Thread: FL2 Victorian High Country

i have returned from the victorian high country (2010 fl2 td4 - running 16" 225/75 maxxis buck shots) last week in april 2012 - travelled in convoy with a 2005 d3 and a 1990 range rover 3.9 petrol- the fl2 is extremely capable off road - spent a week travelling around and camping (rain and snow) the following tracks covered were rated 'black diamond' hard in the dry we covered these tracks in the wet and snow - if you know the high country these are difficult tracks -

monument track to craigs hut - rough and rutted

clear water track from craigs hut to mount sterling (parts of this track were extremely rutted - the fl2 was at its limit (as in not damaging anything)

the circuit road was partially closed to a land slip which forced us to travel the above tracks to visit craigs hut in the snow - all other tracks in the high country were wet - but passable

decent of billy goat bluff track from the pinnacles - starts at 1200m - drops 7km down to the river - heading down before the heli pad - the track has been chewed out bad by the boys running lifited vehicles with big tyres (took us 1 hour 15 minutes to decend from top to bottom- using hill decent) brakes smelt good ! stopped at the heli pad to let the brakes cool - there was an abandoned vw toureg on the track about 500m from the top (step section) of billy goat - you could just ease past - the dargo pub had all the guff on the vw - apparently the vehicle overheated on the way up and the main ecu shut the motor down and would not restart ( they were on a tag along tour - fund raiser) - how do you retireve this ? - helicopter, dozer, take the technician up -

no underneath damage to the fl2 and was never stopped and really did not look like getting stuck - wheel placement was vital - I had to hit almost every rock 'gently' of course I could find to keep the under side undamaged and to aviod being hung up -

on our way to the pinnacles at licola there was a 'mexican' fella who knew the area well in a lifted and muddy tyred defender td5 late model and this bloke said that there was no way the fl2 would descend billy goat with out damage and being out of control - this was after us travelling the above tracks around craigs hut -my mate in the d3 told him he would be surprised by the fl2 capabilities.

dont let any body tell you the fl2 is a suv just because it does not have low range

I came down there on 1st May 2012 in misty damp conditions with 13 vehicles including 2 Foresters, one of which was a stock standard single range auto with road tyres. Taken nice and steady we had no problems at all even though the lower section was a tad greasy.
The VW was not sighted ..................... although we didn't look over the side.

I commented a number of times that I would have liked to see how much easier a Freelander 2 would have handled not only this track but a few others that we introduced the two 'soft roaders' to during our nine day VicHigh Trip. Although the SuperRoos did need a little assistance (for safety reasons) from the Land Rover recovery vehicles in the convoy on a couple of occassions.





And crossing the Mitta Mitta at Taylor's Crossing ............ with tow strap between LAndy and Forester - which did get moved sideways by the swift flow.