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Mansfield Surrounds Dec 10
Well I thought I should do a report of our recent trip to Mansfield and some of the places we visited.
I will do it in three sections…
Part 1 – Mt Samaria
We set off on 27th Nov in light drizzle. This was the week when the floods were in their formative stages, so wet was the theme.
We took the Mansfield to Whitfield road out of Mansfield and turned off into Blue range road. The intention was to explore the Blue Range creek, but the road was closed for forestry, so we headed up the blue Range instead. The rain stopped, so we took a walk to Back Creek Falls
It was a very pleasant track, with kangaroos bouncing off into the bush (too quick to photograph them)
When we got to the falls it started raining again, but they were well worth the walk.
We continued on across the range and down when the fog came in. We also spotted a couple of Kangaroos and a Wombat.
Then the fun started. We went through the forestry area to the Kelly tree picnic area. It’s a great spot, but found relying on the navigator was a mistake and we found ourselves on a clay track losing traction fast. Rounding one corner at about 15-20km/Hr we just slid into the bank and could not get out of the drain. A but like the Murray River experience on another thread. The tyres (Cooper ST) had 2 cm mud caked over the treads and it was like an ice skating rink. We were slowly heading for a hole that could have made it even worse.
Then I remembered I had just acquired some Maxtrax so out they came. I just laid them in series in front of the drivers’ front wheel and cleared the problem easily – well worth the investment. It certainly wasn’t going to come out any other way. (Sadly swmbo wasn’t going to get wet taking a video of the retrieval). After that I understood why there is a need for a bag or something to cover the mud that stuck like poo to the Maxtrax. So here is the only evidence –
To be continued
Well I thought I should do a report of our recent trip to Mansfield and some of the places we visited.
I will do it in three sections…
Part 1 – Mt Samaria
We set off on 27th Nov in light drizzle. This was the week when the floods were in their formative stages, so wet was the theme.
We took the Mansfield to Whitfield road out of Mansfield and turned off into Blue range road. The intention was to explore the Blue Range creek, but the road was closed for forestry, so we headed up the blue Range instead. The rain stopped, so we took a walk to Back Creek Falls
It was a very pleasant track, with kangaroos bouncing off into the bush (too quick to photograph them)
When we got to the falls it started raining again, but they were well worth the walk.
We continued on across the range and down when the fog came in. We also spotted a couple of Kangaroos and a Wombat.
Then the fun started. We went through the forestry area to the Kelly tree picnic area. It’s a great spot, but found relying on the navigator was a mistake and we found ourselves on a clay track losing traction fast. Rounding one corner at about 15-20km/Hr we just slid into the bank and could not get out of the drain. A but like the Murray River experience on another thread. The tyres (Cooper ST) had 2 cm mud caked over the treads and it was like an ice skating rink. We were slowly heading for a hole that could have made it even worse.
Then I remembered I had just acquired some Maxtrax so out they came. I just laid them in series in front of the drivers’ front wheel and cleared the problem easily – well worth the investment. It certainly wasn’t going to come out any other way. (Sadly swmbo wasn’t going to get wet taking a video of the retrieval). After that I understood why there is a need for a bag or something to cover the mud that stuck like poo to the Maxtrax. So here is the only evidence –
To be continued
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