4X4
Black Range State Forest
I have just recovered from one of my best 4×4 trips ever. Dan and myself took off straight from work Friday and headed out to Black Range State Forest. When we arrived (in just over an hour) we headed for the old train tunnel to check that out. It was pretty cool (literally) and had been built quite well. It wont be falling down anytime soon.
After that we had a quick look around, checked out the main camping area and started to have a look around for a place to camp. We drove around a few tracks and found one that looked like it hadn’t been used in a while and set up camp there.
A few beers & a few bundys later the music and food was kicking to the early hours of the morning. No one came past our site, so we had no one annoying us which was pretty cool. The next morning we were up and were enjoying the liquid amber by about 10 am (well we were on holiday). We cruised around all day checking out tracks in the top quarter of the map. Once again we setup camp and started pumping the music and drinking ourselves silly. Well the next morning was a bit shaky for both of us. It took a while for us to get our bearings, but once we found our feet again we were back out exploring. Dan took off to go get some more fuel in Yea so i started looking for another camp site.
The only thing different about this night was that we saw the dark storm clouds come in and we had about 30 mins of rain during the mid afternoon, which was nothing, 1/2 hour later everything was dry again. Around about dusk we got to see an amazing fog come in, and it came in pretty thick and fast. It was quite trippy.
Over all we both had an awesome time. We left the forest at 10 am and was home by 11:30 am. Now really hanging for the next trip!
The High Country
With Christmas out the way and the new year coming, it was
time for Janine and myself to exit the hustle and bustle, and head
into the high country. After a quick test trial out the back of
ferntree gully I knew the land cruiser was ready to tear up some
mud. We hit the Mansfield shire around 10 am on Tuesday morning
with one quick pull over to lock the front wheels in, we were on
our way. I can personally say that land cruisers are way more
comfortable and needless to say way more reliable. The main mission
was to head into Wannagatta but as we approached the end of the
first section there was a sign up saying road closed. Wasn’t very
happy with this but hey plans change and the show must go on. So
instead of Wannangatta we headed back to Lovick’s hut to spend the
first night. All was good and we managed to have a camp fire as
well, which was good. The next morning we decided we were gunna
head off to craig’s hut and then onto buttercup road. Getting to
craig’s hut was easy enough but the next section was a bit of a
head ache. From craig’s hut the first section of circuit road was
blocked which meant we had to go the long way through telephone
junction. I dealt with that ok but the final blow came when we were
20 mins away from camp and we hit another road closed. Wasn’t happy
with this so I pretended not to see this and ventured on. Ten
minutes in … I remembered that I did see the sign and returned
promptly. Can’t believe what water can do to a track. There was
crevices the size of my 4×4! We finally made it camp where we met
up with Karl and a few of his troops. A few beers and a bit of food
saw us heading to bed early. With that tho came with breaking camp
early and heading into Mansfield for brekky. After that we headed
back to Tatura where we are gunna spend news years with some
friends. Happy New Year to every one and play
safe!
I do … Mud
Where do I start. Last weekend I decided I needed a new truck, the hilux just wasn’t cutting it any more. I also thought it may be time to start looking at land cruisers. Can you believe by Sunday I had found a vehicle that I wanted. By Wednesday I was driving it home! It comes with all the features one says they are going to do to their ride. 4″ lift, 35″ tires, dual batteries, front & rear lockers and rock sliders. It’s a 4.2 diesel with only 194,000 on the clock. I’m wrapped it’s the best ever.
Cup Weekend – Wash Out
Well another Cup weekend has been and gone. This trip was meant to take us into the snowy mountains, but a few things stopped us. First thing that went wrong was Dan’s rig, it started spitting oil out of one of the front axel seals. Decision was made there and then that we will all stick together and made camp at the first stop which was in the alpine national park by a river. Tents were set up and a fire was started followed by an endless supply of alcohol which was mainly made of beer and bundy ( Janine had gin 🙂 ).
All was well until the next morning when it stated raining early and literally didn’t stop till about 24 hours later. By this time Dan was yelling to everyone to get up and pack up. Still a little sleepy I opened the tent and saw my food box float past!
Pretty much everyone was jumping out of there tents and grabbing there gear and throwing it in their rigs wet and unsorted. The main aim was to get the hell out of there while the tracks are still above water. We all managed to get out (drenched) and decided it was time to cut our losses and head home. End of the day we all got home safely and Dan’s car is repaired.
Chillin at the Bushmans
With only 1 week to go the crew are chillin with a beer & bundy (of course) back at Bushy’s pad. An old video of the trip is playing on the VCR. Can’t wait!
New Bash Plate
Sometime between last 4×4 trip and a week ago I noticed that my front bash plate was missing. I started to search through my 4×4 trip photos, but none of the photos had close up’s of under the front of the car, so I couldn’t make out whether or not it was still on by the end of the trip. It was only when walking back to the car last sunday after food shopping that I noticed something was odd/missing and thats when i realised the bash plate had gone. 
Getting a new one was more of a challange then first expected. Firstly all the wreckers I visited had barely any Hilux’s to start of with and most certainly didn’t have any bash plates. Then I thought I’ll look into getting an aftermarket one, well that was just as hard as finding one from the wreckers. They all had the 2005 onwards ones but most had stopped making the one I was after. There was one place up in Queensland, so I did keep that in the back of my mind which came to $410 approx (including delivery). The next thing to do was call Toyota themselves and see if they still made them and then see how much it was going to be. Including GST it was just under $500. I was thinking I’m not paying that price. So then I started crawling the 4WD club web pages when I stumbled onto www.hiluxclub.org.au/ and they had a find apart page where it scowers all the wreckers and shops for you and comes back with a responce very quickly. I entered the information Saturday night and I had 2 responces by end of work Monday. For under half the price I drove out to Thomastown this morning to pick up my new (second hand) bash plate. Now I just have to install it.
Queens Birthday Long Weekend
Hey there people, Queens Birthday long weekend has come and been. 
As usual I went 4wd and had a ball, we started at Crowes Hut and headed east to the bottom of the butcher track, which I might add was an awesome little trip with heaps of cool scenery. I will be putting pictures up soon (as soon as I find my camera … Its in the Hilux … somewhere !?!?). We set up camp and pulled down a dead tree and had a massive fire which we also used to cook up some mean grub. I had a steak sandwich and it was bloody beautiful. The next day we packed up and headed up to the butcher track. Now after doing this track I know why they call it that. Towards the top the weather changed so not only did we have a mean track ahead off us we had rain and snow. I was getting a little worried because after 10 – 15 mins of this the tracks were becoming very slippery and I’ve only done a few tracks. About 30 hour on the tracks become rivers and looked very cool, but probably wouldn’t have been if I had of broken down. At the top the weather just got worse and I pulled the pin. The other two blokes stayed to camp in the snow but I was worried that we we’re going to be snowed in and wouldn’t be able to get off the mountain the next day, so I headed off that night and did a bit of a night mission which was fun but visibility in the snow at night was quite a different adventure of its own. Over all It was an awesome trip and would do it again, now looking forward to our next trip.