page 1	Snowy mountains high 4WD trails, + VIC, April 2006						File =	Snowy-06
We had a crew of three 4WD's and 6 humans (Neanderthals ?) as follows :-
Car 1	Nissan Pathfinder, with :-John Parjel, Caesar Kroll, starting from Tewantin QLD
Car 2	Nissan Pathfinder, with :- Phil Meintjes, John Leggett, starting from Sydney, NSW
Car 3	Mitsubishi Pajero, with :- Mike Ganin,John Stevenson, starting near Bega, NSW.
We met at the Tom Groggin campground, about 20 km. West of Thredbo ski resort.
Sydney/Tewantin group			Tom Groggin camp, Murray river.				Trip planning
We set up camp right beside the upper reaches of the Murray river, on the NSW / VIC border.
The next few days, we spent fishing, walk to Kosciusko, Eagles nest, drive to Scammels Spur etc.
Our camp fisherman claims he caught 7 trout, but were all too small so were thrown back.
Tom Groggin "residents"			Walk to Kosi, Mike & Caesar			Mangis took photo, also made it.
From Tom Groggin, various superb mountain tracks were available. We chose to do an anticlockwise
circuit, via Mt Pinnibar, Mt. Anderson, Mt. Gibbo, Buenba Gap, returning via Mt. Murphy historic area,
Davies Plains Hut, and back to Tom Groggin campsite. This is NOT a wet weather track !
Some of the tracks approaching Mt. Pinnibar looked awesome from a distance, but were quite
manageable, despite the fact the 2 Pathfinder drivers didn't get into "low" range ! Neither had cause
to use low range before, and thought the blinking light indicated low . Found out later with surprising
difference in performance ! The track has been considerably improved since Feb 2002 and very
useful "signage" has been added. I suppose our park fees of $18/day served some purpose ?
Approaching Mt. Pinnibar			Top of Mt. Pinnibar			Davies Plain hut & campground
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page 2	Mt. Pinnibar track, continued.
The "red" route is the track we followed.
Unfortunately,our expert cameraman,Caesar
was so busy taking video film during the trip
that he ended up taking very few photos of
the steeper sections of track, before and
after Mt. Pinnibar. The book, 4WD Tracks
of the High Country, from which this map
was copied, claimed some sections of the
Davies Plains track were very steep.
However, these were nothing compared to
the Mt. Pinnibar sections.
It is difficult to imagine how one would go
about recovering a broken down vehicle
from the Mt. Pinnibar steep sections.
Even a winch would be struggling to drag
a vehicle up the steeper sections, and if
you slid off the track into the trees, forget about it and buy another car !
Also, one would hate to meet on-coming traffic while ascending some of the steeper sections. We
made a point of leaving early in the morning, to avoid meeting 4WD's from Davies Plains hut, should
they return via the Mt. Pinnibar/Tom Groggin tracks.
After the Mt. Pinnibar track, Mike Ganin had to return home, together with John Leggett (the Bull) and
John Stevenson (the Stud). The 2 Pathfinders continued on to look at some Victorian ski fields,
including :-		Mt. Beauty, Falls Ck. Bright, Mt. Buffalo.
We were delighted to experience a good snowfall (150mm) at Falls Ck., and considered ourselves
lucky that we didn't get this, during the Mt Pinnibar tracks. A selection of VIC ski field photos follow :-
Falls Ck. Snow, Apr-2006			Outside pub, it was closed !!			Trainee Santas, Jesus wept !!
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Near Mt. Buffalo			Near Mt. Buffalo
						Eurobin Falls, near Mt. Buffalo
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page 3	Pt COOK re-visited, great NOSTALGIA trip.
After the VIC. skifields, we travelled on to Melbourne, and cleaned up at Caesars place. We had to
re-visit Pt. Cook, where 2 of us had been cadets in the Royal Australian Air Force Academy, in
our remote past younger days. The Air Force Academy has since moved to Canberra, but many of
the old familiar buildings still remained to haunt us. The Air Force museum is always worth a visit.
An old Cadet friend, recently retired from the Air Force, showed us thru, public and restricted areas.
Vampire, in museum.			Phantom, in museum.			Mustang, ready to display fly.
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The mighty Sabre			Hanger 180 plus 3 old farts.			Was modern & lethal in 1962 !
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	The GREAT OCEAN ROAD, re-visited.
After Pt. Cook, we had to re-visit the Great Ocean Road,where some of us were lucky to survive
previous visits on motorbikes. God protects and forgives those that are too stupid to know better.
Portal to Great Ocean Road.			One of the many great views			Near old London bridge
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London bridge has fallen down !			The 13th apostle, St. Parj			Tree walk, near Lavers hill.
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page 4	Return to Sydney, via Barry Way, Canberra hinterland, Robertson
After seeing the Great Ocean Road and environs, gorging on Crayfish at Port Campbell, we stayed
at Caesars place in Melbourne, before heading for Jindabyne via the Barry way. This has to be
one of the most scenic roads in Australia. I remember doing it about 10 years ago on my BMW bike,
carrying a pillion. First it rained, fell off many times, then it snowed, hard on the eyes and vision.
Ended up in a farmers shed for the night, then rode 40 km thru 150mm snow to Jindabyne. I was
lucky a local car had gone ahead and left me some tracks to follow. It was easier riding in the snow
than on wet "red" clay. This time, it was easy in the 4WD's, dry road, good visibility.
We had a moment leaving a great camp beside the Snowy River, middle of Barry Way. Some 4WD's
before us had chewed great holes in the approach ramp. We had to fill in the holes with rocks and
logs, before we could get out again.
Camp beside Snowy river, 1/2			Getting out of camp, shovel			One of the many superb
up Barry Way.			work, stones & fill required.			lookouts on Barry Way.
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View on Canberra "trail".			Nambucca motel relax time.			Ballina, nearly back home !
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Summary of trip		The trip provided good experience in 4WD'g and camping, for those who
had not done any of this for some time. As always, we all learnt some lessons in how to do it
better next time. The weather created some surprises, giving snow in the high country in April !!
I would not recommend the Pinnibar track if rain or snow is threatening, you could easily slide off
the steep sections and find yourself looking for a new car.
The Great Ocean Road and Barry Way have to be up there, for best Ozzie roads. If there is
anything much better around, I'd like to hear about it.
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