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Got a bit of time briefly so thought I'd chuck some stuff up from a recent(ish) high country trip I ran with a couple of blokes from the forum at the end of Jan. Original thread is here
I mosied on up on the Friday on my own (missus couldn't make it) after leaving Melbourne mid-late morning. As a massive fluke ran into Gus in Traralgon and had a bit of a yarn with him for a bit on the side of the road but otherwise an uneventful trip to Dargo (man does this car feel like a sportscar compared to the NL on the way into Dargo though!)
This was the first time I had taken this paj up to the high country so of course had to take a couple of poser shots in Dargo (none in front of the pub though, only thought to do it after dumping some rubbish in the bins at the public hall since I've been through Dargo so many times).
Here's a similar shot from the first time the NL went up (aw, memories).
Paj chugged its way up the high plains road with no fuss, but it was bloody foggy. It cleared up a bit at the McMillans turnoff where this photo was taken, about half way up I could only see about 1-2 seconds worth of in front of me.
Ran into aus_andyk in his challenger at the top just as I was finishing airing down for the ride down (glad I did, McMillans is annoyingly rough atm) so we headed off down to Talbotville as two cars.
Arrived at Talbotville to see HSV Rangie in the NT already well and truly set up and relaxing. Had a yarn with him for a half hour or so before folding the roof top tent out and settling in for a night of talking crap around the fire
Redrock arrived with his two boys late at night (and I mean late, the poor bugger couldn't leave Melbourne til around 6 from memory). So they set up their tent and other gear quickly while we all didn't help but marvelled over his recent bargain purchases that he'd fitted to his NJ paj (including a factory rear locker and a fridge and drawer combo among other things - still dunno how he manages to find everything so cheap!) then we hit the hay not long after.
We were all moving reasonably early the next morning, ready to be away by about 930-1000 to hit the tracks. Plan at that stage was to do Collingwood-Bulltown-South Basalt-Brewery back to Talbotville. Took a couple of snaps of the camp before we got moving, good to have a bit of variety of camping styles.
We pushed off and went up Collingwood. Usually a solid medium level track but recently graded so very smooth now. The top layer in a few spots was VERY powdery and loose due to the grading though and I picked a bad line just to see if the car could make it to no avail, first time having to back off and pick another line for the weekend, d'oh.
A shot from the helipad partway up
A mate of mine coming in from Bairnsdale met us at the top before we headed off down Bulltown Spur Track. Bulltown can be a ripper of a track when its cut up as it's quite steep with a shaly/rocky base (in fact it used to be an extremely challenging track if you go back far enough to before they made it snake its way up the hill instead of going straight up), unfortunately for us though it had also just been graded so it was a pretty uneventful drive down.
At the bottom of Bulltown you have to traverse 24 river crossings across the Crooked River to get back to Talbotville. Often this can present quite an interesting challenge as - aside from the water levels in the river itself - the entry/exit points to each crossing is quite rutted and rocky. You guessed it though, our mate the grader has been through there too
so most of the exits were very straightforward. Anyone familiar with the area, yes they have also blocked off the alternate exit to the third last crossing as you head towards Talbotville 
as it was turning into a mini gunshot 
Because we were making such good time (hell it wasn't even lunch time at this point) I figured we should head up to Blue Rag and take in the sights since I hadn't made my yearly pilgrimage up there yet this year we were already going to head up South Basalt anyway so wasn't a huge amount extra to go all the way up.
South Basalt is slowly starting to go back to its former glory. It'll never be as steep as they've criss crossed it up the second hill climb (the big one) but some rock ledges are starting to form. I of course decided to see what the new paj could do and promptly had to back off from an obstacle for the second time of the day after biting off more than the car could chew. Quick adjustment of the line and away we went. Nobody else had troubles except for my mate in the patrol at the back as he was the only one without any form of traction aid (everyone else had at least a rear locker and all the newer mitsus had traction control) who had to have a couple of goes at the rocks to get past.
Here's a video of the correct line being taken:
And some shots at the helipad
We then hammered our way along the rest of South Basalt Knob Track and then Basalt Knob Track up to the old train car for lunch. After lunch we went up towards Blue Rag via Basalt Knob North Track. I did most of this in high range (part lazy and part wanted to see how the car handled it) until I managed to get stuck (AGAIN!) on a sharp switchback. Promptly backed off put it in low range and told everyone to forget they ever saw it. Thinking about it after, I reckon the ASC was cutting in as a wheel would have been on the verge of lifting off on the corner while applying a small amount of throttle at full lock. Lesson learned!
My mate from Bairnsdale left us at the top of Basalt Knob North and went back to the High Plains Road to head home while we turned onto Blue Rag Range Track to head up to the trig point. For anyone still reading this drivel (kudos!) who hasn't been to Blue Rag before, it's definitely something you've got to do at least once. It's famous for a reason and remains one of the best drives I've ever done. It's not challenging from a 4WD perspective anymore (yet) but it's worth it for the views at the trig point and along the spectacular ridgeline drive. Saw a bit of traffic but it's wide enough these days that passing is not really an issue.
At the trig point:
After that we went back to camp at Talbotville via the High Plains Road (high speed dirt) and McMillans.
Upon coming back to camp we were trying to find something to test out aus_andyks nice new challenger and the best we could find was a diversion on the last river crossing exit as you come into Talbotville. Here is some footage, least we got a wheel in the air
aus_andyk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTY...Afp-8q_S2A7Hqj
Redrock (ah the gen2 have a flair for the dramatic don't they): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUHE...2A7Hqj&index=3
We then kicked back and gas bagged for the evening around the fire again (of course
) with HSV Rangie and I reminiscing a bit about some of the old tracks that used to be around years ago.
Next day was Billy Goats and the Pinnacles, we packed up camp and pushed off at about 9-930. We went via Station Track (actually quite a fun little track, I always forget about this one) and then along Cynthia Range Track before dropping down along Eaglevale Track. Relatively steep track but nothing too serious. Got to play with the auto on long hill descents though which was nice, performed quite well in the scheme of things.
At Eaglevale you have to cross the Wonnongatta River. The last couple of times I've crossed at this particular crossing it's been quite a task to get across. Not this time, barely touching the door sills. They've also cleaned up the entry considerably and got rid of the boghole on the Eaglevale side.
Here's a video of the other guys crossing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2kt...Afp-8q_S2A7Hqj
Then it was off to Billy Goats. This is usually quite an interesting and challenging drive but it had been graded the week before so it was still steep but there were no rock ledges to traverse or hair-raising wheel-lifting moments to contend with. Still well worth doing for the fire tower at the top but if you're looking for a serious 4WD challenge, look elsewhere for now
On the helipad partway up
On the exposed ridgeline near the top
After getting to the top in record time we walked up to the pinnacles firetower to have a look at the views.
Looking over to the firetower
Didn't take any photos from the firetower this time as I have a billion photos from up there, but suffice to say the views are magnificent.
We then walked back down to the cars and made the decision to have lunch in Licola (pies were a hard suggestion to resist).
So then we flew down Moroka Road to Licola, stuffed our faces, aired up and said our goodbyes
All up a good trip, albeit not particularly challenging from a 4wding perspective (even if I did manage to get myself stuck a couple times lol) thanks to the guys who came along, look forward to heading out with you all again. Butcher Country is beckoning.... 
I mosied on up on the Friday on my own (missus couldn't make it) after leaving Melbourne mid-late morning. As a massive fluke ran into Gus in Traralgon and had a bit of a yarn with him for a bit on the side of the road but otherwise an uneventful trip to Dargo (man does this car feel like a sportscar compared to the NL on the way into Dargo though!)
This was the first time I had taken this paj up to the high country so of course had to take a couple of poser shots in Dargo (none in front of the pub though, only thought to do it after dumping some rubbish in the bins at the public hall since I've been through Dargo so many times).
Here's a similar shot from the first time the NL went up (aw, memories).
Paj chugged its way up the high plains road with no fuss, but it was bloody foggy. It cleared up a bit at the McMillans turnoff where this photo was taken, about half way up I could only see about 1-2 seconds worth of in front of me.
Ran into aus_andyk in his challenger at the top just as I was finishing airing down for the ride down (glad I did, McMillans is annoyingly rough atm) so we headed off down to Talbotville as two cars.
Arrived at Talbotville to see HSV Rangie in the NT already well and truly set up and relaxing. Had a yarn with him for a half hour or so before folding the roof top tent out and settling in for a night of talking crap around the fire
Redrock arrived with his two boys late at night (and I mean late, the poor bugger couldn't leave Melbourne til around 6 from memory). So they set up their tent and other gear quickly while we all didn't help but marvelled over his recent bargain purchases that he'd fitted to his NJ paj (including a factory rear locker and a fridge and drawer combo among other things - still dunno how he manages to find everything so cheap!) then we hit the hay not long after.
We were all moving reasonably early the next morning, ready to be away by about 930-1000 to hit the tracks. Plan at that stage was to do Collingwood-Bulltown-South Basalt-Brewery back to Talbotville. Took a couple of snaps of the camp before we got moving, good to have a bit of variety of camping styles.
We pushed off and went up Collingwood. Usually a solid medium level track but recently graded so very smooth now. The top layer in a few spots was VERY powdery and loose due to the grading though and I picked a bad line just to see if the car could make it to no avail, first time having to back off and pick another line for the weekend, d'oh.
A shot from the helipad partway up
A mate of mine coming in from Bairnsdale met us at the top before we headed off down Bulltown Spur Track. Bulltown can be a ripper of a track when its cut up as it's quite steep with a shaly/rocky base (in fact it used to be an extremely challenging track if you go back far enough to before they made it snake its way up the hill instead of going straight up), unfortunately for us though it had also just been graded so it was a pretty uneventful drive down.
At the bottom of Bulltown you have to traverse 24 river crossings across the Crooked River to get back to Talbotville. Often this can present quite an interesting challenge as - aside from the water levels in the river itself - the entry/exit points to each crossing is quite rutted and rocky. You guessed it though, our mate the grader has been through there too
so most of the exits were very straightforward. Anyone familiar with the area, yes they have also blocked off the alternate exit to the third last crossing as you head towards Talbotville as it was turning into a mini gunshot Because we were making such good time (hell it wasn't even lunch time at this point) I figured we should head up to Blue Rag and take in the sights since I hadn't made my yearly pilgrimage up there yet this year
we were already going to head up South Basalt anyway so wasn't a huge amount extra to go all the way up.South Basalt is slowly starting to go back to its former glory. It'll never be as steep as they've criss crossed it up the second hill climb (the big one) but some rock ledges are starting to form. I of course decided to see what the new paj could do and promptly had to back off from an obstacle for the second time of the day after biting off more than the car could chew. Quick adjustment of the line and away we went. Nobody else had troubles except for my mate in the patrol at the back as he was the only one without any form of traction aid (everyone else had at least a rear locker and all the newer mitsus had traction control) who had to have a couple of goes at the rocks to get past.
Here's a video of the correct line being taken:
And some shots at the helipad
We then hammered our way along the rest of South Basalt Knob Track and then Basalt Knob Track up to the old train car for lunch. After lunch we went up towards Blue Rag via Basalt Knob North Track. I did most of this in high range (part lazy and part wanted to see how the car handled it) until I managed to get stuck (AGAIN!) on a sharp switchback. Promptly backed off put it in low range and told everyone to forget they ever saw it. Thinking about it after, I reckon the ASC was cutting in as a wheel would have been on the verge of lifting off on the corner while applying a small amount of throttle at full lock. Lesson learned!
My mate from Bairnsdale left us at the top of Basalt Knob North and went back to the High Plains Road to head home while we turned onto Blue Rag Range Track to head up to the trig point. For anyone still reading this drivel (kudos!) who hasn't been to Blue Rag before, it's definitely something you've got to do at least once. It's famous for a reason and remains one of the best drives I've ever done. It's not challenging from a 4WD perspective anymore (yet) but it's worth it for the views at the trig point and along the spectacular ridgeline drive. Saw a bit of traffic but it's wide enough these days that passing is not really an issue.
At the trig point:
After that we went back to camp at Talbotville via the High Plains Road (high speed dirt) and McMillans.
Upon coming back to camp we were trying to find something to test out aus_andyks nice new challenger and the best we could find was a diversion on the last river crossing exit as you come into Talbotville. Here is some footage, least we got a wheel in the air
aus_andyk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKTY...Afp-8q_S2A7Hqj
Redrock (ah the gen2 have a flair for the dramatic don't they
): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUHE...2A7Hqj&index=3We then kicked back and gas bagged for the evening around the fire again (of course
) with HSV Rangie and I reminiscing a bit about some of the old tracks that used to be around years ago.Next day was Billy Goats and the Pinnacles, we packed up camp and pushed off at about 9-930. We went via Station Track (actually quite a fun little track, I always forget about this one) and then along Cynthia Range Track before dropping down along Eaglevale Track. Relatively steep track but nothing too serious. Got to play with the auto on long hill descents though which was nice, performed quite well in the scheme of things.
At Eaglevale you have to cross the Wonnongatta River. The last couple of times I've crossed at this particular crossing it's been quite a task to get across. Not this time, barely touching the door sills. They've also cleaned up the entry considerably and got rid of the boghole on the Eaglevale side.
Here's a video of the other guys crossing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2kt...Afp-8q_S2A7Hqj
Then it was off to Billy Goats. This is usually quite an interesting and challenging drive but it had been graded the week before so it was still steep but there were no rock ledges to traverse or hair-raising wheel-lifting moments to contend with. Still well worth doing for the fire tower at the top but if you're looking for a serious 4WD challenge, look elsewhere for now
On the helipad partway up
On the exposed ridgeline near the top
After getting to the top in record time we walked up to the pinnacles firetower to have a look at the views.
Looking over to the firetower
Didn't take any photos from the firetower this time as I have a billion photos from up there, but suffice to say the views are magnificent.
We then walked back down to the cars and made the decision to have lunch in Licola (pies were a hard suggestion to resist).
So then we flew down Moroka Road to Licola, stuffed our faces, aired up and said our goodbyes
All up a good trip, albeit not particularly challenging from a 4wding perspective (even if I did manage to get myself stuck a couple times lol
) thanks to the guys who came along, look forward to heading out with you all again. Butcher Country is beckoning....
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