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first offroading in the Lerderderg forest
hi,
headed over to Bacchus Marsh this morning to pick up a roof rack from ebay. Decided whilst I was over that way to pop into Lerderderg forest. A bit nervous about going by myself, but there's usually others around. Packed everything in the Patrol I could think of; my entire tool kit, recovery kit, recovery tracks, water, food, sleeping bag....just in case I was there for a while! Anyway, some great tracks around there, some serious climbs and seriously deep ruts in places. Here are a few pics, as always they don't do justice to just how steep some of the climbs were! Don't worry about me standing near the winch cable, I had driven forward to release the tension in it and no, the Patrol wasn't stuck! I was just doing the first wind of the cable onto the winch drum, which needed to be done under tension. I did however learn about some tools I had missing from my kit....the pic with the logs in the river, a bit further up the track, the ruts were so deep that a Disco had popped the tyre off the rim (I came down that way earlier and the ruts were seriously deep). I turned around and went back up the slope from the river crossing, as they were digging it out (group of 3 Discos), but it reminded my that I need some tyre levers! I have to say, the traction from the Insa Turbo special track tyres was absolutely outstanding, in mud, rock, anything, awesome (just have to wear earplugs on the road!).
Oh yes, learnt something else too....after 7 hours in the Patrol, the metal frame supporting the seat finally works its way into your bum, I ended up cutting out a couple of sheets of foam (took everything!) to cushion it a bit!
