Description

We started at the bottom of Paringa Road, just by a ford. After a kilometer of gravel we detour off right onto Banks Road which is more interesting and a little more overgrown. A few small trees down but nothing too bad. This rejoins Paringa Road after about 4km, then shortly joins Okuku road. The gravel is followed gently uphill for around 12.5km with only a slight dip along the way. The views towards Mt Grey are pretty nice. Upper Karetu Road wasn’t signed on our visit, and its not that obvious. Its a >fun 4wd track that unfortunately had a lot of trees down towards its end in Dec 2013. the fallen trees were so thick we ditched the bikes and walked/climbed the last bit to the tussocks and up to the top.

On the way down, Upper Karetu Road is great, even with the odd tree its still immense fun. All to soon you’re back on the gravel which is fast and solid to begin with before becoming a bit more marbley after the dip. At the Tarn Road junction there is a sign saying road closed, but we had briefly looked at the bottom of the road and there was no sign there, so we concluded we could get through with bikes. Tarn road starts off very fast downhill on good 4wd track for 3.5km, before you reach an earth barrier. If you scramble over the barrier the track continues through dense undergrowth and up a steep bank to the top of a gorge and a crash barrier. The road obviously used to go this way and was closed because the gorge had eroded far to much. Be careful at the edge. Soon the track becomes ridable again and pops out on a better 4wd track. A short pedal later and you’re back at the start of Banks Road and then the car.