I can pretty much sum up this trip with one word. Epic! Epic camping. Epic tracks. Epic river crossings. Epic views. Epic company. Epic. Epic. Epic.
Welcome to the annual Australia Day Weekend. This was my first time to Talbotville. For me, the weekend started on Thursday along with a couple of other members, with a meal and a drink at the iconic Dargo pub. Meals were a little pricey but quite big. Drinks I felt were reasonably priced. Either way, this pub was well worth visiting and everything you would expect from such an iconic country landmark. Filled with plenty of memorabilia from both famous and infamous passers gone by. If you do happen to visit, keep an eye out for my own NasTime stubby holder hanging on the wall amongst the hundreds of others. Diesel at the store across the road was a little pricey at $1.69 but I was more than happy to hand over a few bucks to the local community. The shop was well stocked too with just about anything you may need for your camping trip.
The drive from Dargo to Talbotville was relatively easy unless you were towing. Expect a decent climb up to McMillans Track and then a decent decline down to the campsite. Both the transmission and brakes got a good work out for sure. The campsite offers massive open spaces and is surrounded by a lovely cooling river. Which was welcomed as we were expecting 40+ degree weather. Less than half the members had arrived at this stage, but sites were expected to fill quickly with the 40+ cars expected from our club.
The trips weren’t officially starting until Saturday, but Ed Reddick decided to take out a small group on an expedition. Just a quick trip to Dargo again via the scenic route this time. A few lovely river crossings and a large boulder later, we arrived back at the Dargo pub for another great meal with friends. No vehicle was hurt but expect to find a little red paint from my own bash plates on the rock. Ed will tell you it was my fault for not listening to his instructions, but we all know it’s always the trip leaders fault. Hey Ed?
On Friday night, Dave Howard decided to take a small group on a night drive. What an interesting experience that was. After climbing down the Bulltown track, we proceeded through the 24 water crossing of the Crooked River. As I discovered, night drives can be a little daunting but there is no better way to gain experience than to follow some of the most experienced. Who knew how beautiful the mountains could be at night.
Come Saturday, there were several trips on offer, but I decided to take on Tony Jambu’s trip to Mt Kent. We started this trip a couple of years ago during Ian Fieldhouse’s trip to Sambian Lodge. We never quite made it to the top due to some heavy snowfall and fallen trees, so we were on a mission now to finally get to the top. Let me say that it was one epic climb to some epic views. Best of all, ours was the only group up there. This was a good time for lunch. Following lunch, we went off to visit the Pinnacles and then tracked down Bill Goats Bluff. We had planned to take the kids to ‘Tony’s secret swimming hole’ but someone decided to change their tyre on Billy Goats. Thank goodness for good company. It was a long day with all of us arriving tired but safely back to the campsite by around 6.30pm. We missed ‘fivesies’ of course but anyone that knows Tony knows this is not a massive surprise. At least we made it in time for Pizza night.
Australia Day from Dargo
By Nas Foscarini #1933