Razorback Fire Trail - Wadbilliga National Park

[TheDougbus]

Hello all,

Has anyone ever driven the Razorback Fire Trail in the Wadbilliga National Park? I'm thinking of going down there for a couple of days. The park is about 50km west of Narooma and is pretty much smack bang in wilderness territory.
The trail is said to have amazing views of the NSW south coast and ranges.

I found the trail on a NSW state forest map that I use when I 4wd around the Batemans Bay area and I thought it might be worth the look.

I've tried finding information about it on the net but there's not much apart from a couple of dirt bike forum posts from 3 or more years ago that say the trail is rough going / intense with trees fallen across it. Considering the remoteness and the fact I'll most likely be on my own I wanted to find out anything I could before heading down there.

The alternative is to go on the Wadbilliga Road, which is advertised by NPWS as a 4wd route on their site.

Has anyone been on either of these roads before or have you been there recently? Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks, Doug.

[TheDougbus]

So... I drove the Wadbilliga Road and did a few tracks I know around Batemans Bay over the last 3 days.

The Wadbilliga Road is awesome but it's very isolated - take extra fuel. Most of it can be accessed by 2wd vehicles, but once you begin the climb / descent of the mountains its 4wd. The trail has awesome views and is in pristine wilderness. I was amazed by how untouched the place was. An absolutely top spot.

I gather it must snow in the mountains there during winter as there were a few road markers at the top of the pass were painted the hyper snow colours. I want to go back in the winter because the drive will be more fun in the snow, and hopefully there'll be more water in the rivers there.

On the challenge scale for 4wd this trail equals 0.01 out of 10 - so no it's not a place for hardcore offroad mud drownings but the river crossings would be hectic in this place if they get rain. Most of the crossings were dry when I went through them and two have concrete over the rocks. There's still water in the rivers though, just not much.

There's good camping at Lakes Creek campground (pit toilet in good condition) and swimming holes there. Fires aren't allowed over summer due to the fire risk but there are fireplaces there.

I did not see or hear another vehicle in the forest for two days, and most of the tracks marked on the forestry map that I had have been overgrown - to the point you can't even tell there was even a track there. So I'm guessing the Razorback Fire Trail is no more unless someone else knows anything about it. I didn't go down some of the hectic tracks in the place due to being on my own and no rescue car - I have no winch. I'd like to go back and see if I can find the Razorback Fire Trail though.

If you enter the track on the Cooma side you have to go through private property for the first 5 to 6 k's. There was one water crossing in the private property with sandy bottom and sand exit. On the other side of the water crossing there were no tyre tacks - so it had been a while since anyone had been down that way.

The track down the side of the mountain is unreal and is like the Bridle Track out at Hill End - Enough space for one car only and a 200m + drop off the side if you don't watch where you're going.

Definitely recommend getting out and seeing this place to anyone. While it's not a heaps intense 4wd track, it'd be a good place to get away from everyone especially on public holiday weekends when all the well known placed are packed out. And it has awesome scenery.

While you're there check out the Tuross Falls and the Cascades swimming holes - well worth it.