Project Pajero
Day 78 – 93
13 – 28 November
Well a lot has been happening since we last updated the story on Project Pajero. Tony and Carol escaped to the coast of the York Peninsular in SA to try to escape the relentless heat. Whilst it was marginally cooler beside the water and the sight of a tractor out in the middle of Spencer Gulf was entertaining, (see the photos) the forecast was for scorching 42 degree weather, so enough was enough and they headed for The Murray. They made it to Renmark and camped beside the Murray for two nights, enduring quite hot days and nights, but their caravan park was right on the waters edge and they spent most of their time cooling off in the muddy Murray.
From here they followed the Murray to Swan Hill and had two more nights beside it, this time the Caravan Park was about 40 feet above the water so the entry and exit wasn’t so good, and this park was their most expensive yet at $36 for a powered site!
After two nights here and exploring the Pioneer village they drove down through Shepparton and Wangaratta to Bright. Nestled below Mt Buffalo, the temps continued to rise. I spoke to them on the phone and suggested a trip up to The Horn, which they did the next morning. This involves a long steep drive up the very winding Mt Buffalo Road, with the van still in tow. At The Horn they climbed the granite bluff for a spectacular view over the High Country. From here they headed through Bright to climb the main Great Divide to Mt Hotham, even the Pajero started to get a little hot, it was nearing 40 degrees in Bright and a wind that resembled a cyclone was blowing at the lofty Mt Hotham.
From here they followed the scenic Great Alpine road to Omeo and then south along its winding path to emerge on the coast with a cooler breeze at Lakes Entrance. However, they were not overly impressed with the Lakes or the Entrance, so the next day they packed up and headed for Buchan. They liked this spot a lot more and made an early camp allowing plenty of time to explore the underground caves. The weather had changed and they had quite a bit of rain overnight. Watching their progress on SPOT it was evident that their progress had slowed as they headed north to a place that is hard to find, hence its name Seldom Seen. This led to the Snowy River road via Suggan Buggan and then along the narrow and winding route beside the River. This road is unsealed and after the nights rain it was a nightmare of slushy mud. Tony inched along in low gear 4WD trying his utmost to keep the Pajero and the van on the road, he admitted to me later in Jindabyne that it was a very scary drive. From Jindabyne and now covered in mud, the first for the whole trip, they followed the Highway down Brown Mtn to Bega and made camp outside the town near a small dam where they found a few other grey nomads enjoying the peace and quiet. It rained yet again over night, washing off some of the accumulated mud and they headed north up the Princes Hwy to Batemans Bay and then back up the Great Divide via Clyde Mtn to Braidwood and finally to my Driver Training property just outside the historic town. I actually had the opportunity to catch up with them at my training centre and spend a few hours chatting about their epic trip. They stayed here that evening and listened to my brother-in-law talk for 3 hours, Dave gets lonely I think.
On Monday 23 November they headed into Sydney via Goulburn and stopped off along the way to thank some of their sponsors including Off Road Systems, Bushranger Products, OZTENT and Rhino Racks before staying overnight with Carol’s sister at Penrith. Towing the van around the industrial areas of western Sydney was an interesting exercise but with Mrs HEMA guiding them they eventually found everyone.
After a couple days they moved over to the GDT HQ at Elanora and spent more time tracking down sponsors and personally thanking them. The Pajero was booked in for a service with Artarmon Automotive and Eddy found one shock and one air bag that needed replacing, once again the sponsors at 4Way suspension and Polyair came to the fore and supplied replacement parts. Finally on Saturday 28 November they lumbered out of Elanora and up the Pacific Hwy to reach home at Coffs Harbour 93 days and 28,000 kilometres after leaving home on 26 August 2009. Well done T & C an epic trip, you have seen so much and all in a $10,500 4WD!
Don’t forget to read all about their journey in Overlander Magazine between October 2009 and April 2010.
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