Adelaide Jeep Club
 
 
 

Trip reports:  

This page relies on submissions by members.

• Trip reports can be emailed to Tom Brown as word documents or plain text emails
• Photos can be emailed as JPGs.
• If you can resize them to no bigger than 600px wide that would help, but is not necessary.

We are thankfully sponsored by:

Bendleby Ranges trip
August 2006

All photos are of designated 4wd tracks on private property

With several trips to the Bendleby Ranges prior to this one, members knew they were in for a great weekend’s four wheel driving.

This trip saw 7 vehicles up to the challenge being 1 Grand, 2 Wranglers (one of which was stock standard from the showroom), and 4 XJ’s, and there was no shortage of excitement and scenery along the way.

Friday saw us head up to the Bendleby’s, and since it is only a pleasant 3 1/2 hours drive from Adelaide, left us plenty of time for a drive in the afternoon. Once we checked in with our hosts we travelled to our campsite – Rhagodia, which is surrounded by the lofty ranges creating an ideal quiet and protected location.

Once camp was set up we headed off for a drive and tackled some of the tracks including the Kokoda Trail and part of Gum Creek drive, each providing their fair share of low range driving.

After a restful sleep we were awoken by the vast amount of birdlife in the area, and once breakfast was over we made our way back to the homestead. That day we were due to head to the Hungry anges, but before we left it was recommended that we try the purpose built ‘Training Track’ to get used to steep situations in a more controlled environment.

The training track sees you following a course down a steep ravine, then you have the choice of coming back up 4 different ways – each more difficult than the last. Only one vehicle made it up the steepest gradient, and that was only with the help of air lockers!

Sufficiently confident, we then headed over to the Hungry Ranges and headed down Yakka Gorge which is a very steep descent. Just before lunch we stopped at Aeroplane Gorge where it is said hat a bi plane crash landed back in 1927. After unsuccessfully hunting around trying to find any remnants, we headed back to the cars.

After lunch we took on the might Billy Goats Track which is very steep and rocky, and once at the top offering some magnificent views across the lower Flinders. We then headed back to our campsite and relived our experiences of the day around the campfire.

The next morning saw us pack up with two of our group heading out for a further two week holiday, while the rest of us made the journey back home.

Overall we had an excellent time, with perfect weather combined with a most scenic location offering a challenging weekend of four wheel driving.

John Cullen