Dargo Jan 2011 with the 4wd club

January this year saw us travelling again with the 4wd club that we belong too.  We left Melbourne after Peter had finished an afternoon shift and travelled a couple of hours and free camped in a rest area on the Princes Highway.  Although we were late arriving we had an early wake up call.  A highway coffee van set up in the rest area and turned on his generator at 5 am and then there was a constant stream of customers!  We gave up on the idea of sleeping and continued our journey travelling to Dargo which is in the Alpine area of Victoria.  The club run the trip every year and we camped at a rural camping area in one of the valleys on the river bank.  It is a well set up camp and with around 120 club members we had great fun.  Each of the five days various 4wd trips were organised.  We joined various trips and it was certainly interesting to see the area and understand just some of the things that the early settlers did.  I often marvel at the idea that they must have just seen a hill and gone - 'wonder what on the other side of that there hill - lets go look!'  One of the days we went on the "Crooked River" trip and this involved fifty plus river and creek crossings in the day.  We certainly did not have a clean car at the end of the week-end!
We had a great week-end and celebrated Peter's 60th birthday on the Saturday doing the two things he loves - camping and four wheel driving.  We were also able to take the opportunity to talk with a number of the club members who have travelled the Australian outback and inbetween.  There experiences and tips were valuable information for us.

The track on the other side is the goal

Ok so thats where we are going

Follow that car

Look out from Pinacale

A fantastic weekend with great company