Waterwheel camp -Tom Groggin camp-Wheelers Hut
We set off reasonably early and spent a couple of hours wandering around the Canberra War Museum and Parliament house etc before setting off towards the snowy mountains.
There were still a few snow capped peaks around which was an awesome sight.
This was basically another day on the blacktop. A few pics below of sights along the way.
We started the daily hunt for a camp spot:
This looked promising in lake Jindabyne but was too exposed and windy when we went to check it out.
We carried on up past Thredbo and eventually came to the Tom Groggin campground. This was an awesome spot on the banks of the Murray River, lots of space and lots of wildlife around. We found a secluded spot away from the few other campers and got ourselves organised for the night.
Arising early again, we had decided to head into Victoria via the Tom-Groggin Mt Pinnibar track and make our way towards Wheelers Hut.
The first obstacle of the day was a rocky ford across the Murray River:
Heading up through some great tracks and very picturesque country, we came to our 2nd Obstacle of the day. As usual the pics don't do justice to how steep the terrain is, but trust me it's pretty steep. We came up and around a bend to find a fallen tree that basically blocked the ideal line up the hill. I stopped to check it out and was caught in some wheel ruts and the rear had bottomed out which required the use of the winch to get going again. We came across quite a few spots throughout the day where we had to take less than an ideal line to get around tree's in the way.
We only had to winch about 10 or 20 feet to let the Paj gain traction again.
Packed up and on our way, we were climbing the track up to Mt Pinnibar when we came across another obstacle. A tree was blocking access and would have to be cut out of the way. The only issue was that my Chainsaw was just a little 12" Ozito mainly used for collecting firewood and the tree was quite a bit rounder than that!
I was concerned with the Paj being a fairway downhill from the tree that when I cut the log it would careen down the hill into the Paj. I thought about moving the Paj, but didn't really feel like reversing it from the angle it was on. I ended up having to cut the log in two sections so we could roll it out of the way and carry on.
Yayyyy! I was relieved the Ozito managed the job!
A little further on I had to deploy the winch wench, as I really didn't want to take my foot off the brake on the hill we were stuck on. Particularly when the handbrake wasn't very effective (A problem I have since sorted) Bren looked at me with a look of sheer horror on her face as she didn't have a clue what to do with the winch. I took one look at her and elected to take the risk and get out of the Paj
Bren almost fell and rolled to the bottom of the hill when she climbed out! It was bloody steep and we were having trouble standing on it.
We had just gotten stuck on a small rock step up and rather than risk damage or sliding the front sideways down the hill, I elected to winch it. Unfortunately I have only one pic of this section, as I was otherwise occupied. We winched in two separate pulls up this hill and then we were good the rest of the way to the top. Bren had her first introduction to some real 4wdriving and she handled it well and took it all in her stride!
We had made it to the top, but I couldn't help wondering what the downhill run was going to be like? Fortunately it was a pretty easy run and the only issue we had was on a track we were on, we came across several huge tree's down and blocking the path. The 12" Ozito wasn't going to do the job this time, so we back tracked and took a longer path. We ran into some forestry workres who had just cleared another huge tree out of the way and were on there way to the ones that stopped us.
Finally we arrived at Wheelers Creek Hut and had the place to ourselves. We went for a very chilly QUICK wash in the river and laid out our beds in the hut. reading through the visitors book we were concerned that a few of the entries mentioning wild dogs, with one entry saying they had been attacked by a wild dog. I walked with my axe everywhere after reading that, but we saw no evidence of wild dogs anywhere.
After a few Bourbons and a nice fire it was off to bed after another awesome day of 4Wdriving! Life is good!
We set off reasonably early and spent a couple of hours wandering around the Canberra War Museum and Parliament house etc before setting off towards the snowy mountains.
There were still a few snow capped peaks around which was an awesome sight.
This was basically another day on the blacktop. A few pics below of sights along the way.
We started the daily hunt for a camp spot:
This looked promising in lake Jindabyne but was too exposed and windy when we went to check it out.
We carried on up past Thredbo and eventually came to the Tom Groggin campground. This was an awesome spot on the banks of the Murray River, lots of space and lots of wildlife around. We found a secluded spot away from the few other campers and got ourselves organised for the night.
Arising early again, we had decided to head into Victoria via the Tom-Groggin Mt Pinnibar track and make our way towards Wheelers Hut.
The first obstacle of the day was a rocky ford across the Murray River:
Heading up through some great tracks and very picturesque country, we came to our 2nd Obstacle of the day. As usual the pics don't do justice to how steep the terrain is, but trust me it's pretty steep. We came up and around a bend to find a fallen tree that basically blocked the ideal line up the hill. I stopped to check it out and was caught in some wheel ruts and the rear had bottomed out which required the use of the winch to get going again. We came across quite a few spots throughout the day where we had to take less than an ideal line to get around tree's in the way.
We only had to winch about 10 or 20 feet to let the Paj gain traction again.
Packed up and on our way, we were climbing the track up to Mt Pinnibar when we came across another obstacle. A tree was blocking access and would have to be cut out of the way. The only issue was that my Chainsaw was just a little 12" Ozito mainly used for collecting firewood and the tree was quite a bit rounder than that!
I was concerned with the Paj being a fairway downhill from the tree that when I cut the log it would careen down the hill into the Paj. I thought about moving the Paj, but didn't really feel like reversing it from the angle it was on. I ended up having to cut the log in two sections so we could roll it out of the way and carry on.
Yayyyy! I was relieved the Ozito managed the job!
A little further on I had to deploy the winch wench, as I really didn't want to take my foot off the brake on the hill we were stuck on. Particularly when the handbrake wasn't very effective (A problem I have since sorted) Bren looked at me with a look of sheer horror on her face as she didn't have a clue what to do with the winch. I took one look at her and elected to take the risk and get out of the Paj
Bren almost fell and rolled to the bottom of the hill when she climbed out! It was bloody steep and we were having trouble standing on it.We had just gotten stuck on a small rock step up and rather than risk damage or sliding the front sideways down the hill, I elected to winch it. Unfortunately I have only one pic of this section, as I was otherwise occupied. We winched in two separate pulls up this hill and then we were good the rest of the way to the top. Bren had her first introduction to some real 4wdriving and she handled it well and took it all in her stride!
We had made it to the top, but I couldn't help wondering what the downhill run was going to be like? Fortunately it was a pretty easy run and the only issue we had was on a track we were on, we came across several huge tree's down and blocking the path. The 12" Ozito wasn't going to do the job this time, so we back tracked and took a longer path. We ran into some forestry workres who had just cleared another huge tree out of the way and were on there way to the ones that stopped us.
Finally we arrived at Wheelers Creek Hut and had the place to ourselves. We went for a very chilly QUICK wash in the river and laid out our beds in the hut. reading through the visitors book we were concerned that a few of the entries mentioning wild dogs, with one entry saying they had been attacked by a wild dog. I walked with my axe everywhere after reading that, but we saw no evidence of wild dogs anywhere.
After a few Bourbons and a nice fire it was off to bed after another awesome day of 4Wdriving! Life is good!
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