FRENCHMANS TRACK - THE SUBARU WAS FINALLY DEFEATED - CAPE YORK

The Subaru Offroad Forester has finally been defeated in Cape York! Both the Wenlock and Pascoe were impassable in May 2021 after a massive wet. With a failing winch and a decided lack of interest in becoming lunch for a croc we opted to not attempt either river.

Perth to Cape York and back via Alice Springs in the Subaru Forester!
• 6.5 weeks
• 13,810km
• Over 5,000km of dirt roads
• 1,830L of fuel
• Solo trip with no assistance from other vehicles
• Easily more than a km of water crossings
• Stuck in water with the engine block fully submerged on 4 occasions totalling over 10 minutes
• Water in the car up to the top of lower seat cushion on the same 4 occasions
✅ Old coach road
✅ Old Telegraph Track complete - One of the first through for the season the and first to not use chicken tracks on any crossing.
✅ First through the CREB track after it was officially opened.
❌ Frenchman’s Track not complete, driven both ends to the rivers but depths not passable. The first crossing for the season was only a month later so we can’t feel too bad about this one!
• One snapped rear CV on old coach road – 15 minutes to replace
• Old crappy muffler fell apart crossing the Daintree – wired back together for the 6000km return journey and still going strong
• Wire in the alternator loom snapped – my fault for poor cable routing with insufficient slack – 20 min fix.
• Bearing under the AC pulley failed from water ingress – No AC for the return trip.
• Drive by wire throttle body decided to start sticking after the water - some cleaning and lube and she was all good
• Did a sidewall in cockatoo creek.
Apart from that she ran like a dream and survived all the abuse we gave her - still running like a dream back in Perth.
If I were to do the trip again I would probably put some heavier springs in the back but apart from that it was a great setup.
Already looking forward to heading back one day!


Music:
Dynamite by Patrick Patrikios

To Pass Time by Godmode