Whilst it was a 'late notice' trip, we had 6 vehicles meet at McKenzie Reserve for the 9.30am start. 3 Toyotas, Alex & mate Tyrone, Gazza & Julie both in 80 series and Naomi in the Prado and 2 Patrols with Neil & Dutchy at the wheel with Dutchy's partner Jacki joining him.

We headed to one of the more difficult tracks, Rocky, to start the days proceedings and aired down. Both Gazza and Naomi had never been to Toolangi so it was going to be a new adventure for both of them.

To be honest, I was a little concerned about how Naomi would go on Rocky as other than a rear diff lock, her Prado was stock standard. Let me say, she did a sterling job..... Rocky Tk was dry as and even though Alex said he wasnt going to go up the hard section, he did so and Gazza followed him. Here is a some footage from the day  starting at Rocky with the Prados traction control working overtime.

After completing Rocky, we headed towards Flat Tk where Alex noticed a big issue with the Prado. The airbag system was not working, but after changing a fuse, it again became operational and Naomi did not have to 'pull the plug' and head home. After a mundane drive, we then headed up Pine Tk and made our way to Campsite Tk. A nice climb after one of the few river crossing in Toolangi.

The climb up Campsite Tk was straightforward due to the dryness of the track, as was the descent back down Martins Tk; is different when wet though. We had one more creek crossing before stopping for a lunch break.

The descent down Martins Tk.

At the bottoms of Martins there was a small creek crossing where everyone washed off the dust....

Time for lunch.

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Some good stuff there Allan.  We all had a great day using your knowledge of the area, I can tick off Aeroplane, Cockpit and Blowhard, but no chance I'd like to do them in the wet.......

For me Rocky and Lyndalls were the highlight of the day, After literally getting out of the car shaking from Rocky, Tyrone now wants a LS 80............   I think I've corrupted, sorry, seduced him with the V8 burble, bags of torque, lockers and soft suspension lol.  

Big shout out too all on the trip what agreat bunch of guys, and yes, Naomi, you are one of the guys :-)   Hope to be seeing you all again SOON we'll just have to pry Allan away from his dayt job to lead more trips :-).    

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sounds like a good trip ,great report

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sounds like a good trip ,great report

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Thanks Allan for putting on the trip and showing us some great tracks. It was a top day with great people. Well done Naomi on taking it to the next level. Great trip report Allan. Thanks everyone on the trip. Awesome day out.

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Glad you guys enjoyed the day.

After lunch we headed to Red West Tk, commonly known as Lyndalls. Again, this is one of the more difficult track in the area with a long steep climb and very shaley in places. We werent overly confident in allowing Naomi to drive this track, not because of her driving ability, but because her unlifted Prado might have a problem with a rock ledge not far from the beginning. I decided to send the other guys up and give their thoughts and general consensus was for her to give it a miss. I then took her up Lukes Ck Tk where we eventually met the guys who were patiently waiting at the top of Lyndalls. We then made our way to Aeroplane Tk. This is one track that the big boys like to play in and even though it is a seasonal closure, there have been times recently when the locks on the gates have been broken..... Heavily rutted and usually extremely slippery but now there is a bypass to all the vehicle swallowing holes. Luckily the bypass was bone dry as in the wet in can cause the odd issue.

Arrived at the bottom of Aeroplane and 4 reasonably standard vehicles, 2 Toyotas & 2 Jeeps, were entering the track. I did suggest they would not get up through the ruts, but the leader said; "We'll see". At least 2 vehicles didnt have winches so I just said "Good Luck". We decided to finish the day with Cockpit and Blowhard Tks, especially after seeing how dry Aeroplane was. We arrived at the beginning of the climb and a guy in a Amorok turned up and asked if he could follow. His vehicle was totally standard, on road tyres, no recovery gear and last but not least, he said he was a complete novice. We politely told him No, so he turned around and made his way back to Yea Link Rd.

Could not believe how dry Cockpit was.... Even after little rain, it is normally a little damp but today 'dry as a bone'. We all headed up with no issues for anyone and due to the dryness, the harder options were not difficult as we could all just crawl up.

Then onto Blowhard and again, dry as a bone. We were all able to just crawl up the normally slippery clay sections and at times we even had dust on this track; something I've never seen before. We then hit the bitumen, aired up, said our goodbyes and all headed home. As mentioned earlier, great company, some nice tracks, no damage or recoveries and even though we probably took Naomi outside her comfort, she did a superb job with the advice and encouragement from the other experienced drivers in the group.

Hopefully a few of the group will send me a few pics to post as most like to see some photos of the adventures that we 4wders go on.

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Sorry Al I only took 2 photos, I was abit lazy. I'll try to double the effort next time.👍

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Have added a few more pics taken by Alex.

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Simply awesome trip report and well run trip. Great job Allan and all who drove. Fantastic photos.

We did Rocky late in the day on Saturday too. It's a great track, the centre line is up there as one of the most fun bits of track I've driven. The kinda track I could spend all day doing it again and again.

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