Your camping & caravaning new adventure can be hampered by some one elses bad

Hearing ya Axle

You are dead right Axle.
In 2006 Leigh and I went up cape york by ourselves, having never been up there before we had no idea as what to expect. We asked a lot of questions to various people who had been there before trying to get a better understanding of what to expect. As we were towing a camper trailer there were a few who said don't do the OTL corro's will kill it ect. ect.
To me the whole point in doing the trip was for the OTL.
In the end we set off and just said to ourselves we will work it out when we get there. We had a great trip camper went great but with the horror stories still ringing in our ears we were a bit hesitant to do some of the side trips which we are regretting now but that will be another adventure.
I think it comes down to the fact that there is such a wide variety of peoples perception of what is rough for some may not be rough for others (taking into account sensible driving). We passed a couple of 4wds on the development road and over herd them on the uhf joking about my 4 jerry cans on top of my camper about how they should follow me and pick up free fuel when I loose them. The cans were on top of my Aussie swag camper were held in with a frame made out of 1/2" reo bar and held down by by a 1 ton ratchet strap and they were going nowhere. Passed another couple coming back from gun shot and he said nah to boggy and not going to risk it, we got there walk down and had a good look and drove straight though easy as.
Mind you having a winch on the front is a bit like having a set of diff locks you tend to be a little bit braver. But as you say we learn the hard way.

Regards Ross

I agree Axle - People would be very surprised with what you can do with a stock 4WD. Most put a limit on what they do due to experience. The best way to find out what is possible is to hit it head on.

Most of the negative comments you will get, as you have stated, are from people with limited experience that may have got in to a bit of trouble and thus determined it was not possible for anyone else.

A quick scenario - to let us choose our own path - was this experience

Drove truck to Normanton when road was dirt in the wet season. Got to Croydon and the road was closed. Asked why - new cop on the beat said truck was bogged and road was impassable. I said drove it for years and unless a creek is up could not see why? Cut a longer story short drove the road no problems at all (the usual slip sliding this way and that way) The truck that was bogged had run off the road trying to go around the wet patch in the middle of the road. With experience he should have gone through it. So what annoys me now is Road Closed signs that may be based on some incompetents opinion of a roads impassibility. Same thing happened to me at Iron Range, road closed by new boy on the beat.

Cheers Tony

Ya not wrong - being a timid (inexperienced 4wder) I have skipped parts of my trip because I happen to listen to some one.

The one I regret the most is i didn't do Skytrek as the night before we listened to a family who had just done it and were saying how bad it is. The trouble is they had very little 4wd experience themselves and I listened to them!!!! - the real bad part.

There are a few other examples as well.

So next time :)


Richard

We did a trip across the center some years ago and were told horror stories about how bad the roads were.Boulia to the NT Border was supposed to be a horror stretch one guy had busted 2 tyres and had cracks appearing in the tow neck of his van. He looked at our little ute and told us there was no way we would ever make it

We traveled the road waiting for it to get bad, when we got to the NT Border the road just got better !

I never noticed a bad spot along the whole road. We did pass several big 4WD rigs with blown tyres after they had passed us at speed on the track. We just pulled over and let them past.

It is surprising how far you can get safely if you are careful.

(Note) If the road is closed I would recommend you obey the law even if it is dumb or incorrect. Driving over wet roads cut them up and leave large ruts when they dry out. Also when working at road closed signs with the SES it is amazing how many idiots just try to ignore road closed signs and either get themselves into trouble or cause problems for emergency services.

Hear what you are saying also...

As the saying goes, one man's dream is another's nightmare. There was one time that everyone thought the world was flat, thankfully Christoper Columbus didn't listen and sorted that issue out.

I reckon you go and have a look yourself and make a call when you get there, everyone's perception is different and besides, things and conditions change....

That isn't to say it isn't worthwhile listening to what people have to say either......

Cheers