The meeting point for this trip was the Uriarra Recreation Reserve (West) carpark. As it was the change over from Daylight savings to standard time, I awoke at 5am. To fill in my time I went about doing stuff and then it was 8am. I decided to grab a coffee on the way to the meeting point…. that was my downfall and here I am writing about the trip. So, I arrived at the meeting point and was concerned I had got the venue wrong as I could not see a Land Rover in the seven cars gathered in the carpark. I then drove past a couple of cruisers and there was the Wilson’s D4. Alongside that was Dave Brown’s trip recovery vehicle, the Suzuki Jimny. So, a 25% Land Rover representation on an LRC trip. I grabbed on to the fact the Zeds and Simon had owned Land Rovers previously so that must be 15%. I added this to the 25% ratio of vehicles in the convoy to bring the ratio to the usual 40%….
Anyway, it was a pleasant morning with some cloud about and the threat of drizzle. We were an enthusiastic bunch, so Simon had no option but to stick with the original route. After the mandatory briefing, we headed off at 8:40am up and along Uriarra Rd which turns into Brindabella Road. As we looked out to the west there was some concern as we could not see the tops of the nearby hills due to cloud cover. Despite all the rain this still felt like a drought-breaker trip as it was my first club trip for quite a long time!
Not only was I consigned to write up the trip report, but I was also shuffled to the back of the convoy! To fit in with all the names being called out by the trip leader I called myself Tail End David. First stop was the junction of Brindabella Road and Gentle Annie Firetrail where we took the opportunity afforded us to air down. We had been concerned that the tracks would all be wet after the rain of the last couple of days however it appears that the rain did not make it over the ridge and Gentle Annie was dry and gentle.
Easing our way down to Flea Creek camp area we only had a couple of vehicles coming the other way. Mornos was called at Flea Creek and that was around 10am.
Short stop of around 20mins and then it was back in the cars and up along Webbs Ridge Trail with the customary stop under the powerlines for photos.
A bit further along the track we turned left onto Waterfall Trail, after Simon had stopped to chat with a few people he knew coming the other way after camping overnight at McIntyres overnight. They gave good report on the tracks, so we headed down with a lot more comfort. It is always a nice drive heading down Waterfall as it combines steep descents with tight turns. At the bottom it was left onto McIntyres Trail which leads to McIntyres Hut. We were scheduled to have a lunch stop at Lowells Flat before going on to McIntyres but a chat between Simon and Tail End David seemed to have some in the convoy uncertain where they should be heading. This was aided by a glitch in convoy procedures. We would have stopped for lunch at midday at Lowells Flat but by the time we rounded up the herd it was quarter past!
A nice stop for lunch by the side of the Goodradigbee which was flowing fast and cold.
We departed and headed back along Lowells Flat Trail to McIntyres Trail, turning left and heading down to the camping areas and the hut, again alongside the Goodradigbee, allowing photo opportunity.
The smouldering fire at McIntyres, prompted some reminiscing.
After a short stop we then headed back up McIntyres Trail back to the intersection with Waterfall Trail where we continued along the lower section of Waterfall Trail which was a very nice drive through the woodland and grasslands along the valley. After a few kilometres we turned right onto Folly Firetrail and headed up the hill towards Webb Ridge Trail. This was a beaut part of the drive as we drove back into the clouds through the tall gum trees and started to get a bit of drizzle.
After a relaxing drive up Folly Trail, we took a left hand turn on Webbs Ridge Trail and eventually stopped to regroup at the intersection with Doctors Flat Road before continuing down that road past several farms to Wee Jasper Road. We are still uncertain what can be achieved by heading the other way. Just prior to reaching that intersection we stopped to allow everyone to air back up.
After that we proceeded back down Wee Jasper Road before turning right onto Sawyers Gull Road to take the “short-cut” to Mountain Creek Road, eventually landing back at Uriarra Crossing where we all went our separate ways.
Great drive Simon and great determination to ensure the drive went ahead. Thank you
Participants:
Simon and Andrew Nickson Landcruiser 76 series
Russell Speldewinde Land Rover Series D4
David Brown Suzuki Jimny
David Darke Landcruiser Prado
Matt Bolton Landcruiser 200 series
John and Suzanne Jedryk Landcruiser 200 series
Gemma and Bob Zeitlhofer Landcruiser 200 series
David and Judy Wilson Land Rover Series D4