Back from the bush

Back from the high country. WOWSERS !!! what a magnificent neck of the woods that is.

Had the pleasure of catching up with Jimbo and his lovely better half Jen at Mansfield. Jimbo kindly arranged a guided one day introductory tour around the huts north of Mt Buller. Thanks for that Jim, much appreciated.

Then the serious stuff started. Zeroed the trip meter at Sheep Yard Flats and travelled 970 km between there and our exit at Tom Groggin. Probably about 200 km on formed roads, with the majority of the balance in low range. Excellent opportunity for some serious stuff in the dirt. A common day’s travel amounted to 50 km in 5 hours. Spent each camping night beside a beaut little creek. Made our trips to the Cape and outback seem like cruising down Queen St.

No mechanical problems encountered or recovery gear used …. bloody glad I had it there though. Slightly reduced the capacity of the LR tank and had the replace the valve attachment thingee on the Max Air … it had been playing up for a while and I reckon the standard type connector has improved the air flow.

I came away convinced it’s not the place for towing trailers, unless you’re prepared to set up a base camp somewhere and day trip to some of the tougher areas, but that would require a good deal of back tracking. Some of the hair-pin bends on the side of the mountains, requiring 3 point turns would have been more than a tad difficult with a trailer in tow (if not impossible). Not to mention meeting someone coming the other way.

Interesting encounter on Billy Goat Bluff track, which we descended due to our general direction. Very steep sections near the top with lots of loose gravel. Very steep sections near the bottom, but better surface. About 150 m below the helipad we encounter a bloke and his other half in a Forerunner towing a bloody great on road van !!!!! Suggested he unhitch at the helipad and have a squiz at the top section first.

Also very glad I ran MTR’s. The increased traction over AT’s was very noticeable.

Many thanks to all for their informative suggestions during our planning phase.

Cheers

Rosco