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JACKAROO 4WD CLUBJACKAROO 4WD CLUBJACKAROO 4WD CLUBJACKAROO 4WD CLUB VICTORIA’S PREMIER ALL MAKE 4WD TOURING CLUBVICTORIA’S PREMIER ALL MAKE 4WD TOURING CLUBVICTORIA’S PREMIER ALL MAKE 4WD TOURING CLUBVICTORIA’S PREMIER ALL MAKE 4WD TOURING CLUB
NOVEMBER 2015NOVEMBER 2015NOVEMBER 2015NOVEMBER 2015
Month Date Event Details
November 14 & 15 Clunes weekend 18 Committee meeting 18 General Meeting - High Country Huts 25 Yarra Valley trip December 6 Deadline for Newsletter items 11 - 13 Christmas Party at Clunes PLEASE NOTE: There is no meeting in December January 20 Committee meeting 20 General Meeting at new venue February 3 Deadline for Newsletter items 17 General Meeting at BCF Watergardens
Club Calendar
The Jackaroo Club of Victoria Box 617, Doncaster 3108
www.jackaroo4wdclub.org.au
President: David Dobson 9728 3550 or 0430 286 168 [email protected] Vice President: Ian Blainey 0458 444 656 [email protected] Secretary: Rob Hume 0447 215 799 [email protected] Treasurer: John Dudley 5429 5087 or 0412 948 361 [email protected] Trip Coordinator: Michael Martin 9730 1465, 0427 973 014 [email protected] Membership Officer: Chris Rogers 9481 4769 or 0425 795 858 [email protected] Editor: Harry Richards 9878 8908, 0408 142 107 [email protected] Librarian & Clothing: Ian Marr 0413 546 178 [email protected] Property Officer: Mark Eames 9431 6400 or 0401 998 172 [email protected] Committee: Alan Dash 9311 3628 or 0407 568 700 Philip Johnstone 9807 9096 or 0417 014 636 Rod Tamblyn 9735 0698 or 0427 884 603 Paul Trouse 0408 003 383
Next Meeting
Our next General meeting will be next
Wednesday 18th Novemberber 2015 at
the RSL Bowling Club, Centre Way North
Balwyn at 7.30 pm.
Our guest speaker for the night will be
Ken Birch from the Victorian Country Huts
Association. This group was formed as a
direct result of the losses of High Country
huts that occurred in the bushfires of
January 2003.
Its objectives are to care for those huts
still remaining and to coordinate a system
of caretaker groups to maintain existing
huts using volunteers. Its activities are
coordinated with each of the relevant
government organisations related to areas
of Crown Land.
Ken is a Past President of the Association
and is well versed in the history of the
huts and what is needed to preserve them.
Our Club has accepted responsibility for
Tomohawk Hut, in the Mount Buller area,
although we haven’t had to do much over
the past couple of years.
Tomohawk Hut
WE ARE ON THE MOVE!
Finally, after 25 years, The Jackaroo Club is moving to the RIGHT side of the river! Yes, starting with our first meeting in 2016 (January 20), the Club will hold all regular monthly meetings at our new home at the Fairfield Bowling Club, 25 Gillies Street, Fairfield. The move has been forced on us due to the imminent demolition next year of our current meeting place at the RSL Bowling Club in Balwyn. Four Wheel Drive Victoria has not yet decided where they will move to, nor whether meeting facilities will be available. Your committee decided therefore, to take matters into our own hands and organise a new meeting venue. The new venue will bring our meeting place into a more central lo-cation and one easily accessed from the Eastern Freeway. As well as greater accessi-bility, our move to the Fairfield Bowling Club will offer members im-proved facilities and options for a greater range of activities. An added bonus for those who like to grab a bite before the meeting, is the almost endless variety of dishes available at the many eateries in Fairfield Village, just a block away from the Bowling Club. An email will be sent to members prior to the January Meeting, with detailed directions and further information about our new home. In the meantime, if you would like to assist with the movement of our mate-rial from Balwyn to Fairfield, please contact David Dobson.
Brad & Denise Riddington’s
Canning Stock Route Trip Last month we left Brad and Denise on Day 9 of their trip. They had reached Well 30. Day 10 - 106kms, average speed 25.5kmh Wells 29, 28 and 27 all in ruins, with only bits of metal sheeting to indicate anything was there. Camped at Well 26 (restored) with good water for a shower and replenishing the jerry cans. Day 11 - 82kms, average speed 28.7kmh Driving over softer dunes today, one dune needed a couple of attempts to conquer. Then open rocky country, with small mulga forests and the occasional clay pan. Visited Wells 25 (with the timber trough frame still standing), 24 (pool of water and flocks of zebra finches) and 23 (shaft still evident). Arrived at Georgia Bore which has a hand pump to get access to excellent water for laundry, showering and drinking. Strange to camp in sight of other people, but Georgia Bore is a popular spot. Everyone was washing the
desert grime out of their clothing! Day 12 - 100kms, average speed 25.6kmh Bad corrugations on the way to Wells 22 and 21. The track then follows the shore of Lake Disappointment. Detoured onto a side track to visit Well 20 then returned to Lake Disappointment for an early camp amongst the desert oaks. We felt a bit drained from the corrugations, and enjoyed the rest Day 13 - 118kms. Average speed 21.3kmh Crossed Savory Creek and continued on to visit Well 19 (ruins). After crossing the
Tropic of Capricorn we took the track east to Onegunya Rockhole. Here we checked out a bit of rock art and watched a hawk hunting the zebra finches. The hawk actually used the confusion we created by being there to swoop down just over our heads and try for a finch. After returning to the stock route, we visited Well 18, which has a cover and reasonable water, so we stopped for an afternoon shower to freshen up. Stopping for a shower during the middle of the day worked well, the weather was warmer, the car’s engine was nice and warm (we have a
Diebel Hills track
Horrigations
heat exchange shower set up under the bonnet which worked a treat) and gave us a nice break from driving. That afternoon, we took the track west to the Diebel Hills. It was great to drive along the sandy track with only animal tracks visible in the sand - no one had been out this way for a while. We camped under a lone gum at the end of the track. Another peaceful campfire under the stars. Day 14 - 48kms, average speed 22.5kmh Today we walked in to the Diebel Springs. It wasn’t an easy walk, with lots of rock scram-bling to reach a very small trickle of water seeping from the base of the cliff. After return-ing to the car, we visited some caves on our way back to the stock route. We turned south again and continued on to the access track to Killagurra Spring (Well 17). A gate across the track meant it was back on with the walking shoes for the beautiful walk up the gorge to the spring and to view the impressive rock art close by. Continued on to Durba Springs, where we set up camp on the grass beside a waterhole. Now we understand why people rave about this place, it’s a great spot for a two or three night stay to rest up and explore this beautiful area. Day 15 - 5kms, walking After a sleep in. it was time to explore the gorge. We walked along admiring the red cliffs above, then started the rock scramble up to a tannin stained, very inviting rock hole. After soaking our feet we continued up the branching gorge to eventually climb up to the top of the escarpment, where a large, noisy flock of ravens swooped down to check us out. We admired the curling bark of the Red Mulga trees growing along the sides of the gorge. We retraced our path to the water hole for a very refreshing swim as the weather was quite
warm. We lingered for some time, soaking up the quiet beauty of this magical spot. We eventually dragged our-selves away and started the tricky descent along the rocky gorge back to camp for happy hour. Day16 - 147kms, average speed 25.5kmh Rose early and enjoyed an amazing, colourful sunrise. Drove to the short, but steep, walk up to Canning’s Cairn to admire the sweeping views of the surrounding plains. We continued on to Well 16 (ruins) and Well 15 (lid and windlass, but no bucket), Well 14 and 13 (both ruins) to arrive at the newly restored Well 12. We set up camp under the desert oaks, had a shower and admired the birds flitting
around. A few drops of rain fell overnight, our first since driving through Adelaide a couple of weeks ago. Day 17 - 131kms, average speed 26.1kmh Cooler day with the passing front last night
Killagurra rock art
Well 13 junction
Canning’s Cairn
Well 16 (above) Well 12 (below)
and a southerly wind. We passed Lake Aero-drome, crossed our last sand dune (with a tinge of sadness) and endured more corrugations on the way to Well 11,where we encountered dozens of zebra finches coming into drink. These finches weren’t as flighty as at the other wells, so you could get fairly close for some decent photos. That is until a flock of galahs ar-rived. On to Well 10 (ruins), then Well 9 for lunch and a stroll around the well, Glen-Ayle Station stockyards and the remains of Forrest’s Fort., The stockyard has some ingenious one way gates for
the cattle to access the water trough, we surmised this was designed to keep the camels out. Continued past Wells 8 and 7 (both ruins) to arrive at Pierre Spring (Well 6), a virtual oasis of shady white gums where we set up camp. Well 6 has been restored, complete with whip pole so you can see how the water collection worked. Day 18 - 132kms, average speed 29.8kmh Just after leaving Well 6 on the track south, you drive through a stand of large grass trees. Well 5 is fully restored, very deep, with a stainless steel bucket to re-trieve the clear water. Visited Wells 4B (ruins) and stopped for lunch at Windich Springs for a walk around the gorgeous waterhole surrounded by white gums. Lots of nesting Co-rellas, Twenty Eights and Galahs in the hollow limbs. Passed Well 4A, which had a unique whip pole carved out of a tree trunk, Well 3A (ruins) and camped at Well 3, which has been restored but the water had an unpleasant smell. Day 19 - 142kms, average speed 35.2kmh Dropped in at Well 2A (Granites) and stopped at Well 2 to read the newly erected informa-tion display which had the following poignant quote: “Like the hundreds of thousands of indigenous custodians from long ago and from now, like Canning and Forrest, like the drovers who made it a stock route, the pastoralists who made it pastoral country and the adventurers who made it one of the toughest four wheel drive journeys, each has followed a map, left a trace, made and re-made a story. And, so of course, do you.” And with that it was on to the Wiluna Road and the flag lowering ceremony, sand flag that is. Dropped in to Well 1, then headed into Wiluna to refuel. Camped at North Pool (on green grass!) where we bird watched during happy hour. We were thrilled to see lots of nesting birds, including four baby budgies close to our camp. On the way down to Kalgoorlie, we made a detour out to Lake Ballard, west of Menzies. In the middle of the salt lake is an art installation of stick figure sculp-tures. They looked incredible against the stormy sky and I returned later to photograph them in the light of the full moon.
Finches at Well 11
Well 6
Other Information
We decided to drive the Canning Stock Route from north to south for a number of reasons. We would get into the warmer weather of Northern Australia sooner; we hoped the warm weather would follow us south; and the sun would be behind us on most of our driving days, instead of beat-ing through the windscreen all day. It also seems that less vehicles drive from north to south, so the dunes are less chewed up when you approach them from the north. Biluna to Kunawaritji 731.8 km used 132L of Diesel 18.1L/100km Kunawaritji to Wiluna 1166.5km used 201L Diesel 17.25/100km I carried 250 litres of Fuel & 100 litres of Water. On bad corrugations I kept my speed to about 15km/h. Sand dunes mostly high range 1st gear. Good water easy to obtain from Wells 49, 46, 33, 26, Georgia Bore, 12, 6 and 5. Billiluna and Kunawaritji also have good drinking water available at no cost. Shower water Wells 41, 18 and 3.
Planning for the Tri-State next Easter is moving along well. Many of the details involved in organising the event have been put to bed and the trip roster is nearing completion. The next pre-tripping weekend will be in the new year and dates will be advised when settled. Meanwhile, the organizing committee is looking for donations for the raffles to be con-ducted at the event. Anything with a value of $5+ will be gratefully accepted. Ian Marr will be happy to hear from you. The Christmas Party will be held at the Clunes Showgrounds over the weekend of 11 - 13 December. Details are outlined on next page. This weekend will be for a party, not a Tri-State planning. Clunes has seen filming for a forthcoming adaptation of John Marsden’s Tomorrow When the War Begins. Fraser Street was closed off for a week while the filming took place.
What’s happening at Clunes
Christmas Party 11 - 13 December
Come join your fellow members for a weekend of relaxation, fun and camaraderie.
The weekend will include: * BBQ supplied Saturday evening * Games night after the BBQ * Sunday market in Clunes * Fun games on the oval * Or do your own thing, or nothing at all Feel free to come for the weekend, or one day. If you haven’t been to the site for our Tri-State next Easter, come along and see for yourself. For catering purposes, please advise our Trip Coordinator, Michael Martin if you are coming. Currently registered: Cleve Waring & Jenny, Greg & Noelene Moore, Yvonne De Wit & Johan, Peter & Cheryl Sanders, Harry $ Jill Richards, Rick & Glenda Farlow, John & Nancy Dudley.
An interesting trip around the Yarra Valley looking at sites of historical and general interest. David always runs a good trip and he knows the area well.
Meeting Time & Place: to be advised.
Convoy Limit: 7 Fuel Requirements: Full tank ex Mekbourne
Trip Standard if Dry: tba If Wet: tba
Trip Leader: David Dobson 9728 3550 or 0430 286 168
Special Requirements: To be advised
Currently Registered: Rick & Glenda Farlow, Barry Gough & Bronwyn, Ian & Ann Marr, John & Margaret Kneebone, Chris & Helen Rogers, Jan & Michael Martin, Ron Ritchie, Philip & Brenda Johnstone, Ian & Anne Blainey This trip is oversubscribed and may get a waiting list.
Yarra Valley Tour Wednesday 25th November
A planning and discovery trip for Clunes 2016. Camp at Clunes Showgrounds and explore the area on both days with a view towards what we will do at Easter 2016. NOTE: There is Talbot market this weekend.
Meeting Time & Place: Clunes Showgrounds from Friday pm onwards.
Convoy Limit: No limit Fuel Requirements: Available locally if needed
Trip Standard if Dry: Medium If Wet: Medium
Trip Leader: Alan Dash 0407 568 700 or 9311 3628
Special Requirements: Caravans and campers OK. Some powered sites and all facilities will be open. Powered sites $15.00 per night, non-powered $10.00 per night. Bring your camera.
Currently Registered: Rick & Glenda Farlow, Harry & Jill Richards, Michael & Jan Martin, Greg & Noelene Moore
Clunes Planning Trip Saturday 14th November to Sunday 15th November
Tail End ….
Jackaroo Club members in a retirement home
