Day 1, Wednesday January 21 2015
Scott joins me in Sydney after his flight up from Tasmania the day before, so he can take his beloved DR650 back down to his new home is sunny Tasmania ;)
Some boring Hume Motorwaying got us to Marulan for lunch, which we ate during the first of the rain:| From there we popped by Bungonia Gorge to check it was still there (see photo evidence), and it was.
After this the real wet’n’wild fun began… Onto Braidwood for supplies and then down to Numeralla via the Cooma Rd, through sooo much rain! The road through Badja Forest was trying to become a river in parts and toward the top of the mountain the fog was THICK! Unfortunately no photos as we were too damn wet to stop and put any more time between us and the camp.
The Numeralla campsite was nice, but we had to put up a tarp to keep the rain off so conditions were not quite ideal. Probably the sort of evening where you curl up on the couch and thank god you are not outside…
Then, something marvellous happened.
Shortly before cooking up our mixture of canned and freeze dried delights, we decided to say G’day to the neighbours (Vendulka and Adam). They proceeded to feed us (roast), water us (beer), warm us (fire and rain proof gazebo), and serenade us (folk music)!! Turns out we had stumbled upon the beginnings of the Numeralla Folk Festival, so fortunate, what an enjoyable evening!
Now the rain has stopped, all is quiet (except for a far off tin whistle and harmonica session) and I’m tucked up in my swag with a full belly and the happiness of camping.
Day 1 Map
Woke up this morning thankfully to clear skies!
Camp cuppas for brekkie and I think after this first packup we both got the gear strapped a bit more efficiently to the bikes than yesterday.
Jackets end boots were still a bit damp from yesterday but the quick run into Cooma fixed that.
Almost according to schedule we met Neil (aka uncle Craig) at maccas, checked out the map over a coffee and decided to head to Corryong for a start.
First fuel stop Adaminaby (only 200kms range on the DRs),
Followed by a brief visit to Australia’s highest town, Cabramurra.
We made it to Corryong for lunch with no problems. A very beautiful ride up through the mountains, especially with our Craig-historian telling stories along the way. The burgers in Corryong weren’t half bad, and the local copper Constable T-bone gave us the adventure riding low down on the trail to Wheelers Creek hut where we planned to go for the night. I was thinking, can’t get beers, too far from the bottelo with no fridge, so for the first time I bought red wine, must have been the seniors’ influence..
Not far up the trail we came across old mate in his commo with a flat tyre, no jack and no friends. After I decided I was confident it wasn’t a Wolf Creek scenario, we took our gear off and gave him a hand to lever the car off the ground (with rocks and logs) enough to get the spare on. Dunno what he would have done otherwise, it wasn’t exactly a main road and he was a not a big bloke.
The rest of the route to Wheelers Creek was relatively uneventful. Travelled along some nice trails (Craig mentioned at one point on a trail less travelled that he wasn’t sure I had inherited iffys uncanny sense of direction or not), so a few map checking stops.
We made our way down a closed road (more of a bloody ‘open road’) with a dozer parked at the bottom and arrived at camp.
So had a cuppa.
Then a wash in the creek,
then, setup camp, ate, campfire and bed
Day 2 Map
Day 3.Friday 23 January 2015
Woke up peacefully to ‘Get up Craig, it’s not a holiday park!’
Breakfasted, packed up and shot off toward Benambra.
The Benambra-Corryong rd was quite nice. Lots of dirt, lots of snakes (shit myself when I ran over a black one, always wonder if they can flick up some how) and some nice water features.
Fuelled up at Benambra with petrol (seemed steep at $1.40), a cool drink and advice on getting to Seldom Seen via Black Mountain from the local Doug.
Took Limeburners Rd heading west for a couple of hours which sent us up through the mountains, hot on the trail of a bunch of brumbies who left their shit all over the road but never showed their faces.
Passed Grader Jack having smoko so we stopped in a shady spot to have our own.
Upon reaching Seldom Seen it was early arvo so we stopped for lunch on the site of the old servo (still marked on the map) and local phonebox.
The owner of the servo had allegedly downed a bottle of battery acid by mistake one day which saw the end of the fuel at Seldom Seen.. Only sign of life there was a bloke building a boat (gonna be a long trip to the ocean) who periodically spied on us from his shed.
Farewelled Uncle Neek at this point, he headed home to Canberra via McKillops Bridge and Bombala. Scott and I continued south on the Gelantipy rd to Buchan for the next cool drink and petrol stop. From here we took a short cut through the bush west to Ensay before making our way to the Haunted Stream track at Hells Gate.
Thankfully dodged threatening rain and arrived at the next creekside camp ‘Baylisses’ along the Haunted Stream.
After a swim and a cuppa, we made camp on a grassy spot and settled in with the campfire.
No idea why the stream is Haunted, although during the night I woke to the sound of bogans roaring around in 4wds which sounded so loud in the dead of night that I was a little scared of being run over in my swag. The next morning Scott said he hadn’t heard anything, but I definitely did, wondering now what made the noise…
Day 3 Map
Day 4. Saturday 24 January 2015
Got out of camp at 0815 with a plan to take the Haunted Stream track and Engineers road to Dargo for brekkie at around 0900.
Well..we got there at 1130! Turns out the Haunted Stream track was quite challenging and fun, with over 30 creek crossings!!
So our boots didn’t stay dry for long.
We were a little behind schedule, but figured going up Billy Goats trail to The Pinnacles then onto Licola would be easy done, only about 140kms – but, the 10km long billy goats took us 2hrs to complete!!
After what seemed eons (we were already fairly tired from the Haunted Stream) we reached the summit, sweat dripping from the brow. It certainly felt like a worthy achievement. It took about an hour to recover at the top before taking the 350m walk out to The Pinnacles fire tower to check out the magnificent view.
If there is one lookout you visit in Australia make it this one!
Was an easy 90mins down the other side of the mountains into Licola.
Made it to the only store within 15mins of closing to grab tomorrow’s fuel and some dinner supplies, and decided we deserved a stay in the camp ground (previously all free bush camps) for $12 a head. So nice to settle down on the grass with a beer to reflect on the hardest day of the trip.
Followed up by a hot shower (luxury!), dinner and bed.
Day 4 Map
Day 5. Sunday 25 January 2015
We made our way out of Licola via the Heyfield-Jamieson rd and then over Mt Selma which took us again high into snow country, over 1400 meters. Made the effort to read a couple of the historical markers dotted along this road, many a restaurant were opened during the gold rush, only ever for a year and it seems they served ‘native cat’!
Took a shortcut shown on the map into Woods Point which revealed several secret creek side camp spots, something to remember for later.
Woods Point is a very odd little town, a few old buildings, lots of old cars, many other dead bits of machinery lying around.
We were breath tested by the local copper who recommended that the only coffee in town was at the post office, and that it was good coffee too! So we made our way down to the PO..
Stepped inside, the door knob was dangling off the door and an old bell rang. We walked into an ancient looking store, with a cheap kitchen size espresso machine retro fitted to an ancient shelf. A couple of old blokes were sitting at the dinner table in the center of the store enjoying their quality coffees. It really felt like a movie set, and I even found myself speaking slowly when I ordered our coffees to blend in with the scene. After 10 minutes or so we stepped out with our coffees, what an experience! The bloke running the store had told us the town now has a population of 27, was 34 last year but a few had passed on..
After that paused moment in time, we rode on down to Warburton for our last hamburger lunch before parting ways at Woori Yallock. I headed into Melbourne to meet friends and other Scott popped down to Lonestar Creek for a beer with before making his way to Station Pier, before boarding the ferry to his new home.
What a great little trip. Good memories mate.
Thats all.
Cheers for reading.
