This trip was held on the Australia Day Weekend – 26 – 28 January 2024
Members attending:-
Peter & Margaret Mercer (Trip Leaders), Land Rover Discovery 3 with camper trailer.
John Worthington, Holden Colorado with slide on camper.
Ralph Radovan, Range Rover.
Robert and Zedre Pember, Range Rover with caravan.
Simon Nickson, Toyota Landcruiser.
Garry Blagdon, Land Rover Discovery 3 with camper trailer.
Friday 26th January
Departed Williamsdale at 9:00 am on Friday and headed south on the Monaro Highway. Stopped for a quick top up of petrol/diesel and firewood, then lunch and coffee break in Jindabyne before heading for Geehi. On descent from Thredbo down to Geehi, Bob & Zedre’s brakes overheated but they pulled over to let the brakes cool down and managed to make it to Geehi without any major issues.
Before setting up camp we checked out the Tom Groggin water crossing on the Murray River that we would be taking on Saturday and all agreed the water was too high and running too swiftly to cross. We thought that the water level and rate of flow would be significantly reduced the next morning so proceeded to Geehi Flats camping ground and set up camp. Geehi was busy but not overflowing, Peter had booked the sites through NPWS.
After setting up camp we set off to check out the nearby huts. On approaching the Geehi – Swampy Plains River water crossing there was a slight delay as a 4WD had just been recovered from the middle of the crossing. The doors were opened and a fairly substantial amount of water flowed out. This appeared to be operator error as they had stopped in the middle of the crossing and stalled the vehicle. We then proceeded to Keeble Hut for a quick photo shoot before heading to the other huts.
Unfortunately, we did not get very far, as Garry’s D3 would not release from low range nor engage with high range and consequently lost all forward and reverse drive. After a few system reboots, disconnecting the battery a couple of times and unplugging and drying all the connections to the gearbox, we left the D3 and returned to camp. As there was no phone reception Peter, John and Garry drove 30 Kms to Khancoban to call the NRMA to arrange for a tow which was scheduled for Sunday morning. On arrival back at the camping ground Peter towed Garry’s D3 back to camp.
Saturday 27 January
Bob and Zedre remained at camp taking the opportunity to have a relaxing day at camp.
Peter, John (accompanied by Garry), Ralph and Simon set off to the Tom Groggin water crossing on the Murray and the water level had dropped around 15cm and the rate of flow also slowed considerably and all 4 vehicles crossed with no issues.
As the Davies Plain track was still closed, we decided to check out Dogmans Hut then via the Tom Groggin track to Brophy’s Hut and then head to Mount Pinnibar via the Anderson track and see if we could make our way to the top.
The Anderson track had some sections which were very steep with some fairly deep ruts some on clay and some on loose shale base, and very steep in places and were successfully negotiated with little difficulty over the next few hours.
Several of the flatter sections of the track had some mud puddles all of which were negotiated successful except for one that was wider, longer and deeper than previous puddles. Peter and Magaret went first, followed by Ralph and both made it through. John and Garry then followed and were not so lucky sliding into some deep ruts and bottomed out on the ruts. John attached his snatch strap to the rear of his Colorado and to the front of Simon’s Landcruiser in preparation for the recovery but we were rudely interrupted by a following 4WD that decided he could not wait until we all negotiated the mud puddle.
He drove past both Simon’s and John’s cars and tried to go further to the left side of the mud puddle and only succeeded in getting bogged himself. After a series of attempts to go forwards then backwards (with what sounded like the foot flat to the floorboards) he managed to go nowhere and was still bogged. Peter and the driver had some differing viewpoints regard appropriate etiquette in such circumstances. John then took a fresh line, slighter to the right of his previous attempt, and made it through with no difficulty. Simon (now with Garry onboard) followed the same line and made it across with no difficulty.
Now with all our 4 vehicles safely across the mud puddle, Ralph successfully pulled the bogged driver free, and we were back on the road again – but not for long.
The track conditions deteriorated somewhat as we progressed closer to Mount Pinnibar and, on a particularly steep section of track with loose shale, Peter’s D3 suddenly started to intermittently lose low range, then high range and sometimes both – which meant he could not climb the steeper sections.
Following discussions about how to manage the situation, and as we were relatively close to the summit, it was agreed that John, Simon and Garry would continue on and see if we could get to the summit of Mount Pinnibar. Ralph would then try and see if he could pull Peter and Margaret in the D3 up the next section of the track. John, Simon and Garry made it to the summit and returned to learn that unfortunately Ralph, despite his best efforts, could not get Peter’s D3 up the steep section.
It was agreed to try and use the power of the Toyota Landcruiser’s V8 to tow Peter’s D3 up the steep section which was successful, much to the relief of everyone, as we would have then had to contemplate a multiple car pull.
It was now early afternoon, and we had a long way back to camp. The Mt Pinnabar track was deeply rutted and very steep in places. On the way down, we encountered 3 vehicles attempting to climb the track, but before we crossed paths, they managed to turn around and go back down the track.
Over the next few hours, Peter managed to safely negotiate the downhill, flat and slightly uphill sections. When that was not possible, Simon successfully towed the D3 through the uphill sections. This continued for several hours until we arrived back at Tom Groggin. through the water crossing and back to the campsite. Peter and John then travelled to Khancoban to call NRMA and arrange a tow for his D3 then returned to the campsite.
We all agreed that it would have been a much more dangerous and difficult recovery without the power of Simon’s Landcruiser. Everyone worked well together, no cars were damaged in the recovery process, and no-one was injured – a great outcome.
Sunday 28 January
Two tow trucks arrived at 9:00am – the first picked up Peter’s D3 and initially took it to Corryong, then back to Canberra. The second tow truck picked up Garry’s D3 and returned it to Canberra. Everyone headed for home, some stopping at Jindabyne for lunch and coffee, and some continued on home.
It’s times like these that the support of a club and its members comes to the fore.