Thread: Scallop's Xmas trip with pics...

Hello folks - Kat and I just returned to Brisbane late yesterday following our inaugural 4500km shakedown trip in Grover - our new 07 Defender.

Well - the Rover didn't miss a beat - and we had all sorts of weather and terrain. No leaks - no dramas - 9l/100km with all our gear - and I put the rig on the weigh-bridge at my brother's stud and it came in a 2500kg.

We headed to central Victoria via the Warrumbungles and Willandra NP's - then home via the Snowy Mountains and basically followed the range all the way home to Qld.

Saturday 22nd Dec - We were to camp out on our first night in the Warrumbungles, however large areas of NSW had 5 inches of rain in 2 hrs - so we found a cosy cabin for night 1 before setting off on Sunday morning (23rd Dec) for Willandra NP - Here we are on the road to Hillston.




Willandra NP is a fascinating place, about 50km west of Hillston NSW. The original homestead has been restored by Parks and Wildlife NSW and it was open to simply walk through - noone else was there. We camped out a few km's from the homestead in the scrub...







Monday 24th Dec - leave Willandra and drive to Avoca Forest marino stud, Logan, Victoria. It was good to see the family and good to have my "pommy heap of ...." make it without any probs - the family are very much Patrol crew. Who cares? We made it! A big sunset was happening so we put our new Nikon D40X to the test...



Here we are at the Avoca Forest homestead - I was gearing up to eat my body weight in turkey and dressing...




A shot across one of the paddocks...



We made it through the Christmas / New Year period relatively intact - and now it was time to head East through Bright and Mt Hotham, via Omeo and the Snowy Mts home.

We camped out on the return first night at Victoria River near Omeo. A fellow LR owner arrived in his V8 disco and much LR chatter began...



The next morning was a great drive across to the Snowy River from Omeo - we went via Limestone Creek and it was great fun and beautiful country...



Here we are at our lunch stop alongside the iconic Snowy River...



From the Snowy River we kept heading north through Jindabyne and Cooma (plenty of Defender single cab utes with big waves going about) and ended up at Rylstone. This is a charming town near the Wollemi NP...



So now onto the home run - through Barrington Tops and the last night at Uralla...




So our new Defender is very pleasing - great economy, reliable, waterproof, top Air con, great gearing and very practical. We are now really looking forward to our upcoming big lap in May and may I wish to all here a very Happy New Year.

PS - Sorry I missed you Kevin - hopefully next time.

1. New Defender - you
2. a trip like that - you

glad you had a great time and a safe one mate, i will try and use your pics to see if the minister for war & finance will ok the purchase of a new fender in this house hold