NSW- Coffs Harbour/Mt Coramba Recce 3rd-4th May 2014

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I had heard a lot of great feedback on the 4wding down at Coffs Harbour, including some absolutely cracking 4wd tracks ranging from mild to extreme, lush vegetating, mud, rocks, mountains, beaches you name it.
So not wanting to commit others to a full trip before we knew what it was like (Indeed where we were going where a vehicle rolled the week before and others suggested lockers and winches would be required if wet.)
So I planned a recce trip with Rob_Macca and CraigM as the advance party to check it out.

Speaking to some local rangers and I had a rough plan for our incursion south of the border. The plan was drive down to Coffs via the M1, and spend two days in and around the trails of Mt Coramba in the Orana East state forest with a bush camp Saturday night

Rob turned up at my place pre-dawn Saturday in the mighty little Zook , a quick coffee to kick us into gear and we were away, meeting up with Craig on route. Its a solid four and a half hour drive south but lucky at that hour there was very little traffic.


Arriving in Coffs, the Little Zook needed a refill of go–go juice(small petrol tank) and then we were away up to Sealys lookout and the forest sky pier in the Bruxner reserve via a windy road through some banana plantations.






nA amazing view where you see right over the coast and surrounding area.
Did you know- In 1970 Queen Elizabeth II visited Sealys Lookout?...








The vehicles lined up for action after a quick bite for lunch



So heading down from the lookout, we came to the start of Rover trail. Here we aired down, I was running about 24psi in the Mickey Thompsons which worked well soaking up all the bumps and give great traction all weekend

I had already mapped out all the tracks we would take and loaded them up for navigation
Rob kindly real time mapped the ones we drove on with his GPS in the Orana East State forest , so I posted this image up here for context.



Rover trail has some steep clay and rocky sections. Once wet it gets very slippery and adds to it difficulty. For us though the trials were reasonably dry.
You are into low range straight away from the beginning of the climb. The camera doesn’t do justice to the actual steepness.





The little zook in action


Craig getting some tilt and flex






Continued Post 2

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Beginning of the downhill run.




We then came across a rocky section that dropped away where we met some dirt bikes head on. As I waved them up, the lead rider gunned it just to crash his bike on the rock ledge. Ouch.
We worked out the best line to get down, which required a little bit of track preparation. Firstly the protruding tree root need to be removed. Cue crazy man oops I meant Craig ;-) with his Axe. I am sure I saw the evil smile as he hacked it up out of the way.
Then it was some dirt and rocks to fill in parts of the holes and away we went. Thanks to everyone guiding it all went straight forward nice and slowly so no damage


Rob coming down , just aft this picture is the steep drop off.




We then followed Rover Trail out to Polyosma Rd, where we turn left into Pilbra Rd , then up Mount Coramba road. It was now the tail end of the day and my plan was bush camp on the other side of Mount Coramba on Cyclone Trail.
So from here we followed Aspley road which was recently graded for part of the way which lead onto Boffs road. Some low lying mud was found along the way as well to have fun in.

Next we came across a particularly nice long steep hill climb, no chicken track for us. I was first up. The Prado did us proud with the traction control light flashing like a strobe light. If this would have been a bit wetter we would have had much more difficulty I reckon.
Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of that bit.
Great to watch the Rob and Craig give it the right boot and climb up behind me.

As light was fast disappearing we found a small cleared area off near the top of Cyclone trail for camp. Not toilets and showers as we were bush camping, so it was dig a hole with your shovel...
Sorry my only blurry photo but shows the spot where we stopped
Craig got out his new Oztent, and was first setup. Richo would have been proud as Craig called out "Done…..."




There was no fire ban in place and it was ok to have controlled fires, which was great news as it was getting cold quickly, so we went foraging for some wood. Earlier we had passed a few big dead trees that had fallen across the track , which Craig and myself went back and picked up. So we got some good firewood and did our bit to clean up the wood off the tracks for the rangers. Win Win.




Once the fire was up an going and cold beer or two in hand we all kicked back looking at the billion star night sky
Realising it was getting colder quickly, we knew we need a bigger fire and some decent heat.




Craig fired up his new lightbar and what a ripper it is. In this country is runs rings round traditional spotlights in my view. A great reach but excellent side lighting. I would go so far as to say with high beam and the lightbar you really don’t need the spotlights.




Mental Note - Dont look into the light…..


The boys retrieve more wood from a dead tree. Rob did his best to try and saw his Finger off as well.....




Mission accomplished with a raging fire, we cooked up some fantastic steak and salad( DanL you would be proud of me) kicked back with beers to relax by the fire. Of note we the rare snoring beast that came out later in the night which seemed to be coming from said oztent / swag.…..





Continues Post 3

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Sunday
Bight and early we woke to a cracking sunny but nippy day.
A breakfast of champions was cooked up in the form of Bacon, eggs, mushrooms and cheese. Delicious.
This was washed down with some cold press latte bottles I had brought along for our morning coffee fix. These are a trip regular for us now.





With Camp packed up, as we were about to leave , Rob noticed an oil leak under Craig’s Prado. Turned out he had oil in his locker air lines, which we blowing our on usage. Cue the jokes about blown seals…. A quick clean up and we were away

This morning we skirted around Mt Coramba to Morbid trail via some lovely green forest.






This led on the start of Morbid trail. The rich red clay was only slightly wet, so still a straight forward but enjoyable climb.




Video of the Zook here (to come)

Rob climbing the trail here





From here is was a short drive to the top of Mt Coramba with some excellent views as we were about 980 metres above sea level






Continued Post 4

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Next was down to do a couple of harder trails. First up was Commando Trail.
We circled around to its base and ran into a few mates of Robs who were out in Zooks as well.
(Later we we to find out one rolled shortly after on the track as well )

We dropped a few more psi out of the tyres for traction as we knew it would be a bit slippery . Rob went up first followed by myself and craig.
Its a fantastic track, plenty of deep ruts from the recent rain, lose scabbly rock where precise wheel placement was required. The traction control was having a field day but the 4wd scrambled up fine.
I didn’t get many photo of this. With some rain rain this would have been winching time I expect but it was pretty dry for us. Once at the top we decided to do it in reverse which was also a great fun.



It as well after lunch but this stage, so we went around to give Army road a crack. In no way should this be called a road. It was instead a very rough trail. So we headed up to see how far we could get. On this exact track a Nissan Patrol had rolled the week before when I was researching the tracks, so we took it nice and easy.
Was ok for a while but challenging most of the way up until we go to some very steep ledges and ruts. All of which would turn a prado over. There were three areas in particular which would stop us that were very steep with large steps up that had been opend up with rain , with off camber drop aways and deep ruts.





We just didn’t have enough ground clearance, so the only option would be to skull drag the vehicles over on the winch, with only a couple of hours left and not wanting panel damage, we elected discretion was the better part of valor in this instance.



So a late lunch it was, in nice little clearing we went past earlier
We cooked up some sausages, onions and mushroom sarnies for everyone which went down great.




So there was just time for a quick few last trails before we hit the road. So we headed down Slip road and we come across a nice little creek in the rainforest




Then it was up Aspley Rd, on to Mt Cormnba Rd for the last track of the day which was Bex trail. A straightforward run that led on to Rover trail once again.

We stopped to Air up in the same sport as at the start of the weekend.





Note Craig’s new organic bonnet strut J




Once aired up, it was a four and a half hour drive home arriving about 10pm Sunday night back in Brisbane

Over the two days we did about 850Kms with about 60kms of proper 4wding and we only scratched the surface of what it had to offer.
We got some great first hand knowledge of the tracks and camp areas to plan a proper PradoPoint long weekend back there later in the year if others want to come along and to meet some of the NSW crew.

I would like to thank Craig and Rob for the great company over the weekend which made it such an enjoyable trip and I am sure they have some ripper photos to share as well.
Done…

Cheers
Robert

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Looks like a fun trip, Thankx for sharing.
Some decent looking tracks out there.

[CaLLaN 52 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close CaLLaN 52]

Great pix, wouldn't mind moving up that way, any jobs going??

[rob_macca67 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close rob_macca67]

Yes, a Fantastic weekend and a big thanks goes to Robert for his planning and Craigm too for the good company. I love doing exploring trips and didn't want to miss this one for anything. I've heard so much about that area and after doing some research on the place, I knew we would be in for a great weekend.... The little zook did well just to go that far and the tracks the Zook loved but some of the tracks I must admit that I wouldn't take my (actually the missus) Prado down and this is why I love taking the zook to these sort of places as I don't mind the odd scratch / dent, etc..... It's worth a lot less than the Prado
For me the start of the tracks started with some strange noises coming from the little zook that worried me.... but I couldn't find what is was.... otherwise it performed faultlessly..... to the point that the little zook was a guinea Pig on a few of the tracks

I finally got home Sunday night at around 10.30pm with the next day being clean up time and I finally found what the mysterious noise was.... a broken LHS Engine mount + Front LHS Body mount bolt broken too..... I believe these were broken on my last Glasshouse Trip with some other Zook Drivers.....

I'll post some pics later but I'll put some links here: Coffs Harbour Recce Trip Weekend Pics

Triplog of the weekend: Coffs Harbour Recce Trip Weekend TRIPLOG

[Fearless Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fearless]

G'day Gumboot

You did much the same tracks we did over Easter. Regarding the Patrol that rolled, the group I was with did the actual recovery. The NSW coppers called us over the UHF as we were just coming up Commando and the side track. I had to winch up part of the side track as I misplaced a wheel, nearly flipped it.

The young bloke in the patrol had only just had it a week and had not insured it. He was most grateful for the assistance. Took about 1 1/2 hours to recover.

We are looking forward to going back to Coffs region for more fun.

Cheers and beers

Frank

[gumboot Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close gumboot]

Frank,
It is a great spot down there isn't it.
When we organise a return trip, hopefully we can all meet up.

You need a sticker on your prado now - Nissan Recovery Vehicle ...
Cheers
Robert

[Fearless Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fearless]

Hi Robert

Just a PradoPoint sticker. I just watched the recovery.

Will be very interested in a trip back down.

Frank

[Darran K Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darran K]

Awesome. thanks for sharing Rob.. Would love to go down there on a GTG at some point.. Been there heaps but not 4WDing.

[rob_macca67 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close rob_macca67]

Thought I'd post a couple of pics:


Old vs Newish



Great way to start the weekend off:



CraigM getting down and Dirty:



Small glimpse of what Lies ahead (Rover Trail):

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More Pics:
Robert working out a Plan of attack:



The Solution:




Craigs turn:

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More Pics:


The Track ahead



Nice little hillclimb:



Campfire to keep us warm:

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Start of Morbid Trail



The Guinea Pig Zook up front:



Gumboot coming up



CraigM's turn: