What an Awesome Day!
The alarm sounded at 4:50 but not much happened until 5 as
two bleary eye boys were rustled into existence for the drive to Craig’s Hut.
The drive was only about 30ks but ended up taking about 45 mins as we had to
stop and drag a tree that had fallen onto the road. Unfortunately we missed the
colours of the predawn light but the softness of the morning sun and the
serenity of looking out over the glowing mountains were awesome.
The Man from
Snowy River has been one of my favourite movies since I was a lad and seeing
Craig’s hut was always on my bucket list and it was worth the wait. We all took
a walk around the hut while I gave the camera got a work out trying to capture
a shot like you see in the shops! It is
a majestic place and all I could hear in my head while I was walking around was
na na na na na na na na na na, da da da da da da...Jessica’s Theme.
Pretty soon the webber was retrieved from Izzy and a delicious
meal of frittata and bacon was made to order! The boys then went on a hunting
trip trying to spear rabbits with no success – bugger
Back down the mountain and after De had a morning nana nap
we packed up and headed for Wilson’s Promontory – and this is where it gets shall we say..... interesting. I had noticed there was a bit of a short cut just before
Merrijig that would take us over to Jamieson that would save us about 10k worth
of driving and thinking it would be nice to see some off the road places so
decided to take it.
Hmmm......There was a sign as we turned onto the short cut
road saying tight turns for the next 16kms and as the short cut was 15kms I was
confident I was heading in the right direction. The dirt road was in pretty
good condition and there were heaps of 4wds and vans coming in the opposite
direction, more than we had seen all week, so they must all be taking the same
short cut right? After 16kms we came across Sheep Yard Creek camping area where
there were still 20 or so vans or tents as well as a couple of horse trail
rides set up beside a pristine creek. It looked like a really nice area but we
were heading for the Prom so no time to stop. While the road still was in
reasonably good condition it seemed to continue upwards, and upwards, and
upwards.... and hang on, if you read about our trip to the Blue Mountains you
will remember that I don’t get vertigo, but the sheer cliffs that are snaking
up these seemingly endless valley and the 5t rig that I am driving them along
are starting to make me feel just a tad nervous.
Fast forward two hours of the ‘short
cut’ and we reach a simple ‘fork’ in the road at the top of a saddle welcoming
us to the Jamieson State Forest as we leave the Alpine National Park. ‘Great we
are heading to Jamieson so we must be getting close’ I though comforting myself
that maybe it was all going to turn out fine. After close consultation with the
map that doesn’t have said State Forest on it we decide to take the left fork
as it appears to be used more frequently. As we started to descend down the
narrow winding dirt road I decide to see if anybody is about on the UHF radio
that may be able to help. Amazingly I straight away I raise three helpful 4wders
that consult their detailed maps and tell us where we are ( how can you be in
the middle of absolutely no where and still be somewhere I am not 100% sure) and
that we should have taken the right turn. “You bloody ripper” I think, as I am
sure De’s patience with my short cut was beginning to wear veerry thin at this
stage. “We just need to turn around and we’ll be in Jamieson, I venture the
question what the road is like and how long to get us there. ‘Six hours of
serious 4 wd tracks and we should be there no problems’ was the reply! I was at
this stage that I decided not to look in the direction of my co driver for the
rest of the trip for fear of turning into stone. Shortly after we found a very
safe place to turn the rig around and head back down my short cut road from
where we came.
We stopped for lunch at the fork and I noticed the ski lifts at
Mt Buller on the next ridge just slightly above the height we were at. This told
me two things. One we were up bloody high and two we were a LONG way from where
we were meant to be! An hour and half later (that’s 3 ½ hrs total) we made it
back to the beginning of my short cut and we headed around the ‘Long Way’ to
Jamieson and the free camp area at Drs Creek.
Lunch at "The Fork"
We eagerly disembarked from Izzy and a fellow camper, Nick
from Germany, struck up a conversation and told us about the fresh water
yabbies and trout in the river. Down we went to have a swim and play in water
that was amazingly warm and we came out with three tasty little morsels that
were cooked and served within 5 minutes of being out of the water. I have eaten
plenty of red claw out of Somerset but these fellas were out of pristine fresh
water and were bloody good eating! We retired early after a looooooong day of
going pretty much nowhere BUT with a valuable lesson learnt – NO MORE SHORT
CUTS!
A big thanks to my super patient wife for putting up with me xxoo... love ya little lady
Tomorrow our second attempt to get to The Prom - maybe we should have learnt two lessons from today!
OMG! That short cut sounds bl**dy awful De! Entertaining as hell for the blog readers - but bl**dy awful!!! :-/
ReplyDeleteHe he! Thanks for the entertaining read!! How long till pain of day wears off and the next short cut? We will keep posted to find out! Travel safe xox Rachel
ReplyDelete