My first time in the capital. And I must admit that I had a bloody good time. Whilst the politics is enought o give anyone the shits, the area has some of the best 4WDing in Australia. A fact that I came to realise even more when I spent 12 months living there in 2007.
For anyone with a 4WD in the Canberra region – this is your backyard. If you’ve never been there before – go and do it. It is a very easy day trip and well worth the time away from home. The views are amongst the best in the country on top of Mt Corree on a clear day. It puts the tower to shame.
This area is camper trailer Ok – IF you know what you are doing. Last Christmas I took ours through on the back of the girlie’s Prado and it did alright. And that was pretty much a stock standard vehicle at the time. Word of warning though – any rain and it changes from an easier track to a very difficult one. It is very easy to get caught especially down at the hut.
Please also note that due to track closures – the tracks at the start of the report below are no longer open. They were closed the year after we went through for an unknown reason to me. The major tracks are still open like Mt Corree, Powerline Trail and the run to the hut.
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We headed out the Brindabella road, before pulling off to air our tires down on 7 creeks track. First stop of the day was on the other side of a creek crossing, where TCM jumped out to break off a branch that was in a really bad spot, and Ferrit got handed a camera and turning into the official trip photographer. (Note big thanks to Ferrit (James) for words to this trip report).
There was very little excitement in this creek crossing, around hub deep and several of the trip members gave it a little bit of curry going through in an effort to make a specie photo opportunity.
A bit further on was the first low range work of the day- a fairly wide, but not too deep bog hole. TCM tried to skirt it, but the BFG AT’s said hell no, and we slid in and powered through. Ruley just showed off with his 33†muddies and went straight through to start with, as did Adza, who despite having road tires and nowhere near as much clearance as Ruley, followed the same line, and with DID bellowing he clawed his way out. Simon decided to be a show off and used his 140kw to power his way through.
TCM lead the pack on, till the next challenge, a fairly greasy hill with trees on both sides, and some small rock steps. TCM pointed the mighty GU at the hill, and with AT’s flinging mud everywhere, powered his way up. Next went Richard, who went fine until he hit the rock step and ran out of puff. He restarted, and the cooper ST-Cs clawed their way up the hill and he was through. Ruley just walked the Hilux up the hill- those BFG mud terrains are the tire for these conditions and the Detroit locker in the rear gave him a heap of traction.
Then came Wheelerdog in his 80 series. He was going fine on his Dunlop Super grippers until he hit the rock ledge. This ledge was in a difficult situation as it was on a slight turn, and was between two substantial burnt out pine trees which were only about a foot wider than the car apart. Wheelerdog got to this point and backed off, and then the absolutely amazing LSD in the Toyota did its job- and got the truck diagonally spinning. He wasn’t going any further upwards. Reversing down the hill, he got caught in a rut, and wound up with his rear end about 2’ from a big tree, and couldn’t go forwards to get out of that mess!
It was time for the first recovery of the day. TCM nosed the patrol down the hill and rested the bar against a sturdy tree, before spooling out the winch cable. Wheelerdog was pulled forwards about 10 meters, and then was able to reverse back down the hill and took the other way around.
Meanwhile, either something was wrong with TCMs 10000lb Low mount, or that cruiser was an absolute lard ass, but we were having trouble getting the winch to pull the weight of its CABLE back up the hill- off a dual battery setup too! Eventually the winch was re wound, and we were back on the road. Daniel then informed them, that THIS lay ahead- which was the hill that these two had just come down to meet us!
First down the hill was Cewilson, who hit the creek line at the bottom, and pointed the landie at the hill. Waiting on the opposite side were Wheelerdog and Simon- Official recovery vehicles?
The landie crossed the creek and hit the clay at the bottom of the hill, and looked like it was going no further, But with the TDI roaring, Chris wiggled the steering wheels a bit, the front end bit and they were up! Bouncing and scrabbling, the Desert duellers proved their worth and hauled the defender up the hill.
Next went Adza, who was sliding down the hill as he drove towards the creek line – not a good sign of things to come? Unfortunately, the Pajero was touching going thru the creek, so he couldn’t get a run up like everyone else. He hit the hill and gunned it…. And stopped.
All 4 wheels were spinning, the traction control was going nuts, and he was stuck. We dumped his tire pressures down to 16 psi, and tried again. Amazingly, The Pajero started moving! It got itself off the clay, onto the rocky section and it was smooth sailing from there onwards. That traction control is well sorted system, and saved us from a difficult recovery. Ruley was up next, and did the climb effortlessly; he even changed to third halfway up the hill!
Again, Richards lift kit and ST-C’s proved their worth, and he sailed up the hill with a minimum of effort. This left TCM and I on the other side, so we headed down towards the creek, and nosed our way onto the hill. With the big diesel singing, we bounced and battered out way up the slope, with lots of noises coming from the underside as the BFG’s threw largish rocks down slope under power.
At the top, we all stopped and congratulated Adza on getting up, and loaded some firewood into the back of Simons GQ for a BBQ lunch later.
We made a decision at this point to have lunch at the top of Mt Coree, and headed up towards the big hunk of rock.
On the way, we attempted Range Rover Hill- except Adza, his efforts on the other hill were enough for him, and so he recce’d the alternative route. Everyone went up range rover hill without a problem, except Richards paj was leaking fuel out of the filler on the way up from the slope. Some minor damage was sustained on TCMs truck here; an ARB side rail got bent in an altercation with a rock.
We all got up the climb up Coree fine, some with more ease than others. Some, such as Ruley, just walked up it without even looking like getting unsettled, and some such as Richard lifting a few wheels into the air.
We drove all the way down this track from the other side, and TCM set a cracking pace.
On the way to the hut, we passed a Toyota Corona mangled halfway down the hill. And due to hunger restraints, we didn’t stop to take photos, but pressed on to the hut. At the hut, a fire was lit (there were 3 trained fire fighters on site at all times) and lunch was cooked, Krasky for Daniel, BBQ steak for Adams family and me, Tubular steaks for Ruley, and cold steak for Wheelerdog. Chris had sandwiches, and Simon, to continue to be the odd one out for the day, had a couple of choc donuts!
After about an hr, and a long intense discussion about floating lost at sea shipping containers, we headed back towards Canberra. Ruley and wheeler dog had to leave us at this time, so we headed up to Piccadilly Circus and said our goodbyes, told Wheelerdog how to get back to Tumut from there, and we headed off for more adventures.
After stopping at a nearby toilet for a rest stop, we re aired up some of the trucks running really low pressures and headed back to Piccadilly circus for one last mud track.
Unfortunately, by this time, the sun was rapidly setting, and pictures were becoming increasingly impossible, so we didn’t bother with the camera.
This mud climb defeated all comers except a very well set up rangie a month or two ago when Adza and Ferrit were up there in the snow, it was just a clay soup, with no traction- you couldn’t walk up it!
However, this time, the clay was much drier, and offered some traction, however, it was still slippery enough to be fun.
Richard went first, and showed that with Coopers and clearance; even a paj will go everywhere. Then went Simon, who with diesel bellowing roared off with a pair of rooster tails the length of his ute behind him. He got ¾ of the way up, and stopped. We were all wondering what was going on, when his passenger got out and engaged the hubs! He had got further in 2wd than what Adza and Ferrit had got in 4wd low last time we were up there!!!
Then Adza gave it a shot. Desperate to conquer this track, he poured the power on and headed up, sliding everywhere on his now reinflated HT tires. Halfway up, he got it out of the ruts, and from where we were standing, it looked like he nearly hit a tree, However, once again the Pajero’s traction control kicked in and he clambered up the clay steps and made it to the top.
I was next, and I got the landie up with no probs. TCM and Ferrit followed me up with a minor touch on the GU’s low transfer case, but made it with no worries. Several snide remarks were made by Daniel and Ferrit in relation to the black stains that my diffs left when he touched the ground. No one was game to walk down the hill to confirm whether it was oil or gunk, so we left it at that. 🙂