MickG
7th April 2008, 08:41 AM
Left work at 12 noon on Friday and headed back home to throw some final items into the trailer for the weekend. 1pm, picked 2 excited boys Smiley and Cheeky up from kindy, loaded them into the mack truck and pressed play on Over The Hedge.
Easy drive through to BP Morayfield where I met up with Extreme and his family at bang on 2.30, a quick stretch of the boys legs, filled up the mack truck and we were off again……straight into heavy traffic. Not so bad as we turned off a few ks up the road and headed for Kilcoy. Pleasant drive from there on in apart from hearing those dreaded words from the back of the car…..”Daddy……I feel sick”:eek:. Pulled over to let Cheeky compose himself and for daddy to make ready the car in case the worst happened….we still had the long winding climb up the range to go!! So we set off again very gingerly and with Cheeky looking not so cheeky at all:( We stopped again briefly just before we hit the dirt road to let some air out of tyres in an attempt to make the ride a bit better for the little tacker. Straight run through to the Landcruiser Park entrance and in we headed. Almost at the front office and it happened……Cheeky could not survive any longer and the poor little fella lost his lunch:spudnikhurler:!! A quick makeshift clean up and we signed in and headed for camp…….with Smiley now complaining of the smell.
Got to Trakka campsite at around 5pm to find it was nearly deserted so we pretty much had the pick of any spot. We chose a shaded spot under some trees which would accommodate all those coming, had a decent fire pit and was close enough yet far enough away from the loos and showers. First things first, changed Cheeky into some clean clothes and then set about setting up Camo’s camper trailer. 30 seconds later dinner was on (I have to get me one of these camper trailers:D!!) beans and fish fingers for the boys.
Without time to really get any fire wood, we set up around a table with a couple of gas lamps going and started to shoot the breeze until Camo rocked up not too long later. After that, Stikman and Chloe turned up in stikman's latest e-bay special, a neat Series trailer and with the boys to bed, a couple of very well received cold beers were consumed.
Next morning, up early for some pancakes, coffee and route planning and we were off again. Plan was to head towards the main entrance in the hope that by the time we got there, we would meet the 2nd party consisting of Bolts, Philco, Guy G & Navron. Our group headed for Telecom hill and after close inspection it was decided it was a bit steep and scary looking for our first run of the day. Stikman however made it look very easy but we still ended up meeting him around the other side of the track. Next, onto a small wombat type section just off the main road which had us all stretching our springs to the max.
With no sign of the incoming party, we headed for Coopers corner and a few other tracks near the front of the park. Extreme (Kevin) decided to give this one a miss and meet us at the top of the track so Camo, Stikman and myself headed down into Coopers corner and out the other side all still intact. Next we hear the dulcet South African tones of Bolts heading into the park so a quick check in with them and we headed back to camp to meet the 2nd group and plan the afternoon's driving. With Navron, Bolts, Philco and family, Guy G and better half safely at camp, a spot of lunch for us all and off we all headed for the afternoon drive.
Just behind our camp is a track which takes you up some nice relatively easy wombat holes (Test Track I beleive it was called) and over the top of the hill into the Pig Pen. The Pig Pen for those who don't know, is a series of manmade mud bog runs of varying depth. Almost any 4 wheel driver has looked at them and thought, “I wonder how deep that one is…….I could maybe give it a try!” This of course was running through Bolts’ head and after some deliberation and consultation about CDL’s not being engaged and no snorkels, Navron decided to show us how to go through one of these bogs. Easily through so that was the green light for Bolts:D!
With the muddy puddles out of our system for now, we headed off to find some more tracks to play on. Claw gorge was next on the list and with minimal fuss we all made it through some tight technical albeit fairly straight forward tracks. Next we headed for a red canyon run. A quick check a few hundred metres down and I decided it would be fine for us all to make it through here. A similar run to Claw Gorge, but more technical and more rocky, this one made each driver think a bit more about which line to take etc. All successfully though the first part and we came upon a small little section which had 3 options.
Option 1 – highway:D
Option 2 – over some rock slabs but essentially fairly straight forward with some simple guidance:)
Option 3 – Really not a track at all and at first glance, looked undrivable:eek:
With us all making good progress and all drivers negotiating the tracks extremely well, stikman decided to walk option 3 and consider the possibility of actually driving it! I set about making sure all others were safely parked up and had a good view of "option 3" and offered my expert guidance to stikman for this rocky/boulder section:angel: With the first boulder safely navigated, it was onto boulder 2 which was actually quite large. On the left we had a stream and about 1 & 1/ cars length to the driver side, there was a small rock face. So, with not much room to manoeuvre, I confidently guided stikman forward and with some expert direction and encouragement, I managed to get stikman to perform the perfect see saw:eek::angel::p! With both front wheels spinning freely in the air and the car resting on its belly, it was then apparent that perhaps the correct line was further to the left!! Okay so as I had intended (not) now for a live recovery demonstration for some of our newer members of the club. After some track building by Hercules…I mean Bolts:angel:…..we attempted to winch stikman forwards. This was quickly brought to an end with a short circuit on his winch so now for plan b. Camo kindly offered to pull up behind stikman so we could winch him backwards. Success first go and stikman’s see saw days were over. With all 4 wheels back on the ground, we then guided stikman onto the correct line (around the left hand side of the rock......who would have thought it:angel:) and up over the final rock back onto level ground. A great little section indeed and although some bumping and scraping a great example of just how capable these cars are. Keen to try this one out next time I am there:D
Continuing on, we then came across what looked like a complete dead end. Tucked around a corner was a small body of water with a muddy exit and to the right…….on the other side, a sheer cliff face with a huge body of water around it:eek: This one disappeared around the corner so no visible escape route. Stikman however had driven this track before and assured me that the huge body of water did indeed have a hard bottom and a clean exit. Not wishing to simply drive off into a huge puddle and navigate as I went, stikman was off with his shoes and socks and wading through some very still water. All looked fine until I asked him to step slightly to my left so I could get a visual on how deep it was………you nearly went for a swim stikman admit it:D:D!!! Waist high water was not an attractive proposition for me, even with a diesel and snorkel, plus as TL, I needed to be thinking of all other cars in the group. At this point Camo headed off on a side track which looked to skirt around this section and thankfully it did. So, about turn and we were soon heading on our way past the lake (or loch:angel:) of death and onto some more tracks. With us all assembled on the other side of the lake of death, a steep downhill drop off saw Navron attempt some impressive acrobatics in the D1. An eye witnesses report stated that his back wheel topped out at head height off the ground as him and his truck pointed very south down the steep climb. After finally composing himself, Navron was able to talk again and we continued on. By this time it was approaching dinner time so after deciphering the various intersections, it was back to camp for some tucker. En route, we stopped at a pile of fallen trees to gather some fire wood which neatly fitted on top of Extreme’s 110 defender full length roof racks. Camo did his best to try and destroy the 110 (we know you are a Rangie man Camo) by trying to force a large sleeper through the side panel of Kevin's truck as he slid helplessly down a hill towards the car arms at full stretch above his head trying to avoid an impact. Thankfully, all okay and with a roof rack full of wood, it was off to camp.
No mucking around with children, so for me, it was a case of feed the kids quick before they kill me. At this point Camo, Navron and Philco headed off in Philco’s 130 to gather more fire wood and after about 15 mins, they returned with a handsome amount of wood, a story about a creek crossing and something about finding perfectly cut fire wood. Fire starter Bolts then proceeded to build up the fire and after some abuse about his fire making abilities (mainly from me of course:angel:), actually created a superb fire which saw us warm for the rest of the night.
Just after dinner, unfortunately stikman and Chloe headed for home, much to the disappointment of Smiley. I think it was a strategic move by stikman to get Chloe away from the young Smiley Gerrard who was trying all his best lines on Chloe, his best being, “Chloe, do you want to come and have a look in my tent?”:angel::D!! Sadly we also lost Extreme and his family at the same time as they had to work in the morning.
The next day, again, very fresh in the morning, we did a quick pack down of our camp before Bolts, Navron (with Camo riding shotgun due to a busted shockie), Guy and myself headed out to find some more tracks that we had seen whilst coming back to camp the previous evening. We didn't really find what were looking for so ended up simply taking a drive round some other relatively easy tracks before we had to get back to camp to leave. We did however find a nice bonnet high water crossing which cleaned the bottom of the cars that attempted it……accept Bolts, who managed to find the only bit of mud on the exit and ended up decorating the side of the white D2 with some nice brown mud stains!!
Back to camp, hitch the trailer and we were off home again in convoy via Kilcoy for lunch and then via Esk to avoid the Bruce Highway car park.
All in all a very successful trip with the only damage being Camo’s broken shock. Good to see some new drivers out on one of our trips and even better to see everyone driving extremely well and safely.
Although a bit of a drive, this park is a great weekend away with some very good tracks indeed. This time the park was very empty which makes for a far more pleasant weekend in my opinion especially when you have a couple of younger kids in tow.
Thank you all for making it a safe and enjoyable trip and thanks again to Bolts for his assistance as Tail End Charlie and to everyone else who made my job easier by ensuring drivers behind them got through all of the tracks unscathed.
I do have some videos on my phone, but can't figure out how to post these up so if anyone can help please that would be great.
Thank you all again and looking forward to the next trip.
Aye, Mick
Easy drive through to BP Morayfield where I met up with Extreme and his family at bang on 2.30, a quick stretch of the boys legs, filled up the mack truck and we were off again……straight into heavy traffic. Not so bad as we turned off a few ks up the road and headed for Kilcoy. Pleasant drive from there on in apart from hearing those dreaded words from the back of the car…..”Daddy……I feel sick”:eek:. Pulled over to let Cheeky compose himself and for daddy to make ready the car in case the worst happened….we still had the long winding climb up the range to go!! So we set off again very gingerly and with Cheeky looking not so cheeky at all:( We stopped again briefly just before we hit the dirt road to let some air out of tyres in an attempt to make the ride a bit better for the little tacker. Straight run through to the Landcruiser Park entrance and in we headed. Almost at the front office and it happened……Cheeky could not survive any longer and the poor little fella lost his lunch:spudnikhurler:!! A quick makeshift clean up and we signed in and headed for camp…….with Smiley now complaining of the smell.
Got to Trakka campsite at around 5pm to find it was nearly deserted so we pretty much had the pick of any spot. We chose a shaded spot under some trees which would accommodate all those coming, had a decent fire pit and was close enough yet far enough away from the loos and showers. First things first, changed Cheeky into some clean clothes and then set about setting up Camo’s camper trailer. 30 seconds later dinner was on (I have to get me one of these camper trailers:D!!) beans and fish fingers for the boys.
Without time to really get any fire wood, we set up around a table with a couple of gas lamps going and started to shoot the breeze until Camo rocked up not too long later. After that, Stikman and Chloe turned up in stikman's latest e-bay special, a neat Series trailer and with the boys to bed, a couple of very well received cold beers were consumed.
Next morning, up early for some pancakes, coffee and route planning and we were off again. Plan was to head towards the main entrance in the hope that by the time we got there, we would meet the 2nd party consisting of Bolts, Philco, Guy G & Navron. Our group headed for Telecom hill and after close inspection it was decided it was a bit steep and scary looking for our first run of the day. Stikman however made it look very easy but we still ended up meeting him around the other side of the track. Next, onto a small wombat type section just off the main road which had us all stretching our springs to the max.
With no sign of the incoming party, we headed for Coopers corner and a few other tracks near the front of the park. Extreme (Kevin) decided to give this one a miss and meet us at the top of the track so Camo, Stikman and myself headed down into Coopers corner and out the other side all still intact. Next we hear the dulcet South African tones of Bolts heading into the park so a quick check in with them and we headed back to camp to meet the 2nd group and plan the afternoon's driving. With Navron, Bolts, Philco and family, Guy G and better half safely at camp, a spot of lunch for us all and off we all headed for the afternoon drive.
Just behind our camp is a track which takes you up some nice relatively easy wombat holes (Test Track I beleive it was called) and over the top of the hill into the Pig Pen. The Pig Pen for those who don't know, is a series of manmade mud bog runs of varying depth. Almost any 4 wheel driver has looked at them and thought, “I wonder how deep that one is…….I could maybe give it a try!” This of course was running through Bolts’ head and after some deliberation and consultation about CDL’s not being engaged and no snorkels, Navron decided to show us how to go through one of these bogs. Easily through so that was the green light for Bolts:D!
With the muddy puddles out of our system for now, we headed off to find some more tracks to play on. Claw gorge was next on the list and with minimal fuss we all made it through some tight technical albeit fairly straight forward tracks. Next we headed for a red canyon run. A quick check a few hundred metres down and I decided it would be fine for us all to make it through here. A similar run to Claw Gorge, but more technical and more rocky, this one made each driver think a bit more about which line to take etc. All successfully though the first part and we came upon a small little section which had 3 options.
Option 1 – highway:D
Option 2 – over some rock slabs but essentially fairly straight forward with some simple guidance:)
Option 3 – Really not a track at all and at first glance, looked undrivable:eek:
With us all making good progress and all drivers negotiating the tracks extremely well, stikman decided to walk option 3 and consider the possibility of actually driving it! I set about making sure all others were safely parked up and had a good view of "option 3" and offered my expert guidance to stikman for this rocky/boulder section:angel: With the first boulder safely navigated, it was onto boulder 2 which was actually quite large. On the left we had a stream and about 1 & 1/ cars length to the driver side, there was a small rock face. So, with not much room to manoeuvre, I confidently guided stikman forward and with some expert direction and encouragement, I managed to get stikman to perform the perfect see saw:eek::angel::p! With both front wheels spinning freely in the air and the car resting on its belly, it was then apparent that perhaps the correct line was further to the left!! Okay so as I had intended (not) now for a live recovery demonstration for some of our newer members of the club. After some track building by Hercules…I mean Bolts:angel:…..we attempted to winch stikman forwards. This was quickly brought to an end with a short circuit on his winch so now for plan b. Camo kindly offered to pull up behind stikman so we could winch him backwards. Success first go and stikman’s see saw days were over. With all 4 wheels back on the ground, we then guided stikman onto the correct line (around the left hand side of the rock......who would have thought it:angel:) and up over the final rock back onto level ground. A great little section indeed and although some bumping and scraping a great example of just how capable these cars are. Keen to try this one out next time I am there:D
Continuing on, we then came across what looked like a complete dead end. Tucked around a corner was a small body of water with a muddy exit and to the right…….on the other side, a sheer cliff face with a huge body of water around it:eek: This one disappeared around the corner so no visible escape route. Stikman however had driven this track before and assured me that the huge body of water did indeed have a hard bottom and a clean exit. Not wishing to simply drive off into a huge puddle and navigate as I went, stikman was off with his shoes and socks and wading through some very still water. All looked fine until I asked him to step slightly to my left so I could get a visual on how deep it was………you nearly went for a swim stikman admit it:D:D!!! Waist high water was not an attractive proposition for me, even with a diesel and snorkel, plus as TL, I needed to be thinking of all other cars in the group. At this point Camo headed off on a side track which looked to skirt around this section and thankfully it did. So, about turn and we were soon heading on our way past the lake (or loch:angel:) of death and onto some more tracks. With us all assembled on the other side of the lake of death, a steep downhill drop off saw Navron attempt some impressive acrobatics in the D1. An eye witnesses report stated that his back wheel topped out at head height off the ground as him and his truck pointed very south down the steep climb. After finally composing himself, Navron was able to talk again and we continued on. By this time it was approaching dinner time so after deciphering the various intersections, it was back to camp for some tucker. En route, we stopped at a pile of fallen trees to gather some fire wood which neatly fitted on top of Extreme’s 110 defender full length roof racks. Camo did his best to try and destroy the 110 (we know you are a Rangie man Camo) by trying to force a large sleeper through the side panel of Kevin's truck as he slid helplessly down a hill towards the car arms at full stretch above his head trying to avoid an impact. Thankfully, all okay and with a roof rack full of wood, it was off to camp.
No mucking around with children, so for me, it was a case of feed the kids quick before they kill me. At this point Camo, Navron and Philco headed off in Philco’s 130 to gather more fire wood and after about 15 mins, they returned with a handsome amount of wood, a story about a creek crossing and something about finding perfectly cut fire wood. Fire starter Bolts then proceeded to build up the fire and after some abuse about his fire making abilities (mainly from me of course:angel:), actually created a superb fire which saw us warm for the rest of the night.
Just after dinner, unfortunately stikman and Chloe headed for home, much to the disappointment of Smiley. I think it was a strategic move by stikman to get Chloe away from the young Smiley Gerrard who was trying all his best lines on Chloe, his best being, “Chloe, do you want to come and have a look in my tent?”:angel::D!! Sadly we also lost Extreme and his family at the same time as they had to work in the morning.
The next day, again, very fresh in the morning, we did a quick pack down of our camp before Bolts, Navron (with Camo riding shotgun due to a busted shockie), Guy and myself headed out to find some more tracks that we had seen whilst coming back to camp the previous evening. We didn't really find what were looking for so ended up simply taking a drive round some other relatively easy tracks before we had to get back to camp to leave. We did however find a nice bonnet high water crossing which cleaned the bottom of the cars that attempted it……accept Bolts, who managed to find the only bit of mud on the exit and ended up decorating the side of the white D2 with some nice brown mud stains!!
Back to camp, hitch the trailer and we were off home again in convoy via Kilcoy for lunch and then via Esk to avoid the Bruce Highway car park.
All in all a very successful trip with the only damage being Camo’s broken shock. Good to see some new drivers out on one of our trips and even better to see everyone driving extremely well and safely.
Although a bit of a drive, this park is a great weekend away with some very good tracks indeed. This time the park was very empty which makes for a far more pleasant weekend in my opinion especially when you have a couple of younger kids in tow.
Thank you all for making it a safe and enjoyable trip and thanks again to Bolts for his assistance as Tail End Charlie and to everyone else who made my job easier by ensuring drivers behind them got through all of the tracks unscathed.
I do have some videos on my phone, but can't figure out how to post these up so if anyone can help please that would be great.
Thank you all again and looking forward to the next trip.
Aye, Mick