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Tom Groggin Trip report by Chris Hendry.
January 2005 The sky was overcast and threatening. A steady drizzle was falling and it was cold for January as I waited for Graeme and the Wirubovs to arrive for the scheduled rendezvous at Coldstream. A brief word or two under the shelter of an umbrella and we were on our way to Tom Groggin via Yea, Benalla and Corryong. The sky had cleared by the time we stopped for morning tea at Yarck. (The café is for sale if anyone feels the need for a sea change). Bruce and
Anne had left a couple of days earlier to set up camp. The drive into Tom
Groggin by the Alpine Way is quite spectacular and we arrived unscathed despite
the presence of several speed cameras. As we descended into Tom Groggin Anne
Kimberley’s dulcet tones came over the UHF and guided us in to the campsite. We
were pleased tosee that we had the camp to ourselves. Bruce had “gone fishing”.
An hour or so later Bruce returned with a big smile and five fine trout.
The
following morning I awoke to the steady pitter-patter of rain falling on canvas.
It was just getting light so it must gave been about 6:00am. I lay there for
half an hour debating whether to turn over and go back to sleep or catch some
trout for breakfast. Common sense passed me by that morning as I donned waders
and Japara and set off upstream with high
expectations. On the third cast there By now Graeme was up and despite the persistent rain he had a good campfire going. The group spent the morning sitting in the shelter of the club’s new gazebo reading yesterday’s papers and generally complaining about the weather. Someone even spoke about packing up and going home. By mid morning the sky started to clear and the sun appeared so we decided on a trip to Davies Plain that afternoon. A very pleasant drive with some interesting hill climbs including a run along a spur with an interesting 500 foot drop off on the right ensued. Soon we were up among the snow gums and on the grassy plain itself. The photo overleaf shows our four vehicles with Davies Plain hut in the background.
After a pleasant and convivial summer evening socialising around the campfire we decided to attack Mount Pinnibar the next day. The sign at the beginning of the track said DRY WEATHER TRACK ONLY, and it was still a little damp from the previous day’s rain. We decided to press on nevertheless. Let’s say the climb up to Mt Pinnibar was interesting. There were some very steep rocky sections that required the correct wheel placement and revs. Once we were at the top it was all worthwhile. The 360° view from the top was simply breathtaking. We had a very pleasant lunch “on top of the world” despite the fact that at 1,800 metres it was several degrees cooler than the valley. The next day we elected to conquer Mount Kosciuszko. This time we drove to Thredbo and climbed the mountain by cable car rather than 4WD. All too soon it was time to pack up
camp and return home. Despite the long drive to get there, Tom Groggin is well
worth the effort. It’s much Let’s do more of them!
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We dined well
that evening!
was a swirl in the water as a BIG FISH followed my lure. Two casts later and the
action was on! Only to let the fish reject the lure within a few feet of being
landed. Two hours later I returned to the campsite empty handed, cold and wet.
