Balfour Track & 4WD Tassie Adventure with Ulverstone 4WD Club

G’day all,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZLat1Z9400

I had been eagerly anticipating this track for quite sometime after many hours of watching videos and reading articles on Tassies West Coast and its awesome 4WDing that is everywhere on the West Coast.  The day had finally arrived and we were out with our friends from the Ulverstone 4WD Club again.  Can it get any better than sharing 4WD adventures in the company of great people and the knowledge that safety in number is readily at hand…perhaps on this track we may need it…

I had driven the offroad van up from Evandale the previous evening and found a beautiful spot on the coast (right on the coast, 5m from the waters edge) near Sulfur Creek, just outside Burnie.  I chose this location as a central point for the Balfour Track today and Montezuma Falls/Ring River Road Track tommorrow.

We woke early on Saturday and headed towards Smithton to meet with the Ulverstone 4WD Club at 9:00am.   I must say it was hard to get out of bed with the view from my bedroom window, ocean, rocks and beach…the fact that it was cold, windy and raining didn’t have anything to do with it either!

The drive to Smithton was interesting partly along the coast with great scenery and then tracking just inland through farming land.  I thought we had left our run a little late setting off at 7:50am with a 100klm ahead of us…yet we arrived just before 9:00am after catching up with Trish & Dick along the way chugging along in thier Troopie.

The rest of the crew arrived not long after other than Micj who was trailing behind and would catch up with us on our way to Arthur River.  All of this country was new ground to me as we had not yet got out to the West Coast as yet.  The drive into Arthur River was picturesque through farming land with the road seemingly getting narrower and a little more windy.

At Arthur River, morning tea was called and all the drivers called in at the National Parks office to get there vehicle permits.  To travel offroad in this area you must carry a vehicle permit or risk a fine…good news though the permit is free and is used to track traffic in this area.

From Arthur River to the start of the Balfour Track.  The road turned from bitumen to gravel to very narrow and compact sand.  When we hit the sand track hubs were turned in and the excitement increased.  Certainly it was time for me and Mick to point out…that as the only Patrol owners along we were going to have a busy day pulling out all of the Toyota’s…that banter is alive and well in this club as in many other 4WD circles…all in good humour I hope…

The start of the sand track saw a few shallow water holes which Mick just couldn’t avoid.  Everyone else was driving around…Toyota thing…but Mick was enjoying being a duck in water.

At last the start of the Balfour Track was on us and a small but tricky little rock obstacle was at the start to greet us.  It seemed somewhat unassuming but our leaders had a couple of goes followed by Trish & Dick who struggled with two wheels off the ground and no forward momentum.  Dick tried a few different angle before a little momentum saw him over the obstacle with a rather loud bang and noisy crunch…ouch.  Mick followed and so did I without too much trouble with the rest of the group held up while we checked the damage to Dick’s car.  Wow, a broken side window…it appears that the side step hit a rock hard and the shock broke the window.  Not good on a rainy day with deep water ahead.  Next the fixit job and look out what better timing for the heavens to open up.  Everyone ran for their car and Trish and Dick were there fighting a torrential downpour and strong winds taping up their window…who needs friends anyhow…

With Trish & Dick completely soaked, everyone else completely dry (other than Susan’s valiant efforts) we continued on.

Following the track we slowely climbed away from the coast along a rocky track with numerous water holes, some deep, some long, some deep and long and some very deep and very long!!!  The saving grace was they all had a firm base so it was a matter of good momentum and a snorkel to get you through.

The first major obstacle was a 100m waterhole, which looked deep but proved a relatively easy challenge.  After the first couple of cars went through the muddy track to the left was taken as more of a challenge…who else but Mick leading the way. 

With this obstacle behind us the major very long, very deep water hole was reached.  Tarps came out, electrics were sprayed with oil and everyone watched on as our leader set off through the water.  About half way along their was a dip and a period of driving with water over the bonnet.  A little daunting when you look out of your side windows and see water lapping around your door handles…I know when I was driving through I was thinking don’t stop…don’t stop…please…With our leaders through, Trish & Dick were next.  They got through without too much trouble.  Enter Mick who got through the water hole only to find water in his air filter…very lucky escape with a diesel engine.  Bushman Bud next up.  With some extra lift the water only briefly passed over the left hand side of the front end of the bonnet and no water found its way inside the car…phew.  On inspection of the engine bay though I found water sat on top of the filter box so the snorkel was certainly required.  A few other cars came through before our biggest mishap of the trip.  The short wheel based 40 series land cruiser, with low clearance, no snorkel and petrol engine attempted the unthinkable and sadly didn’t get very far before the engine flooded with water and shut down, leaving the car full of water and passenger swimming with water over the seat…ouch.  The 40-shorty was towed backwards, spark plugs removed and water emptied from the engine.  Lunch was called and eventually the 40-shorty was restarted and ran the gauntlet around the sometimes very boggy chicken track.  With all  cars regrouped we set off again.  There were many short deep water crossings before we turned off the Balfour Track and headed for Mt Balfour.  We were hoping to get up the Mountain but were stopped short by a massive, wide bog hole…which looked bottomless.  The ever adventurous Mick attempted the impossible and unfortunately didn’t get very far before becoming hopelessly plugged in the mud.  Rescue time, one broken snatch and before I could fetch my car for the recovery…oh know…a Toyota pulling out a Nissan…doh.

Without being able to conquer Mt Balfour it was onto the main track again and a few more water holes including one last hurrah, which was a fairly lengthy deep water hole.  No casulaties here and the question of what to next?

We checked the maps and continued on up to Balfour for a bit of a fossick.  The ”locals” who still lived there had set up a communal lean to with a nice fire place (that was still burning, much to the delight of the females) at the site of the old Balfour pub.  You could stand under there and imagine the tales being told over the years by the many visitors who had visited the old and “new pub.”  It was a nice touch with some history captured on the back wall.  We all had a gossip and told some tales of our own before heading to the pub for a meal and well earned beer.

Luckily I can’t remember the pubs name, but unfortunately my memory won’t be the quality of the feed, nor Mick secretly sneaking in for an entree before continuing on home for his main meal feed of Oyster…but rather waiting what seemed an hour and a half to get our meals…the overiding thing though was the great company of a great club, a beer with mates and some friendly banter about the days events.

Great day out for all, and thanks once again for the generosity and friendship of the members of the Ulverstone 4WD Club.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

Tags: 4WD, 4WDing, 4x4, Adventure, Balfour Track, Bud, Bushman, Bushman Bud, challenge, Free Camping, Offroad, rock hopping, scenic, Tasmania, Track, water hole, west coast