Dave’s Harvey Dam, June 2024

Attendees in no particular order

Dave – Prado – TL

Simon, Di, Malar – Cannon

Rob – Suzi – TEC

Murray – BT50 – guest

Nick – Colorado

As per usual, any trip down south, has to start at a bakery, Thankfully, Harvey Bakery is that place. Meeting here for a coffee and a bit of hot food, we did our meeting before heading off, exploring Harvey Dam. It’s been such a long time since I was last here, today’s plan, well, there wasn’t one. I literally made it up as we went along, taking what ever track appealed to me.

Turning off the main road and into the start of the track, we stopped for a quick air down. The track ahead looked quite rutted, so it was time to engage the rear locker, right out of the “carpark” so to speak.

Very quickly, we were stopped by our first major obstacle, with no way around it, we had to group up and work as a team to get past it.

I think Di said it first. How could you not notice this falling off the back of your ute?

With the canopy shifted out of the way, we descended further and further down the hill, eventually reaching another section which required a closer look. With our lines worked out, we headed onwards but my first couple of attempts were a fail. We used a few rocks to fill a big hole, I engaged both lockers, and I got out. The rest managed to pass through this section. Nick was very happy, as he managed to test out his new front locker.

We planned to have morning tea by the dam, I managed to find a short cut, which seemed like it wouldn’t be a problem……

…. we made our way to the edge of the dam, I wasn’t paying too much attention, and I rested the Prado in a bit of soft mud. But, as the editor and trip leader for this trip, the following images are just a figment of your imagination and didn’t really happen.

Just in front of the Prado was another track, Rob said he thinks it was do-able, good enough, let’s go!

And for the second time in 5 mins, I “didn’t” need to be recovered again. Once again, this “didn’t” happen and yes, you are dreaming right now.

The track forward was an up hill, right hand turn with a bit of mud and more mud. The decision was to turn round now, or everyone would need winching to get past. Sadly, when I reversed back, I was a little stuck, having a rock behind me, I required a little sideways winch to pull me off the rock.

After being recovered, we slowly made our way around the dam, and back towards some more hill climbs on the other side. Negotiating another descent, and heading towards a waypoint previously marked on my maps as “Hill for another day”.

Today would not be that day. The best I think I can do, is about half way up. This hill will remained unconquered, at least for me anyway.

We detoured past an old track that I knew of, with no intentions on doing it, just a little look at how bad it is now. We last did this track a few years ago, and back then, a few people did end up with a little panel damage.

Making our way up a long and steep incline, which seemed to carry on forever, we eventually found a spot for lunch.

Besides having to do a U turn on a main track – due to a fallen tree, the rest of our travels were easy, and eventually making our way back to the main road, before airing up and exiting.

Thank you to those that attended this great trip.

Story by Dave

We have 2 video’s of this great day. Check out the videos from Simon’s Adventures and BM Prado Adventures