THE WONNANGATTA 4WD & FISHING ADVENTURE

Friday 2 – 4 December 2005

Participants on this years trip was slightly down but all can attest to the great time to be had on this trip – they are:

Peter Snare (Southern/Jackaroo 4WD)

Colin  (Peter’s Guest)

Mark Remington (Southern/Jackaroo 4WD)

John Christie (Southern)

Andrew Wale (Southern)

Les Pratt (Jackaroo 4WD)

 

After a number of last minute cancellations, the small group with the exception of Les, who was to join us in Talbotville, met at Macca’s at Pakenham on Thursday afternoon and headed off in convoy for the Wonnangatta Valley in the Central Gippsland High Country. The Wonnangatta Valley is a beautiful valley nestled in the mountains on the edge of the Alpine National Park about 40 minutes drive west of the township of Dargo. The valley hosts the Wonnangatta River and some of its tributaries including the Wongungurra and Crooked Rivers.

 

After an uneventful 4 hours or so of easy highway driving we arrived at Dargo for fuel top-ups and drinks and continued on the Upper Dargo Road and the McMillan’s Track for Talbotville. The McMillan’s Track is essentially a 2WD accessible track with quite a steep descent from about 1100 metres down to 380 metres with extremely steep drop off edges. As a result of recent rainfall part of the track was blocked by fallen rock and all the vehicles had to carefully manoeuvre around the rather large rocks without risking a rather steep drop over the edge. All managed with the exception of Mark miscalculating the clearance from the side of his Jackaroo and removing part of the rear wheel arch flare on one of the rocks – a bit too wary of the edge it seems.

Once at the Talbotville campsite – a pleasant grassed flat alongside the Crooked River, a variety of tents, swent?? (before you ask, a swent is a cross between a tent and a swag) and awnings were soon erected and some settled down to pre-dinner nibbles and drinks while Peter anxious to sample the fishy delicacies from the river, disappeared off up the river and breaking his duck with a catch of a nice brown. The night sky was clear and the magnificence of the prominent Milky Way caught everyone’s attention despite the rather discouraging weather forecasts. Dinner was then the focus of attention, and soon, after having endured a long drive and without the added incentive of a camp fire, everyone gradually sidled off to bed.

 

Very early the next morning clouds formed and the rain began to fall and continued steadily through the night. On daylight the steady rain only gave way to occasional breaks and so a lazy breakfast was had by all with plenty of discussion of the affect of the rain on the river and fishing would have. Fishing was therefore soon foremost on everyone’s mind with Peter’s constant encouragement and fishing gear was donned and all headed off for a spot of fishing at various points along the Crooked River.

The Crooked River, named for its extremely winding nature from its headwaters to its confluence with the Wongungurra River downstream from Talbotville campsite, offers excellent fly fishing with many easy access points at the many track crossings and the mainly good wading conditions. The river bed is predominantly freestone with many pools, runs and riffles and is ideal for dry fly fishing and shallow nymphing can also be very productive in many places especially after rain. However, results were somewhat diminished to earlier anticipations and only a few smallish Brown’s were caught but everyone could not help but enjoy fishing in this beautiful environment. The predominant fly used seemed to be small stimulators sometimes used in conjunction with a nymph.

The rain continued steadily and at the end of the day everyone converged under Mark’s annexe to review the days results and again re-evaluate the plans for the rest of the weekend. Occasional thunder and lightning in the immediate and catchment areas reinforced any doubt as to what the weather would bring.  It was anticipated it would bring higher levels and dirty water making difficult fishing conditions the next day and therefore some 4Wding was planned for Saturday. A few resolute campers arrived at various times through the day and night. One group spent some time in the afternoon erecting their tents and an hour or two later packed it all up again and moved off, we presume to the dry confines of home. Les arrived during the afternoon and set up camp between showers in record time with the enthusiastic assistance of the group.

 

The rain tested the waterproofing of tents and swents, and some leaks appeared in Mark’s new Southern Cross tent, hopefully due to not sufficient pre-sealing, and in Peter’s swent. A couple of damp sleeping bags however, didn’t seem to dampen the spirits and another pleasant evening was again had by all despite the lack of a campfire. Resolutions were made to make sure of campfire wood supplies on future trips for that vital added camping ingredient.

The Bulltown Spur track ascending some 600m from the end of the Crooked River track to the McMillan’s track (the main access to Talbotville), had developed the reputation of being an exciting and challenging 4WD track. It was decided that we would travel along the Crooked River track which follows the Crooked River with some 25 river crossings to end and return to camp via the Bulltown Spur and McMillan’s track. With the higher river levels some of the river crossings provided some excitement with the bow waves splashing onto the windscreens and some washed out entries and exits complicated by fallen branches. After abandoning Les’s Jackaroo along the river as a result of a noisy hub or gearbox, Les joined Andrew and we set off up the Bulltown Spur track. The climb  was relatively steep but offered no problem to our vehicles and soon found ourselves back on McMillan’s track heading down to the camp site. It was noted that a bulldozer had been along the track and cleared some of the loose rocks which obstructed our arrival the day before.

 

During the evening and overnight the wind increased which seemed to clear the skies of threatening cloud and the likelihood of an improved days fishing also increased. We woke up to a bright sunny warm Sunday and after camp duties and breakfast we headed off to various sections of the Crooked River to try our luck again. Unfortunately the fishing was tough and our luck did not join us. Peter caught the one and only trout caught for the morning. Despite to great turn of weather the tough fishing convinced the group to break camp at lunch time and head off to Dargo for lunch before setting off on the long journey home.

Although the weather could have been kinder and the fishing more productive, those who participated in the Wonnangatta 4WD and Fishing Adventure had a wonderful time. This trip is now an annual event and anyone from the club who is interested in joining us next year keep a look out in the newsletter and website for the 2006 dates

 

 

Mark Remington
Mob: 0417 557 260
Email: markrem@ozemail.com.au
VKS: Victor 9557  Sel: 9557