Easter at Boorowa

This Easter we replied to Howard's kind invitation to the Australia4WD.com forum members, to join Margret and himself on their beautiful farm at Boorowa for the long weekend.  We had met Howard and Margret before on movie nights and day trips, and had heard a lot about the farm around the campfire.  It was time to see it for ourselves.

Well it didn't disappoint.  Just over an hour and a half from our front door we turned off the blacktop and through the farm gate.  We followed Howard's mud map and meandered past the various buildings and sheds typical of Australian farms, before we headed east and then the landscape changed dramatically.

The land simply fell away and opened up a magnificent vista of the Boorowa River, with our campsite barely perceptible in the valley below:

The Valley Opened Up Before Us

Normally this time of year, most of the countryside is looking pretty desperate, however the uncommonly mild and wet summer had the grass coming up to bonnet height.  This long grass is very effective at concealing large granite rocks for those willing to venture off the track.  It was quickly apparent that there was an opportunity to seriously test a 4WD to its limits here, or simply relax and allow the beer and wine to chill whilst wetting a line.

We were with a bunch from Australia4WD forum... what do you think happened!

We set up camp, had a dip in the river and relaxed while allowing the beer and wine to chill before enjoying a couple of drinks around the campfire with our friends, both new and old.

The campfire was well supplied

And the setting was most idyllic

Even "Monkey Boy" loved the serenity

The next morning dawned a beautiful day, and Howard had promised The Little Fisherman that he would show him a pool with so many carp in it that he would be sure to hook at least one.  With excitement we all jumped in our cars for a tour of the farm.

We quickly climbed - looking back down at camp

At the top of what became a 'little' hill

We then scrambled up a steep rocky slope to the top of the ridge.  It was quite slippery, and required a bit of sideways crawling to move past some rocks.  We all took it in turns to make our way past the tricky section and were rewarded with some amazing views.

Being walked through the worst of it

How did we get to be on top of the world?

Those are our tracks coming down the opposite hill on the left...

There are so many more shots of the magnificent country we were fortunate to be guests in that I will give you the link to the whole album here.  For the driving purists, we didn't get many shots of everyone driving down the steep slopes, or splashing through the river crossings, but there was plenty of that too. The demands from the back seat were increasing in volume and frequency asking where the fish would be, so we turned towards a small creek.

It was full of carp, and after a quick bite for lunch, we returned armed with tinned corn and white bread as we attempted to lure the fattest carp onto our hooks.

The hole looked promising with dozens of carp clearly visible

The fish weren't anywhere near as hungry as the logs and other snags!

There was the odd bite or two....

Before success!!!

We got close too - but I couldn't juggle the camera and direct a most excited six year old on how to wind in a fish almost half his size.  You'll have to take my word for it... honest ;).  For the record, the bread was more effective than the tinned corn at luring the fat carp to give a nibble.

As the fishing enthusiasm waned, our host tried to cross the river we were fishing in, in his shiny 4WD. I won't say much more on the evolution, suffice to say it was several hours later that a very wet and soggy 4WD was hauled from the river with the assistance of the neighbour's large 4WD tractor.  There is much more discussion on the evolution here - and some more photos if you're a member of the site.

On the plus side, whilst I was distracted helping, it gave the Little Fisherman the opportunity to take 75 photos of a very dead carp - the majority from exactly the same angle.  In fact he was so busy snapping away that he missed what could be the Terracan's finest achievement when we were called on the lend a hand getting one of the other cars out of the river as it rushed to Howard's aid.

Ultimately two cars couldn't pull Howard backwards... forwards perhaps?

And the shortcut across to help wasn't safe either.

1 of 75 - Dead Carp by The Little Fisherman

Ultimately Howard was dragged out forwards by the tractor, but it wasn't due to lack of effort or horsepower on the top bank.  It was a good opportunity to use a whole heap of recovery gear, and made me pause to take stock on what we might need on our travels:

• Snatch Strap
• Spare Snatch Strap
• Lots of Shackles
• Winch
• Winch extension strap
• Gloves / dampener for the cable etc
• Chain
• Tractor

It was great to get all the cars safely home to camp that night with no real damage done by the water... but I think a few inadvertent rocks had reshaped a few panels.  Our bullbar now sports a new streamlined shape... all the rage in downtown Boorowa these days...

And so our weekend at Boorowa drew to a close.  As Terry hauled us back up the hill the following morning, we paused to soak up the view one last time.  We had thoroughly enjoyed our time with such a great group of people.  We had (almost) caught a fish, and had swum, laughed and learnt heaps 'in the river at Howards'.

A special thanks to Howard and Margret for sharing your piece of paradise with us.  To everyone else, it was great to meet you or catch up again.  We are looking foward to doing it again soon.
(Oh and in case you missed it - all our snaps can be found here:)

And so we begin the haul home

News Flash

A video of the drive around the farm and the efforts to recover Howard has been uploaded by Nick. It might make you think twice before heading across a small little creek!!!