Sandy Cape TAS

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

Finally got to do a trip that I'd heard about (and been keen to do) for a while, Sandy Cape on Tassie's far North West Coast.
Plenty of Horror stories (with photographs) abound about this run and the quicksand. I was going with a small contingent of vehicles from the Devonport 4WD club, so felt a little bit safer as there was lots of experienced drivers. Unfortunately the experienced drivers were already down there and set-up when we could go, but we had an ace up our sleeve, the guys from North West OffRoad were going to do a trip down and back to guide us through - until they sold the work landcruiser 2 days before we were to leave.
She'll be right, the guys down there said we should be able to contact them on the UHF and they could give us directions before we hit the main beach. A couple of us headed down mid-day Friday with more due to meet us that night after they finished work. Into Arthur River to get our permits and camping passes - only to be confronted with more pics of the carnage that can occur down there. First surprise for the day was the work being done to the Temma Road, so it can be sealed as part of the Tarkine Drive - letting the hordes in.
Once past Temma the real track begins. Nothing to demanding - with NPS having dumped loads of rock into the bigger bogholes (of course, we didn't actually know this until we'd stopped and assessed a number of holes)

Winding through the track we come to the begining (or end) of the Balfour Track - a bloody big rock step-up - so much for easing into a track. We both decided to tackle that one "some other time".

Things went along just fine with both of us taking turns as lead and encountering no problems

- until I decided that the "smooth" part of one hole looked good, that was, until all forward momentum was stopped by the black slop. Thank goodness I could eventually back out and take the proper path through it. We eventually made it to the Greens Creek camp site, where we were to meet the others coming down that day. We ended up camping the night here as the others didn't make it down until 10:30 that night, and there was no way I was tackling the beach in the dark.

[VKPrado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close VKPrado]

Good reading so far, keep up the good report.

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

Of course our calls on the UHF went un-answered in the morning (apparently the guys were still asleep after getting back from a rescue / recovery until 3am in the morning). The Thornton River crossing was in a new (and easier) spot, so we got past that relatively easily. Then into a tricky little dune that required a turn on the soft face (to dodge the large rocks). We'd seen a number of people do this and have to back back down to get a better run-up, but after we'd used the MaxTrax to get our first guy through we discovered a different path through the bottom rocks that had been ignored by everone else that gave a far easier run. From here it was a good, and at times bumpy, run down the beach, through Daisy and Wild Wave rivers and on to the Pedder River, which we hoped was near where we were to camp. Of course, when we were up off the beach, we discovered a few boggier situations,

Eventually we found the camp and woke everyone up at around noon.

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

After everyone got sorted and had a feed, we were taken on a bit of a guided tour, with one of the club members that had been going to the Cape for near on 40years. First-off he took us through the tracks and up to the lighthouse, and the final stretch of this little one was where I compleatly cocked-up my placement and "modified" my bash plate and side step on the way in (of course I continued the "modifications" to the step on the way out).

Then it was onto a nearby bay to observe the remaining skeletons of a pod of around 20 toothed whales

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

We visited a few more coves and beaches as we wound our way around the Sandy Cape headland and back and forth onto the main beach so we could link-up to some tracks whose entrances had been washed away or become too difficult in the last few storms. Eventually we got onto the Johnsons Head track and made our way through Sea Devil Rivulet and down to Skull Creek - the furthurst south you are alowed to go at the moment without a special permit.

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

That night, back at camp, we were entertained by some special visitors.



With the help of a well secured bone from a roast lamb (plus some snags & hamburgers) we had four different friends running through and around the camp.

[Marcus73 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Marcus73]

Looks like a good time was had

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

Of course, this morning the task of packing and making the run home fell to us all. While I would have liked more time down there, the wind was begining to pick-up and it was a good time to getting out, and airing up.

Now comes the task of cleaning and repairing my girl (although the Prado does seem to be the one that came out of it with the least things wrong and they were all my doing). looks like I will be saving for some sliders and possibly UVP.

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

Looks like a good time was had

Yep, I'm marking that one as a definate must repeat (as often as I can) it is magical.

[cfryback Find all posts View Profile Close cfryback]

So it would look like a lift, winch and recovery equipment is the go.

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

So it would look like a lift, winch and recovery equipment is the go.

All would be nice, but recovery gear (and possibly MaxxTraxx) only thing needed. I found the rocks on the last couple of hundred meters of the run to the lighthouse, the winch was used just to ease the Surf out of the hole he found. It could have easily been done another way as he was only winching off me for 5 seconds or so.
We had 3 recoveries for the whole time - one was the winch out in photo, one MaxxTraxx on the sand and a gentle snatch out of a little hole that the Suzuki got stuck in.

Oh, I wouldn't be going solo either. We saw a few guys go in by themselves, but I wouldn't have felt comfortable without another vehicle.

[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

Good report! I was there a couple of seasons ago, those whales still had skin on them then.

Maxtrax and recovery gear. I'd take as many snatch straps as I could find - if someone gets stuck in the river crossings you need to be able to help from a distance!

Hope you gave the Prado a big rinse when you reached Arthur river on the way back. You can't get to Sandy Cape without hitting salt water.

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

Was warned that if you step in the wrong spot, blubber can still ooze-up from under the sand - and once your boots are covered in it, you may as well throw them away as it's nearly impossible to get the smell off.

Luckily the rivers were pretty good near where they run into the sea, although one of our party made it spectacular as he got hit by a wave crossing one - he learnt to time crossings better after that.

Unfortunately couldn't stop at Arthur River - needed to escort another vehicle suffering problems home, I consoled myself with the fact that there was a lot of freshwater splashed around on the way back along the Greenes Creek track.
She's been well and truely washed now.