3 days, 7 vehicles and a whole lot of fun
LOCATION
Landcruiser Mountain Park is a four-wheel driving mecca and the ideal remote getaway that’s actually not so remote.
It’s a working cattle property in Jimna, about two and a half hours north of Brisbane, and when it comes to a few days of four-wheel driving fun with the ever experienced ARB crew, we couldn’t think of a better spot.
Park owners Alben and Helen know the ARB group well, nevertheless, a refresher of its tracks is always worthwhile.
“Within the park there’s about 10,000 acres so there’s plenty of room to get lost,” Alben said. “There’s over 200 kilometres of tracks and network through the park and half of them would be pretty hardcore.”
SET UP
As the park is a wilderness camping area, you can camp anywhere, but if you want amenities, there are four areas to choose from: Cowah Falls, Trakka Terrace, The Gums and Fig Tree.
Once you’ve found your ideal spot, it’s time for set up.
“The way we fit out vehicles has changed so much that the range is endless,” said Lachlan Brosnan of ARB Queensland. “We’ve got drawers that will hold the gear, we’ve got rooftop tents.”
“Gone are the days of packing the roof rack a metre high and wrapping it in a blue tarp. Everything’s got its own little bracket and we can really customize a set up to what you want and what you need so endless power and inverter, we can put 240 volt in the car, we can run a coffee machine off it.”
“I say to everyone think about what you really want and try and get as much stuff set up permanently so you don’t have to unpack it and set it up, it’s just open the door, there it is.”
While you can of course have all your creature comforts, really all you need is somewhere to sleep and relax. A swag, chair and awning can literally be set up in under five minutes!
That’s handy when you want to make time for the more important things, like ARB Queensland’s Heath Parry and his son Seth do.
“I just love that it’s not even the point of being here, it’s everything – it’s the adventure getting to where you’re going,” Heath said. “Then also when you are here you can just set up camp, you can relax.”
“These days too we find that the best thing about it is we switch off from the rest of the world in the sense that you disconnect, but you connect.”
FOUR-WHEEL DRIVING
Once everyone is settled in, it’s time to explore!
Mark Lacy from ARB Coopers Plains loves taking his GU Patrol “Destiny” out on these gnarly tracks.
After he purchased it stock standard, she received quite the makeover with an ARB bulbar and side rails, a winch, lights, Safari Snorkel, Old Man Emu Suspension and ARB Air lockers (front and rear) just to name a few.
“You learn to trust the car, you’ve got to feel it,” he said. “They are a very personal thing and you do grow to give them a pat on the dash and go ‘good girl, good girl, we made it up’.”
Gary Woodhead from ARB Jindalee is in his JL Wrangler and describes exactly the important role of diff locks on his vehicle.
“In a conventional four-wheel drive, one wheel will spin and then the other one will take over depending on which wheel has the traction so in a lot of cases when one wheel loses traction it would have lost traction all together,” he describes. “Where as when you put a diff lock in, it actually locks the rear axel and then you’ve got constant drive on each axel.”
It also really helps when driving on challenging tracks to have a spotter on the outside watching and instructing exactly where your wheels are going.
Of course, even with the most kitted up vehicle, you’ll need a recovery kit in case you end up in a sticky situation.
The ARB Recovery Kit includes winch extension straps, shackles, snatch blocks and dampeners.
You will of course also need a winch. Nick and Jacob in the GQ have the Warn 8000 High Mount.
LEISURE
When it comes to beautiful spots on the property, there’s plenty to choose from including the big dam just off Camp Road, allegedly stocked with Bass, and Cowah Falls, a freshwater lagoon surrounded by majestic rockscape.
Travelling away from camp would usually mean you would have to have brekky before you depart but ARB’s brand new Slide Kitchen built for the wagon range rather than the dual-cab means the breakfast burritos don’t have to wait!
It has a reversible three-burner gas stove, drawer, spice rack, plenty of bench space and even a kitchen sink.
Head to Landcruiser Mountain Park and discover its gems for yourself – as you can see they are vast and varied.
Of course, you’ll want to make sure your four-wheel drive is prepped so head to your local ARB store to get your hands on any of the gear from today’s show.
Visit www.arb.com.au to find your nearest store and to check out any of the products online.
