Thread: First Outing with the D1

Went to Otway National Park it was rated an easy 4WD trip. My first trip going off road with the Land Rover and going in the single vehicle and with the family thought it would be pretty safe.
Had a little trouble finding the route from Anglesea, but provided the opportunity to explore. Got on to Coal Mine Rd - gravel road, ups and downs -and stopped to take some pics of the black mining pit. Decided to venture off to try one of the tracks. Got on Batson Track which was a little, and then a lot more interesting. No more gravel just dirt. Some ups and downs which created the opportunity to go through puddles. After going through the second puddle relatively slowly, vehicle tilted in water over the bottom of the doors, wheels spinning, but managing to pull through by giving it a bit more gas, nearly hit a tree ( wow...now this was a 4wd experience), I decided to plow through the next few puddles as I did not really want test out the new winch while in water thigh deep. After a few more ups and downs got to a crest, looked down the slope and thought oh sh*t this is not an easy rated track. the rains had eroded 2 large channels down the slope. I had to manoeuvre slowly down edge of the track against the brush and over one over the large channel (1/2 metre by 1/2 metre deep). Made it to a point where I could cross over the channel and continue down the track into another huge puddle. Plowed through the puddle and made it back to another gravel road. Started heading west towards Aireys Inlet. The road was too easy and I wanted to get back on the route specified in the Victoria's Iconic 4WD Adventures brochure, so i needed to get back to Number Two Road. Turned around and headed east. Found another access point to Batson Track, so I took it hoping it would get me back to Number Two Road without any stress. This route took me back to the Oh sh*t slope. This time I needed to manuvere around the other big erosion channel. I parked the the land rover and we got out to survey to the situation. I considered reversing out back on to the gravel road, but I saw the possibility of straddling the large crevice staying on the edge with enough room for the tires. I needed to do a right turn to go up the slope. I sucked in a breath and gave it a go. Started into it and cranked the wheel. Oh crap! the left side just went into the crevice. It felt like were going to tip onto the side of the vehicle, all the loose items fell onto the left side. All I was thinking was that the winch was not going get me out of here if the car was on the side and I would need to call RACV to recover the vehicle. Luckily I was able to reverse back out of the crevice. I gave it another go. Oh Sh*t the same thing.. This time we got a little video. My daughter who behind me screamed, "I'm on top of the world". Backed out again and paused for a minute, took a deep breath and gave it a third try. This time I managed to get the right side tires onto the edge of tack and keep it there till we got to the top of the slope. That was a freaking adventure. It made the whole trip worth while. We continued on towards Lorne. Hopped on a couple of tracks, most were closed till 31 Oct. All was pretty easy driving. Went to Erskine Falls. Got my exercise for the month going down the steps to the foot of the falls and then back up to the car. We headed on to Lorne and then back to Anglesea along the Great Ocean Road. What an awesome afternoon. I'm loving it here.

yeh i took mine off road few weeks ago (but nobody commented on pics or video bastards hahaha). Yeh their a grouse 4wd... and i realised same thing, when in doubt punch it through mud