By Michael Browning. Photos by Peter Watkins Split Image. Driving. Courage

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1 Page 24 Page 25 By Michael Browning Photos by Peter Watkins Split Image Driving Courage Australia s spectacular High Country just the place for a test of courage for you and your Cayenne. Even today, a drive through Australia s magnificent mountains gold-diggers country demands a pioneering spirit behind the wheel. The Cayenne has staked its claim.

2 Page 26 Page 27 On the ridge: The Cayennes proved themselves well equipped to take over the reins of the famous mountain horses in the Victorian High Country Feast your eyes: A total of 790 hps in two Cayennes meet two natural hps Painted crudely, but with unmistakable passion, the sign reads God s Country. With our heads in the clouds and with our Cayennes straddling a precarious ochre-colored fire-access road near the very roof of the Victorian Alps, who could argue? Surrounded by majestic hazy blue peaks and valleys, we were both masters and servants of our intimidating, yet spectacular setting. This is Australia s High Country, home of the legendary mountain cattlemen the pioneering pastoralists turned stockmen who fed prospectors from around the globe when they flocked to Victoria in the 1850s in search of gold and new beginnings. Today the mountain cattlemen still rule the High Country, but their dependence on the beasts they drive up from the plains in December at the onset of summer, and back again in April with the first major snowfalls, is dwindling. The size of the herds is limited: A total of only 6000 head of cattle can now take the annual trek to the mountains and enjoy the lush grass there. However, the hills are not lonely. In their place, in increasing numbers over the past twenty or so years, has come a new breed of explorer. Instead of sturdy mountain horses, trademark oilskins and broad-brimmed hats, the new mountain masters arrive in SUVs, tackling spectacular, often rough and sometimes perilous access roads to reach the sites of former mines, frontier towns, and the homesteads of those who conquered this harsh environment. This is one of the natural habitats of the Porsche Cayenne and one that musters its many talents: the spirit of a true Porsche sports car, yet with five seats to whisk family or friends from city environs to glorious isolation in comfort and safety, and the agility and strength of a mountain horse to deal with nature and its obstacles en route. After not much more than ninety minutes drive, bustling Melbourne seems a world away. In the summer season, from the Thursday before the Melbourne Cup horse race in early November to the Queen s Birthday holiday weekend in early June, the hills are open for exploration in SUVs. The adventure of driving in this free-range terrain is so far removed from our daily, urban lives as to be daunting for the uninitiated. However, the unique pleasures awaiting the Cayenne traveler are so vast, it would be a crime not to explore them in this alpine wonderland. Courage! Mansfield, at the foot of Victoria s northeastern Alpine region, is an excellent place to start. It s a pretty, lively town well-known to many Porsche owners as the gateway to the Mt. Buller village, in the National Park of the same name, and its winter sports. The Cayenne lets you turn left onto the unpaved Mt. Stirling Circuit Road, just before the park entrance. Climbing the range, we are immediately in the realm of the mountain cattlemen, with forests of ruddy stringy-bark eucalypts and rich green ferny glades leading up to the more open grassland, where fat cattle enjoy the idyllic summer. It s easy to find authentic mountain cattlemen here, but these days they will probably be leading tourists on trail rides, A

3 Page 28 Page 29 not driving shorthorns to new feeding grounds. Bruce Mc- Cormack is a fifth-generation Australian whose family, from Tipperary, Ireland, was one of the first to settle here in Like many of the early pastoralists, they came as farmers to feed the rapidly growing mining community with mutton and beef. They are still farmers, with about 440 hectares (1100 acres) of land, on which they currently graze a herd of around 250 beef cattle. But Bruce and his wife Debra have had to look elsewhere for the income to stay on the land particularly after the disastrous bushfires of early 2003 meant just fourteen families were allowed to take up their grazing rights. One welcome side job was a part in the first The Man from Snowy River movie, which uncorked a flood of tourists keen to explore their pioneering heritage a flood that is still flowing, and feeding the trail-riding business, especially to famous Craig s Hut which featured strongly in the film. Of course, the Mount Stirling area is just one possibility, so we pointed our Cayennes south to the rugged mountains and high plains of the Victorian Alps, that four-wheel-drive adventurers call God s Own Country. The sleepy township of Dargo is a good place to start exploring it. It boasts a historic hotel, a general store, a motel, and a winery. Walnuts are the region s main crop, but long ago, there was a different harvest. The gold rush at Crooked River in 1860 culminated in the discovery of more than 200 quality gold-bearing reefs. But it didn t last. At Talbotville, where the miners made their camp, there has long since been little to recall the former bustling gold-mining settlements with a population of 2000 and close to 200 drinking establishments. Now, a superb grassy camping area is flanked on three sides by the sinewy Crooked River. Through the fog: The Cayenne forges ahead Cattleman: Bruce McCormack (right) is a fifth-generation Australian who combines tradition and modernity Legend meets legend: The Cayenne and the mountain cattlemen Head upstream to the site of the former Good Hope Mining Precinct, through twenty-four rocky creek crossings in just eight kilometers, and you quickly appreciate how the river got its name. Thankfully, water sports are no problem at all for the Cayenne. The seal, effective in standing water up to 550 mm (21.6 inches) with the variable-height Porsche Active Suspension Management System (PASM) fitted as standard to the Cayenne Turbo and as an option to the Cayenne S means that such crossings are simply an opportunity for a quick car wash while you enjoy the view. Some of the riverbanks are steep, but that s never a problem for the Cayenne with its selectable low-range gearing and differential locks. Water sports: There are twenty-four crossings of the Crooked River in just eight kilometers (five miles), but our feet never got wet When you get tired of the river at Talbotville, there is only one real option. Go up. The connecting spur track from Crooked River to the Cynthia Range Road seems impossibly steep, with loose rocks, steeply-peaked jump-ups and little room to rest until you reach the ridge top. Yet our two Cayennes with their Porsche Traction Management (PTM), which constantly feeds the optimum traction to the wheels, make it look easy. And thanks to the Hill Holder, which held us securely on the steepest section of the climb while we stopped to photograph a curious black-faced rock wallaby, there was no danger of slipping backwards. The Cayenne is rock-solid. The Cynthia Ridge Road took us on a spectacular ride across the spine of a long range, with views of the towering Pinnacles rock formation and its scenic tower for spotting bushfires, before we made what seemed to be an almost vertical descent to the Wonnangatta River and into the open grassland of the truly spectacular Wonnangatta Valley. We thought it was steep, but an earlier more perilous and rockier descent of the aptly-named Billy Goat Bluff Track further along the same range had already redefined that word. Going downhill is an area where control is critical, and the Cayenne with its very low 2.7:1 low-gear reduction ratio provides the necessary engine braking to make it possible. At the same time, Porsche Stability Management (PSM) is A

4 Page 30 Page 31 Warm glow: In the cool mountain air, a campfire warms the body as well as the heart! Kings of the mountains (right): Majestic stringy-bark eucalypts are the trademarks of the High Country continually monitoring the yaw, or skewing, of the vehicle, subtly applying and easing the brakes on individual wheels to ensure that the Cayenne descends in its intended direction. It s an eerie but very reassuring sensation to descend a hill too steep to stand on without having to touch the brake pdeal, even on treacherous loose rocks. Eerily reassuring. Alpine car wash: The Cayenne in the gold-diggers river Wonnangatta is a Mecca for SUV tourists who come to imagine pioneering life as it once was. A cemetery, fruit trees, and a stunning ornamental elm tree forest are all that is left today to remind us of the station s busy past, although a scandal and two unsolved murders that occurred there in 1917 provide visitors with ongoing fascination. Leaving a special place like Wonnangatta is never easy, in more ways than one. The rough, rocky and relentlessly steep Zeka Spur Track is built neither for speed nor comfort, but at least by Cayenne, the physical pain was bearable, with our rear seat passengers still smiling as we completed the long and tortuous climb. Joining the unpaved but fast track that crosses the Howitt High Plains takes us past the Snowy Plains Airstrip at 1600 meters (5200 ft.) one of the highest in Australia before plunging down to the former gold-mining centre of Licola A

5 Page 32 Murray River Hay Narrandera Wagga Wagga New South Wales Echuca Wodonga Bendigo Mt. Kosciusko Mansfield Mt. Buller Victoria Talbotville Licola Dargo Melbourne Ballarat Heyfield Geelong Wonnangatta River River Snowy Canberra Wollongong Sydney TASMAN SEA Graphic: RWS km Trailblazers: The Porsche Cars Australia pioneering team has worked out its own adventure route for Cayenne owners Additional Information and the end of our alpine adventure. But with a Cayenne, unlike most fully-capable SUVs, the fun doesn t stop when you hit the paved roads. The same vehicles that had clambered over rocky tracks and waded through rivers just changed personalities. On the magnificent sweeping and swooping drivers road that links Licola to the timber town of Heyfield, the two 4.5 liter V8 engines sang in unison, and the Porsche SUVs gripped the curves like sports cars. One last goodbye from the sports car to the terrain coupled with a clear and happy message: God s Country is Cayenne Country. B Horse-riding in the High Country: McCormack s Mountain Valley Trail Rides High Country Horses Alpine National Park: (link Alpine National Park ) Maps of the region: Free range: The high plains around Wonnangatta Station are a popular destination for today's SUV explorers Modern miners: The Licola General Store is both the starting and finishing point for many adventure tours