Friday, 10 January 2025
Yesterday afternoon we drove down to Heyfield and checked into ‘our’ room. Yes, the same room that we stayed in when we were down this way in November. Same room, same meal (ribs) last night in the pub. We are creatures of habit, ha, ha?!
At 7.15am this morning, we met up with John and headed out to Licola via Lake Glenmaggie along with one of the other vehicles joining us for the tour. We rolled into Licola nestled beside the Macalister River and pulled up in front of the the General Store. Interestingly the township of Licola is privately owned by the Lions Clubs of Victoria and southern New South Wales. The majority of the town is occupied by the Licola Wilderness Village, where the Lions Clubs have run camps for 50 years for under underprivileged, deserving, special needs and disengaged young people. The village is entirely self-sufficient, generating its own power, treating its own water (from the river) and disposing of its own waste.
Parked up in front of the General Store, we were joined by the other two vehicles that would be tagging along. Joining John as part of the Dingo Trax team were Ross and Magda. In the D-Max Ute that we’d driven out of Heyfield with was Belinda and her three grandchildren. Rounding out the group was David and son, Thomas, in their Prado.
After introductions, John gave us an overview of where we would be driving today, fuel was purchased by those who needed it, and air was let out of tyres to make the four-wheel driving more comfortable??
We headed out of Licola on Target Creek Road (Glencairn-Licola Road) through Primrose Gap and over the Barkly River. After the road became Middle Ridge Road, we turned northwards on the Bull Plain Spur Road heading deep into the Macalister State Forest.
I’m a little hazy about where we turned west but think it was at Sunday Road? I recall passing Grimme Track before we turned left and suspect that we took a short linking track that is not named on our Rooftop’s Jamieson – Licola Adventure Map?? Anyhow our route had us crossing the junction with Son of a Bitch Track (which heads south) and Son of a Bitch Spur Track (which heads north) crossing the Barkly River again and then turning northward on the Low Saddle Road.
At lunchtime we arrived at Upper Jamieson Hut on the bank of the Jamieson River North Branch which forms the border between Macalister State Forest and the Alpine National Park. While we were eating our tailgate lunch, the ever-eagle-eyed John noted that some of our load on the roof rack appeared to be loose. OMG, we were very close to losing our brand-new Porta Potti!! The track was pretty rough driving down to the Jamieson River so it must have jiggled loose at some point but, fortunately for us, it didn’t actually fall from the roof rack. That would have been sad if we smashed it up before we even used it, ha, ha.
With lunch eaten and our load re-tied we climbed the track back out to Brocks Road re-tracing our almost to Low Saddle Road but turning north to continue on Brocks Road until we reached the left-hand hairpin bend onto Refrigerator Gap Track. Even when we reached Refrigerator Gap, we couldn’t really see how someone was inspired to name this gap and track after a kitchen appliance?? At Refrigerator Gap the 4WD track intersects with the Eight Mile Spur Walking Track which runs from the 8 Mile Flat Campground on the Howqua River to Bluff Hut. The 4WD track separated from the walking track onto the Bluff Link Track towards Mt Eadley Stoney before heading south again to rejoin the walking track at Bluff Hut.
We arrived at Bluff Hut mid-afternoon to find a Parks Victoria ute parked right beside it. Well, that’s just great for the photos, isn’t it?! Unfortunately, the original hut was burnt in the 2007 bushfires but was eventually rebuilt in 2010. On the plus side a short walk from the other side of the track led us to some amazing views over the Howqua Valley towards the mountains beyond. At this point we were very close – as the crow flies! – to Mt Buller Alpine Village.
After our leg stretch at the hut, we continued on Bluff Track over Mt Lovick (1685m) to Lovicks Hut where it was decided we would make our camp for the night. We circled the wagons (4x4s) on a lovely flat area on the other side of Bluff Track from the hut. It was only 4.00pm in the afternoon so plenty of time to get everything set up in the daylight.
As on our last trip we erected the awning on the passenger side of the truck and set up the double swag underneath. The exciting addition for this trip was the shower/toilet tent on the other side of the truck and the PortaPotti. Yay, when I have to pee in the middle of the night, I won’t have to walk a couple of hundred metres by torchlight to the drop toilet. I’m OK with a drop toilet in the daylight BUT not that excited about using it in the dark, in the bush. Thank goodness that not all of the toilet chemical leaked out during the time that the PortaPotti was on its side bouncing around on the roof rack!
One change we made for this trip into the wilderness was to pack our small two burner gas cooker rather than the solid fuel fire pit that we took last time. Easier to set up, easier to get up to cooking temperature and easier to pack up and … not needed when Ross got a super campfire going for the group for some true bush camping ambience.
After everyone cooked a meal, we sat around the campfire enjoying some ‘Bush TV’ I believe someone may have mentioned? There are certainly few things better than sitting watching a fire burn. It’s very relaxing to watch the flames dancing around in the dark. It was a fabulously clear night for some star gazing and then John started telling us about being out in the bush and seeing Elon Musk’s ‘Sky Train’ of satellites go over. He said it glowed green in the night sky and was worth a look. Our tech wizard, Thomas, Googled (we had phone coverage on Friday night) and discovered that it was scheduled to pass over south-eastern Australia at about 9.40pm. We all got a crick in our neck watching for its approach from the south-west and saw … absolutely nothing! Hmmn, maybe tomorrow night if the sky is clear again?
After the Sky Train no show most of us were in bed soon after 10.00pm to rest up for another big day of four-wheel driving tomorrow.
Shucks…we’re in Thornbury. Missed you guys again.