Attendees
- Merrick and Christie, Toyota Landcruiser 80 Series
- Kristy and Aaron, Nissan Navara NP300 (Guest)
- Ervin And Marwel, Toyota Landcruiser Prado 120 Series(Guest)
- Sam, Charlie and Rob, Nissan Navara NP300
- Dave, Nissan Patrol GU (Guest)
Maccas was on the menu on Saturday morning, as usual for me I rolled up right on time…. Or possibly a little late. Thankfully everyone one else was keeping a better eye on the clock and arrived a little earlier and made sure they were fueled up and ready for some snow exploration.
Although I had reservations about how much snow was going to be up there things looked promising as we could see snow capped peaks all the way from Glengarry.
Introducing some temporary members to the rest of the crew we saddled up and convoyed out to the little town of Licola. With everyone but me keeping an eye on my speed, thanks to a faulty speedo still plaguing me from the desert, we continued out of town and up along the heavy corrugated road to Arbuckle Junction.
Dodging some slow vehicles we air down at the Lost Plain. Having a little play in the snow here it was only a matter of time until snowball fights began to develop, while there we also got to admire a small igloo that someone had built on the plain.
Driving down to the actual junction and onto our intended track we alternated in patches of deep stuff and none at all. With a bit of warmth in the air we all noticed quickly that the stuff that was left was indeed quite slippery, this resulted in a few of us accidentally drifting into our lunch spot.
A quick bite to eat saw us eagerly getting into the rougher stuff, and it wasn’t long before multiple attempts had to be made at sections and a winch came out to navigate the wet snow. After a bit of excitement we ploughed our way up onto the High Plain where we intended to camp. That was not before we had to tackle a frozen boghole/lake and ruts out the other side. As you can imagine the 80 series sailed through it all like it wasn’t there. I think it might have looked pretty at home in the arctic sea as it crunched through slabs of ice.
The ruts did prove a little too deep for Ervin however, with the Prado getting beached right near the end. Nothing a quick snowth out couldn’t fix. The deep ruts pressured others into finding an alternative and saw them climbing out of the boghole mid way and onto another set of ruts that snake alongside.
Finding a secluded spot we shovelled away some light snow to make the ground even enough to sleep on and rolled out/stretchered all our kit. With the clouds clearing we saw a great number of constellations, there’s nothing like a clear night out in the snowline. This also yielded some great pictures that Ervin took.
The next morning we arose to welcome sunshine and quickly drying tents, awnings and swags. Breakfast feasts we served we eagerly slipped back onto the track and navigated some more deep ruts that resulted in another snatch recovery and some track building.
Before we knew it we had reached the end and were back on the main road. Scooting up Howitt Rd we explored a nice view over some more snow dotted plains. Seeing as the day was still early we attempted a few more tracks around the mountains but didn’t find anything of note. Mixing Lunch and airing up back down in Licola we ended the trip nice and early, something that is quite unusual for a snow trip.
Thanks to everyone that came, it was a great trip away.
