Trip Report (dial up waring but is worth it ;) ): Mt Sugarloaf/Eppalock/Heatcote Area

[El_Freddo]

Hey all,

Here's what we got upto on our trip around the Bendigo, Mt Sugarloaf, Eppalock and Heatcote Area.

Three subi's attended: Subaruby, Suby87 and myself, El Freddo.

We met up at BP Carlsruhe as organised. As we were leaving a small convoy of Land Rovers cruised past (the thought of tailing them all weekend crossed my mind). Must have been a good weekend for offroading.

First we headed to bendigo to show my local haunt around the Spring Gully area.





Subaruby (both above)



El Freddo, Subaruby, Suby87

After Bendigo and checking out the campsite for the night, we headed out to have a look at Lake "puddle" Eppalock:

The boys "representing":





^ Subaruby in foreground with Suby87 in background



^ Suby87 descending



^ Subaruby and Suby87 with the lake at 5% in the background.

The geology in this area of the lake is mainly ballbearing gravel that's been cemented together. The loose stuff is interesting, I still havn't mastered it...

The Local Kiosk:



Then it was off to Mt Sugarloaf near Axedale in convoy:

[bluesteel]

some great pics there

looks like a good trip!

[El_Freddo]

^ Conditions everywhere were dusty



^ Suby87 descending



^ Suby87 ascending, but only got to this point. Gave it a really good go before reversing back down the track and blowing out his heater core (and loosing a mirror at the same time):



From the last time I was here it had dried out, making the track even slipperier than it was. Subaruby and myself didn't attempt this climb (above).

We cruised around here checking out the tracks and the views from the high points before leaving.



After leaving, I inadvertantly directed us back into northern bendigo. So we headed back out to camp and did some 4wdin looking for interesting tracks. It was pretty lame but would have been awesome a few months back when it was wetter.

So night fell and camp was set up. Unfortunately Suby87 had to leave that night.



^ Camp

[El_Freddo]

I thought we'd go to an area that i hadnt been to before, the range out at heathcote looked good and wasn't too far way.

After little luck finding a good track we stumbled across a track that looked little used, it opened out to a little camp area with a good hill climb to the left, we couldn't see it initially on our arrival as it was to our extreme left.



^ The camp area is where Ruby Scoo is in the background of the picture with the track we entered on the right hand side, perpendicular to Ruby Scoo.



This area was a bit of fun for an unlifted suby, we cruised around here for about 3 or 4 hours having some fun before heading back to Heathcote for lunch and parting company to go home.

The geology out here is a sorta shale rock with a little loamy clay around, not as much clay as Mt Sugarloaf.

Here are some more pics of Subaruby and El Freddo cruising around:







^ Subaruby climbing up the same hill that's 2 images above this one.



^ In progress, same as below:





And what happens when you're not concerntrating on everything thats going on, I was focused on trying to get up a little ledge which was proving difficult with roadies on, when reversing down I didn't check to see what exactly was behind me before it was too late:

[El_Freddo]

The resultant damage:



I was lucky not to puncture the fuel tank...

And another hic-cup, we let the tyre pressure down for some more traction, it worked but i'm now thinking of saving for some offroading tyres... A rock slashed the side wall, it went down slow enough to get the car in a safer position for the tyre change.



Even though I had this mishap, I still had a really good time, as everyone did. We hope to be organising another trip next year in the wetter months.

There will be more pics coming from Suby87 and Subaruby i'm sure. I've still got another 190 or so in the bank, not that i'll be posting all of them.

Next post will be a "comic strip" style image sequence of Subaruby descending in Mt Sugarloaf...

Hope you've enjoyed the pics, all of mine were taken on a Nikkon D70s, the uni bitch.

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

I'd love to know how to make this as one image that scrolls through each image for a second to make it like a still movie (a slideshow just doesn't cut it).

Techinal stuff... anyway, hope you enjoyed all the images, i'll leave this thread for a bit to let Suby87 and Subaruby share some images.

Cheers

Bennie

[Subafury]

some good pics there- looks like you guys had a good time.

[Alex]

good stuff!

alex

[BrennyV]

great pix guys! lucky you didnt totaly kill the tank or you could have had some problems :P

[El_Freddo]

]great pix guys! lucky you didnt totaly kill the tank or you could have had some problems :P

It would have been fun, i had two full gerry cans in the back (not that i need them, but they're my security blanket...). Problem would have been plumbing the hoses into the tank - I've got an MPFI so it could have been really interesting!

And thanks everyone for the comments of the photos, I hope they're good as i'm looking at using them for my final folio at uni - photojournalism (elective is the subject, and i'm in my second year, final semester...

Cheers

Bennie

[BrennyV]

It would have been fun, i had two full gerry cans in the back (not that i need them, but they're my security blanket...). Problem would have been plumbing the hoses into the tank - I've got an MPFI so it could have been really interesting!

ahhaha now that would be one to see!
suprised us w.a boys havet done it yet :P

[fredsub]

haha another plus for old subies and their external fuel pumps,
just need extra hose......to the jerrie can. Yeah but what if a rock takes out the fuel pump,:(
Great pics, typical Subaru country!

[Reg Brumbys]

Great Shots - I appreciate the effort with those and that you have gone to inorder to get them onto the site.

It was great to see some "Unlifted" offroad action there as well.

Nice Work

Reggae.

[Matatak]

good stuff

to bad u didnt get more come otu and play around but still glad u had a good time. hopefully theres nothign bad resulting from that damage u guys sustained.

[El_Freddo]

to bad u didnt get more come otu and play around but still glad u had a good time. hopefully theres nothign bad resulting from that damage u guys sustained.

It was probabily good that there were only a hand full of us, otherwise i may have been too overloaded with getting people around the place efficently. Next time I hope to have a few more rock up, will probabily do a "test run" weekend before going a head with a big group - that way i'll know how and where the tracks are (i knew most of them on this trip, but we did have to hang a few U turns...).

And the only bad thing from the resulting damage was a dented pride. Could be a good time to upgrade my fuel tank to MPFI...

Bennie

[subelover]

looks fun a few good pics there guys nice work Ben

[BlackMale]

Thanks for the pics, looks like a great place for a play. Do you go there when its wet as well?

[El_Freddo]

Do you go there when its wet as well?

The bendigo stuff in the first pic yes, but when its really slippery i'm limited on where i can go with my roadies (clay loam stuff).

Out at eppalock its a little more out of town so i don't frequent there as much, but its good fun in the wet for sure...

Mt sugarloaf, thats the second time i've been out there. Heathcote, that was the first time i'd been out there...

And the other thing is that we don't get a lot of rain any more, so the ground doesn't really get a good soaking to make it really slippery/muddy a lot of the time, you sorta have to be there when its raining or just after it has rained...

Cheers

Bennie

[El_Freddo]

My lecturer just showed me how to easily make a montage (spelin?)... Enjoy!







These are in order of their production. Hardest one so far would have been the middle one, there's some colour matching that had to be done between the three images used...

Cheers

Bennie

[BrennyV]

ahaha thats sik! good work mate