TRIP REPORTS
Open pit used for 19 th century gold mining at
Tallangallook, now supporting mature trees (BW).
Granite boulder, Ferndale (BW).
Saturday 27th.
Day 2.
No surprise, but the July morning around Strathbogie
started cold with some low cloud that slowly cleared.
We drove south onto private property and then along
the southern margin of the plateau ably led by Gordon.
This was through the farmland of Ferndale as we were
watched by curious alpacas and followed by hungry
sheep. The first viewpoints were fine for nearby, but the
distance was obscured by cloud. We exited farmland
onto Skinner Track then Ruoaks Road. The latter we
followed north through a scenic gorge before meeting a
road closed sign and missing bridge, so we back tracked.
The longer route now took us into open farm country
below the plateau, along Donaldson road, across
Brankeet Ck then Ancona Rd to Dry Creek Rd and
Tallangallook Rd before we turned into the old
Tallangallook gold mining centre. We looked around the
old workings including the open pit that produced gold
over one hundred years ago and saw some drilling pads
from the post-1980 era of exploration. It was a walk
back to the vehicles in the saddle, a fire for hot drinks
and a lunch only metres from the site of the former
mine manager’s residence; nothing was left now of this
building and even the signboard had been damaged.
The afternoon involved a quick stop at Hell Hole sluice
followed by Crystal King quartz mine and off to Golden
Mountain for some real 4WD. Peter and Sue were
navigating and did well to lead us all up a muddy incline
and to a stopping point near the scenic viewpoint. The
Paps, part of Mt Torbreck and Mt Concord were visible;
however, we were conscious that what goes up had to
go down and we had a steeper track ahead. Sliding and
turning we started down and Peter wisely parked and
walked the harder part before leading us down to safe
ground at the bottom. From there were drove on to
Lightning Ridge track with Gordon leading for several
km of mild 4WD before the descent suddenly became
steeper and very rocky for a few hundred metres. Safely
negotiated we made our way to Police Track, Watkins
Road and a warm fire and a BBQ dinner courtesy of
master-chef Baby Thomas. The evening lasted longer
than expected as we identified and addresses the
problems of the world, the Club and anything else; but
we did seriously come away with some good ideas to
make the Pajero Club more attractive to different new-
member demographics.
View from Golden Mountain towards The Paps and
Bonnie Doon area (BW).
It had been a good day for nature with granite and more
granite, several eucalypt types including the narrow leaf
peppermint, messmate and southern blue gum, some