Trip: 9 to 11 Mar 2024
A combined trip with the LROC of Sydney and the Land Rover Club of the ACT
We were invited to attend the Canberra Day long weekend getaway at the LRC-ACT President Peter Mercer’s block in Majors Creek, about 15mins out the other side of Braidwood from the 9th to the 11th of March.
Several members of our beloved LROC are members of other clubs for various reasons. To mix with other people to open up different areas with local knowledge of areas normally unknown to us Sydney dwellers is one of the reasons I added membership of the LRC-ACT to my portfolio. I am also familiar with many of the members through the Outback Land Rover heritage Drives I have attended regularly since the first in 2010 and count many of their members as close friends.
Due to a lot or people having other engagements in Sydney that weekend, the LROC contingent was a little thin (in numbers) as Ralph Radovan and myself were the only ones. I chose to travel down early on Saturday morning, arriving in Braidwood around 8am. This gave me a bit of time to get some breakfast, especially coffee, before I met up with the team from the ACT at 9 for a trip east to some of the tracks on the western side of Pigeon House Mountain.
Travelling out on the King’s Highway, we turned off into the Western Distributor track, half way down the hill from the top of the Great divide.
The track was in top condition, managed by state forests, it mostly followed the ridge-line with a few descents into creek beds. These creek-beds and their lack of bridges were the reason for the various signs warning us of missing bridges as we drove along the track. Dust was manageable despite a convoy of 6 vehicles.
Well, it was in the first part of the track anyway. I took my YOOT down there for lots of reasons; the 110 is a better ride off road that the 90, no electronics to break down, more load capacity and it sounds so much better! The problem with choosing the historic vehicle is that the cabin gets quite hot. With an exhaust pipe running under each foot well and only six possible ways to get air to flow through the small cabin, it means all windows and flaps open to remain conscious. This lets in a sufficient amount of air to survive, but it also lets loads of dust in. After arriving at Yadboro Flat for lunch beside the Clyde River, we continued on our journey into the National Parks side of the track. The quality of the road maintenance was markedly poorer, resulting in a slower drive and more dust.
Photo 3, photo 6, photo 7
Trying to space the convoy out to reduce the dust intake was high on my priority list, but due to the stop-start progress of the group, this was getting harder and harder.
Various detours for track damage and closed roads got us a little turned around and I lost all sense of direction. Leading the trip, Peter managed to navigate us out and onto the Princes Highway, north of Bateman’s Bay. Right turn onto the King’s Highway and the long climb back up the mountain began, eventually taking us back to Braidwood and Major’s Creek around 4.30pm.
After setting up camp, one of the late comers, John in his 80 inch series 1 offered me a lift down to the pub for a beer. Just the ticket to wash all the dust from my throat. It was an absolute blast tearing along the dirt road in the open series 1, mind you, I’ll never complain again about how noisy either of my defenders are on the dirt.
Margaret Mercer won the meat tray on Friday night at the pub, so they shouted dinner for us with a bit of a mixed grill on the BBQ and some veggies donated by the various attendees.
After such a lot of driving, a welcome shower and an early night was the only things on my agenda from that point. It was a magnificent night for sleeping in a swag. Perfect temperature, clear skies and a slight breeze. Just Magic!
Sunday morning had us trying to get one of the series vehicles going, an old decrepit 1958 series 2 that used to reside in my carport, but now has an easy life on the farm. No roof, dead battery, petrol tank leaks, no brakes, coolant leaks – but it still goes. It only went about 3 metres on Sunday when Peter stalled it though. We gave up on that as people started to arrive from Canberra and surrounds. Lots of series vehicles were turning up, some I knew, some I didn’t. Some drove back in the afternoon, some stayed for the night.
It was a great day checking out each other’s cars and listening to the stories of the old cars and those of the owners’.
Roast lamb and veggies in the camp oven for dinner, lots of stories and chatter around the fire with a great bunch of people drew the virtual end to a great weekend.
Monday morning, Ralph and I packed up our respective campsites as we both had long drives ahead of us, the ACT folks were dreading the trip back to the capital as the long weekend traffic was going to be horrendous. (Photos posted on Facebook later supported this dread). I decided to take the alternative route home, up the Nerriga Road, via Nowra. This is a tad longer, but for me, was more interesting and I dodge all the maniacs on the Hume coming into the west of Sydney.
Authors: Matt Barnes & Ralph Radovan
Acknowledments: Big thanks to Peter and Margaret Mercer for hosting all of us over the weekend. We had a great time and look forward to our next adventure.
More photos, just click to enlarge…
