TRAX 4WD Fellowship

TRAX Trip Report – McMahons Lookout
Saturday 22nd Feb 2025

Present
Rob – Toyota 200 Series Landcruiser
Ralph – Range Rover P38
Eric and Dianne – Toyota 150 Series Prado
Shane, Kylie and Joel – Nissan GU Patrol
Phillip and Linda – Nissan GU Patrol

“Views!” he said. Come along on the trip and get views, views and more views. Oh well, the trip started with a failure.

If you’ve not been there, the view from Hawkesbury Lookout is over the Nepean River and its backwaters, Penrith Beach and Sydney International Regatta Centre to the south. Today, not so. After our meet and greet; it was great to see you again Beetsons; we were on our way to the day’s first destination in Lawson. On Kangaroo Street, Lawson, there is a rock slab with a kangaroo engraved upon it. The kangaroo is in an unusual pose with its head thrown backwards.

After much finger pointing and question asking, we moved on to Wentworth Falls where we parked the cars at the junction of Queen Elizabeth Drive and Tableland Road, ready for a short walk to the next aboriginal site. This is located at the end of QE Drive, and after an easy walk of around 100m or so, you come across a large rock platform where there are definite grinding grooves. The other rock formation here is likened to the Giants Causeway but is due to glacial activity.

More finger pointing at the rock pools adjacent the grinding grooves and we were off again, this time to a rock shelter. Down a few steps, you come across a sizeable rock shelter with engravings of emu feet, but you have to be keen of eye to spot them. Hint; they’re at eye level. Back to the cars and morning tea.

Suitably sustained, we headed south long Tableland Road until we came across Battleship Tops, an unusual rock feature which resembles, yep!, a battleship. Apparently there used to be engravings and paintings here, but some years ago, some dim-witted person, drove a car under the sheltered side of the rock and set fire to it, thereby destroying any evidence of the indigenous inhabitants. Backtracking a little we turned down a fire trail and after a few kilometres, reached our lunch spot.

Now that’s a view! Looking out over the Kedumba Valley towards, Mt Solitary, the Wild Dog Mountains and Mt Cloudmaker was a brilliant way to enjoy our lunch and friendly chats. After lunch, and making sure Dianne got back safely from the precipice, we headed off to another little lookout underneath the power lines.

Our lunch spot is at 650mABS, as is the LC2000 in this photo. The next stanchion is at approximately 350m ABS. Quite a drop and just imagine the weight of the lines and the strength required to hold everything in its correct place – especially in those high winds! Oh, and by-the-way, the track ends there! Back on the road down to McMahons Lookout, saw us come to the carpark and the toilet! The walk to the Lookout is 800m slightly downhill. Once there, we enjoyed the wonderful view, took various photos and sat around chatting, preparing for the trip back up the hill.

Once back at the cars, we made our way towards the Kedumba Valley Road which is gated a short distance from where to road drops off the side of the cliff; there is a fire trail taking you down into the valley below. More magnificent views of Mt Solitary, near the gate, but this spot also affords views south towards where we had lunch.

After a short time admiring the views, we made our way back to Tableland Road and tried to park at the carpark near Lincoln’s Rock. The trouble was that your now required to pay parking fees, and space was tight, so we decided to head off to our various homes. What a great day out. Nothing difficult in terms of the driving, but plenty of good times with friends and don’t forget those v I e w s !

-Rob

TRAX Trip Report – Victoria High Country
Monday 20th Jan – Friday 25th

Present
Matt, Alison and Jess- Mitsubishi Pajero NX
Ralph- Range Rover P38
Will and Bek – Land Rover Discovery 1

Monday morning started with everyone arriving at Beechworth bakery. Despite staying in Beechworth, unlike everyone else, Ralph arrived last. All 3 vehicles; the Pajero, Discovery and Range Rover, were ready to go. With Mansfield in our sights, to refill our tanks, we headed off. We headed down the main road until we turned off towards Stringybark Creek. A few kilometres of dirt road later, we arrived at Stringybark Historical Reserve, where we learnt more about Ned Kelly and the shooting of police officers, that led to him being declared an outlaw.

We popped round the corner to the campground for lunch, before continuing on to Mansfield. A quick fil, up and we ended up at Sheepyard flat, an easily accessible campground next to the creek and full of parrots. 

The next morning, we zipped up the mountain to the tip of Mt Buller to have a gaze at the scenery and ski slopes, though no white snow to be seen. Coming down the mountain some metal-on-metal scraping could be heard on the Disco, which we vowed to investigate soon.

We pressed on, jumping back onto the dirt to check out Razorback hut, before we arrived at the classic Craig’s Hut, where we stopped for lunch.

While lunch was brewing, Ralph was investigating a water leak and Will investigated a wheel bearing. Retightening the recently replaced wheel bearing did the trick, but for Ralph in the Range Rover, it was diagnosed as a leaking water pump.

With the long week ahead of us still, Ralph decided to call it there and head home. Just in case, as we headed off, a new wheel bearing kit was ordered for delivery to Mansfield. To be safe, we camped locally to Craig’s hut at Pineapple Flat, with a cute water crossing entry and some flexy ruts to keep out the Corollas.

Feeling more confident in the wheel bearing in the morning, we headed off towards Kings hut, hidden along the Kings River, that we crossed back and forth over multiple times to get a nice undercarriage rinse. On the way to our next destination, we stopped at the picturesque Bindaree Falls, which after a short walk led to a gorgeous waterfall.

Climbing further up, out of the valleys, we headed to Bluff hut, zig-zagging up the side of the mountain. After stopping there for lunch, we continued on to Lovick’s hut, with views that reminded us we were in the High Country, with mountains visible as far as the eye could see.

Going up and down the mountains a couple more times on the King Billy Track, we made it to Howitts hut, before stopping at Thomastown Campground for the night.

Starting off Thursday, we made our way off the dirt into the small town of Licola. Aiming to get to Mansfield by the end of the day, we headed up Jamieson-Licola Rd, which quickly became unsealed. With a desire for adventure, we turned onto Middle Ridge Track, which put the compression of the Discovery’s 300tdi, and the venting of the Pajero’s discs to the test, with a few kilometres of steep descents into the valley below. 

Turning onto Barkly River Jeep Track, we found many mud puddles as the track grew narrower and more overgrown. We pressed on, however, and eventually made it to the Barkly River Logging Trail, where the track opened up more and had some lovely views and occasional cows to avoid, before we made it back to the Jamieson-Licola Rd. Before we got back to the sealed road we did stop to ensure a stranded 80 series, with a snapped fan belt, was okay and had a plan to get out of his pickle. We found a quiet little motor inn, where we stayed the night, before we were planning on returning to NSW a scenic way, but not before more scraping was heard from the Disco. 

Friday morning, we awoke to acquire the wheel bearing from the post office, now held for a spare, then we took off the rear wheels to find them in desperate need of new pads, one of the only service items not checked before the trip. A quick(ish) trip to Wangaratta Bursons, as the most local that stocked rear pads for a 28 year old vehicle, and a short install and we were on our way. We dispersed at that point, making our own ways home.

Will Smith – Land Rover driver-turned-mechanic