26 March 2021
By Richard
Trip leader - David
Participants:
David, Kath, Kane & Anita - Toyota 80 series
Brian & Alison - Ford Ranger
Graham - Toyota Prado
Richard & Karen – Toyota 79 series
We all met at the Mansfield BP at 8:00am on Friday 26th March. With the briefing and paperwork done, we headed towards the Howqua Track where tyres were let down. The track into Sheepyard was very wet and slippery, so much so, that a council water truck working on the road had slid into a bank and was in the process of releasing water to lighten his load. We turned onto Brocks Rd, stopping at Bluff for morning tea, where Dave pulled out a commercial coffee type machine which he ran on an inverter of huge proportions. So much for roughing it!
We continued towards Lovick’s Hut and then onto Howitt Plains Hut, having lunch along the way. It was then onto Zeka Spur Track which was much easier than anticipated. We arrived in the Wonnangatta Valley at around 4:30 pm. Having never been there before I was amazed at the size of it. We had a look around and then picked a great campsite not far from the homestead site and right on the riverbank. We got the fire going, cooked dinner all whilst enjoying a few ales and wines. During the evening we were watched by a fox that was just on the edge of the camp lighting.
The Saturday was spent fishing, sight-seeing or just relaxing. There were a few showers about but not enough to be a worry.
Kane and I went fly fishing. We only stalked and hooked one fish which was not landed. Kane had a few casts and I was very impressed with his ability.
Dave was the only one to climb the widow maker. He donned a fluoro vest due to a few deer hunters on the move. We were able to view him all the way up and back down from the comfort of the fire.
We were kept company by the fox again which pinched our new cooking (welding) gloves during the night. Hopefully he gets more use out of them than we did!
Sunday saw us wake up to reasonable weather, but it did involve a damp pack up. Nobody seemed to be in a hurry, so a leisurely breakfast was had by all. When we were ready, we headed to Whitfield. We crossed the Wonnangatta River and headed up Wonnangatta Track which was a fairly steep climb. At morning tea Dave went to have a look behind a tree (I think there was a plumbing problem involved) and lo and behold at a temperature of only 8C in a beam of sunshine, there was a snake. (I will be more careful fishing early in the season from now on.)
We headed down through Abbeyard and onto Whitfield where we had afternoon tea, then headed home in different directions.
I would like to thank everyone on the trip for a great time and especially Dave whose local knowledge was invaluable.
PS: A word of warning to anyone camping with Brian. Keep your drinks and dinner away from his clumsy feet!
