds down to the Fultons Creek there is some switch backs where you have to reverse back to get around, through the river crossing then straight up which is steep and about 7 switch backs to deal with. Along Army track there was a plant with a purple flower which made a very interesting conversation over the radio what was it actually called. At the end of Army track was a very sharp left hand turn down Fultons Creek track down to the river then just on the other side of the river is Fultons Hut ruins so we had a quick break. After our break we had a very steep climb out and it was a good climb out, then we turned right down Fultons track with a steep section down which was very rocky and down through a river crossing then a very steep climb out where one section I had three attempts then I had to let my tyres down to 18psi as the rock was really slippery for about 100m we all made it and Geoff just kept on losing traction so some of us walked down to him and winched him up this 100m section then we had to walk back to the vehicles so steep nearly killed us, we drove up a bit further and stopped for lunch. After lunch we got onto McEvoys rd back into 2wd and headed along here till we got onto Glenmaggie Creek track easy track then onto Black Range track then we turned right down Bourgoyne track what a track this is the views are amazing, we had to stop on one section to take photos then the track just winds straight down steep in some sections until we got to the bottom into the MaCalister Gorge we went through the Mt Useful River and we started to look for a campsite we took a right turn down towards the Morning Glory Hut and it was taken so we kept on going down to the river and found this awesome campsite on the MaCalister river the camp was a bit small but we all squeezed in and we had a swim which was freezing cold but so enjoyable, we set up camp lit the fire some of us putting the camp ovens on the fire for a roast dinner then we enjoyed the fire for the night and the sound of the MaCalister river over the rapids sounded like we were at the ocean with crashing of the waves.

Monday

As we woke in the morning we were ready for a great day of 4wding seeing that we had some steep climbs coming up, so we had breakfast and packed up camp, quick briefing on the tracks we were going to travel again then we were off at 9.00am. We had the climb out of camp then straight across the intersection and straight up Greenhills track there is two steep sections about 300m long the first one was rocky and rough then the second one was well out of the windscreen it was one long rock face and over the radio I said” oh my god this is steep “ so I headed up first low range and made it up really easy it was so surprising plenty of grip and we all made it no problems, we continued along driving across the top to the Heli Pad, just past the the Heli Pad we turned right down Cobb Spur track with the most amazing views of the State MaCalister Forest so every bend or switch back was a completely different world then the track heads down into the valley past a nice campsite through the river crossing then straight up again around some switch backs then there is a section that over looks Licola township and then a very slippery clay rutted climb up to the Telecom tower we had a break at the top but had no views as it was all over grown. We headed off again along Cobb Spur the track becomes very easy with views back over where we had all ready come from, we eventually got to S1 track a little overgrown with trees but a nice little track to drive, would make a great snow trip track, you go passed the cattle yards then the Spring Hill Plateau then onto South rd we pulled up here and had lunch.

After lunch we had Nathan, Phil and Geoff leaving the trip as they were heading for home along the Jamieson/ Licola rd into Jamieson. So the rest of us headed down Morris track really easy at the start then the track becomes very steep in sections and has that red clay which would be slippery in wet weather and towards the bottom is rutted, as we approached the bottom on Middle Ridge rd Andrew needed to fuel up so he fuelled up out of his jerrycans and we were off again and back into 2wd as we drove along Middle Ridge rd until we got to Mountain Ash track and veered right, we got to the river crossing and I went through slow and the water came up to the top of my bonnet and I jumped onto the radio and said take it easy as the river crossing was deep and as we got further along the track I received a call from Matt and he had put his fan through his radiator and was leaking water, so we pulled up trying to fix it but we couldn’t so Matt had to be towed. Mountain Ash is a slippery track but a good drive, then we got to Son of Bitch track and we veered left, this track has a lot of steep sections in it at the start and Matt had to drive these sections as Frank couldn’t tow him up. Then Son Of Bitch turns into an awesome drive through all the snow gums. It changes into Nobs track and we got up to the Heli Pad so Matt could ring home to get another radiator but we had no service, so we kept on going down Nobs track which is still steep but very well graded at the bottom we gathered wood for the fire and headed to camp along Brocks rd just over the bridge we were lucky no one was in there so we set up camp, lit the fire and had a great night as it was our last night.

Tuesday

We woke to a nice morning I got the fire going again and we had breakfast and packed up camp. We decided to go for a look up at Lovicks so we headed off about 9.00am. Matt headed for Mansfield as we headed up Brocks rd until we got to Cairn Creek track, we turned left down to the river crossing and out the other side the damage from the bush fires started to show and how much devastation the fire had caused. We got up to Bluff track and turned right then a little up the track we stopped at Lovicks Hut, we stopped here for a bit taking photos and we had smoko. We then headed back along Bluff track with a awesome drive along Bluff track through the snow gums and over Mt Lovick at 1685m then onto Bluff Hut, we got to the Hut and nobody was there so we were able to line up to the side of the Hut and get some great Photos. We then headed down to Bluff Link then up to Brocks rd and the drive down to Sheepyard Flat where we aired up had some lunch and everyone headed of to head home in their own time, I stayed for about an hour winding down after a great trip.

Participants

Russell. 105 LandCruiser

Andrew. Triton

Steve. Prado

Nathan and Bailey. Ranger

Frank, Reggie and Lily. Nissan Patrol

Paul, Fiona,Keith and Lach. 80 LandCruiser

Tim M. BT 50

Naomi and Dale. Prado

Phil. BT 50

Geoff. Isuzu

Matt. 105 LandCruiser