Tom Groggin day trip

[peter_mcc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peter_mcc]

We're heading down to Thredbo at the end of Jan for a week and I'd like to spend a day exploring across the river from Tom Groggin but I'm not sure where to go.

We've got a 150 Prado with a winch/raised suspension/AT tyres - I'm not so worried about us. One other car that may come is a standard Petrol 120 Prado with AT tyres and an inexperienced driver. There will also be an X-Trail and Kluger (who I suspect we'll need to leave behind).

How hard is the crossing at the Murray River? The maps seem to show many different crossings - is the only one we're allowed to use the southern one (ie turn off the tar at Tom Groggin where it does a 90deg bend up the hill and drive south past the campground).

What is the track to Mt Pinnibar like? I've done lots of searching and see comments saying it is very steep and comments saying it's not that steep... I guess the question is more can a standard Prado get up it without a huge amount of skill?

Is the track to Davies Plain Hut easier or harder?

thanks!
Peter

[spike69 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close spike69]

G'day Peter, The Murray crossing at Tom Groggin should be pretty easy at that time of year, pending the amount of rain of course! We did it in a stock Prado last year on our very first trip before I did any modifications at all. Yes it was the crossing south of the campground (I didn't know there was another one!). The water was fast flowing but only about side step level or a bit higher from memory. I'm not sure about the Pinnibar or Mt Davies track difficulties ( we didn't venture too far on out first outing ) - I'm sure others can speak to that.

Spike

[K & M McF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close K & M McF]

Davies Plain Hut track is very easy, at least when I was last there a couple of years ago. The track to Mt Pinnibar is much harder, in fact, in some spots it was awful. This is despite it being (then) only a couple of years old in the lower sections (the track was realigned to no longer pass through Tom Groggin Station). Any decent 4WD should be able to do with care (and a good driver) but an AWD would not.

Hope this helps.