TRIP REPORTS
North East Explorer #11
24 th -28 th February 2020
Participants
Member Vehicle Details
No.
Laurie & Chris Finlay (TL) 267 Ford Ranger Ute
Geoff & Dulcie Straghan 803 Toyota Landcruiser 79 Ute
Fred & Heather Schoof 329 Toyota Hilux Ute
Bob McKay & Sheena Rose 1006 Toyota Prado
Peter & Judy Cooney 538 Ford Maverick
Ken & Helen Patterson 1395 Mitsubishi Pajero
Rod Chapple 1814 Mitsubishi Pajero
Baby Thomas 1908 Mitsubishi Pajero
Neil Pope & Julie Williams 1642 Mazda BT50 Ute
By Laurie Finlay
of the tracks that I intended to use. The Colac
Colac Caravan Park (which I always use as it is
an idyllic spot) was evacuated New Year’s Eve
at its busiest time and couldn’t open again till
the 18th Jan. Rather than cancel the trip
altogether, Melissa, from the Caravan Park put
me onto the District Governor of Rotary Anne
Reid, who connected me with the Uniting
Church Bushfire Recovery Group in Cudgewa
and we made arrangements with them for
some of us to help with fencing. Geoff & Dulcie
also new a local and through her the rest
helped with sorting donated goods at the
Corryong Recovery Centre. Cudgewa, the next
town nearby, which was very badly affected by
the fires, was having a ‘Rising From The Ashes’
concert the next weekend to raise money for
the area, so some of us volunteered to help
with that.
This photo sums it all up.
Well the trip had sure changed since I posted it
in November. The North East had terrible
bushfires over a very large area including most
We all arrived on the Saturday & Sunday
before and settled in nicely although Rod was
having fridge trouble. We caught up with Allan
& Cath from the Uniting Church group at the
Cudgewa Footy ground and arranged to meet
the next morning.