4WD 4life

Our first weekend away with the Pajero IO.

A few weeks after buying our first 4WD we decided we would take it on a long weekend away to the Victorian Alpine region. Kathy and I had never been up there before so it seemed as good excuse as any to get out of the house for 4 days. We drove to Licola first, then north along Tamboritha Road and continued to Bryce's Gorge. Here we went for a walk and had a look at Pieman Falls and Guys Hut. We drove back to Licola to stay in a cabin at the caravan park for the night, which was simple but clean and (most importantly) quiet. The next day we planned to drive to Dargo. This is mostly a drive on easy gravel roads and tracks, apart from the descent down Billy Goat Bluff track. I had heard stories of this track over the years from mates who were into four wheel driving but I had never seen it for myself. I had asked a few people's opinions about driving this track in the little IO and was met with mixed reactions. Some said, "no worries", others said, "no way". But, I suppose there is really only one way to find out.... We headed off early, back up Tamboritha Road and turned onto Moroka Road. The area along Moroka Road was heavily burnt in recent bushfires and it is unfortunate to see the area so bare, with seemingly endless miles of black sticks poking up out of the ground, but the views across the tops of the mountains are spectacular. We followed Moroka Road and veered off toward the Pinnacle. We walked the steps to the top of the Pinnacle but it was clouded in, which ruined our view somewhat... From there it was a short back-track to the start of Billy Goat Bluff track. For those that have been four wheel driving for years this track is probably not a big deal, but for us it was something very new. The track is very steep, very narrow and very, very rocky. It's low range the whole way. In some spots there are football sized rocks lying loosly on the track and large rocks/boulders poking out of the ground. Travelling this direction it is mostly downhill but there are still a few quite steep uphill sections as well. A couple of kilometers in and I was starting to think I had bitten off more that the IO could chew, it was very rough. Kathy wasn't very happy with the fact she could see straight down the side of the mountain at times when we went close to the edge of the track either... But we took it slow and steady and the Pajero did a fantastic job. It never lost traction on the steep climbs and was sure footed on the descents. We made it to the heli-pad and had a break, I was stoked. What a great little car!!. The view from the heli-pad over the mountains is fantastic, you can see The Pinnacle off in the distance. From the heli-pad it was all down hill to the Wonnangatta Road, along that into Dargo. We stayed the night there and the next day we went for a drive to Talbotville. A relaxing day was had next to the creek in the shade, cooked some lunch over the fire and did bugger all else for the day. The whole day we saw only 4 other vehicle and spoke to just one person, it was great. From there we drove back to Dargo, then down to Bairnsdale where we stayed at place we like about 20 minutes out of town. Then there was the unfortunate drive down the Princes Hwy back home on the last day... All in all we had a great weekend. The weather was perfect, the car performed better than I had imagined and the scenery of the Alpine National Park was breathtaking. Since this trip we have been for numerous day drives exploring the tracks in our own back yard. We are definately hooked, new camping gear has been purchased and plans are in place for a trip to the Territory in June 2009.