Neil Phillips – Trip Leader (TL)
1744
Patrol
Participants
Mbr
Number
Vehicle Details
Grant Cavenagh
1651
Pajero
NT Pajero
David Cavenagh
1651
Shaun Driscoll
1337
Discovery
Ian Fieldhouse
1888
Pajero
Pajero NX
Pajero NX
Peter Hicks
1727
Maverick
Alison Hicks
1727
Tallarook 5 Natural History
4th March 2018
Trip Reports
A little early cloud soon cleared, and we had a fine day with some excellent views from the higher areas. As we drove up Ennis Rd and onto the Tallarook plateau, we made stops to look at the local granite, and to air down. The 4wd driving started on Gilmore Track as the tyre marks led between the overhanging thick Burgan bushes. Soon it was back to Ennis Rd, across that and up Caddell Track to the summit where we looked at the geology, botany and plateau below us. As we were parked at the summit the fire-spotter from the tower arrived and commented on what a relatively mild summer we had had so far.
From the summit we descended past Freeman Camp 1ARC then took Wheeler track heading north. This track lacked any of the angled drains across the track to take off rain water, and consequently the track was badly eroded in early December 2017; it really was a good example of the importance of good track grading which can save major maintenance in the longer term. Lunch was at the most pleasant Trawool Reservoir as we inspected the handiwork of stone masons a century ago.
As we drove southward from Warragul Rocks some of the trees were labelled to indicate a control burn planned in Autumn. Finally, it was the long and scenic drive off the plateau down Horan Track where we stopped to see some of the different vegetation in the wetter south-facing gullies. We aired up in the cleared farm country, and just before we could say our goodbyes, discovered one puncture and replaced that before the group split up (thanks everyone for helping).
Neil Phillips 1744
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