Wednesday, Apr 26, 2006 at 14:38
Howdy Grumpy, there's an excellent series of books out by the Western4WDriver magazine folk that I'd thoroughly recommend checking out. In particular, there's one called '4x4 days out of
Perth' from memory that has about a dozen trips in it. These have clear directions and some pics to give you an idea of what to expect.
It's worth a trip to the Map
Shop in Collie St
Fremantle if you are ever in that neck of the woods. They have some good reference material in there (and also the lovely Danielle behind the counter;-))
Another option is to keep an eye on some of the local 4x4 clubs websites and see if they are organising a run up there. Don't just roll up uninvited though, email them
well beforehand and ask if you can tag along. This is a good way to get into 4x4'ing and you may even want to join a club later on. A word of advice though, I have found most 4x4 clubs to be very tightknit closed groups and surprisingly rude to new potential members. Not intentional behaviour, just completely unaware of 'outsiders' so don't expect anyone to make you feel at
home straight away. Not just me either, I've seen it many times happen to many different people from different clubs.
Perth4x4.com is website that regularly has trips organised everywhere, but this is not a club so much as public noticeboard. This mostly attracts the younger crowd and like any public place, you never know who you'll be travelling in convoy with, but I've done a few trips and generally had a good time.
If you want to do the Powerlines on your own, A good way to go is to start from West
Talbot Road which is a few km's past the Lakes Roadhouse on the
York Road. You'll know you've hit the powerline track when you see......you guessed it, the powerlines. Turn back towards
Perth and there you go. There are 'chicken tracks' around most obstacles and the terrain ranges from basic to tricky. I would strongly advise doing it the first time with someone experienced if you are not (talking about the powerlines here;-)) so if you get stuck, there is some backup available.
A nice easy one to get started is the 'Wandoo
Woodlands' track from that book I mentioned earlier. That is nice and easy and has some lovely
views to take in.
Hope you have fun Grumpy, good luck!
(I'll insert my standard disclaimer here - I have no affiliation to any of the goods,
services or organistaions mentioned above.)
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