Recci to Kelly’s Hut & Beyond – 9th to 11th February 2018
Recci to Kelly’s Hut & Beyond – 9th to 11th February 2018
This trip was to assess the works to be done on both McMichael’s and Kelly’s huts. (but also, to extend the trip onto Mansfield to make it interesting) Works that our club will be assisting Parks Victoria in, to maintain and preserve these two huts.
The weather started closing in with dark and ominous looking black clouds and by the time we had got down to Bluff Hut the rain was heavy. - Shez
FRIDAY
We all met at the RV park in Heyfield on the Friday night for this trip. Great overnight camping area.
SATURDAY
On Saturday morning we met with the VHCHA Huts maintenance officer for the Licola region Wayne Peterken who gave us a brief run down and who was also joining us as far as Kelly’s Hut. We headed up the Tamboritha road, and turned onto Kelly’s lane. Arriving at McMichael’s hut first we did some temporary repairs to the chimney. Hopefully these repairs will protect the chimney until we can get back to do the complete chimney rebuild. Hopefully this will be made possible fairly quickly. We then headed just a few ks up the track arriving at the historic Kelly’s hut. This was also a good place for lunch in the peaceful and beautiful surrounds of Holmes Plain. We took numerous photos of the hut for parks, and did some temporary cross bracing across the back wall and front side wall to stop weight of snow from collapsing the roof. As soon as all the assessing is complete we will be able go back and begin works, most likely starting with replacing all the posts. We said goodbye to Wayne and Sue and continued our trip. Stopping briefly at Howitt Plains hut. We then continued down King Billy Track heading for Mansfield. King Billy Track was very slow going with numerous rock steps, boulders and ruts. Challenging in places. We stopped up the top at the intersection of Brocks/Bluff and King Billy to regroup. We took Bluff track to head down the mountain. Bluff track down to Lovicks Hut is very chopped up, with ruts, and exposed rocks. We had a brief stop at Lovicks to let everyone have a look at the hut. The weather started closing in with dark and ominous looking black clouds and by the time we had got down to Bluff Hut the rain was heavy. (The track from Lovicks to Bluff is now graded). We continued down Bluff track turning onto Bluff link and finally onto 16-mile Jeep track which would lead us down into Pykes flat and our camp for the night. We set up camp in the pouring rain but eventually the rain eased and we had a good fire blazing with plenty of ambience.
SUNDAY
We packed up and headed round to Bindaree flat, crossed the creek and headed up Bindaree road back to the circuit road. We turned onto Monument track to take us up to Clear hills track and across to Craig’s hut. There were some large exposed rocks near the top of Monument Track which needed concentration to navigate. Ken did get caught up but was easily towed free. Craig’s hut was our lunch stop and a chance to see the hut, some for the first time. We then headed down the other side of clear hills track onto the circuit road and around to NO 3 road. We stopped at No3 hut briefly and then continued down the mountain. We stopped again at tomahawk Hut before heading onto Buttercup road. We stopped at the top of Buttercup/Buller road and aired up. We covered plenty of ground on this adventure. It was a great trip with plenty of variety. Thankyou to everyone who came and supported the trip and showed their interest in the two huts projects.