There were 23 vehicles in total with many of the occupants being visitors. For some of the visitors this was their first trip with the club. Marcel was the trip leader and decided to create 2 groups. He would lead group 1 and Gary was to lead group 2. The groups would travel separately and would join up at the Old Brandon’s Mill Site.
Visitors had to perform the mandatory hill start and vehicle checks before we could commence.
We aired down at the Stony Creek – Branch Creek confluence. The weather was kind to us with only a few brief showers of rain whilst driving on the tracks. This was beneficial as the tracks were still reasonably dry and not so slippery. The rainforest was resplendent & picturesque with various colours of the barks of the trees from oranges, pinks & greys and of course the beautiful shades of greens in the eucalypt forest.
Some undulating climbing and some steep sections necessitated the mandatory wait until the vehicle ahead was safely through. There was some bumpy terrain with particularly steep down hills. Some sections required Marcel to give instructions while standing on the side on which direction to take to get over the rutted sections.
There was only one section that required a couple of vehicles to be winched. After that was completed it was decided that it was not going to be worthwhile for the other vehicles to go up as it would probably mean that a lot more vehicles may need to be winched.
We joined group 2 for lunch at the Old Brandon’s Mill Site. The Crane Pivot, Band Saw & Gantry are great relics of the history of logging in this area.
As we all set up our various chairs etc for lunch we had a light shower of rain. Simon had the best cover with an extra addition to his awning which allowed for a great cover from the rain. We were all so jealous and wished there was more room under it for some of us. To top it off he showed us all up when he produced his portable BBQ and teased us with the wafting smell of his steak cooking.
As the weather was looking like it was going to worsen Marcel and Gary decided that we would not do any further driving on the tracks. With so many vehicles they did not want to dig the tracks up any more.
All the visitors stated that they had enjoyed the trip immensely and had a great time. They were very happy with the challenges the tracks produced, the communications, help and advice they were given which helped their confidence in completing the trip.