Celtoid
16th June 2010, 12:26 PM
Went camping with my wife and kids over the long weekend to Benarkin State Forest which is NW of Brisbane...nice chilly -1 Saturday morning :(.
I had no intention of doing anything crazy in the D4 as I was by myself (4WD wise) and am still getting a feel for it's capabilities. Most of the driving that I found was rough forest trails but I believe there are some pretty interesting drives in the area.
Anyway, was on one of the marked forest trails and found a road called Mine Road (?). I figured that this sounded inviting so turned down it to have a look. Came to a pretty steep, wash-out strewn gravel/rocky hill leading down into a cleared valley paddock. I've had the D4 over some pretty steep gravel before so felt pretty confident...didn't even bother selecting anything, just the off-road height. I get to the bottom of the valley and look up the other side....looks very inviting....pretty steep, narrow, mud, gravel, rocks and some serious wash-outs. The kids are egging me on but I chicken out as I was alone, had no idea if it was blocked beyond my sight, etc. It would have been pretty tough/scary to reverse back down.
I'm just about to start the climb back out the way I came in when three other 4WDs come trundling down. I move off the road, make my selections for the climb and have a quick chat to the others. In the lead there is a new stock Hi-lux or Triton, didn't look too close (diesel), a late model Patrol and a pretty old Patrol at the rear (both had lift kits and big wheels). They were going to have a bash at the hill but had never done it before so had no idea what they were in for. I was temped to tag along but by then hunger had overtaken my kid's priorities.
I head back to camp and a short while later the new 4WD returns also. They had got half way up and choose not to continue as it looked too hard and scary (had to reverse back down :(). As they were leaving the valley they bumped into some locals who offered to guide them. The guy with the new truck chickened out ;) but the others had a crack. The two older vehicles made it but said it was pretty scary.
As we were chatting in the campsite they made polite but mocking comments about the standard tyres and clearance of my D4 (it was sitting at normal ;)). "you'll never make it in that", "not enough clearance for those wash-outs" "those tyres will just spin". One of them had the smarts to comment that he'd heard the new Discoveries had some smart gear on board....I just smiled :).
The gaunlet had been thrown on the ground and the laughs didn't last too long when the D4 effortlessly....and I mean, yawn time effortlessly negotiated the hill. Well the truth be told....the D4 might have been yawning but I was pretty scared LOL!!!! However, it was made easy by the fact that it was just so sure footed....hardly any wheel spin or slide, so this allowed me to just steer through and around the problems. I was seriously impressed.
BTW....I noticed the others scratching their heads on my return...as my D4 had mysteriously 'grown' taller.....;)
I had no intention of doing anything crazy in the D4 as I was by myself (4WD wise) and am still getting a feel for it's capabilities. Most of the driving that I found was rough forest trails but I believe there are some pretty interesting drives in the area.
Anyway, was on one of the marked forest trails and found a road called Mine Road (?). I figured that this sounded inviting so turned down it to have a look. Came to a pretty steep, wash-out strewn gravel/rocky hill leading down into a cleared valley paddock. I've had the D4 over some pretty steep gravel before so felt pretty confident...didn't even bother selecting anything, just the off-road height. I get to the bottom of the valley and look up the other side....looks very inviting....pretty steep, narrow, mud, gravel, rocks and some serious wash-outs. The kids are egging me on but I chicken out as I was alone, had no idea if it was blocked beyond my sight, etc. It would have been pretty tough/scary to reverse back down.
I'm just about to start the climb back out the way I came in when three other 4WDs come trundling down. I move off the road, make my selections for the climb and have a quick chat to the others. In the lead there is a new stock Hi-lux or Triton, didn't look too close (diesel), a late model Patrol and a pretty old Patrol at the rear (both had lift kits and big wheels). They were going to have a bash at the hill but had never done it before so had no idea what they were in for. I was temped to tag along but by then hunger had overtaken my kid's priorities.
I head back to camp and a short while later the new 4WD returns also. They had got half way up and choose not to continue as it looked too hard and scary (had to reverse back down :(). As they were leaving the valley they bumped into some locals who offered to guide them. The guy with the new truck chickened out ;) but the others had a crack. The two older vehicles made it but said it was pretty scary.
As we were chatting in the campsite they made polite but mocking comments about the standard tyres and clearance of my D4 (it was sitting at normal ;)). "you'll never make it in that", "not enough clearance for those wash-outs" "those tyres will just spin". One of them had the smarts to comment that he'd heard the new Discoveries had some smart gear on board....I just smiled :).
The gaunlet had been thrown on the ground and the laughs didn't last too long when the D4 effortlessly....and I mean, yawn time effortlessly negotiated the hill. Well the truth be told....the D4 might have been yawning but I was pretty scared LOL!!!! However, it was made easy by the fact that it was just so sure footed....hardly any wheel spin or slide, so this allowed me to just steer through and around the problems. I was seriously impressed.
BTW....I noticed the others scratching their heads on my return...as my D4 had mysteriously 'grown' taller.....;)