We couldn’t be in Tassie, with weather as good as we had it, without testing out the old Troll on the infamous Balfour Track just up the road from base camp!

The day after Boxing Day and a few hangovers well set in, we decided to tackle the Balfour. We had seen many videos showcasing the treacherous conditions, heard many stories of the Balfour being closed majority of the time and mixed opinions on how many hours and potentially, days, the track could take to complete.  But as luck has it, we arrived in perfect conditions, the Belfour was open and the local ranger believed it was in a somewhat good condition compared to other times of the year.

All the great conditions in the world would still not have stopped the butterflies in our tummies when we hit the first major crossing. We must admit, it was good to have a crash test dummy in the form of a Toyota Land cruiser piloted by Jon Tucker and the Tucker clan taking the leap of faith before us. Although the track itself was no exceptional challenge, the major water crossing was 70 meters long and over 1 meter at its deepest point, covering the bulbar and seeping slightly through the car door seals and soaking the edges of the Trolls carpet.  It seemed this crossing had intimidated a few other 4WD’s in the past, as there was a “chicken track” on either side of the crossing. Although it was tempting, it was clear that the chicken tracks were in fact mud holes waiting to get a hold of a touring 4wd. We were warned by local rangers to stick to the main track with its solid base to avoid the recovery fee that others before us have paid.

We found that a car engine makes some rather strange noises when its submerged in water. We didn’t know who was going to last the longest, the car or us as we held our breath while the car crawled inches at a time over the 20 odd meters when the engine was fully submerged.

After a water crossing that gets your blood running that fast, some of the other shorter crossings with softer bases didn’t take our breath away quite as much.

All-in-all, the track was another adventure and tick off the bucket list that we wont forget in a hurry.  Check out this short video clip of the major crossing!