Big River Trip!
Ok trip report time!
Slightly different format to my usual trip reports in that I'm going to copy and paste the paragraphs from the trip report I've written for the club magazine, and then add pics below relating to that paragraph. Should speed things up a bit for me, given how many pics I've got to share with you.
Me and Michael arrived at the rendezvous place in Warburton just before 6pm and were soon joined by trip leader Justin, who had his friend Ben with him. Shortly later we were joined by Rik with his son Brendon, and then Yarn arrived with his wife Katelyn. Some of us bought pizza and we stood around chatting for 45 minutes until Andre arrived with friend Liam. We soon hit the road and an hour later arrived at Frenchman’s Creek campsite. Most people soon had tents up apart from Yarn who had brought a huge 10 person, mansion of a tent which took a while to put up, much to everyone’s amusement! We were soon sat round a roaring fire drinking and chatting until it got quite late. It was quite a mild night and wasn't as cold as I was expecting.
Michael cut the fire wood.
The next morning at 9.30am, after everyone had cooked and eaten breakfast we left the camp site and hit the tracks. Our first track was Frenchman’s Creek Track. Within minutes of getting on the track Michael who was following me radioed across to say one of my rear tyres was flat. We stopped and quickly put some air into it and we were on our way again. We turned right onto track Short Cut number one and followed this track as it climbed quite steeply up from the valley below. We stopped and had a quick chat at the top and then carried on. The next track was Frenchman’s Spur Track, which we followed for a while before turning left onto Short Cut Number 2 track. This track was quite rutted in places but had clearly recently been graded like a few of the other wed driven so far that day. At the bottom of the track we arrived at a T junction onto Frenchman’s Creek track and turned right. We followed this for the next few k’s before turning right onto Camp Track. We turned back onto Frenchman’s Spur track and followed it for a while before turning onto Boundary Track. It was a beautiful sunny day as we followed the Boundary track down some very steep descents towards the valley below. We turned off the Boundary Track back onto Frenchman’s Creek Track and followed it for a short while before turning onto Two Mile Track.
Chained my mud flaps up.
Connected the winch.
Aired down.
Couldn't resist flexing LJ up on one of the big boulders around the camp ground.
On our way.
To keep an eye on the tyre that had gone flat I found the easiest way was to simply turn the wing mirror and I could see as I went along that the tyre wasn't going flat.
Sadly this track had also been recently graded and so was no where near as challenging as our trip leader told us it used to be. We all made it safely to the top and stopped for another quick break. While we were stood around chatting a ute went past with a huge stag on the back which had obviously been recently shot. We saw a few people out deer hunting that day. We chatted for a short while longer and then continued, we turned around and headed back down the track wed just come up. As it was so steep and with lots of loose rocks 1st low was required for most of the way down. We reached the end of Two Mile Track and continued back onto Frenchman’s Creek Track. We soon arrived at a river crossing which although wasn't very challenging to drive was certainly a lot of fun.
We continued on Two Mile Track for a short while longer before arriving at an intersection with Boundary Track 2. Boundary Track 2 snaked its way up the mountain and had clearly been recently graded, where as the track straight ahead of us, which was un-named cut straight up the mountain and was very steep and rocky and clearly hadn't been graded for a long time. After a few attempts trip leader Justin made it up the first steep challenging section. I was next and gave it a good shot but without a front locker which I still hadn't got refitted I was soon cross axled and going no where fast. I used this as a great opportunity to use my new Warn High Mount winch. After hooking the winch to a tree trunk protector which was wrapped around a conveniently placed tree, I was soon up the challenging section of track and on my way again. The others all managed to get up without too many issues, the longer wheel bases had a clear advantage over my short wheel base.
We soon arrived at a much more challenging section of track and my short wheel base LandCruiser was soon lifting front wheels high into the air. On one particularly difficult section of track I lifted a wheel a little too high and the truck began to turn over. I realized the truck had gone past the point of no return and was bracing myself for the impact of the truck landing on its side. Fortunately a perfectly placed boulder was enough to wedge itself between the ground and my rear bar. This prevented the truck from going over. I turned the engine off and made sure the truck was in gear and carefully climbed out to assess the situation. The passenger side front wheel was now 3ft off the ground and the vehicle was on a crazy angle. After taking a few pics and discussing the best way forward it was decided the safest thing to do would be to use my winch to pull the truck forwards. Winch rope rigged up and I was back in the cab carefully driving and winching myself forwards.
We carried on and the next section was equally as hard if not harder. I managed to get up the next section and then walked back down to take pics of the others on there way up. Everyone managed to bounce there way up the steep rocky climb, apart from Yarn in his Patrol which didn't have diff locks. A quick winch pull later and he too was up and we were on our way again. We reached the top of the mountain and end of the track and stopped for lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day still but there was a cold breeze. We stood around chatting and eating lunch and watched a huge group of trail riders pass. Lunch done and we were soon on our way again, a few k’s later and we rounded a bend to find a 4wd winching something back onto the track and after looking a bit closer we saw an 80 series dual cab ute that had gone off the track and had clearly been rolled.
I was very glad I added this bracket to the rear bumper as that helped hold the weight of LJ when she was virtually on her side.
Also lost a tiny bit of diesel when she was on her side.
Lunch time.
Left over pizza for me.
We jumped out and spoke to the group of 4wders who were busy winching. They told us how one of the guys in there group had gone off the edge of the track the previous evening in thick fog. He had rolled his 80 3 times and hit a tree, the bark visibly missing 10ft up off the ground. They had taken the driver to hospital with minor injuries and were now trying to recover the tray that had been ripped off in the accident. They seemed to think the 80 couldn't be recovered and so had called the RACV who they hoped would be able to recover it.
We wished them luck and continued on our way. A stark reminder of the dangers we face when on a trip and how not concentrating for a split second can end in disaster! We turned onto Corn Hill Track and we soon reached a short challenging section of track with a steep rocky climb. After a couple of attempts I made it up, followed by the others. We soon turned back onto Boundary Track and were now climbing quite high and were soon surrounded by patches of snow on the edges of the track. We left the forest and were still climbing, my altimeter was now showing 1300 meters above sea level. We continued on Corn Hill Road and then turned off on to Frenchman’s Gap Track. We turned back onto Corn Hill Road and continued climbing until we reached the summit of Mount Matlock. We stopped next to the huge aerials and transmitters and took a few photos and had a quick break.
We soon carried on and turned onto Pheasant Creek Track and then onto a dirt road for a few k’s before arriving at Grant Reserve where we turned off for Woods Point. We drove through Woods Point and turned right immediately after crossing the creek onto Brewery Track. The first section of Brewery Track was reasonably easy but it soon turned into a very steep, rocky climb with no run up and a sheer drop off behind. Trip leader Justin gave it his best shot but in the end admitted defeat and used his winch to pull his truck to the top. Michael was next up with his huge 37” super sticky maxxis trepador tyres aired right down he proceeded to drive straight up. The tyres molding around and gripping all the rocks on the steep technical section of track. I was next and with my 37” tyres aired down to 8psi and with the rear air locker engaged I gave it my best shot. Unfortunately I found I had let too much air out of the tyres and as I don’t have beadlocks fitted I had the wheels turning inside the tyres!
Michael drove straight up with his tyres aired right down.
Michael and Rik pulled my winch rope out and soon had me hooked up to a tree and winching my 70 to the top. Michael backed down and gave me a little snatch pull to the top. I then spent the next hour helping all of the others get up the climb. We had a tree trunk protector around 3 different trees and had to keep re-rigging the winch ropes to the next tree as they worked there way up the climb. Rik was last and managed to successfully drive his Patrol to the top. We continued along the track and soon arrived at another steep rocky climb. Justin gave it a go and after multiple attempts reversed back down defeated. Michael then had a go and we watched from the bottom as he wheel spun and fought his way to the top. We discussed the idea of us continuing but as it was now 4pm and we knew for us to continue we would most likely all need to winch it was decided we would return to camp.
We turned around and headed back down the steep rocky track. We stopped next to the creek and aired our tyres back up and then continued back on the road we had come in on back through Woods Point. It was soon dark and we continued back down Two Mile Track, through a river crossing and turned back onto Big River Road. We got back to camp and soon had a roaring fire going and cold beer in hand. We sat round the fire till late drinking and chatting and Rik entertained us with a sachet of magic powder which when put in the fire turned the flames blue for the next hour or so.
After getting back to camp I went to open my rear door to start cooking dinner and realized I couldn't.
It would later transpire that the rear body lift spacers had punched there way through the body, so the rear of the truck was now sitting lower than it should be.
There was 10-15mm of clearance above the gas strut bolt to the underside of the rear door.
Michael cut more fire wood.
While I cooked dinner.
Steak and mashed potato for dinner.
Old engine oil is great for getting fires going!
The next morning.
Sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast.
This little bird joined us both mornings looking for food and ate all the pieces of bread I gave him.
I love all the free camp sites they have in Australia.
It wouldn't work in the UK as the pikeys would move in and destroy the place, but here it seems to work.
Toilet block with long drop, composting toilets.
Information board for the area.
The camp site.
Michael had spotted a huge tree stump he wanted to put a wheel onto to show how beautifully his 80 flexes!
After failing to get up one side he tried from the other side.
The next morning we cooked breakfast and took the tents down and packed everything up. We broke camp at 9.30am and were soon driving along Big River Road. We were heading for a big river crossing that Justin had mentioned the previous evening and I was very keen to drive. Unfortunately when we got there a huge mound had been constructed with dirt, logs, and boulders. We walked down a little further to have a look at the crossing. Huge boulders had been positioned to prevent people driving to the crossing and what would have been a lovely flat grassy area that had obviously been used for camping for many years had been dug up and huge trenches had been left across the ground.
Talking to the guys on the trip these track closures are becoming a problem.
Tracks are constantly getting closed in the way shown above by where they bring in a big digger and try to prevent people getting onto the tracks.
Apparently every year or 2 when new maps are published there are less and less tracks shown. Comparing a map from 20 years ago with a current one reveals that a lot of tracks have been deleted and technically no longer exist.
After discussing what a huge mess had been made and what a shame it is that tracks are getting closed and the ground torn up in such a destructive way we jumped back in the cars and carried on with our day. We carried on back along Big River Road before turning onto Vans Road. The next track we got to had also been closed and now had huge logs and dirt piled up to prevent people from driving the track. We turned around and continued back down Vans Road and then turned onto Petroffs Track. Petroffs Track was very rutted and muddy in places and we all enjoyed driving it, so much so that when we reached the end of the track at the intersection with Big River Road and turned around and drove Petroffs track again in the reverse order. We reached the end of Petroffs Track and turned onto Marrows Track. We reached the end of Marrows Track and turned onto Eildon-Warburton road. We then turned back onto Marrows Track and a short drive later decided to stop for lunch.
Cant begin to tell you happy it makes me feel to be driving LJ on the toughest tracks in this awesome country down here! Big smiles!
After lunch we continued back down Marrows Track and then turned back onto Petroffs Track. After our 3rd enjoyable drive down this muddy rutted track we reached Big River Road again and continued along Big River Road for a short distance before turning off onto Foley Creek Fireline. We drove Foley Creek and then turned onto Fire Line no. 2 Track. We got to the bottom and all agreed what a great track it was. All downhill and very muddy and rutted in places. We decided it would be much more challenging to drive up it, so we about turned and headed back up.
We stopped at the top and decided to call it a day so we all aired up and said are good byes. A truly great weekend away and we all thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to getting out on another trip soon. A huge thanks to trip leader Justin for organizing and leading the trip, and to everyone else who came and helped make it a great weekend.
Really twisty road on the way home.
Stopped at a fuel station, or servo as there called here and gave LJ a quick wash.
After getting home and unloading the camping gear I investigated why the rear of LJ had dropped so much.
This is going to be a fun job to fix.
Safely tucked up int he garage next to the 80.
lol:
