LLAMS had nothing to do with the suspension faults - I didn't even turn it on!
As to the trip:
I drove up Friday, along the Calder, fuelling up and turning off at Ouyen to Murrayville. Grabbed a burger at the Cobb and Co Cafe in Murrayville - fantastic burger!
Turned south to the Big Desert State Forest to camp and meetup with the party.
Next morning we headed west along the Fire Break Track to the Border Track south of Pinnaroo. We drove the track down to southern end of the one way section at Centre Track and turned west to Pertendi Hut.
We aired back up here - I had been on 18 psi which seemed to be about perfect. The sand was very dry and soft. I used Sand and Mud mode on the deep sand sections, the gearbox in High and Auto.
We drove the bitumen back to Pinnaroo, turned onto the Mallee Highway to cross the border and then turned onto the Border Track northern section.
We followed this until just north of Allen Road where we spotted a great little campsite just off the track on the right. Next morning we continued along the Border Track to Settlement Road where we turned right - east - to look at the meteorite crater that is Sunset Lake. It had started raining just after we left camp and by now the clay sections of track were getting a bit soggy and slippery so we decided to cut our losses and head for the bitumen. No point is doing track damage. One vehicle returned along Settlement Road to Taplan Road and out to Loxten and home to Adelaide.
The other two headed up North South Settlement Road - as opposed to East West Settlement Road we were on... - to the Sturt Highway and then turned east to Mildura. I headed back down the Calder, the other vehicle headed to Swan Hill and home in Shepparton.
I did exactly 500 kms Ouyen to Mildura.
We took this convoluted route because the first plan was to do the big dunes on the Southern Border Track as we were all diving vehicles new to us. We decided to do the Northern section once we were there. None of us had driven it before. We all really enjoyed it. There were no big dunes like the Southern section, but the driving was interesting, wriggling between the trees and scrub, with clay, sand and occasional gravel making up the track surface.
The roos and emus making kamikaze passes across the road made for excitement, too! As we drove out from the Meteorite crater the roos were standing in the middle of the track, drinking from the surface puddles that can only form on the clay. They must have been thirsty as they really didn't want to move!
If I was doing it again - and I will - I would start at the Murray River end and drive the full Northern section then the Southern - one way south - section, coming out at Nhill.
The map we use the most is the "Victoria's Deserts 4WD Map and Touring Guide" in paper and digital form.
Cheers
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2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee WK2 Limited
2017 Grand Cherokee Limited with Off-road Pack - Quadra-Lift, Quadra-Drive and Bash Plates.
