The Start

The morning started with the four vehicles, two Patrols and two Discoverys, pulling up at the

Ourimbah service station. The associated passengers getting together to exchange pleasantries and

start with the usual wind up banter, "Good to see you made it on time for a change" and "Glad to

see the Pootrol made it this far" etc ,etc.

It was a gorgeous sunny morning with a smattering of cloud cover. Perfect for a day of solid,

technical grade 5 4WDing that lay in store for us. It was my first time to Daniels Point Road and I

must say I was a little excited and just a little bit nervous as the tracks reputation of chewing up

vehicles was running through my mind. Stephan had even pointed out that another group had gone

in just weeks before us for what was supposed to be a day trip and ended up getting stuck in there

for a whole weekend. Whilst I was confident that we would not suffer the same fate I was very much

aware that the track should not be driven with a careless attitude and without adequate vehicle

preparation. Speaking of vehicle prep, the vehicles in our little group are built, tried and tested for

exactly these types of tracks. The two Patrols, both 4inch lifted, twin locked and running 35inch mud

terrains. The Disco's, both 4inch lifted, twin locked with one running 33inch mud terrains and the

other 34inch Jungle Trekkers. All vehicles have a complete range of recovery gear including winches,

high lift jacks, straps, rated shackles etc, and all vehicles are well protected with bar work including

bull bars, rear bars, sliders and bash plates. All in all, the right gear for the job.

The Decent

Pleasantries and un-pleasantries exchanged, we headed off up into the beautiful country side that is

the Watagans. Heading up the road we pass the farm houses and small properties of the area and it

is not long before the road turns to dirt and the potholes start to grow in size. The private properties

are now behind us and the National Parks and State Forest areas are all around us. Time to air down

(hooray). Continuing only a few km's further down the road and passing under the HV transmission

lines Daniels Point Road starts to descend. It's at this point that surrounding bush starts to change as we drop

into the valley where the ground holds allot more moisture compared to the surround ridge tops.

Here it starts to take on more of a temperate rain forest type of appearance and the track is showing

the tell-tale signs of significant water flows with the ruts widening and deepening the further we

proceed.

All vehicles are now in low range and we are having to pick our lines as we descend deeper into the

valley. The call comes over the radio for a spotter as Kurt, the trip leader comes up to first significant

rut that would happily swallow the Patrol if the correct line wasn't taken. With guidance and careful

wheel placement all the vehicles were through the obstacle but this would now be the norm until

we hit the bottom of the valley. There are significant erosion channels running down the track from

this point that will keep you picking lines from right to left, testing your suspension's travel to its

limits and creating some interesting side angles to test your nerve. Of course, with any erosion the

softer dirt is moved away whilst the harder dirt and rocks remain. This is where you will need to start

taking care as the first of the big rock shelves and exposed boulders are starting to make their

presence felt. As we pass down through the last of the descent Sebastien decided he would check to

see how high he could lift the Patrol's rear wheel as he took an interesting approach to the obstacle.

Whilst it probably wasn't high enough for Kurt or Stephan to walk under it, it probably would have

been high enough for Sebastien to gain access for a quick look underneath. With a slight adjustment

in direction from the front wheels however the rear was returned to the ground without further

drama and we had reached the valley floor.

Mud, Mud and More Mud

Once hitting the valley floor of Daniels Point Road you only travel a couple of hundred meters before getting to the first

major obstacle. Mud, mud and more mud. As I mentioned previously there are significant erosion

channels coming down the hill, well this water needs to go somewhere and the entire bottom of this

valley holds bucket loads of it. From here until you start to climb out of valley again there are

numerous swampy areas and bog holes to negotiate. If you do not like getting your truck and

yourself dirty then this is not the track for you. If you are lucky and it hasn't been terribly wet in the

area prior to your visit then you will be able to get though without water and mud ingress into your

vehicle. If however it has been wet then I strongly suggest you prepare yourself for wet floors etc as

the water and mud through this area gets quite deep. As with most of these types of areas there are

multiple tracks through and around most of the deeper holes however, even the best route will stop

most vehicles. The worst routes will stop even the most extreme of vehicles with mud deep enough

to swallow 37inch tyred, twin locked, big horsepower rigs.

As we approached the first bog hole it was clear that we were lucky enough to be there when the

water wasn't too deep. This doesn't mean that it's easy to get through, it just means that there'll be

slightly less mess to clean up later. Kurt was first into the bog, tackling what we believed to be the

easiest way out of the three or four routes available. With a steady speed and gentle throttle the big

Patrol dropped downward into the hole and started pushing a bow wave of muddy water up and

through the ruts ahead. As Kurt approached the gentle climb up to the half way point of the entire

obstacle his forward progress started to slow as his diffs dragged through the ridge between the ruts

robbing the tyres of any chance of maintaining traction until his forward momentum was stopped.

Trying to reverse out met with the same resistance at what was his entry point and again the vehicle

was stopped. With diff locks engaged and greater momentum utilised it was quickly apparent that

the Patrol was not going to escape the bog and it was decided to recover the vehicle backward and

re-assess the situation.

After some discussion and much debate Sebastien decided to give the middle track a go. After

dropping the nose of his Patrol into hole and trying to point the vehicle around to the right it was

pretty quickly realised that the track was better suited to a short wheelbase Suzuki rather than a

long wheelbase Patrol. Not to be deterred, Sebastien managed to reverse the Patrol out of the

predicament and re-align to cut across from the proposed route back into the left hand route we

originally picked. Seeing some potential winching coming up from that decision I decide it would be

good to have another vehicle already across the bog to assist encase of some creative winching

angles having to be deployed. To this end we left Sebastien to do some track building in preparation

for his crossing and I proceeded into the mud following the same line as Kurt. Entering the mud in

second low with a steady pace and gentle throttle the 33s soon started to run out of bite as the diffs

dug in hard and I was stopped at the same point as Kurt's Patrol. After a couple of back and forwards

with both lockers engaged it was clear I would need to winch. With plenty of trees it was a simple

job to deploy the winch cable and within a few minutes the warn 9000lbs winch was moving the

vehicle easily with a single line pull. Only needing to winch two to three meters the disco was then

able to drive on through the remaining 15 to 20 meters of the obstacle and out the other side

without trouble. One down three to go. Sebastien, track building completed dropped the nose of

the Patrol back into the bog hole and pointed it straight ahead to cut across into the left hand track I

had just passed through. With a lack of traction in the deep mud as the front wheels tried to climb

the big hump in front of them and the rear bar hung up on the entry it was time to winch again. This

time we would need to first winch the vehicle forward a couple of meters and then reposition as a

sharp right hand turn would need to be made past a stump before he could continue on. After

winching forward Sebastien tried to drive and manoeuvre the patrol around the stump but was

unable to get the required traction for job. The winch cable was repositioned and vehicle was

coaxed around the stump with a combination of winching and controlled wheel spin to slide the

vehicle as required. It took a little longer but the Patrol was now free of the mud and out the other

side. Two down two to go.

Next up was Stephan. Having now seen the two routes completed he decide to go through the left

hand side as I had done. I suggested that having cleared a channel through with my 33's he would

have a good chance of driving all the way through with much more aggressive and taller 34 inch

Jungle Trekkers. This turned out to be the case and with a steady pace the D2 powered through with

only a small amount of wheel spin and was out the other side without the need to winch. Whilst the

diffs still picked up some debris it was not enough to stop forward progress.

With only Kurt's Patrol to get through he hit the left hand channel with a determined focus.

Unfortunately, even with 35's the larger diffs of the Patrol dug in to the mud again and forward

progress was halted. A quick straight forward winch of a few meters was all it took and the Patrol

was able to make it's way through the rest of the bog hole unassisted. All four vehicles were

through.

The next few bog holes were relatively uneventful. They are still deep in places and they would

certainly pose a challenge to stock vehicles, but all of us were able to make our way through the

remainder of the valley floor without further winching. Be aware though, if you choose the wrong

line through some of these holes you will be up for some winching at Daniels Point Road.

The Ascent out of Daniels Point Road

Once you climb out of the last bog at Daniels Point Road you immediately hit a nice smooth and solid piece of track with a switch back to the left and then you start your ascent. It's starts calmly enough but that doesn't last

long. After traversing a deep wash out through the middle of the track you climb a steep section of

track up through a series of boulders culminating in a rock shelf running right across the track

ranging from ½ to 1meter vertically. We were fortunate in that someone had done a bit of track

building before we arrived and by picking the correct line the Disco was up and over with a

minimum of fuss. Stefan's disco also climbed it but being a little further to the left it made hard work

of it as did Sebastien in his Patrol who needed a second go. Once on the correct line however he also

had no issue climbing up. Kurt, at the back of the line, climbed out first go with a small amount of

scrabbling for traction but all of us made it without any real dramas.

Continuing up the side of the valley we reached a section of track which is littered with loose rocks

and intersected with boulders and rock steps. With careful wheel placement this is not a major issue

although care does need to be taken. This section then leads into a deep erosion gully running

through the middle of the track. You have no choice but to drop into this, either at the beginning or

half way up, but you will end up in it one way or another. You then traverse the ditch until it comes

to a head. At this point you can either turn left out of it (probably the better way to go) or go straight

on up and over the rock shelf that marks the starting point of the ditch which when combined with

the angle of the hill is about a meter and a half of near vertical rock face. I chose to give the rock face

a go in the disco just for the fun of it (even though I had advised the other to go to the left) and

whilst I made it up I know I have never caught as much air under the passengers front wheel as I did

on that occasion. As the disco stood up on three wheels there was a point when I backed off the

throttle completely as I felt that it might not be coming back down. As it turned out it did and I was

able to gently apply throttle again and keep walking up and out to the ditch. Stephan dropped into

the ditch at the bottom as I had done and wisely took the left hand exist without any dramas. The

two Patrols with Kurt and Sebastien actually dropped into the ditch at the half way point and also

exited to the left with no problem. Onward and upward to the last of the obstacles.

The last big obstacles on this track are a series of big rock shelves all off camber to the right whilst climbing what is quite a steep slope in it's own right. Once you combine the steepness with side angle and throw in meter high rock shelves, you have quite a nerve racking and challenging obstacle.

There is a bypass track at this point which takes you up a still steep and challenging section of track but without the danger of rolling over. Stefan and Kurt had previously taken this option due to time constraints on a previous outing but we were all determined to take the main track on this occasion.

I was the first in line and after some careful consideration and walking the next 50 or so meters of track chose the appropriate path to take, I picked up 1st gear low and proceeded with caution. I knew at the start that this section would be pretty hairy in disco with the relatively short 100 inch wheel base. This section of track is steep and when climbing up through the rock shelves you end up with some pretty serious side angles to the driver's side. With the torque of the engine throwing the vehicle back towards that side also things can get a bit nerve racking. With only the rear locker engaged as I still needed to manoeuvre, I walked the Disco up and over the first shelf and steered

into position for the next big rock shelf. I carefully edged the front wheels up the shelf lifting the

passenger's front as it crested before coming down to rest on solid ground again. Unfortunately I

was just a fraction too far to the left and my driver's side rear had missed the rocks packed against

the shelf to lessen the vertical climb. With the angle I was on I felt it better to winch up this pinch

rather than risk a mishap. In hind sight, probably a little over cautious but there's always next time.

Once winching up the rock shelf at Daniels Point Road I was back underway and with some more carful wheel placement

and another passenger front wheel lift I was up and clear of the obstacles. Next up was Stephan.

After seeing myself go up and with some accurate guidance onto the shelf Stephan was able to

gently coax the D2 up the rock shelves making it look easy. Stephan was up which left the two

Patrols.

With the longer wheelbase the two Patrols with Kurt and Sebastien behind the wheel made short

work of this climb. They were certainly more settled than the shorter wheel base disco's and at no

stage did they look to be pushing their limits. Sebastien gently guided his patrol up the first rock

shelf and steered up onto the second and larger rock shelf. He, as I, was just a little too far to the left

and ended up bellying out on the step, lost traction and was unable to climb up. With some guidance

and some minor track building Sebastien had a second attempt and the big Patrol walked effortlessly

up the step. Without hesitating Sebastien continued up the final series of steps and parked at the

top without issue.

Last in line was Kurt. Having seen the line that the three of us had taken Kurt did his usual thing and

chose his own. Ok, so it wasn't as dramatic as all that. He approached the first and second shelves

the same as us and made it easily. From there he did drive a slightly different line but had no issues

and made it to the top without drama.

The four of us had completed Daniels Point Road in about half a day without too many dramas. The

only damage incurred on the track was a dented rim on Kurt's Patrol which also broke the tyre bead

and there were some muddy radiators which needed cleaning upon returning home. The winches

were only utilised in the first bog hole with the three vehicles and by myself on the last big rock shelf

with Stefan's D2 making all the way through unassisted.

All in all this was a great day driving once more Daniels Point Road and aside from some serious cleaning required afterwards to remove mud from everywhere, very enjoyable. I would recommend this track to anyone with some

vehicle mods who would like to put themselves and their vehicles to the test.