Levuka 2013

[CheekyD1]

Good evening viewers and welcome to the Cheeky report
The story begins yesterday; I filled Cheeky with LPG, Petrol and Power Steer Stop Leak
We then gathered up all our recovery gear and loaded it into the back
The whole time Cheeky kept mumbling on about getting washed away in a flash flood, she had heard the radio whilst coming back from the service station. The whole 300mm of rain forecast in the next 3 days had thrown her into a bit of a mood. Then Henry chimed in worried about the same thing, I told both of them that we would see what rain falls overnight and decide in the morning.
So I put both of them to bed early, on the grounds we would have an early start in the morning if we were to get to Levuka by 8:30 to help Harry with the DARE.
The Ex-Cyclone had not moved south overnight, but it has spread out, the rain was not very heavy so I bundled Henry in and ignoring Cheeky’s protests off we went.
As we travelled South the Rain grew lighter and there were patches where it stopped altogether, raising hopes of being able to run a DARE.
Driving up the Laneway at Levuka, Cheeky had her Two Way on scan, we quickly picked up the action on Rosemary’s. The Hard Trip were into some difficult area, made two grades harder by the drizzle. Cheeky wanted to go for a look, but I told her we were there to help Harry. She was very insistent, reminding me how I wanted to see how her Mickey Thompson MTZ would go in some real mud!
Signed in and up to the camp, found Harry and the DARE group huddled under a tarp, learning about recovery gear. Lecture over it was off for a drive
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/222.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/223.jpg
We all had a good trip, and I am sure we all learned what not to do.
Stay tuned for the upcoming tribute to Harry’s V8 coming exclusively to this forum soon.
Back to camp for lunch
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/224.jpg
Eventually a soaked Hard Trip wandered back to camp, revealing the Damage from their efforts
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/225.jpg
While repairs were attempted
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/226.jpg
Harry and I set off to try out Cheeky’s Tyres
With the rain the Rock and Roll was a proper creek
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/227.jpg

On the way out our friends had a little moment
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/228.jpg
Everyone on board was Ok
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/229.jpg

And the thing was soon righted
Video up soon

We drove around exploring a section on the Park where I had not been before, looked very fun, but with the rain adding extra credit to everything. Harry and I decided it was a long winch up if we got stuck.
On the way out we came across a Mitsubishi explaining the Spanish meaning of its name, fully bogged in one of the pits which we had checked out earlier that morning. After several snatches and a broken strap, it was finally dragged out of the hole.
Over to the playground and Cheeky really gave her tyres a go.
Wet and tired Harry pulled stumps, so we headed for home
How did the tyres go?
Again I surprised just how good these tyres preform. I rate them better than the original Claw.
IMHO they leave the BFG km2 far behind.

Cheers

Gaz

[Outlaw]

Nice work Gaz [thumbsupbig]

--- FR-4S ---

[CheekyD1]

Recovering the little Rotax Buggy after its flop

BuggyLevuka - YouTube (http://youtu.be/nEe4be7MmM0)

[jbowler]

Nice picks and video Gaz. I have to say that being in the buggy when she flipped over did tend to get the heart racing. Although in think I was more nervous in the playground when Greg was tackling some of the vertical sections. I am sure he was trying to see if the buggy would flip over end to end :)

Adam and I had a great trip in the Sherwood. We left late morning on Friday and bumped into Wayne just outside of Nerang. Stopped at Beau for some KFC with Wayne then headed out. Heard Busman cursing a slow vehicle as we headed over mount Lindsey so we pulled over at a straight section and waited for them to catch up. Headed into Levuka with a small convey of 4 vehicles. Setup camp in the dry and with daylight and settled down for a few beers.

Went on a firewood run late in the day and we all collected enough wood for a decent fire Friday night. Tip for anyone collected wood is to make sure you never follow Busman's orange beast back to camp when he has it loaded with wood with the tailgate down. Funny how the logs just don't stay in the truck:). After stopping a couple of times to load Dave back up again we made it back to camp.

Dave and Wayne did a good job of teaching the kids how to light a fire safely with petrol and diesel. How else are you going to get wet would to light when its raining:)

Headed out on Sat morning with the group lead by John. He did a great job checking the routes and the conditions and Adam and I had a ball putting the Sherwood through its paces. Thanks for all the encouragement in the playground. I finally got up the hill on the third attempt. I heavy right foot definitely does the trick on the slippery steep sections. The V8 sounds quite nice in low range at 5500 rpm.

Parked the Sherwood at lunch and went out in the afternoon in Greg's buggy. We caught up with Cheeky and Harry and followed them through the creek section. Definitely an impressive little buggy that can go almost anywhere. Just glad I was in the buggy with a roll cage when it tipped and not the Sherwood. It does show how easy it is for vehicles to tip on a hill when the nose starts coming around. We righted the little beast, fired her up and went again. Apart from all the mud there really wasn't any damage.

Followed Harry and Cheeky to the playground. Watched some impressive driving by Cheeky. That silver D1 definitely goes well.

Had a great weekend even with the rain. Thanks to the organisers and trip leaders and TECs for making it safe and enjoyable weekend

Jeffrey

[harry]

well even though it was wet we had a great turnout and a good dare training run with some interesting antics from my v8 and we were able to experience some real live recoveries and watch one very dodgy recovery with a tojo pulling a pajero with the snatch strap on the tow ball!
he even broke the strap for us, so some lessons learnt there.
special thanks to all my passengers for tolerating my driving and rock and rolling [one nearly was a roll!]
i didn't take any pictures, sorry.

[Busman]

Well considering the oncoming weather event, we ended up with a great turn out at Levuka 2013.
16 campers and a few day trippers, which was very impressive considering.
Sat morning various groups set out on their trek through some pretty slippery sections, which this park is renowned for.
Harry commenced the Dare with Gary, (Cheekys) help.
Few of our new members certainly got to know what their new Landies were capable of, and were impressed the same.
The modified guys set out who were, Grant, Grimace, Pete, Greg in the Polaris and myself.
We headed to towards Rosemary road and met with a very slippery and treacherous track ahead.
The rain was beating down for hours as one by one had to winch ourselves up the very steep track to the top.
Grimace without a winch decided to work that 4.6 at 6500rpms:angel: and also work the big 37's to try and get to the top.
He nearly managed but dropped a bead on the rear left.
Bugger as it was a really bad spot and a 1.5 hours recovery.
So after nearly 4 hours, we had only managed to cover one track;)
Various groups later set out to tackle a few other tracks, then call it a day.
It rained pretty much the whole time, but most campers made the best of it by huddling under tarps for some good old landie banter and more.
A large portion of the campers left today (Sunday) and headed home.
Bit of a hairy drive home in the Rangie, with the high winds.
Very surprised and pleased to still see so many members show up, even thou the weather was pretty crap..
2013 looks to be a great year for the club and its members.

Bring on the next trip, but hopefully with alot better weather.:BigThumb:

[Camo]

Wow what a great turnout!

Zoe, bubs and I made it 10:30pm friday and set the camper up in the rain:D Was expected though as was bucketing down here on the coast.
Went for a run the next morning with JohnR leading the pack. Creek run was fun. Were a few interesting parts. My rangie decided to stop whilst going through a 2 foot puddle:mad: but thanks to DJhampson for the tow out.. I hope there were no photos taken of his D3 pulling my old rangie! Just put a new motor in last week so must be a gremlin somewhere.. maybe ECU or a temp sensor..

Saturday arv the rain was set in. We knew it wasn't going to get much better so we made the decision to head home as it clearly wasn't going to fine up anytime soon. Hope everyone had a safe trip back.

Was great to finally get out and take Luke for his first camping trip. Also to finally catch up with you all as its been too long since our last trip. Was looking forward to a good campfire chat but the weather decided otherwise! Hoping to do quite a few more trips this year:)

Camo

[harry]

We watched a series climbing a very slippery section, seems that the twist locks are also necessary, just pushing the yellow knob or moving the red lever isn't the only thing we need to do!
But I am amazed that the car got as far without the driven front wheels!
Well done twist lock Tim!:angel:

[djhampson]

I hope there were no many photos taken of his D3 pulling my old rangie!

Fixed that for you :D

[Camo]

Fixed that for you :D

Haha cheers!

[Timj]

I have photos Camo :)

Unfortunately we have had no power since this morning so I can't load them up. It was too wet to get the camera out so the only two photos I took just happened to be of you in the bog :).

Did everyone get home safely? Given how wild the weather was supposed to get I was a little worried about those who were planning to stay the extra night. Creeks might have been up too.

But it was a fun trip despite the rain. The tracks were so easy they could mostly be done in 2wd (oops). The lesson is if you unlock a hub while adjusting the brakes it's a good idea to remember to lock it again, doh.

DJ, did the video of our trip up the creek come out?

Thanks everyone for organising it all.

Cheers

Tim.

[harry]

Just spoke to grimace, they are All staying the night at laravale school tonight as the floods won't let them through

[Camo]

Just spoke to grimace, they are All staying the night at laravale school tonight as the floods won't let them through

Ah bugger.. can't say they didn't have warning though:( Had internet and Facebook warnings. Sunday was the day to come home.

Hope all get back tomorrow with ease. Not real fun on the road at the moment.

[Psimpson7]

We should all be back! that was a struggle!

Will put up some pics later....

[Grimace]

It was freakin orsum!

Made the whole trip more then worth it, was a great adventure!


BUT





NOt enjoying the state of my camper trailer and car at this very moment in time!

[Presto]

My front yard currently looks like Tent World! ...stuff drying everywhere!

It was an awesome wet weekend, but I suspect there will be very few pics due to the weather and limited driving. We can always rely on Levuka for a few surprises!! ;)

Although it was hardly the right weather to be social, it was great to see and meet members new and old! ...here's looking forward to the next 'adventure'! :)

[Psimpson7]

Few pics from me, but firstly it was good to see the new and existing members out. Hopefully everyone had a good weekend, despite the weather! I also dont have many pics as the camera was getting soaked!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/133.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/134.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/135.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/136.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/137.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/138.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/139.jpg

I seemed to spend nearly the etinre time completely soaked. If it wasnt the bead issue on Grimaces car, it was the tricky recovery of the previously mentioned Pajeros who had surpassed their earlier effort.

This is where we spent last night! We got cut off decided to wait it out - Thanks very much to the principal of the school for letting us in, providing us with tea and coffee, and accomodation. It was very much appreciated:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/01/140.jpg

[djhampson]

A good weekend despite the rain. Much better then staying at home!

Here is some GoPro video from the run on Saturday morning with JohnR's group and some footage from the passenger seat of Tim's Game on Saturday arvo.

Apologies for the shaky footage at the end!

GCLRO Levuka 2013 - YouTube (http://youtu.be/5ymvLoWqGm8)

[manchild21000]

Great reports guys , good to see the spirits were high despite the weather . Im spewing i couldnt make this one . Ill be there on the next one rain hail or divorce :D,if you still remember me by then .
George

[Presto]

A good weekend despite the rain. Much better then staying at home!

Here is some GoPro video from the run on Saturday morning with JohnR's group and some footage from the passenger seat of Tim's Game on Saturday arvo.

Apologies for the shaky footage at the end!

GCLRO Levuka 2013 - YouTube (http://youtu.be/5ymvLoWqGm8)

It's interesting to see that the creek run was still dry when you guys went through!

[ezyrama]

well even though it was wet we had a great turnout and a good dare training run with some interesting antics from my v8 and we were able to experience some real live recoveries and watch one very dodgy recovery with a tojo pulling a pajero with the snatch strap on the tow ball!
he even broke the strap for us, so some lessons learnt there.
special thanks to all my passengers for tolerating my driving and rock and rolling [one nearly was a roll!]
i didn't take any pictures, sorry.

I've got a video of you being recovered Harry, and next time you try to get the D1 to do a flying reverse kick, give me a chance to get the camera out first! ( just gotta get the daughter to show me how to upload the video I do have). It was a great weekend and an adventure of 14hrs to get home too. I think Steph was sorry she chickened out after I showed her the photo's and video's I took. We did some more good driving on Sunday up through the creek and recovered some Pajero's up the top of Rufus Run. Looking forward to the next one.
Cheers Ian

[ezyrama]

My God, One thinks one has figured it out!


005 - YouTube (http://youtu.be/5ZQ36OxVbzc)


http://youtu.be/1iNCaeHsabU







95%

[CheekyD1]

My God, One thinks one has figured it out!


005 - YouTube (http://youtu.be/5ZQ36OxVbzc)


007 - YouTube (http://youtu.be/1iNCaeHsabU)

95%

Cheeky likes this one 007 - YouTube (http://youtu.be/1iNCaeHsabU) :D

[Timj]

Well, after 2 weeks we finally have a usable internet back today :). So the one photo I took on the weekend was of Camo getting pulled out of the big bog hole (sorry Camo, but I did say I had taken one :cool:).

http://images43.fotki.com/v680/photos/4/737024/11659526/IMG_6259-vi.jpg

Cheers,

Tim.

[JohnR]

What an awesome weekend! WET! I think the dogs had the worst deal Sitting wet all weekend :censored:. We only started to get soggy Sunday night :( But even still what an adventure and Levuka lived up to its "Slippery when wet" title.

Sorry about the delay in getting these up been flat out the last few weeks :(

Exiting the creek run on Saturday (the creek was still dry)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/778.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/779.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/780.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/781.jpg

A little water hole, which got deeper on Sunday!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/782.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/783.jpg

Tim made it look easy, sorry a few images of Tim hear as I liked the sequence:eek:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/784.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/785.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/786.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/787.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/788.jpg

One Rangie OK
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/789.jpg

Second Rangie....
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/790.jpg
Not so OK :(
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/791.jpg
D3 To the Rescue :p
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/792.jpg

Sorry Camo :wasntme:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/793.jpg
But it happened again!! :p:wasntme:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/794.jpg

Our Doggies and Kids were still having fun
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/795.jpg

Princess Not so much fun :mad::censored:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/796.jpg
Even Pete got a bit soggy :p Sams Chair looks good though :D
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/797.jpg

Then it started to get REAL soggy!
The creek run became a river run :o
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/798.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/799.jpg

The water hole got a bit deeper
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/800.jpg
Very brave without a snorkle :angel:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/801.jpg

Very prity with all the mist and fog
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/802.jpg

Pete spinning a bit of mud
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/803.jpg

Our President got a bit soggy :p
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/804.jpg
And Grimace gave this hill a nudge but it just slipped away from him :twisted:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/805.jpg

Even 35's can get swallowed up in these rutts :o
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/02/806.jpg

I have a video of the trip home I'll post shortly. That was another adventure in its self :D

Cheers,

[Camo]

Yep note to self.. after new engine install...drive it for a few 100k's before a trip! What a place for the engine to stop in that mud hole. Thanks DJHampson for towing me out so quick!

Better get it sorted me thinks.. haven't driven the car since Levuka. Will bring it around this week sometime Grimace and see if your fault detector finds the problem.

Can't wait for the next trip.. hopefully a dry one;)

Camo

[Presto]

You should of swapped the rest of the car, not the engine - wouldn't have happened to a Disco! :wasntme:





....it never gets old! :p

[Camo]

LOL:D

The motor was out of a fricken DISCO!!! maybe that was the problem??

It all makes sense now:p

[Presto]

Touche' ....:D

[isuzurover]

Great photos... A bit wetter than when I was there last :D