Montezuma Falls 4x4Author: jawapro
Date: Tue 24/11/2009 12:46 AM
My mate Tim invited me to come 4wding with him and some of his friends - but ended up pulling out so he could focus on replacing the engine in his Evo (melted pistons).
Turkey and I still went though. Turns out it was just us (along with Zeke) and a Patrol containing Jason, Russell, and Shane.
We drove down almost to Zeehan (quite a haul) to head into Montezuma Falls. I’d been once many years ago. That trip we had come from the other direction, but that’s been closed off and is now only a walking track.
The Montezuma track is an old railway line. Occasionally there are still sleepers from the old railway.
It was graded as a ‘medium’ track, and had quite a few puddles, climbs, and other challenges.
Nothing that would stop us though.
The closest we had to serious trouble on this track was when Jason almost backed over the edge of the road on this steep climb section.
We didn’t get any photos of the moment in question, as we were all too busy yelling at him to stop reversing.
Eventually the road ran out just short of the falls. There was a very short walk, and a suspension bridge to cross to the other side (which Turks and I found pretty daunting). The bridge wasn’t here last time I was.
Turks likes heights about as much as I do.
Montezuma Falls. Depending where you read, it’s either the tallest waterfall in Tassie, or one of the tallest. Not the longest single drop, but overall it’s very tall.
Zeke tried to climb to the top.
On the way back we did some tree climbing.
Instead of just going back the way we came, Jason wanted to try the Ring River Road. It’s considered to be a ‘hard’ track. I didn’t think we’d make it through, but was willing to give it a look.
Some nice muddy sections here.
So far the day had been great. I just wish we’d stopped there.
One puddle too far.
After I pulled Jason out - he did his best to convince me to give a go. Stupidly, I agreed.
My Padge went swimming.
I got mud all through the carpet on the passenger’s side (we had Maccas for breakfast).
Worse, I did something to the clutch, which had no pressure (peddle went straight to the floor).
I was able to drive out of the track, but on the actual road heading back towards Devonport, my clutch was getting worse. I could get into first and fifth, but that was it. Changing from first to fifth is an interesting situation.
I was surviving that - when an exclamation light turned up on the dash. I pulled over to work out what it was, and the car wouldn’t start again. Great!
We pull-started the car so the engine was going (for power steering etc) and Jason towed me home. On a positive note, my fuel economy was brilliant, and I had no trouble keeping up with him.
We rocked up at Tim’s (he wasn’t there though) and cleaned the Padge and tried to work out what had gone wrong.
The day had been brilliant, but ended with a broken car. Not exactly the ideal outcome from my first trip in the Padge.
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