Pineapple Flat and the High Country

31^st October - 4^th November 2003

Graeme Giles – 4.2 Litre TD GU Patrol
Chris Hendry – 2.8 litre TD GU Patrol
Rod McGregor – 100 Series Petrol Landcruiser
Chris Bain – TD Toyota Prado

The weather forecast was not good – in fact it was awful! Nevertheless intrepid travellers Chris and Graeme headed east under a threatening grey sky at lunchtime on Friday 31^st October. By 3:00pm the sun was shining and we were in Mansield where we stocked up on last minute supplies. The plan was to take the Mt Stirling Road up to Telephone Box junction then Circuit Road over King Saddle, and then King Basin Road down into Pineapple Flat. It was a relatively easy trip so we should have the billy on by 4:30. However it was the first weekend of the tracks being open so we were a little concerned about fallen trees.

We made good progress until we reached King Basin Road. There were a few fallen trees but someone had been down the track before us as they had been recently cut. We thanked them for their effort. We then reached a deep washout. Someone had spent hours meticulously cutting logs to size and packing the hole. Gingerly we made our way across. We were now only about 3 Kms from Pineapple Flat so we would soon be there. We rounded a bend and right in front of us lying across the track there was a fallen tree. This was not your average fallen tree – it was massive. We had no alternative but to re-trace our steps. A check of the map revealed another way down to Pineapple Flat via Black Landing Track. It was only a dotted red line on the map so we were dubious that it would be open. Anyway we decided to give it a try. On the way there we picked up a conversation on the CB from someone who was already down in Pineapple Flat. A quick conversation with them confirmed that this track was OK but it was steep and slippery. Now we had come this far we decided to give it a go and within half an hour we were safely at the bottom and fording the King River into Pineapple Flat.

There weren’t too many people around so we secured an excellent campsite on a grassy flat right by the river. After some persuasion and some dry kindling we had brought from Melbourne we soon had the campfire going. Later that night several more vehicles belonging to the Nissan club arrived. That night it rained, and it rained, and it rained. The rain eased off the following morning so we drove back up to King Saddle to telephone Rod and Chris Bain who were due to come down that day. (This was the nearest place that had mobile coverage). There was a good covering of snow on King Saddle and it started snowing again while we were up there. The track had been churned up by all the traffic going up and down so the trip back down again was quite interesting.

During the day several more vehicles came into the River Flat, including the Jeep club who camped next to us. Shortly before Rod and Chris arrived in the early afternoon another familiar vehicle came into the Flat. It was Peter Berry and his family who we had met a month earlier on the Bore Track between Innamincka and Tibooburra. None of us could believe the coincidence!

The weather gradually improved during the day and we spent a pleasant evening around the campfire. Sunday dawned better still; however, we decide to spend the day in Camp – partly because the track up to King Flat was now sow churned up by all the traffic that in was virtually impassable. The two Chris’s attempted to catch a feed of trout for dinner but without success. Rod had to return to Melbourne in the afternoon and he have us a running commentary as he negotiated the track that had fortunately dried out somewhat during the day. We had intended to move on to Lake Cobbler on Sunday but we had heard from some of the other people at our campsite that it was rather crowded. For future reference it would be worth leaving Melbourne on Friday afternoon and heading straight to Lake Cobbler.

Monday was fine with not a cloud in the sky. So we decided to go for a drive. Initially we took the track that followed the river valley until we came to a halt at the third river crossing. The water was a good three feet deep and flowing fast. There was also a number of large rocks under the surface. We decided that discretion was the better part of valour and took the Black Landing Track up to Circuit Road. We headed east and made the climb up to Craig’s Hut. The weather was so clear after the rain that the views of snow capped peaks of the High Country were simply stunning. We then made our way back down into the King River valley and had lunch at King Hut before gathering a good supply of firewood and returning to camp.

Tuesday was almost warm. We tried our hand at catching that elusive trout again and broke camp leaving for home at lunchtime.

Pineapple Flat is a large popular camping area that can accommodate large groups. It’s about three hour’s drive from Melbourne and makes an excellent base camp for day trips into the high country.

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Last modified: 31-Aug-2007.