LANDCRUISER MOUNTAIN PARK

On the day we arrived Down Under we were contacted by Roger, known on the board as "Kyro", who announced on ausjeepoffroad.com that we were in the country. From thereon several members of the Australia-wide board contacted us and invited us to their area. Throughout our trip, we stayed in email contact with Roger, and upon coming to the Brisbane area, we made plans to meet up. He organized a club run and we went to Landcruiser Mountain Park, an off-road park established in 1988. It's a huge area on private land still serving as a working cattle ranch and holds several 4x4 events throughout the year, some drawing as many as 5000 people.

We met up in Kilcoy and topped up our tanks before heading to the park. Nine Jeeps came out to play, some staying overnight for the weekend. After setting up camp, the convoy started the first trail. The terrain is mostly loose dirt with rocky sections. The forested, hilly property offered more than enough trails of different ratings. We were told that usually creeks run within Landcruiser Park and some mudholes had to be tackled, but due to a drought since the late 1990s the ground was bone dry. Nevertheless the group found plenty of challenges to enjoy. We snaked through Cruiser Canyon, ARB Alley, along Rav Ridge and Old Man Emu Way among a few. Dave in his gray TJ was leading the group and was looking for obstacles along the way to make the four-wheeling experience more enjoyable (pic01). And some sections prooved to be challenging enough to catch plenty of air for a good photo-op. Manouvering trough a narrow rock garden with boulders on either side and a crack in the middle required more than only articulation. The XXXpedition rig's rear tire did not stay on the rock and drove into the crack lifting the left front tire in the air (pic02). After getting all vehicles through safely we pushed on through the valley to a row of big boulders to be climbed (pic03). Navigating up and down the steep hills on loose dirt with many off-camber sections required our full attention. Erik in his Inka-gold Wrangler was filming and often chose a comfortable position with good view to do so (pic04). On one of the twisted climbs Rupert popped a bead and lost all air in his left front tire (pic05). Using the deep holes of the track he lifted the wheel of the ground and we reinflated the intact tire with our on-board compressor. Except this minor misshap and a torn off fender flare on our rig the group suffered no damage on this weekend. We stopped at a wide area and lined up all vehicles for a group shot where almost everybody took position for a good picture (pic06). At the end of the day some left to return home while a few of us stayed back to camp out in one of the few camp areas. We built a nice fire and sat around for hours talking and discussing ideas.
The next morning we tackled some more trails. Dave lead again and was in search of a challenge. We had to winch one vehicle up a steep hill on very loose dirt but otherwise had no hold-ups. We returned to the rock garden we had enjoyed the day before and manouvered our rigs over the boulders without major issues. It was interesting how different the trail was in reverse direction.

After a late lunch we packed up and passed by the parks office to air up and sign out. Again we made a bunch of new friends and enjoyed the time out with fellow four-wheelers in a great off-road park.
Thanks to Kyro for setting up a fun weekend...

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