Lots of Pics, you have been warned! ~ Latest MTB trip...

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Apr 6, 2001
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Well, it was a very long (physically and mentally) not to mention challenging trip but we are but 3 of only a handfull that have completed this trip on MTB's!

Tali Karng ('The Hidden Lake') - some history...

Hidden deep on the mountains at the head of the Wellington River, Tali Karng is the only natural lake in the Victorian Alps. Held behind a rock barrier created thousands of years ago by a massive landslide, the water runs undeground to emerge as the infant Wellington River 150m below in the Valley of Destruction. The first occupiers of this area were the Brabrolung and Briakolung clans of the Gunai/Kurnai people. Evidence of their presence can be found everywhere – from numerous rock quarries to a system of ancient pathways. It is thought that the Aboriginal people guided many early European explorers and goldminers through the mountains along these pathways – pathways which eventually formed the basis of today’s road and track network. Although Johnny Snowden, an Aboriginal stockman, wouldn’t visit the sacred Tali Karng (small water or lake), he told Europeans about where it lay hidden within the mountains. As a result of a massacre and in keeping with Gunai/Kurnai traditions, Aboriginal people didn’t go to Tali Karng. This did not stop cattleman Richard Riggall, the first European to reach Tali Karng. The explorer Alfred Howitt was also successful on his fourth attempt.

Pic 1 - load out!
 
Pic 4 - Damn those clouds are low! 1400 odd feet above sea level or something...thin air!
 
Pic 5 - We made it in, blew my knee apart on the bloody steep decline to the lake, but with a view from your tent in the morning like this, the fluid on the knee was worth all the pain!
 
Pic 7 - This was fantastic in real life...The photo does not do it justice. This was on a small creek that fed the lake.
 
Pic 8 - The only way to eat trout! baked and smoked at the same time, yummy!
 
Pic 9 - We left the lake following the Valley of Destruction and found the actual start of what is known as the Wellington River.
 
Pic 10 - One of the 17 river crossings on the way out. River was extremeley low! I have caught some very nice Trout in this backcountry river.
 
Pic 11 - See that far range in the distance...thats where the cars are, I think?;)
 
Trips over, took 3 knives, The CT, AD and a local custom. All performed well and yes, those other bastids did not get their hands on them!

A great trip, and I am booked in for a knee reconstruction - great!:grumpy:
 
Sorry to hear about your Knee :(

But all I can say about the pics is WOW!!!

Thanks for sharing them
 
Awesome pics! Looks like you had fun. That is some BEAUTIFUL country. Thanks for the pics
 
Jealous!

If you don't have at least some parts that don't work right, you haven't been living life! (4- knee surgeries and one back)

ACL reconstruction? It's not that bad, try for a cpm machine as part of recovery and borrow or buy a stationary bike (a cheap one will do).

My legs work better now than they did 10 years ago!
 
Originally posted by Oku
My legs work better now than they did 10 years ago!

Man! You made me feel better! I have had trouble with htis knee since my bike accidient 3 yrs ago...I might get both done while I am in!

I strapped the knee fairly ferociously and it was fine on the way out. The next day however, I was walking around like somebody had kicked me in the kahuna's!:eek:

I feel like I could just stick a CT in there and drain the fluid out so it feels better...:barf:
 
Setting up the tripod as I type this...;)

Your up early this morning my good man...checked yer mailbox yet? :)
 
Last time I enjoyed scenery like that was living back in Canada. Visiting makes me homesick. If you ever want to experience scenery that equals, if not exceeds, the down under then come to Canada. Lots of hiking and biking everywhere. OBTW, we have pretty good beer there, too. Beauty, eh?
 
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