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Just finished a 7 week trip around Tasmania with another couple and our camper-trailers (both Ultimates). Mate has a Prado 150. Having crossed the VIC/SA border, I’m now in isolation home in Adelaide for 2 weeks (odd thing is, my friends are from NSW, we have had exactly the same experience over the last 7 weeks, they don't have to self-isolate. Must be another rail gauge thing....). Mustn't complain considering the situation some people are finding themselves in, at least we are home safe. I get released at midnight April 13.
I've been coming to Tassie at least once a year for several decades to do bushwalks up on the central plateau and in the southwest. This is the first time I've done a camper trip. We mostly stuck to the less travelled parts, just dipping into caravan parks when we needed power to recharge the batteries - solar not quite as useful down here as in other parts of Oz.
I wanted to have a look at some of the 4WD tracks, attempt a few, and complete a few. We found Chris Boden's book very useful: https://www.mapworld.com.au/products...SABEgK14vD_BwE
I looked at the Balfour track - the first 20 or 30 metres were a long black mudhole, with no discernible bottom.
Balfour Track.jpg
We attempted the Climies track (knowing in advance that with our touring setups we would never get far) at both the Granville Harbour and the Trial Harbour ends. We got about 4 km down the track on the Granville end. It's pretty testing driving, very eroded and muddy; it had rained quite a bit the previous week, but very scenic.
Climies from GH 1.jpg Climies from GH 2.jpg
Then I got in a spot of bother, zero traction in the thick sticky black mud that Tassie is so blessed with. Out come the MaxTrax (2 pairs needed) and all good.
Climies from GH 3.jpg
But just another 300 metres down the track there's another long mudhole, that just got deeper and deeper with a very soft bottom. Lots of vehicles had been gouging multiple side-tracks around the left side which we didn't want to add to, so we beat a retreat feeling not too dissatisfied with our effort.
Climies from GH 4.jpg Climies from GH 5.jpg
The Trial Harbour end of the Climies Track starts off with a steep and deeply eroded couple of hundred metres, but no real dramas (not too much mud!).
Climies from TH 1.jpg Climies from TH 2.jpg
But not far on we found a ranger inspecting an old bridge that was badly crushed and broken. He reckoned he would be recommending closing the track (we later saw on a Tassie Parks website that it was closed) and that there wasn't much in the way of resources to fix it up. In view of this and the increasingly eroded track further on, we took his "suggestion" and turned back.
Climies from TH 3.jpg Climies from TH 4.jpg
We did complete some nice beach runs: one along Ocean Beach north from Hell's Gates (Macquarie Heads), and another along the beach at Cloudy Bay on Bruny Island to the lovely campsite at the eastern end.
Cloudy Bay 1.jpg Cloudy Bay 2.jpg Cloudy Bay 3.jpg Cloudy Bay 4.jpg
Also crossed the Henty Dunes (bit of a bugger to navigate out to the exit track!), visited Adamsfield (the Sawback Range Track was closed but the Clear Hill Track was open, and easy) and the Bird River Track out of Queenstown - fantastic walk at the end of the 4WD track to the old mining town of East Pillinger and the Kelly Basin on Macquarie Harbour.
Had a great, if sometimes wet, time. Tassie always delivers.
Damage: 1 windscreen near Snug en route to Cockle Creek. Had to see a mechanic at Queenstown to check brakes shuddering - turns out my new brakes were not at fault, but I was, for not getting new rear tyres, which were rather scalloped on the inner side. Using my spare on the worst of them cured the problem immediately. But that was all, Paj performed very well, as usual.
Good new stuff I used: new DBA brakes really outclassed OEMs, especially noticeable in rain and towing on steep Tassie hills. ClearView Powerglide mirrors are so much better and convenient than my Brunsgaard clip-ons (which are among the best clip-ons available) that I don't begrudge one dollar of the admittedly very steep cost. Front e-locker was used only occasionally but made a couple of steep and gnarly climbs much more controllable than my mate's Prado which had only a rear locker.
Now back to cleaning up the vehicles....
I've been coming to Tassie at least once a year for several decades to do bushwalks up on the central plateau and in the southwest. This is the first time I've done a camper trip. We mostly stuck to the less travelled parts, just dipping into caravan parks when we needed power to recharge the batteries - solar not quite as useful down here as in other parts of Oz.
I wanted to have a look at some of the 4WD tracks, attempt a few, and complete a few. We found Chris Boden's book very useful: https://www.mapworld.com.au/products...SABEgK14vD_BwE
I looked at the Balfour track - the first 20 or 30 metres were a long black mudhole, with no discernible bottom.
Balfour Track.jpg
We attempted the Climies track (knowing in advance that with our touring setups we would never get far) at both the Granville Harbour and the Trial Harbour ends. We got about 4 km down the track on the Granville end. It's pretty testing driving, very eroded and muddy; it had rained quite a bit the previous week, but very scenic.
Climies from GH 1.jpg Climies from GH 2.jpg
Then I got in a spot of bother, zero traction in the thick sticky black mud that Tassie is so blessed with. Out come the MaxTrax (2 pairs needed) and all good.
Climies from GH 3.jpg
But just another 300 metres down the track there's another long mudhole, that just got deeper and deeper with a very soft bottom. Lots of vehicles had been gouging multiple side-tracks around the left side which we didn't want to add to, so we beat a retreat feeling not too dissatisfied with our effort.
Climies from GH 4.jpg Climies from GH 5.jpg
The Trial Harbour end of the Climies Track starts off with a steep and deeply eroded couple of hundred metres, but no real dramas (not too much mud!).
Climies from TH 1.jpg Climies from TH 2.jpg
But not far on we found a ranger inspecting an old bridge that was badly crushed and broken. He reckoned he would be recommending closing the track (we later saw on a Tassie Parks website that it was closed) and that there wasn't much in the way of resources to fix it up. In view of this and the increasingly eroded track further on, we took his "suggestion" and turned back.
Climies from TH 3.jpg Climies from TH 4.jpg
We did complete some nice beach runs: one along Ocean Beach north from Hell's Gates (Macquarie Heads), and another along the beach at Cloudy Bay on Bruny Island to the lovely campsite at the eastern end.
Cloudy Bay 1.jpg Cloudy Bay 2.jpg Cloudy Bay 3.jpg Cloudy Bay 4.jpg
Also crossed the Henty Dunes (bit of a bugger to navigate out to the exit track!), visited Adamsfield (the Sawback Range Track was closed but the Clear Hill Track was open, and easy) and the Bird River Track out of Queenstown - fantastic walk at the end of the 4WD track to the old mining town of East Pillinger and the Kelly Basin on Macquarie Harbour.
Had a great, if sometimes wet, time. Tassie always delivers.
Damage: 1 windscreen near Snug en route to Cockle Creek. Had to see a mechanic at Queenstown to check brakes shuddering - turns out my new brakes were not at fault, but I was, for not getting new rear tyres, which were rather scalloped on the inner side. Using my spare on the worst of them cured the problem immediately. But that was all, Paj performed very well, as usual.
Good new stuff I used: new DBA brakes really outclassed OEMs, especially noticeable in rain and towing on steep Tassie hills. ClearView Powerglide mirrors are so much better and convenient than my Brunsgaard clip-ons (which are among the best clip-ons available) that I don't begrudge one dollar of the admittedly very steep cost. Front e-locker was used only occasionally but made a couple of steep and gnarly climbs much more controllable than my mate's Prado which had only a rear locker.
Now back to cleaning up the vehicles....
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