Archive

BASIC 4WD COURSE  31/10/09 TO 01/11/09

In conjunction with this club trip was the Basic 4WD Course, run by Peter. Participants were, Bruce, Dennis, Wayne and myself, and of course we all passed, so congratulations to us.

 

Thank you everyone for the weekend, and Peter I guess we'll talk about the sharing of the car on weekends away now.

Read more: Leuvuka Rainforest Retreat Weekend

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.

Read more: Levuka 2009

CRYSTALVALE DAY TRIP   29^TH July 2007

Trip report ~ Tony & Jane Curtis

 

               We had been advised of the early morning meeting point - BP service station Yatala, 7.00am meet for a 7.30am departure.

 

               Now, if you knew Jane at all you’ll realise we did well to arrive at 7.03 am. However, we were still the last vehicle to show up, hence me writing this trip report! What a great concept to get people to arrive on time!!

              

               After a quick breakfast at BP Macca’s and round up of bodies, eleven vehicles in all [5 Toyota’s, 5 Patrol’s and a hybrid ~ more of that later] we all headed down the highway towards Murwillumbah (note to sgt in arms, red patrol in front of trip leader exiting car park). Even though we had one no show from trip sheet we still departed on time.

Read more: Crystalvale Day Trip 2007

Trip Report

 

WHALE WATCHING 07’

 

   It was like a drizzly morning in Melbourne in July for the ten brave mariners that were to embark on the Whale watching expedition of 07. The boat “Miha Miha” departed at 08.30 for a quick trip around some of the most exclusive homes in the Gold Coast marina.  Names such as Steven Ackeri (better known as “Stefan”), Ian Thorpe, and Mick Doowan were just some of the owners of the holiday shacks that were pointed out - mind you one of these waterfront babies would be ten times as much as the combined total of the Club’s 4bies (sorry  Andrew B, yours wouldn’t even  buy a brick).  As the boat passed the speed restrictions, the two diesel motors were allowed to rumble their stuff, and we speed off at a steady 30 knots, mind you the pick up was as good as any well tuned Toyota….sluggish to say the least.

Read more: Whale Watching 07

With the festive season just completed, there has not been a lot of activity and there are no reports of any official club trips to hand. However, a few members got together to do a recce in soggy conditions at Condamine Gorge. I’m not sure exactly where our intrepid explorers actually went, but I know the Condamine River Road is a delightful trip that meanders across 14 creek crossings in the headwaters of the Condamine River up near Killarney. Usually, the crossings are a pretty easy affair, but when it rains it can be a lot of fun.

Apparently, our group just got away in time and had they left a couple of hours later, they would have been stuck there for a few days. Looks like there will be a few takers for this one!

We had been advised of the early morning meeting point - BP service station Yatala, 7:00am meet for a 7:30am departure.

Now, if you knew Jane at all you’ll realise we did well to arrive at 7:03 am. However, we were still the last vehicle to show up, hence me writing this trip report! What a great concept to get people to arrive on time!! After a quick breakfast at BP Macca’s and round up of bodies, eleven vehicles in all [5 Toyotas, 5 Patrols and a hybrid ~ more of that later]. We all headed down the highway towards Murwillumbah (note to sgt in arms, red patrol in front of trip leader exiting car park). Even though we had one no show from trip sheet we still departed on time. We arrived at the gate of the park in good time as noted 9:01am with only one casualty, a lorikeet trying to take on a light force spottie at 60kph (not advised).

Read more: Crystalvale Day Trip, July 2007

On the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, 9, 10 and 11 June, a hardy few braved the cold winter weather for a trip to Amamoor State Forest. The trip was led by Andrew Bischoff and the TEC was Don Field (Dusty Don). From the meeting point at Burpengary Service Centre, surrogate trip leader, Wayne Bischoff lead a small group of four vehicles up the Bruce Highway and then through the beautiful Mary Valley.

 

 

Read more: Amamoor State Forest, June

Meeting place was at Janowen Hills 4X4 park camping grounds and there were people who arrived on the Friday some more on the Saturday morning and myself being the last club member to arrive ended up with the trip report.

There were 7 vehicles all up 3 Nissans, 2 Toyota’s, 1 Disco and 1 Ford Courier [who were visitors to the club on there first trip.] After setting up camp we left to try some tracks with extreme Kevin leading the way and as usual he chose some interesting tracks for us to follow. Conditions were dry, dusty and rocky and some times the tracks were not visible due to the dust caused by the spinning wheels of the vehicles. The Ford Courier managed to get hung up a few times and needed to be snatched out and it is surprising how well they can fly uphill while being recovered. It was the Fords first time off road and it did quite well for it’s limited wheel travel and ground clearance.

Read more: Janowen Hills - New Year's Weekend