Yes used to ski out and camp near pretty valley dam or over around Fitzgerald’s/Kelly’s.
My sister has a weekender in Mt B and her neighbour is an Edmonson.
Even around there it’s easy to get in trouble. Got blizzarded coming back from pretty valley and could not make out the road. Ended up crossing over through ruined castle/ Big Dipper to get out of the full force and actually make out where we were. Late back to the car in full dark!
I have an extension on my awning. So I actually put my swag under cover.
This was my set up at Meredith music festival…. And it was bucketing down. I was dry as a bone in the swag.
Have camped at Fitzys and Edmonson plenty of times, we used to come up the Lanes from Omeo until Parks locked the gates about 5 kms from the snow line. One time I left Edmonsons in very bad visibility and got to about the turn off to Johnsons only to find that the five people following were not behind me.
A bit of a worrying ten minutes or so waiting and when I started backtracking they turned up. The marker poles are only 40 metres apart but when you can’t see the one you are heading towards it is a bit nerve wracking.
These were recovered off Bogong in the spring of 1936 by a young Tawonga cattleman (the late) Wally Ryder. He gave hull’s and Mitchell’s back to them, but Cleve Cole didn’t need these back, and I gather there was no family wanted them. They are now in a house in Harrietville.
I had a friend who had a similar pair. Are they in Ian S’s house?
I haven’t met him but my friend helped with a few things at Wollangarra including having his son make the corrugated iron canopy the over the stoves.
Yes. He’s a friend of mine. He still has copies of two of his 6 volumes on high country characters. You can get them direct from him if you ring first and drop by. I can pm (yep landline!) number.
I think that I may have the full set, but will check if I don’t have six. I tend to loan things and forget who has them.
I am still amused about towing buses across Melbourne and replacing clutches in the landy almost daily and people having to move a bus to get out of their own driveway.
Same landrover still gets run every day. Needed a bit of attention this day, so Ian’s 90 something y.o. mate who’s a mechanic came over from Bright to sort out what was going on…
Great fun on Mt Yotai (Hokkaido’s Fuji) today. Heard deer, prepared for bears, saw lots of butterflies.
Yeah, lots of Hokkaido bear stuff on the news recently, take care. Did you happen to get to Biei/Furano area? Gorgeous this time of year. (Apologies, don’t know where you’re living, you might know the place well.)
Haven’t done Bogong in snow but once you get above the treeline, around the Pollux & Castor outcrops, for the last third or so up to the summit you’re out in the open.
It’s a pretty steep walk and not a lot to stop you sliding if there’s snow or ice up there.
Have done it from mountain creek as a day trip.
Up Staircase, to the summit, back across to Cleve Cole hut and back via Eskdale in a group.
Ended up being a very long day, getting back in the dark late spring.
If you’re going to camp anywhere up there, use Cleve Cole Hut camp area as it has the cover of trees and the hut itself, with a good pit toilet.
Then come back down Eskdale, the summit plain is too barren & open to risk adverse weather conditions overnight.
Both Staircase & Eskdale tracks have huts a third of the way up, that are good for shelter if required.
Up Staircase.
Hell Gap facing West to Mt Bogong cairn.
Hell Gap facing East.
Arriving at Cleve Cole Hut.
Eskdale Point facing North down Eskdale trail.
Yep, I did it Jan '24 via Staircase.
All in 1 day including driving to/from Western suburbs of Melb.
Fkn long day, and undoubtedly the hardest day physically I’ve ever endured!
Tried to send a pm but seems it didn’t go.
Let me know if you are short of
Weatherbeaten Wisdom or
From Drovers to Daisy Pickers
These are the only two there’s any unsold copies of, and there’s only a few left. I’m sure he and his wife (also a Wollangarra volunteer back in the day) would love a cuppa with any Wollangarra helper especially, if your mate would go with you and buy some books. Actually you wouldn’t need to buy any to justify a visit, but they are a bargain - cheaper than you would get them second hand.
I had an interesting near-miss up on Tamboritha collecting fire- killed young alpine ash that were used for joists and posts for the verandah. Long story!
You know that landrover was at Wollangarra, where the only access was by flying fox or long foot track, with no easy ford option. It got driven underwater through some quite deep pools on the MacAlister using a makeshift snorkel. And then back out at the end of its time there. It’s had three hand-drill re-bores and at best guess is somewhere over a million kms, and ferried countless kids and packs, as well as engineless buses!
If you have a car, this onsen is amazing.
No apology needed at all - I’m only visiting - and while observant of the “watch out for bears” signs, I wasn’t at all aware of the recent deaths… And given the hyper consciousness of safety, here (“BEWARE the gentle slope”…800 signs all with flashing lights for a slight road anomaly…etc) I thought it might be a bit like redback spider deaths, i.e. theoretically possible but only in the collective consciousness due to historical events.
So now I’m sincerely ashamed to say I was often saying to my wife and kid to quieten down, so we can hopefully see a bear (or deer, or chipmunk) - though I did walk in front. The lone other hiker we encountered had a loud bell hanging and clanging from his backpack, and - again, now ashamedly - I thought he was over cautious… I thought these bears were like little Taiwanese black bears that are easily spooked… I have since educated myself, belatedly, on the very different Hokkaido bear…
I could’ve been in the Darwin Awards thread and none of you would’ve known it was me…
Thanks heaps for the reality check! I’m an idiot.
Thanks massively Benny - might indeed give it a crack! Although I nearly died in an onsen in Suwa 10 years ago…not only am I not made for the heat, I’m an especially sensitive little soul, and I’d had a huge bowl of raw seafood just prior, which I think cooked in my belly and set off some reactive juices or something that culminated in violent spewing the next day…
But I just survived trying to sneak up on Hokkaido bears so I have a new lease on life…
Evidently i’m not a smart traveller. So sincere thanks to @mrjez and yourself.
Just popping in to say I really love the Decathlon stores.
Every time I step foot in one, my wallet ends up lighter.
Spewing they closed the South Morang store, as I’m now local.
You love your walking right? You can make a day trip of it and walk to the one farthest from you. 
