Summer has a break between chemo cycles. Three days. I grabbed Dan, loaded the 105, and we headed west of Canberra into the Brindabella Ranges.
The Brindabellas form part of the Australian Alps National Park corridor, linking south into Kosciuszko National Park. About 18,500 hectares of alpine and subalpine bush, a network of 4WD tracks from easy gravel up to proper low-range terrain, and — midweek in late summer — very few people. Exactly what I needed.
Airing Down — MorrFlate Hub on the 105
The forest roads got bumpy quickly, so it was time to air down. This was my first run with the MorrFlate Hub on the 105 — I've been running one on the Hilux for a while and it had already saved me a lot of time on that vehicle, so I asked MorrFlate if they'd provide one for the Cruiser as well. They said yes.
The appeal is straightforward: all four tyres simultaneously, to a set pressure. I dialled in 24 PSI and opened the valves. All four came up at 23 PSI. Previously I'd been using the Jac PM for inflation and could air down with it too, but doing tyres one at a time adds up — especially when you're also setting up camp at the end of a long day.
For a vehicle like the 105 that takes a bit of work to get ready for the track and back together again afterwards, the time saving is real.
Tracks, Gates and the Road Less Travelled
Getting to Coolamine via our preferred shortcut wasn't possible — locked gate. We found a way around through a side track that ExplorOz had listed. It clearly didn't see much traffic. Sticks across the line, tight scrub, a couple of moments where Dan's Prado was reminded of its modest tyre budget.
One navigation issue worth flagging: ExplorOz on the iPad consistently drops all map data after the screen sleeps. Every single time. Memory Map restores immediately. When you're navigating unfamiliar tracks and the last thing you need is a blank screen while you're driving, that's not a small problem.
Choosing Camp
We checked a couple of spots. Magpie Flats was too busy — I don't mind people, but when I'm camping I want as few as possible around me. Maybe I'm getting old. We ended up at a river campground near Coolamine Homestead. One of the best river camps I've been to, and I've been to a few.
The Coolamine Homestead Cheese Hut
Before setting up camp I walked over to the homestead. The plains here have been grazed since the 1830s — squatters drove cattle up from the lowlands in spring and brought them back before the first snow. It's how most of the high country was opened up.
A snowstorm in 1834 ran for three weeks and killed most of the early herds. An Irish convict stockman named Patrick Wheelen went out looking for stray cattle and never came back. His remains were found on Long Plain five years later.
The building I was most interested in is the cheese hut, built in 1889. Log cabin construction with a thatched roof — you don't see that in the Australian high country, or really anywhere in Australia. It existed for a practical reason: cattle run up here in summer produced milk, and milk that's days from the nearest town means you make cheese. That's how you preserve it, transport it, and store it. The hut would have been kept cool and dark.
The thatching is now covered with corrugated iron to protect it, but from inside you can still look up and see the original roof. It's in remarkable condition. Worth going inside if you visit — the exterior doesn't prepare you for it.
I went back at sunset and again at sunrise the next morning. I'll cover the full homestead history in Part 2.
Lazer Glide Elite — First Field Test Against the Linear Elite Plus
Lazer sent me their new Glide Elite to test — the replacement for the Linear 18 Elite Plus, which I rated as the best light bar for its size. The Glide is aimed at a different type of vehicle, and the specs reflect that.
On paper it throws further: 624 m at 1 lux against the Linear's 576 m. That's despite producing fewer raw lumens — 12,800 versus 14,850. The narrower beam explains it. The Glide runs at 66° horizontal, the Linear at 84°. You're trading peripheral spread for distance.
For road use that's probably the right trade. For tight off-road country, I'd rather have the wider spread.
What the Glide loses is the yellow LED fog mode. That's a feature I actually used on the Linear Elite Plus and I notice it's gone. Mode memory and the momentary switch have also been removed, replaced by a dynamic dip function — a high/low output toggle. There's a Bluetooth button included, which is genuinely useful: no cabin wiring required. It does one thing though — on/off. That's it.
At 680 g it's significantly lighter than the Linear at over a kilogram. That's where I think the Glide is positioned. The low-profile curved design and light weight make it well-suited to vehicles without a bullbar, where solid mounting points are hard to come by. We'd planned to fit the Glide to Dan's Prado — on paper that's the right match for it. Getting a solid mount would have meant fabricating a bracket and pulling the front end apart, which was more work than we had time for on this trip. For a proper bullbar setup, the weight saving matters less anyway.
Price is $825 versus $1,075 for the Linear Elite Plus. That gap shrinks once you factor in that the Glide doesn't come with a wiring kit or anti-theft mounts — both included with the Linear as standard.
One fitment note for top-of-bullbar mounting: there's a slight lens protrusion at the base of the unit that reflects some light back onto the bonnet. Not a deal-breaker, and nothing like a roof-mounted bar, but it's there. Mount it lower and it's not an issue.
In actual field testing I couldn't pick a meaningful difference in raw output or throw. What was apparent is the more focused, forward-concentrated beam pattern. Clean and well-defined — typical Lazer quality. For road use, ideal. For the off-road driving I do, I still prefer the spread of the Linear Elite Plus.
I'll keep running the Glide and report back.
Camp — OnTap Roam and Dinner
First field test of the OnTap Roam camp water system. I'd already noticed at home that the rotary cap mechanism was leaking slightly — not a large amount, but water was getting out. My concern in the field is dust getting into that mechanism and preventing it from opening at all. More testing needed before I form a final view. The convenience it provides at camp is real — running water for cooking and cleanup without effort.
Dinner was beef rump steak with Campers' Pantry cheesy chive mash and tabouli lentil salad. Both good. One practical note: if you keep the Campers' Pantry pack closed after adding hot water, it holds heat remarkably well. I was standing outside in the cold for several minutes and it was still very hot when I opened it. Worth knowing.
After months of near-daily hospital visits, sitting around a campfire listening to crickets was exactly the reset I needed. Being in the bush is the best way I know to refill the batteries before Summer's next chemo cycle.
