With ideas circling for months and everyone keen on a trip in 2025 the boys were buzzing with excitement to catch up again and hit the tracks.
2025 was supposed to be the year of 2 60 trips, but unfortunately the second never happened.
G60michael was all ready to head down to my house again in western Sydney, but unfortunately he couldn't get the time off work, I gave him the idea that we'd do another trip later in the year up in his neck of the woods but everyone ended up being too busy with other commitments.
So in early May ...Peter60, Matt, Puggy, and myself were set to head away back to Lithgow and see the parts we missed the year before.
Cosmo only had the weekend available to come away so he was just bringing his late model 4x4 and I was to drive the blue 60 ute.
Peter and Puggy were meant to meet up on Friday but as is the case sometimes life throws you a curve ball and things change, we were meant to meet at Lithgow but last minute we changed plans and decided to meet at a camp ground closer to their homes and forget about heading to Lithgow entirely.
So "Dingo dell" camp ground in the Kanangra-boyd national park was the new spot.
Kind of "winging it" as us Aussies sometimes say, we just decided where we were going as we did it type thing, we had a rough plan but open to interpretation
This trip there were 3 new 60s to the group, Peter as some of you will know was working on the yellow ute and the project was not yet finished so he brought out his nicely presented mid wheel base, a 75 model I'm pretty sure, the longest trip this car has done in a long time so Peter was hopeful everything would go smoothly .. and it performed really well, no issues what so ever, he just had to rearrange his camping supplies as the middy didn't have the same space available for "stuff" as the ute
Puggy had bought a ute, leaving the little red "patrol'ar express" shorty at home he figured the ute would be better suited for these kind of trips with more space, he did a bit of work to it for registration, sitting in long grass for years he had to do the usual things like brakes, hoses and all the fluids, fitted with a toyota 4 speed gearbox it was interesting to see.
Matt sold the light green short wheel base he had last trip and bought himself a ute also, in good condition to begin with he also chose to go right through it and refresh everything to make it reliable and enjoyable to drive (this is a recent photo, so some things have changed on it from the trip)
Meeting everyone in camp on Saturday, Cosmo and I arrived after lunch, the fellas in camp could hear us coming from about 2 hills over, with the mighty P motor popping and cracking from the exhaust under engine breaking, and that sweet whine sound from the gearbox
god I love that sound Just before camp there was a nice water crossing too.
Was a nice camp spot, there was a small creek running just meters away too, there was only 1 other person in the area that night and he came to join us for a beer and chat around the fire, a solo traveler that does a bit of youtube content.
The next morning being Sunday we made plans to check out a near by waterfall, looking at the maps we thought we could get fairly close but no cigar, not without a long bush walk but still the view was awesome.
With plans made we headed for "silent creek" campground in the Abercrombie national park, being a bit over 1 hours drive from where we were, there was some driving on the bitumen but alot of it was dirt logging roads, to my surprise the road into camp was alot steeper than what I envisaged!
but a great drive none the less with superb views
Camp was just magic, a truly awesome spot on the creek with Kangaroo's jumping about.
Unfortunately this being Sunday afternoon, that meant Cosmo had to head for home and work the next day, phone reception was "hit and miss" there so later that night I tried walking back up the track to get coverage, with head torch on and the light off my phone I could see many eyes all around me, possums everywhere! cheeky little buggers were running towards my torch light and at first scared the daylights from me
As in the previous camp we only had 1 other car sharing the grounds, a lovely couple from South Australia on their way doing the big lap of the country.
The 60s were all running great, but a small issue with Puggy's exhaust developed and some repairs were soon under way.
A some what foggy but beautiful next morning, plans were made to head over to see "Wombeyan caves" but first we would need more fuel for the cars and a pub feed for us
In to the town of Taralga we went.
Gathering much attention in town, the locals were keen to chat about the 60s, with some still having farm vehicles or a project, even 1 g60 being pulled from the local rubbish tip.
heading for Wombeyan caves the tar road up the mountain presented a great view into the valley.
We had the idea to go and explore the famous caves but unfortunately they were all booked tours and at set times, no self guided ones, and even to book the camp site had to be done online, even though we were literally standing in the office next to the camp site
Atleast camp was really nice, heaps of Kangaroos! one silly bugger ran across the road in front of us and almost became a statistic
that would have looked great in front of the rangers office 
that being our last night I decided to give G60michael a phone call and see how he was going, poor fella was really disappointed that he couldn't make it on this trip, the only trip he's missed, looked like the resident possum wanted to have a chat with Mick also
as he came right in and wondered around camp, a few times there he was only a foot away from us, for some reason he really liked Peters car too
Now being Tuesday morning, and our last day, we decided we would head up the hill and stop at a junction in the road and work out what to do, which way to head home.
We could take a road that headed out towards the main highway which would have us home before lunch, or take what we thought would be a nice detour, a dirt track past farm land that would put us just shy of Taralga again, and from there it would be a shorter run for both Peter and Puggy to head home, and not too far for both Matt and I either.
With daylight to burn we all agreed we'd take the scenic detour ... oh famous last words
It started out ok, but the further we went the rougher the track became and the brush began to swallow up the track, nobody had driven this track in a long time.
Looking at our digital Hema maps it seemed we were in too far already to turn around, and also the track didn't really give us any opportunity to turn around either, before we knew it we were crossing a river with large submerged boulders.
Its now that I apologise for the quality of some of the pictures, I had to take screen shots from video.
With the river done we thought we were through the thick of it, but no...
the steep and rocky climb out of the river was one thing, then it got steeper and steeper, Peter got hung up on a rock step and burnt the clutch a bit, Puggy and I waited at a plateau for Pete to catch up, while matt attempted to drive up the next part of the hill, maybe I should call it a mountain
Unfortunately around half way up Matts g60 stalled and was refusing to start, with enough coaxing she fired back up again but the wheels were just spinning on the lose surface, in a rather precarious position we decided it was best to winch up to a safe spot, and regroup.
With Matt now up and safe, Puggy and I walked the track to scope out the best line to take, we agreed going left and then crossing to the right was the best option as the further up you went on the left side the more off camber it was and danger of rolling.
Also Peter didn't have a winch, so it was agreed with 2 cars up top with winches was better in case he needed assistance, which meant Puggy's turn, he drove it well and got up no problem, I think those wide wheels helped tremendously
Matt moved his G60 further up the hill now and out of the way, while Puggy now positioned his car where Matts was in case the winch was needed for Peter, Pete drove extremely well but decided to try a slightly different approach to Puggy and part way up the mid wheel base decided it liked its rear wheel to be in the rut and pulled the car down and on a big angle!
Fuel was dripping from the filler cap of the fuel tank, oil from the air filter was running down the manifold which caused a bit of a mess, and the water from the washer nozzles was running down the bonnet and even wet Pete in the car a little
Now attached to Puggys car with the winch we straightened up Peters car and began getting him up to a safe spot, yep that's me helping push the car and stopping it from rolling over
Now me being the last one the pressure was on!
I got ready, strapped the "GoPro" camera to the tray, made sure my winch was working and off I went, with everything going on I forgot exactly where Puggy and I agreed to cross the track and I stuffed it
I rolled back and had another couple goes but to no avail, the last attempt I gave it all the ute had, wheels spinning and engine roaring but no go, that front left wheel tried reaching for the sky! Puggy said it was a good wheel and a half off the ground! I felt something funny in my hands and on my lap, for some reason my hands were slippery and I couldn't dry them no matter how much I rubbed them into my pants, then that smell of gear oil lingered in the cab, I looked down and the oil from the steering box was running down the steering column! the car was on such a lean with the front up so high that the steering box oil was dripping into my lap in the drivers seat
this was my view from the drivers seat
Now with my winch attached to a large tree, the fight still wasn't over, I tried to help the winch a bit by trying to drive the car also but there was that much load on the driveline that the clutch was slipping and burning up in 1st gear low range
and the tree was shacking violently and protesting at the weight of the g60 
Safely now up onto a few meters of flatter ground I could take a breath and clean my hands properly of that damn gear oil, but that damn smell kept lingering around for hours
Luckily for us that was the last major obstacle and it was smooth sailing in to Taralga, and then on to home.
This was only a rather short trip for us compared to previous years, and until the last day and the track from hell
it was a nice change of pace to do some easy touring and kick back early in the evenings to enjoy the fire and good company.I must commend the boys, we all pitched together and helped each other when needed, running winch cables or calling out where to put the wheel in the next rut or rock, even holding up cars from rolling over
the mate ship, and "stick together" and don't leave anyone behind attitude really makes for a great trip.
Cheers boys! here's to the next trip in 2026, I really hope you can all make it.
Cheers! RED DOG
