Epic Ridgelines on Buffalo Range, VHC - Aug 2025

Another Club 4x4 trip done and dusted, this one centred around the stunning Buckland Valley and Buffalo Range over a clear weekend of blue skies and mild sunny days. Spring has sprung!

But of course, clear skies = cold nights. And they were some of the coldest I've ever experienced. Not that I've done a lot of Winter camping, but I was sure glad I had the electric blanket.

We stayed at Ah Youngs campground on the Buckland river, another spot I'll have to revisit in summer for a dip. The crystal clear waters even had me tempted to dip a toe in when the sun was shining. Given the size of some of the campgrounds along the river, it must be a popular place in the warmer weather, but it felt like we had the forest to ourselves for the majority of the weekend. Mostly, we only came across hunters in search of feral deer.

Our drive began on Goldie Spur track, which borders the Buffalo national park. Within 15min we were stopping to take in the views. Goldie spur would probably be 2wd accessible, but turning onto Yarrabuck track and Buffalo range track, the tracks became 4x4 territory. Nothing particularly challenging, a few steep climbs and descents, but as of August 2025, the tracks are in good condition.

But this trip wasn't about driving rough tracks, it was about the views, and boy did it deliver.. even more than I expected. Huge vistas over the Buckland valley and the surrounding snow-tipped peaks, that just kept coming and coming. For hours we travelled along the ridge line, only occasionally dipping into the forest. Makes you wonder about why the track was created, but I'm glad they did. Absolutely epic, and well worth doing.

The only hiccup of the drive was when the Patrol suddenly rolled to a stop in a puff of smoke. I feared the worst, memories flooding back of the last time I was out this way and the suspension on my old ute exploded. But popping the hood everything looked in order, no oil or coolant or anything leaking out. Belts all belted. Turbo in one piece. Then one of the guys said, "might be a fuel issue." and I realised immediately.. shit.. sub tank's probably empty - I've run outta fuel. Switching tanks, and priming the fuel filter, she fired right up again without any fuss. Another situation where being in the club paid for itself, I didn't know about priming the fuel filter. Imagine if I had to call out a 4x4 recovery service and all that had to be done was push the fuel primer a few times. Anyway, no harm done. Bit embarrassing, but in my defence, the gauge doesn't work.

I could have spent a lot longer on those tracks, I'd even love to walk a section of it. It was so incredibly quiet up there. The forest in this area seems old and surprisingly unscathed from bushfire. Loads of thick-trunked gums and towering alpine ash. I heard some very weird noises in the night too. It'd be fun to go back with a powerful torch and search for wildlife, I bet that forest is home to some cool critters.

Photography/video-wise, I made a few discoveries on this trip. Firstly, shooting in 120fps 8-bit log is an awful idea. Loads of footage wrecked by noisey pixelated skies. Insane that Panasonic even provide it as an option with those kind of results. Note to self. 10-bit colour or nothing for log from now on. If I'm going to shoot 120fps, which I probably will, it'll have to be Cine-D profile. Really frustrating that the S5 doesn't do 4k 120fps too.

Also, my drone seems to be busted already. One axis of the gimbal is not functioning and it won't re-calibrate. I'll have to buy some canned air and give it a good blow-out. Hopefully it's just something stuck in there..but I kinda doubt it.

There's always something with cameras..