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The weekend went really well. We got up there around 5 to 11 on Friday Night (after a few technical problems with computers & GPS equipment) & had our gear set by 11:00 (we have a fast set up tent, where I can put it up in around 2 minutes if I push).
Stella went straight to bed while I tidied up a little & set up gear under the shelter before going to bed around 12:00.
I woke around 6 the next morning & lit the campfire for breakfast, others got up around 6:30 - 6:45.
Finished breakfast put out fire & prepared for the day out. Left campsite around 9 & followed the trip according to book I had & missed a turn.
Ended up on a track not listed in book or on any maps, but was a pretty good track, so will be using that one in a few weeks when we do the actual club trip.
Drove down to a small river crossing where we had morning tea.
From there, reset computer gear & then followed this for the rest of the trip.
Headed to Karuah River where we had lunch & then headed towards Gloucester on Terrible Billy Track (which was not as challenging as I was hoping).
Once we hit the highway, turned right back towards Dungog & then checked out a 200-acre property.
After leaving this property, went to Dungog for afternoon tea at a coffee shop, then back to camp for dinner, a few drinks & off to bed.
Sunday Morning slept in to 06:30 & was still first up. Lit fire for breakfast & we ate while we waited for the dew to evaporate off tarps etc.
Packed up camp & left around 9:00 & went for a swim at Coachwood Camping area, then went to check a track we saw the previous day.
This was Killarney Track & goes up to Fosterton Trig Station.
When we were about 300m short of the trig, the track was very over grown, but we still pushed on through, stopping occasionally to clear a path for the 4 vehicles.
Went past the trig (which was in a bad state of repair & very overgrown).
According to our maps, the track stopped there, but we could see that it continued on, so we followed it down some quite challenging sections, before we decided to stop & check the computer to see how it is going to get.
Checked the maps on the computer, it was about to get very steep, so we decided that with fully loaded vehicles, this may not be worth going any further, so we turned around & headed back.
On the way back up this track, the other Prado got stuck on one of the steep sections, but got himself out once he chose the right line (& the right gear).
Got back to the main road & returned back to normal convoy order (Us in Baby Troupe, Steve in the Troopy, Ron in his Prado & David & Sandie in the 100 series).
Headed to Dungog for lunch which was very good value, checked out an antique shop & then headed for East Gresford to look at a furniture maker's shop who makes furniture from logs found in the bush.
From there headed home via Singleton, Broke, Wollombi, Kulnura (where we stopped for Ice Cream), then down Forests Road to a track I though was the right one (very challenging & had to abandon this track when the thought of 4 well loaded 4wds was to go down a steep loose section with some good size steps.
We will check this out another day after a few vehicle mods. Headed back up & onto the main track, then home. A great trip was had by all.
Many thanks to Steve Power, David & Sandie Parlour, Ron Hoff & my wife Stella for a great weekend.