GPS:
35deg 56.946S
149deg 44.848E
LOCATION :
77km NE Cooma, NSW, 300km round trip from Canberra. Halfway between Tallaganda and Deua nat parks.
TRAVEL TIME:
4 hours Canberra to Bendethra (inc fuel fill and 4 km backtrack at night)
GRADE:
C with B options
FACILITIES:
Drop dunnies, ample wide open campsites, plenty of firewood, fresh runnign water nearby, hysteric sites, no camping fees.
CASUALTIES:
front inner axle
rear shock seal
gps case
laptop ' key
OTHER STUFF:
No too far way is The Big Hole (mega sinkhole) and Marble Arch (rock formation) natural wonders. Both are available with short to moderate walking.
After a delayed departure thanks to a <ahem> password issue with my gps laptop and a 5 min u-turn back home to get another lappie I KNEW the password to I finally left Canberra at 6:00pm Saturday and embarked on a rendevous at Bendethra with Matt (a part-time TJ owner and fulltime Oilleak-owner) who was showing some friends (Nick, Emily and Indy) the area.
I had some rough idea of where it was : Canberra - Queanbeyan - Captain's Flat - Road to Major's Creek then head S to Cooma and turn off 40kms later into Tallaganda NP to Bendethra.
I only had one teeeeeny backtrack (about 4kms) enroute which found me at a radio tower and no more good track so I returned to the main road from Captain's Flat to continue as I should have originally !
After dodging 3 wombats (at about 100kmh!) out for their evening stroll on the road heading south to the Bendethra turn in I was soon bumping along the firetrails to find the camp site.
The entry was mostly 2WD with well-marked tracks but I ended up 4LO for some added braking once I hit the trig summit about 14km from the camp thenbounced down the trail (rescuing a mashed trailbike license plate on the track as a souveneir on the way) I rolled into camp about 10pm. A couple of ales round the campfire and a few million stars later and things were looking good.
The trip, apart from being a nice getaway with friends, was an R&D event for the Goatsack (97 TJ) as the morning I left I had swapped in some new custom rate 3" springs to replace the loaners that MattC had kindly lent me for a month or so.
I also had to knock up a couple of rear spring retainers (TJ's don't have em in the rear - how dumb !) so I wouldn't have a repeat of the last XWC round which saw the rear pass side spring fall out under big droop and wedge against the shock remote res line till it popped off (and took oil and gas with it).
Well the retainers worked great but the springs were a dismal failure - 4 soggy marshmallows were the extent of their spring rate ! I was bottoming out on the blacktop
before I even got to the dirt ! Well that was figured out - I needed stiffer springs... der!.
The other thing that got a good workout was the new steering - the best it's ever felt. Lots of tight twisty trails at speed and it felt solid as a rock. No clunks or groans and still no feedback from the 35" mtrs even WITHOUT a steering stabilser - very impressed !
I took a glam shot at camp of some of new gear including tube fenders and steering for your visual delight
See if you can spot the CJ owner looking for old Jeep parts in the background 
Anyway I digress....back to trip report
Next morning we had a lazy start. I chose not to eject from the hiking tent until the campfire was well under way and Matt had the kettle on the boil. Once I was up I checked out the Deua river (about a 5min stroll away). Pristine, clear and inviting...except for the fact I could see my breath about 15 mins ago.
A couple of games of cross-country Boule ensued (which I walloped Matt I might add!) and then I investigated a couple of hysteric sites again about 5mins walk from camp across clear open paddocks in brilliant sunshine. One a grave and the other a settler's brick baker's oven ruin.
We fed our faces around 1pm then packed up and drove up the track about 10 mins to the parking area for the 4km walk to Bendethra caves.
Emily and Indy weren't up to the forced march so the brave men-folk headed off. Nick, Matt and I found the going easy - but brisk. With an undulating track and about 4-5 small stream crossings and plenty of rocks and logs to cross on. After the final 350m climb up a fairly steep loose slope we were at the cave's mouth.
After the attractive sweat fest had dryed on each of us, headlights and torches at the ready, we entered the cave. This being my first real non-guided cave trip complete with squeezing though a couple of tight places on our guts.
It was very well set up inside with a metal ladder and a few chain handrails to help and plenty of batshit (the cave's friendly occupants) to get on our hands and clothes.
After an hour of skulking around the caves (and not finding smeagol) we found our way back out (sitting on my gps in my pocket and cracked the screen in the process - DOH!). The fast paced march back ot the carpark ensued and just on sunset we arrived back at the cars - the Goatsack and Matt's mighty Landy 130.
During the trip back to the blacktop just as we reached the Trig that marks the highest point of the track out the Goatsack shuddered and made a lovely grinding sound from the front end. Now pitch black and under spotty and torch light I pulled over and jumped out to inspect what was about to vacuum dollars from my wallet yet again.
The front pass side inner axle had Van Gogh'd itself - both ears neatly severed ! I couldn't beleive it had carked when I was going so easy as the srpings were causing me (and the freshly rebuilt rear shock with a temporary and too-small stock bumpstop!) considerable grief.
Thanking the Jeep gods I had the front hub convo to save the day we just unlocked the front hubs and I used 2LO and 2wd for the rest of the way out till we stopped to airup near the main road.
As an added bonus my kickass OnBoardAir(OBA) setup was rendered useless by my
airheadedness (LOL...get it ?!?!) in trip prep - I forgot the right air hose !
what a tard... Luckily matt's dodgey super cheap special came to the rescue to get the MTRs up from 15 to 25 psi...eventually
We dodged a few more wombats on the way home...well at least I did as unfortunately Matt and the crew sent one to wombat heaven with the Landy's sizeable front diff at speed. I shuddered to think how the Goatsack would hold up after a wombat encounter of this type but the Landy took it in it's stride. No damage done.
All in all a great trip with good friends and I also got to iron out a few more chinks in in the Goatsack's armour and test some sexy new gear. I'm also keen to run another trip here soon for the ACT JeepTrAction crew with an open invite any AJORers interested in seeing what this top relaxing sightseeing spot has to offer first hand so keep an eye out.
I found it's great to forget all about the competiton junk from time to time and get back to what 4wding is really about.
Cheers !
Bendethra(SE NSW)....HARDCORE ?!?!?!
