TRIP REPORTS
Day 2: Peter Cooney
Everyone was up nice and early to a chilly but
dry start. We headed off back towards the
other end of where we came in last night and
headed over towards Refrigerator Gap and
Bluff Link tk to stop at Bluff hut for morning
tea.
Then it was further along Bluff Track to Lovick’s
Hut past a group of about 20 young hikers and
on to King Billy Track and to the Howitt Road.
Past Howitt hut and onto view point for lunch
amongst the snow gums and mountain
grasslands.
A short distance down the road and we are at
Bryce's Gorge car park and the intrepid 4wders
switched to hiking mode for the 8km return
hike signposted to take 3hrs. I volunteered to
mind the cars and rest at the car park in an
attempt to shake off a cough I'd had for 2
weeks above which seeks to get aggravated by
movement. That's my excuse anyway it was
lovely sitting in the semi shade and getting
time to write my trip report.
Days 3 , 4 and 5 : Tony Lear
Day three dawned after a night of fairly
constant rain showers which vindicated Alan
and Tony’s decision to forgo their tents and
book a cabin at Licola. The plan for the day was
to tackle a series of more challenging tracks but
like all good trips a Plan B is always necessary
and with the rain it was considered that the
harder tracks would be best saved for another
day. We therefore headed north out of Licola
up Target Creek Rd and Glencairn Rd. After a
series of on the fly track decisions we ended up
on Mount Sunday Rd and Jamieson-Licola Rd
for a very cloudy and miserable view from Mt.
Skene. We dropped down from the summit of
Mt. Skene in order to find a more sheltered
lunch spot. After lunch we headed for home
with a few more short tracks along the way
before rolling down the Jamieson-Licola Road
for a second night at Licola. A very pleasant
evening was spent in the camp kitchen around
a warming fire.
Day four saw us pack up camp in Licola (easy
for Alan and Tony in the cabin) and head for
our next overnight camp near Woods
Point. Unfortunately, the Licola store did not
open for fuel sales until 10:00am so we were
forced to delay our departure so that we could
top up the tanks. There were several others
also waiting for fuel, some of whom noticed
the Pajero Club stickers on our cars which
impressed them as they often come across us
on Facebook. This time heading south on
Licola Road we dropped Burgoyne Track from
our plan in the damp conditions and instead
crossed Cheynes Bridge and then headed onto
Cheynes Bridge Track and Black Range Track. It
was along this section that we passed a convoy
of about ten new cars all of different makes. It
turned out that they were from 4X4 Australia
magazine undertaking their 4X4 of the year
assessment drive. They were also impressed
that we were on a Pajero Club trip. It turned
out that the tracks were quite dry despite the
recent rain so we found a few interesting
tracks with some challenging climbing before
emerging near Store Point. Lunch was taken at
the start of the walk into the Morning Star
Waterwheel. A series of linking tracks got us
out to Walhalla Road where we headed north
before slipping off to head into Comet Flat
camping area where we put the tents up for
the night. As we were just outside Woods
Point we headed to the pub for a counter tea
before returning to camp to enjoy another
pleasant evening around the campfire.
A chilly start to day five saw us packing up the
tents for an earlier start than yesterday. We