I finally got my first ever 4wd last week and its been a long time coming. After lots of reading and talking to mates my choice was between a toyota lancruiser 80 series or a GQ nissan patrol.
We'll the Nissan patrol won! She's a 1993 ST 4.2litre Diesel with 280,000kms on the clock with a great body and drives like a dream I couldn't be happier.
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Today I decided to take the family on our first 4wd trip. We drove down to the beautiful Port Lincoln National Park. I've been to the Park before but have always been frustrated when Ive been unable to venture and explore off the beaten track with my sedan.
We decided to travel south to Cape Tournefort and check out the rough weather crashing into the coastline. There's been a lot of rain this week down here so it wasn't long before we pulled up and engaged 4wd. The old girl handled the boggier conditions like a breeze and the car wasn't too bad either.
Getting closer to the Cape conditions changed to sand hills and my first attempt up the larger sand hill failed but with a bit more momentum and grit between the teeth the second attempt was easy.
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When we made it to the Cape we pulled up for lunch and enjoyed the wonderful coastline overlooking Curta Rocks with the full force of a southerly bashing into the shore.
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Once refreshed we set off toward Wanna at Sleaford Bay. The track between the Cape and Wanna is a fairly easy drive mostly hard limestone. On arrival to Wanna we were greeted with beautiful scenery, the wind was so strong we could barely stand up but it was nature at its finest. Amateur photographers were taking advantage of the conditions while we got some pics and headed back to the safety and comfort of the car.
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Our next destination took us West to a place called Salmon Hole. Being a mad fisherman I wanted to check out the place and come back another time when weather conditions were more favourable. Heading up toward the Sleaford Wanna Dune Access sign posts indicated to lower tyre pressures and to stick to the road access only. Being new to 4wding I haven't invested in a compressor yet so deflating my tyres wasn't really an option so I thought best not to tempt the journey until better prepared.
Anyway that was our first 4wd adventure as a family, everyone had fun and we were able to see things we previously couldn't in our sedan. It won't be too long before our next trip, tomorrow if you ask my son Jack.
Emu
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