BreakawayOffroad4x4.com.au

Unlike many of our other day trips this year, the weather was sunny with virtually no clouds to be seen.

With Cuboid, Capella_Ben and Dave (and various family members from each group) meeting at the BP on the highway at 8:30am, we headed off soon after to Bellthorpe National Park.

Another entering the National Park, we saw the tracks well graded and marked with an "easy" rating. We even kept up some speed on the gravel tracks.


Between the 3 vehicles, we needed to stop a dozen + times to remove sticks jammed underneath. Some were smaller sticks, and some were the size of branches.


It wasn't long be we reached a "moderate" rated track, and some descents were indeed steep and rutted.



Some of the sticks across the road were bigger than others. Vehicles with a "lift" had no problems clearing this "stick".


Some tracks were heavily overgrown, and it wasn't always easy to see the path.



After a break for morning tea, we continued travelling around the tracks. Again we had some steep climbs and descents.
Later we stopped for some lunch on a ridge, we continued along the tracks until we some tracks with a "difficult" rating.


After travelling down 100m metres along a "difficult rated" track, we had to backtrack as the track was too eroded. And then while continuing to travel along the main track, we had to climb a steep hill. Picking the "lines" and wheel placement was the key, but all 3 vehicles made it up without too much of a problem (excluding a racing heartbeat).
A couple of videos which include the accent will shortly appear on this site.

Towards the end of the day, we passed by some wild-life.


We eventually stopped at the old saw mill to pump up the tyres.



There were many more tracks to explore, and in general, the tracks were far better than expected. It will definitely be on our list to explore again, and possibly camp near by to allow virtually 2 days to test out some of the more challenging tracks. It was a great day out, and I certainly enjoyed the tracks. I my option, this was by far the best national park we have visited.

Thanks
Dave.

This place was really surprising. There were some hills that were too steep and rough for us to try in the time we had. Plenty of challenges here!

Some of my photos:






Going home was pretty quick. It only took 3 minutes.

It got too dark towards the end to see the traffic. Maybe install 6 100W HID lights on the roof. If the police ask about the lights, you can tell them they are needed for the video.

But the time lapse video is nice.

Thanks for the trip report Dave, it was a good day out. One correction though, we never actually made it to Conondale National Park, we were in Bellthorpe for pretty much the whole day.

We didnt take too many photos, but here is one of the rutted muddy descents we found

Thanks Cuboid .... I thought they looked like Bellthorpe trees rather than Conondale trees.
We definitely need to head back for another explore. Certainly the best national park regarding tracks I've been to.

When cleaning the car, I noticed it wasn't too muddy, but I see the mud had a fair amount of clay in it. So the tracks could be interesting in the wet.

Looks like it was a great trip, thanks for the prompt report. Did you need a gate key for this trip?

No key was needed. And I didn't see any obvious sign that the tracks are only for 4x4 vehicles.

Oh - I forget to publish one more photo. Just of some flowers on the side of the road. I have no idea what they are, but I assume they are not some type of weed.