Suzuki 4WD Club of Victoria

I did a bit or reading on Mudrhino and found that Mt Dis is still completely closed off.

So that means that area is a no-go...

This still seems to point us towards the Toolangi / Narbethong / Warburton / Gembrook / Labertouche... side of things.

There is alway neerim.....I know Two AWESOME Tracks out there......but there are many more....
a pic from a trip last year....its ALWAYS wet this track....The other track is a crazy up hill heavily rutted out section and mostly dry...think ruts like under the powerlines in Gemmy...but deeper and steeper.

Cool as that photo is and those tracks sound, It's looking like were just going to struggle to get the track density we are looking for in the East. It's all very well having a couple of cool tracks spread across three forests if we're doing day trips, but to string it all together looks like too much road and not enough track.

I had a chat to Jonno, as he's been banging on about the otways for, well, forever really.

within 5 minutes, he'd hatched a plan for three days of solid driving, with mostly dirt linking it up. I was concerned it was all going to be bottomless bogholes, but apparently that's not the case, with "loose steep ledges" being mentioned.

Obviously, this involves more transport driving to get to the start, (which might be anglesea) and we are yet to organise accommodation, although Jon has some leads.

Finish point is likely to be down near Beech Forest, which is a fairly decent hike back to Melb (2.5hrs)

However, it's an area I don't know (and I don't think many of us know it) , track density and variety sounds good, and we have some "local knowledge" as guides.

The current plan is to have a good chat about this with Jon and Jay at Wandin as I think everyone who's planning on attending will be there.

Any feedback?

Steve.

Yeah i get your point about good track density Steve, point is there is probably heaps of stuff up in neerim but I just haven't driven there is daylight since that last trip...i've done some night runs but cannot for the life of me remember what tracks we drove.


I''m keen for otways...my zook is on track to be ready with a possible shakedown run on the weekend prior to see if its up to the task....I would consider trailering it down there though....Last thing I want is to get canaried on the first day of a long weekend on the drive there...through the city, through Geelong and then on a major tourist route on a long weekend....the Cops will be everywhere down there.

After two years in the build its the last thing I want to happen. I vote a tentative yes to an otways trip.

I'm cool with the otways, my only concern is that we will drive 3 days of mud and not much else, I havnt been down there but I allways thought it was mud down there.
What I've allways liked about the tour has been the change of scenery and terrain between , gembrook, warby, toolangi and the other areas we have been.

Mock

Personally i have no issues with doing a bit commute in between stages...

1 day in the otways, 1 day in warby, 1 day in neerim... that should make for loads of 'tour' time

Its ok, there is plenty of other stuff besides the mud (and plenty of mud but I am not that keen on it)

I am trying to work out a route at the moment, there are sort of 2 sections of good driving, they are about an hour apart though with only a couple of ok tracks in between. I will show everyone what I have got on Sunday and we will work out what we want to do.

If any one wants to check out a specific area or have heard of any good tracks please let me know and we can fit them in. At this stage I have 2 days of fairly good driving planned, trying to work out the third,

Cheers,
Jon

Gelibrand Caravan Park, Main Road, Gelibrand:
has a large area that we can use for a group booking, we can park cars, trailers etc, hot showers toilets etc part of the package but are unpowered camp sites. I think there's also a rec hall to use. Cost is $16.00 per person per night.They have their own camp store for general groceries, there was/is a take away place in the main street and a pub that sells bottles over the bar, and has a Bistro. (When we were there 2 years ago the Bistro wouldn't serve meals to our group because they couldn't cope with 80+ people I think that for our group it shouldn't be a problem). Caravan Park also has cabins but its more like $50.00 per person per night...
Response Please.

I was speaking with Wayne from the Association this afternoon and he is going to check the "status" of Paddy's Swamp and let me know this week.

Gelibrand sounds beyond perfect.

Hope they can fit us in.

Steve.