4wd from Melbourne to Canberra

Almost. A bit of dirt and black top between sections. If starting NE of Melbourne, go in via Mansfield and come out on the west side of Canberra.

Greg,

I used to live in the ACT and got sick of the Hume - concrete conveyer belt guaranteed to cure insomnia.

One way to break the routine is to go from Tumut through the Bondo State forest into the Brindabellas. Not strictly 4WD but better than Yass etc.

The other is the Monaro Hwy through Cann River.

In between are the more adventurous tracks, none really 4WD but Cabramurra to Blue Waterholes is nice.

Bob

There are tracks and gravel roads which you can easily follow from the Victorian high country through to ultimately the Murray RIver. Once you cross into NSW, in particular the Kosciuszko National Park, if it is gravel, forget it. It will likely be locked up. One nice trip is to go from Khancoban towards Cabramurra. After about 25 km on the sealed road, you come to where the 330 kV power lines cross the road. Follow the transmission track from there. This takes you over the Tooma RIver and then on to the Elliot Way, which goes from Cabramurra to Tumbarumba. The power line track follows on ultimately to Talbingo, and the Tumut 3 Power Station. Very attractive drive indeed. From then on, you may be able to pick your way through some forestry tracks, but it will mostly be on sealed roads.

You used to be able to go from the Blue Water holes track through to Brindabella station and then into Canberra, but I am not sure if that is an option now. To get to the Blue Water holes track, you would have to back track up Talbingo Mountain towards Kiandra (sealed road) and then turn left just past the Yarrangobilly Caves turnoff. As far as I know, there are no other roads which will allow you the pleasure of glorious scenery and solitude, because most of the tracks are locked shut.

There is a superb run down from the top above Tumut Pond Dam out to Manjar Fire Tower, and then you continue down until you bump into the transmission lines mentioned above. As far as I know, this is not closed off. If it has been raining, it can be very boggy and I would not recommend it then. The view from the fire tower is one of the best you will see anywhere.

Regarding the Victorian side of things, from Mt Beauty you can take the back tracks through to Dartmouth, and then again through to Upper Tallangatta and Lucyvale, and even on to the Corryong - Omeo road (the Gibb Mountain Road). Some beautiful country there - mainly forestry tracks.

All of the above will take you a lot longer than simply driving up the Hume Highway (ho hum), where you will receive excessive radiation doses from all the police radar traps etc, but if you have the time it is worth doing.

Get a hold of a book, 4WD Tracks of the High Country, by Craig Lewis and Cathy Savage. It will have all the information your looking for. There will be some sealed sections in the trip but by and large you can do quite a lot of it on 4wd tracks. I have done nearly all of it over the last few years. From Khancoban to Kiandra is sealed road then to reach Canberra it is via the Long Plain, Broken Cart and over the Brindabella's to the outskirts of Canberra. The Victorian leg would start at Mansfield.