The Australia Day holiday is on January 27, an opportunity to escape the city and join Jose for what is becoming a club staple of three-day long weekends: an exploration of the Nunniong State Forest, East of Swifts Creek.

PLEASE READ THE ADDITIONAL COMMENTS FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT FUEL

We will meet in the Caltex petrol station in Longwarry on Friday, January 24 at 6:30 pm and drive to the Tambo Crossing campsite on the Great Alpine Road. It will be a 3-hour drive so we should depart at 7:00 pm at the latest. Note traffic to Longwarry may be (even) heavier than usual this Friday. If you prefer you can drive to the campsite on your own, but please notify trip leader. There are no toilets at Tambo Crossing but there is a tiny campsite with toilets 4km south along the Great Alpine Rd, at the crossing with Collins Rd.

On Saturday we will drive north passing Mt Elizabeth and Mt Wong, tackle “Ralston Tk” (named after the club member who discovered it) and Cooks Break Tk, ascend to Mt. Nugong and spend the night in the Bentleys Plain Campsite (which has toilets). The campsite is not big and there may be extra campers on this long weekend, so it may be a bit cramped but hopefully it will be fine. There is a big covered area with benchtops suitable for cooking, so we may need a smaller footprint than usual. Several of the tracks we will be do this day are rated Difficult/Very Difficult.

On Sunday (OZ day) we will explore the region north of Bentleys Plain aiming for the Native Dog or Limestone Creek camp areas, both of which have toilets. This will be a truly exploratory day because we have little information on the tracks in that region.

On Monday (Observed OZ day) we will explore a little more around the Limestone Creek area then drive to Benambra, where the trip will end around noon. It should be a 5-6 hr drive from there to Melbourne. As most of us live north the preferred route is through Bright and the M31. We expect a lot of drivers coming back from Sheepyard Flat 🙂 so be aware of possible traffic delays on Monday evening.

Full tank of fuel (and see “Additional Comments” below); food, water, warm clothing and camping equipment for 3 days; recovery equipment as per the club trip rules for Difficult/Very Difficult-rated trips (winch may be required), tyre deflator and compressor; UHF radio (preferably not just walkie-talkie). As mentioned in the trip description, we will camp one night, possibly two, at sites without toilet facilities.