Recent Trips

Well we all arrived at Gladfield meeting point on Saturday morning in the pouring rain and looked at each other and said "What the hell are we all doing here in this weather". Someone reckoned the rain was due to clear by lunchtime so we all proceeded to Janowen to set up camp.

It didn't stop raining! It rained all day saturday and all night. Andrew and I at least stayed dry by setting up camp inside the kitchen shed for the night. Everyone else battled the rain and mud to set up tents and caravans. Wayne did the most four wheel driving for the whole weekend by nearly getting stuck in the carpark trying to park the caravan.

After setting up camp and several hot coffees later we resigned to the weather and setup in the shed for some training and discussion on tyre plugging and general tyre changing and repairs. A small break in the weather allowed us to go out onto a patch of grass and learn about using a turfer which Wayne had packed in the back of his car for the last 7 years and still didn't know how to use.

The next morning saw a break in the weather but the park was too wet to drive on so we found a bit of flat grass again and ran everyone's winch cables out and rewound them and discussed winching in general.

Summing up it was a cold, wet, miserable weekend of camping with no fun driving in the mud, but we had plenty of informative discussions covering all subjects in the training and I'm sure everyone learnt something from it all. Thanks to Peter for arranging the weekend.

Mark

Wayne started off by saying that he didn’t know if we would find much mud. Well, we didn’t have to wait too long before we found some. The larger mud puddles looked like they could swallow up a road-train, but even though we skirted around these, we still found plenty of muddy tracks to test everyone on the trip. Eleven vehicles started the trip (after Dawn’s Pajero failing to re-start at the meeting point) and everyone had to be recovered at some time during the day except Ash & Nic in their Triton. They did however spend some time off the road with the help of Bush-Mechanics Bruce & Dennis to track down a suddenly worrying grating noise coming from under the Triton. Turned out to be a loose circlip and transfer case cover and they soon caught up with the rest of us. Neil managed to pop a tyre of the rim and after several attempts to jack up the car safely and securely on the muddy track we managed to get it back on and re-inflated. Some of us got through on chunky tyres and lockers and some of us got through on shear heavy right-footwork. All in all, everyone had a great day and nobody went home without plenty of Beerburrum mud to be cleaned off their car.

General consensus – Let’s do it again soon!

Mark

Saturday 17^th April 2010.

A club trip was run at Janowen in conjunction with Driver Awareness Training. We had 16 vehicles, which included 2 visitors, 4 trainers, 10 trainee vehicles with 12 trainees in total.

Some unfortunate early damage, not the fault of the driver or the course put one vehicle out of commission for the duration of the course. I am sure Michael will be fixed up ready for the next course.

Read more: Janowen Driver Training

Levuka Trip Report – 31/10/09

Four vehicles met up at the Beaudesert Hungry Jacks at 8:00 am on Saturday, morning had a quick bite to eat then made the scenic drive down to Levuka through Rathdowney and Woodenbong. The winding road around Mt Lindesay always makes for a beautiful and interesting drive.

Arriving at the park mid morning we met up with Dennis,Wendy and their kids who had pitched camp the day before as part of a week long camping holiday.

Tents and campers were set up with the minimum of fuss that indicates all were experienced campers.

Peter Copland was using this trip as driver training for all vehicles other than leader Mark so a bit of paperwork was completed before the convey was rounded up.

A gentle run down the Waterfall track through the rainforest just behind the campground confirmed that while conditions were not too wet it could still be slippery in places.

Once out onto the open farmland Mark soon discovered a muddy rutted section of track that halted forward progress even with diff locks. Peter took this perfect training opportunity to conduct a series of snatch recoveries with each driver getting to be the recovery vehicle, the recovered vehicle and directing a recovery. Fun was had by all and someone (who shall remain nameless) just had to have another go just to prove that unlocked Patrols can be stopped dead by deep mud.

After lunch the remainder of the tracks on the camping groundside of the property were explored. Reverse stall starts where performed by all on a moderately steep hill as a further part of the training. We all watched on in awe as Mark successfully attempted a more extreme climb which contained a particularly steep off camber step and which saw his front wheels spectacularly lose contact with mother earth.

That night we continued the enjoyable tradition of a yarn and a few drinks around the campfire.

Sunday morning started with a leisurely breakfast before heading back out onto the tracks. First up was a run around the training area in both directions which proved a great first up challenge without being impossible. For some unknown reason Wayne and this trusty Simex equipped Hilux are always “volunteered” by the rest of the group to be first in when things look particularly sloppy. Must be that that everyone just wants to make sure he gets it dirty.

Mark reconnoitred Havic Crossing and it was pronounced doable with every one making it through unassisted. Well done to Sarah who without much experience did a fantastic job through this section.

Again Mark managed to find a deep mud hole with a rutted exit which he managed to conquer after several attempts with plenty of load peddle. Everyone else, with the exception of Wayne, had a go and had to be recovered. More great training practice. Wayne once more just made it look way too easy.

About lunch time we headed back to camp, slowly packed up our gear, said our goodbyes and headed home. Just as well we left early because it took over an hour to wash the mud out from underneath the Patrol.

Thanks all for yet another great weekend, especially Mark for leading the trip and Peter for all the hard work in carrying out the training. Hope to see you all at the X-mas party.

Bruce.