Take a trip an hour and a half from Brisbane into the Scenic Rim and you’ll come across the Condamine River Road. Renowned for its 14 river crossings, it’s a great route for beginner four-wheel drivers.
After recent rain in the region, the river is flowing the hills are green and 14 crossings are pumping.
High clearance four-wheel drives are recommended for the crossings. We put our Isuzu D-Max through its paces across the crossings and it did superbly!
There are a few things to remember when crossing creeks. First rule is, if you’re not sure how deep the crossing is, wade in and check. If you can’t comfortably wade through then you shouldn’t risk your vehicle.
When crossing, a handy tip is to remember to maintain a constant but slow speed. Too fast and you will push water up, over the bonnet and risk flooding the car. Too slow and you risk being pushed by the water. The trick is to maintain a bow wave. This pushes water in front of the car, but not so much that, again, you risk flooding the car.
The Condamine River Road itself is a little over 20 kilometres long and spits you out at the doorstep of Killarney, the perfect day drive.
There are a few other drives we could recommend in the region, especially if you are interested in getting more than just tarmac under the wheels of your four-wheel drive.
- Bellthorpe National Park – accessible from Stoney Creek Road off the D’Aguilar Highway. Lovely scenic drive, similar to Condamine River Road. Different tracks are marked with their difficulty, a good indicator for those new to the 4×4 game.
- D’Aguilar National Park – again, very scenic. More gravel than 4×4 but a brilliant track to whet the appetite of a first time four-wheel drive owner.
- Glasshouse Mountains Lookout Drive – depending on weather, the tracks can be very dry or VERY wet and muddy. Weave your way through all the logging trails behind the Glasshouse Mountains, then end up at the lookout for a touch of lunch.
A little more on our car… the D-MAX has been part of the Creek to Coast fleet for a few years now and all the crew enjoy using it. The car is very capable off road and has enough grunt from its three litre diesel to get you out of most situations. For more info and tips regarding all things 4×4 and Isuzu, check out their experiences page here.
