Cathedral Ranges - January 2001
Mark/Michelle:
Nissan Patrol
This was a getaway trip for just Michelle and myself. The kids were all up at Mum's for the week, so we could just drive without the 'are we there yet…'
We headed up to Murrundindi. I wanted to investigate if it was an easier route through to Eildon by heading up the Melba and crossing the Black Range across to the Taggerty area rather than heading up via the Black Spur and Narbethong. We ended up heading down all sorts of tracks so I never really determined if this was an easier or quicker path.
We drove along Murrundindi Road by the river and looked at all of the campsites along here. They were all very nice campsites, and you would probably only choose one over another based on the number of other people already camped there. We drove down Bull Creek Rd, and planned to shortcut along Jackson Tk, however this track was way too rutted, muddy and steep for us to tackle, especially on our own, so we continued down Bull Creek Rd until we reached Black Range Rd, which we followed to Friday Creek Rd and out near Taggerty.
We then headed into the Cathedral Ranges, which has many fine camping sites and was quite popular (lots of people camping here this weekend). We followed Tweed Spur Rd, a 4WD track leaving Cooks Mill campsite. This was a fine 4WD track, with lots of challenges to keep it interesting, but nothing too serious to have us worried that we were on our own. This track eventually got us out onto Blue Range Road, which was a good quality gravel road, winding along the edge of the range giving us magnificent views. We followed this north until we came out near Rubicon, and then we headed back home on the bitumen via Black Spur. Black Spur has to be one of the most scenic roads in the world, meandering among the tall Mountain Ash Forest.