Doof site win!

[_gethsemane_]

We have lift off.

Yesterday Adam, Rowan, Ash and I trekked back out to Lerderderg State Forest and found the perfect site (and a better backup site too):

It's located on:

Comments

[ketamine_ninja]

Looks good, tho maybe a bit muddy... whats the ground there going to be like after 300 people have been trampling over it for a couple of hours?

[anfalicious]

I was thinking it looks really good considering how much rain there has been in the last few months. The rest of the year should be drier (the La Nina ended last week), so I reckon by November there's going to be no probs. The only question I had was if the road was as good as that the whole way.

[shufflebear]

The road is pretty much as god as that for the 6km's of unsealed road we need to go down... not as much run off for parking the whole way but there is a fair bit of it right near the site which is good...

The bitumen road that Paradise road runs off is shit though... it is pretty straight but really bumpy and undulating without there being actual holes... sink spots I guess they are. You just can't do 80km/h but it is all good roads to the site and only just over an hour from the city. 75mins from Jane n Ash's place.

[anfalicious]

Bumpy is fine, it's boggy that is the worry :P

[shufflebear]

Yeah it was a little muddy... but it should be drier later in the year. We were thinking we could maybe hire a mulcher and that would help us clear lots of the dead rotten branches everywhere and create something to put down if it does rain a fair bit close to the event... Obviously we would have to check with the ranger etc

[_gethsemane_]

It has obviously been raining there a shit tonne of late and this is how it looks (pretty good in my opinion)

But we do have ideas how to handle lots of rain if it does happen as Adam has said.

I'd happily take the Gemini to this site too, I'd get there pretty easily and the roads are fine. We do need to clearly mark the handful of 4wd tracks as that, if folks go down them they would definitely get stuck.

It is easy to get to though.

So exciting!

[anfalicious]

Yeah, it's a bit hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like the drainage is all in the right areas. What we may want to be more concerned about in November is a fire plan, I'll email mum and ask her what we should have in place.

From Mum

[anfalicious]

You will need to find out if it comes under state or national parks. If it does then it comes under DSE and you may have to contact them. Good idea to let the local Fire Captain know. Where exactly is it. You need a plan. Start with the area and then escape routes. is there any mobile coverage and if not may have to rely on the old CB radio for emergencies. There needs to be a water supply and make sure the area around the BBQ is cleared. Also is there an area of refuge if your access is cut off. When you have it down run it past the local Captain so he know you are there as they will be the first called if anything happens. Always seem to be CFA first called even if is DSE patch. So the first thing is who is responsible for the land.

Start there and then draw your map.

Re: From Mum

[_gethsemane_]

It's a state forest, not a state or national park. Parks have way too many rules and restrictions.

We will already have fire extinguishers etc for performance/twirling. Any cooking stuff will be kept inside a marquee - marquee areas will be cleared.

There have been parties run in Lerderderg before, so I think the Ranger will be able to tell us exactly what he needs from us re fire plans. It's good to get into thinking about it all though.

There is a creek that runs past the site, so that our refuge area I guess.

Say thanks to your mum :)

Re: From Mum

[ms_muppet]

State Forests are still managed by Parks Vic, which essentially just do all the administration for DSE. But the Ranger will be working for Parks. Anth made some good suggestions....in particular it would be good to chat to the Ranger about roads...access/conditions at different times of year etc. DSE is responsible for fire management/suppression etc on all public land outside the metro area.

Depending on the size of the creek it may not provide much of a fire break. A good refuge would be a clearing, taking into account aspect/slope and where fires would be coming from.

Just things to think about, even if the likelihood of fire is low (and November probably wouldn't be super high risk). There haven't been wildfires in that immediate area (apart from a small one south of Blakeville) for decades, and there has been quite a bit of prescribed burning so it looks managed. I guess just keep an eye on weather/warnings etc, we may not be able to have cooking or a fire at all if it's a total fire ban.

Looks like a good site though!

Re: From Mum

[_gethsemane_]

Ahhhh okies, good stuff to know.

The creek runs pretty much all the way down one side of the site, next to the parking area... Otherwise the actual main dancefloor is totally cleared, I don't know if that's appropriate though?

The weekend is end of October/start of November, I don't remember a total fire ban day that early in the season, but the way the weather has been this year, who knows!

We'd absolutely have to map out the roads/emergency routes etc though.

I'll chat to Adam and see when he plans to call the Ranger, will hopefully be able to get some detailed info on everything we need to do.

Thanks heaps :)

Re: From Mum

[ms_muppet]

Actually, I think DSE directly manage state forests. But anyway the ranger is the go to person so yeah, they're the real person you need to chat to :)

So you're telling the ranger we're having a party? I'm interested to hear their response! :)

Re: From Mum

[anfalicious]

The fact that we have these few extra years of smarts behind us makes me much more comfortable about putting on parties now.