Trip Report - Walhalla 22/3/2008

Patriot · 22-03-2008, 09:10 PM

This is the first time I have been to Walhalla and it really is a great little historic town. It is nestled deep in the valley and is very picturesque.

We have left exploring the mine until next time, but based on a gold price of $600 / oz, the mine delivered $2,300,000,000 worth of gold, which isnt a fair effort. The mine closed in 1915 with declining gold output and a lack of men given the war. There is also a tourist railway that I am sure the kids will enjoy and the scenery should be very nice.

We took the Old Coach Road all the way to Brunton Bridge and crossed the Thomson River and then turned back around and crossed right back again.

The trip to the bridge is very scenic, and very easy. The trip is definately suitable for 2WD or AWD cars in the dry and probably in the wet. They were minimal ruts and the steep ascents and descents were very managable in the Patriot, although we did see a couple of tracks leading of the main route which were extremely serious descents.

We used the Rooftop map of Walhalla which was quite good. We navigated diligently until we saw a van coming back the other way and at that point we realised the travelling must be pretty good

The river crossings were good fun although I wouldn't want to go much deeper with the Patriot.

The scenery are the bridge is magnificent and we had lunch there before heading back.

All in all a great easy track through some spectacular country.

GippsSurfer · 22-03-2008, 09:17 PM

Sounds like you had some fun... I would have loved to come up with you guys... sorry, couldnt make it due to the missus and budgetry contraints!

Did you explore anywhere else today or just to Bruntons and back?

goldrush · 22-03-2008, 09:44 PM

Glad to hear you had a good trip but how about posting up some pics of the day.

Nickj · 24-03-2008, 06:15 PM

Yeah James

Pics please.

Nick

steve80 · 24-03-2008, 09:15 PM

Havent been there would love to go though

centaur · 24-03-2008, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patriot

This is the first time I have been to Walhalla and it really is a great little historic town. It is nestled deep in the valley and is very picturesque.

All in all a great easy track through some spectacular country.

Sorry we didnt get to meet you there, but we all slept in, then didnt get to setup camp until about midday.

In between traffic, damn supermarkets closed on good friday (had to do shooping on the way) and some long queues for Diesel, things were against us.

Glad to see that you had a great time. So did we, and they say if you dont break your 4by, you arent going hard enough, well, I blew a pinion seal in the old girl Cruiser, so limped home always filling the diff with oil....

All in all, a great weekend.

goldrush · 25-03-2008, 12:41 AM

Got it wrong there Centaur. "If you don't break your 4by it must be a Nissan." LOL

centaur · 25-03-2008, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldrush

Got it wrong there Centaur. "If you don't break your 4by it must be a Nissan." LOL

Goldrush, I met some people at Merringtons that said the same thing, LOL. Especially when I came back with leaking pinions seals.

Last laugh was had when on of the patrols went out and had to be recovered with a blown engine!!!

As they say, go hard or go home. People that say that must have a lot of money to replace their vehicles, I dont....

My old 60 series might be old, but she seems to be a tough old bird, and these items seem to be original, so have lasted a while.

BUSHNUT · 25-03-2008, 05:25 PM

Centaur,

Don't be hard on your old 60 series, I had one and it was bullet proof, petrol/gas and I had only did the head up once after 300,000, I sold her to a local guy and he took it around Australia without a hitch, people can leaf springs but once you have taken them into the rough stuff for about 0.5 of a KM, the rockier the better and you loosen up the rust that binds the springs, they are just as good as coils. If they do go pear shaped many a rig has limped home with a stout tree sapling bound with wire, coils are somewhat more of a problem .

A diff pinion seal, that can happen at any time, a 35 minute job for anyone of mechanical Knowledge.

If there is little or no rust in the body stay with her as Toyota havent made a decent rig since her drivetrain wise - you still see a lot of the old buses out in the bush.

Saw a couple of beauties in very good order up at the 4X4 national Gathering at Mitta Mitta at the weekend, over heard one being asked if he would consider selling it, the reply "no way Hozea!"

Blowing drivetrain seals apart from age is generally lack of periodically checking diff breathers, if these are blocked then any of the seals can blow, lucky it wasn't an axel bearing seal - a lot of people seem to overlook this simple device,as an added precaution you should put evtension hoses on them and put them up as high as you can into the bodywork, save you heaps of dough !

Happy Trails

Bushnut

BUSHNUT · 25-03-2008, 05:44 PM

Hi James,

You were fortunate that the river was that low as Brunton's can be very deep,sound like the river was well down- we used to take our bush virgins through there a good number of years ago, entering the water from the Eastern side invlove putting the nose of your fourbie under momentarily before getting level and going for it, I can remember once the front wheels of my old 60 series acting like rudders as we seemed to be afloat at the front end - well done for giving it ago

Bushnut