Take a look just behind Coffs Harbour and you'll find a vast array of tracks ready to play in. It's a treat for locals lucky enough to have this at their doorstep, and a much revered destination for 4WDers all over the east coast. Coffs is one of those places that you could spend days exploring as it has all different types of 4WDing, offering everything from mild to wild.

Something generally happens when people hear about a place like this; they want to go there, and with everything that's on offer here, who could blame them? With a couple of free days up our sleeves and few 4WDs and camper trailers, we were keen to get out there and take a look at what this part of the coast has to offer.

Exploring any area that you've not been to before can be fun, but even better if you are able to get some local knowledge. We were lucky enough to have David, a local from Corindi Beach, offer to take us on a tour through Nymboid-Binderay National Park and the surrounding areas; an offer that was too good to pass up. David, who is a long-time 4WDer, brought his 4.8 Patrol along for the day, and looking at the beast, you could see that it was right at home. David not only knows his way around here, but he also spends some of his time doing reconnaissance runs looking for new areas for fellow 4WDers to explore.

We also had Ben, Sharon and Molly with their big 100 Series LandCruiser and Trackabout camper trailer in tow. Ben was keen to see where he could put that trailer and was confident that it would go anywhere his 100 went. Ben has lifted his 100 up so that it sits nicely on a set of 35in Mickey Ts, and so does his Trackabout trailer for that matter. It's a great-looking combination of 4WD and camper that would undoubtedly go just about anywhere!

The weather had not been favourable, so even though it had been raining for most of the night and things were a bit wet, we were all geared up and looking forward to the day's drive. Making our way from our meeting point at Corindi Beach, we headed out onto the highway for a couple of kilometres before turning off towards the township of Glenreagh. Leaving the blacktop at the first available opportunity, we stopped to air down the tyres and took some time to have a quick look around.

The forest behind Coffs Harbour is truly amazing, and the height of the trees becomes instantly apparent as they tower above the forest floor in an attempt to stop any light that is trying to find its way through. Looking down the dirt road revealed no clear sight of the skyline – to see it, we had to look almost straight up. The term Jurassic was thrown around, and rightly so, as this place is like an ancient forest! Years ago, men would hack their way through this forest in search of new pockets of cedar trees to fell, and it must have been extremely hard work for those early pioneers.

David wanted to show us an abandoned train station by the name of Timber Top, and we were keen to have a look. The track heading down to its location was very muddy and sections of it were heavily rutted out from previous rainfall, making it a slippery and technical drive. The drivers worked to keep the camper trailers in line as they slowly drove the several hundred metres down to the bottom.

Ben made easy work of the muddy terrain with the 100 Series, and his camper trailer crawled down the hill behind him with ease. To us onlookers it looked like a 4WD transformer, as a procession of 35in mud tyres rolled down the winding track like a mechanical caterpillar!