MEMBER TRIP REPORT
Tomahawk Hut
King Hut
The next hut along the journey was King Hut which was in the middle of a rather busy and noisy campground due to little kids hooning around on little mini bikes . I think that we all glanced at one another thinking that we were happy not to be camped here . It was time for a quick lunch and then time to move on again . The only issue with the beautiful weather was all of the dust as the convoy drove along .
There were no difficult legs of the tracks today as it was all about the journey and being able to visit the huts and enjoy a day out driving together . We took The Monument Track up the mountain ( and Michael finally relented and said well … we wouldn ’ t have got the Falcon up here ) and turned into Clear Hills track leading up to Craig ’ s Hut where there were loads of visitors . It felt like we were on top of the world amongst the iconic scenery from the movie , The Man from Snowy River which was released in 1982 . The movie captured Australians hearts and as most will know is based on Banjo Paterson ’ s poem from 1890 . It was enjoyed for the love story along with presenting the captivating cinematography showing the High Country area and celebrating part of Australia ’ s history . I myself loved this movie as a young teenager who had a horse and spent time around the Mansfield area .
We were also privileged to have Nancy and Peter Miller on our trip as they have personally been very involved with Craig ’ s Hut . When the movie was released the hut was only a movie prop and due to the interest from the community a local 4WD group decided to replicate the hut properly . Nancy and Peter spent around 9 weekends dedicating their time to build the hut in 1993 . They were then lucky enough to attend several formal dinners on the mountain which was a thank you to all of the amazing volunteers . The volunteers really put their heart and soul into the building of this iconic hut and then sadly it burnt down in the bushfires during the 2002 / 2003 summer . Nancy told us how heartbreaking this was . When they were able to visit again , they obtained a small memento from the site . Luckily for all of us the hut has once again been rebuilt and this time includes a back verandah .
The discussion also took place how a real cattleman ’ s hut would never have actually have been built where Craig ’ s hut is located as it is open to the weather elements with no running water close by . Many years ago , there was a hut down in the closest saddle which made more sense as it was sheltered with a small creek nearby .