EXCEED March/April 2018 Vol 35 No:2 | Page 42

Speeds dropped from around 40-45 kph to around 2-15 kph depending on the steepness and roughness of the track. Just before reaching the bottom of the descent, we parked in a small clearing and walked along an unmapped track to an area where an old boiler and other mining relics had been abandoned, this was the area we had been told about earlier by our Albury/Wodonga 4WD Club friends. Beyond the relics the track continued, though barely discernible and quite steep, to the entrance of an old gold mine. We might have gone in but the floor was under water and very muddy. It was here that we met a couple who had walked into this part from an area a couple of kilometres away. They told us of another relic site worth visiting just a little way away.

At the bottom of the descent we crossed over the Little Dart Creek into the Alpine National Park and the Dart Creek Historic Zone, where all artifacts are supposedly protected. A little further on we came upon the walking track to the site we had just been told about. However, the track was quite narrow and down-hill. Whilst the others were jostling to park, my attention was diverted also looking for a parking spot and I brushed up against the side of the cutting spiking my front left tyre with a rock shard and also putting a three inch gash in the side wall of the tyre – scratch one tyre. So then and there the guys helped me change the wheel for my spare. After changing the wheel they walked up the track to the site of an old kiln while I finished checking wheel nuts and other bits and pieces.

The track followed on the high side of the creek for quite a while and we soon passed the site of an old township which must have supported the mining effort. About 2 km further on we arrived at the Glendart campsite where we stopped to read the information board and have morning tea. I was still smarting from the ruined tyre. It was here that the track changed from the Sipthorpe track to the Glendart track, which came in on the left. We continued on, travelling downhill to the Dart River, where we crossed out of the Alpine National Park back into the State Forest but now on the Glendart track which was

reasonably level, not too narrow and rough enough to keep our speed below 20 kph for the most part.

We eventually came out on the Gibb Range Rd where we turned left. This surface was much wider and although smoother was still a bit corrugated. Our speed varied from 30 to 50 kph. This section of track, which ran along a ridge, seemed like it would suit a rally (provided traffic access was controlled) with bends sweeping through picturesque tall timbers. These conditions prevailed until we turned off onto the Benambra Spur Rd some 15 km further on. It was at this point that the “rally” finished. The track narrowed and speeds gradually slowed to around 15 to 20 kph because now the track started to get somewhat rockier. After 11 km, we came across a significant track deviation from the map. There was no indication as to why the track deviated from the map but the detour diverted us to a downed tree which had been ‘Suzuki cut’ but we all managed to get past it. We continued along the ridge for about another kilometre then started to descend the still rocky track toward then past the head of the Tallangatta Creek. The track was still a little rocky which kept speeds down to below 20 kph. We passed the turn off to the Tallangatta Creek track and started heading uphill again. We had about two km to go to reach the main Mt. Benambra Rd turn off. At the intersection we turned left onto a better surface and made the final five km run to the top of Mt. Benambra where we parked the cars at the foot of the lookout tower.

Mt Benambra lookout tower

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