Levuka 2011, Mud, trees, and recoveries!

Funny you say that Tim! ....I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the leeches!!? :eek: ....Jacqui was quite impressed with those!!
To be honest, they must have been Dunga spec leeches, as they had a massive army that tried to eat us all!! Did anyone get a pic of one? ....I got attacked 3 times - found 2 in my socks on the morning of day 1, and then one between my toes later that day!! :eek:

I was going to write a trip report, but who can possibly follow Trav's MASSIVE effort!!?? ....I'll just post some pics as soon as I get them uploaded!:angel:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Timj

Sounds like a great trip but no one has posted wether Jacqui survived camping and wether her heels got stuck in the mud :).

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Don't worry Tim:D
Jacqui experienced mud (No High Heels)
Leeches:D:D
Prickly trees;):D
Fresh water yabbies :o:D (Ben snuck around the back of the car and quickly popped up at her window):clap2::Rolling:
And some screeming for good measure:D:D:D:D
I think she enjoyed herself??????????????????????????????
Oh and plenty of:D:D:D:D from some of us.

:Rolling: Love your work Tim ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Busman

Don't worry Tim:D
Jacqui experienced mud (No High Heels)
Leeches:D:D
Prickly trees;):D
Fresh water yabbies :o:D (Ben snuck around the back of the car and quickly popped up at her window):clap2::Rolling:
And some screeming for good measure:D:D:D:D
I think she enjoyed herself??????????????????????????????
Oh and plenty of:D:D:D:D from some of us.

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You should have seen her run (if that's what you call it) when there was a little spider during the creek run. Last seen heading straight for the safety of Rods Rangie - not sure why she'd assume there are no critters in there, isn't it normally the other way round, you see people bolting out of cars generally due to a spider inside.

Don't know what CJT's kids thought - it was pretty funny. :wasntme:

Think she chose an interesting trip to try out camping and 4wding - just a tad different to the series trip:twisted:

They thought it was quiet amussing, they where trying to find all the spiders after that.

Then Blair proceeded to swing from the vines over the creek that quickly deposited him the water.

I think the boys brought half the water from the creek and mud from camp home with us in the back seats.

I certainly had some looks today driving the kids to school and through the centre of Brisbane with the D2 still covered in mud and the rear bar smashed up more than usual (lots of tape currently holding it together and the lights in).

At least it was the only 4wd at school that actually looked properly used for what it is meant for.

Gotta say a MASSIVE THANKS to all those that helped get the shorty around the tracks (Grimace, Dave, Grant, & Trav huge effort guys) and all of the Levuka Tug of War team - much appreciated!!
Once again Levuka proves to have a little bit everything that keeps you coming back and was toped of by sharing it with quality people.
The old shorty although being stuck a couple of times still gets around tracks pretty well & is always entertaining to drive - a wired down coil lead & a front locka hmmm!!?

Great pics & trip report guys
Sorry to hear about layshaft Pete - bugger of a job!!

Thanks again to all

Thanks all that was a great trip. Was nice to finally get to use the rangie for what its been setup for, well when its not at Fraser or on series trips. Yes Trav its been a while.

Like Stevo - things not to do for future trips - leave Brisbane after midnight when you have 2 hours of driving. At least the tent is easy to setup. Not sure if I would have been any better getting up at 5am to do the drive down on the saturday morning, cause I'm not really a morning person:). I do get up in the am just not 5am.:p

Finally decided that it was time to get the car out of touring mode and remove the sill tanks so that I actually had some decent clearance under the sills and could go in Group 1 instead of Group 2. Part of the reason for the late leaving time was because there were lots of things that needed doing before I was happy with the car. I managed to achieve them all:D. I probably shouldn't have procrastinated as much as I did, then I would have got there sooner, but at least there was no traffic.

1st track of the trip got to use the winch properly, not just for moving stuff around the yard:twisted:. As mentioned the leeches were everywhere until the Bushmans repellant was brought out, think it was Zoe who said to spray it on your shoes, clothes and yourself of course - no more leeches.

The next track after collecting the others from the camp ground, Presto's stuck in the mud hole where Ben spun it, I start to reverse back a bit as the ground is very slippery to give him some extra space to get out. I really should have looked in all mirrors (I blame lack of sleep for this one) - toot crunch - bullbar 1, lense 0 :mad::(:o. One of those you get out expecting the worst, then can't see any damage - thank goodness.

After lunch I went TEC for Group 2 - for our adventure up to the playground. Stevo up the front heads round the right hand side of a log ... and stops with a rooster tail of muddy water, about the same time Camo fails to proceed along the same track. Chris (CJT) was able to assist Stevo get out, but Camo in his recently aquired Rangie managed to reverse out and take a different line.

When we arrived at the playground there was already a Toyota and Jeep there. Only the jeep was trying stuff. We all had a play on various options. Stevo managed to get some good air under his front wheel - it looked unnerving from where I was watching, so no idea what it was like in the car. I had a chat to the Jeep bloke who said he only got about as far up the left hand track as Stevo did - so I though well there's a challenge I can't let go. Diffs locked - straight up first time. Wish the same could be said for the middle slope, got to the top but in a similar effort to Trav wheels going forward but the car was sliding back down.

Back to Camp for showers and food, then to wait the return of group one - really started to wonder if they had done damage as they seemed to be out for ages.

Sunday morning the creek run - I had trouble walking it. I did the first section, then opted out of the second. I'm sure the car is equiped to do it, but I didn't want to risk panel damage. Watching the others was impressive, travelling in the back of Travs rangie for the second part made me glad I didn't attempt to drive it. mmm side angles:eek: and then the mud on the way out:twisted:.

Chose a couple of interesting lines as per the photos, found a nice hole to drop the rear wheel in and scare the **** out of myself, then buried the exhaust in the dirt which snuffed the motor. Thanks to Grimace, Ben, Pete and Dave for the assistance in getting out of that one:eek:

I wonder if Levuka want there mud back:o

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Busman

Fresh water yabbies :o:D (Ben snuck around the back of the car and quickly popped up at her window):clap2::Rolling:
And some screeming for good measure:D:D:D:D

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Yes - thanks for that suggestion Dave... my ears are still ringing...

Actually I walked straight up to the car, I was still a few feet away from the window...

Jacqui was a great sport - and you should have seen the huge grin on her face at the top of every hill (not sure if she was happy or just relieved though).

On the subject of crayfish though - good thing I let it go - seems like it was a rare species that has just recently been described!

Ok so first up I just want to mention that I made it on this trip!
I may have been in Wendy the wagon but I made it!
I may have been a lot less organise then some but I made it!
I may not have had a 4wd to wheel but I made it!
Did I also mention that I MADE IT! :)

Thanks to Pete for inspiring me to get out on a number of clubs trips that I failed to attend I was not missing this one. So after realising on thursday night that it was Friday the following day I had a bit of a panic attack, but all was good come friday evening when Jess & I left our small apartment, heading north to Pete & Sams place.

You see Pete had to cram his small 35" tyres into the back of Scruffy and was running out of room fast. But have no fear Wendy to the rescue :D
I had left enough room to fit Pete and Sams esky into the back of my wonderful wagon and after a quick yarn our convoy of two was now three, as Rod and my wife were already present and ready to roll, Benda style :cool:

The trip to the park was pretty cruisy Scruffy lead the charge and hammered off into the distance, Wendy maintained a steady pace and Benda just cruised. It wasn't until I got to the unsealed roads that I realised just how bad the suspension (or lack of) in Wendy was.
But I knew Wendy had it in her to get me to my destination so I kept on keeping on and we arrived at our destination in one peice, just!

As we were one of the last to arrive we were greeted by a warm fire (thanks Trav) and some rather relaxed members who seemed to be enjoying the time away from the big smoke. Was a rather peiceful night few beers and slowly as the numbers deminished. Dave and myself decided to retire from the night at about 2am as if we socialised any longer we could have ended up in the same tent (I am certain that's what Dave was thinking :p).

Saturday 7:00am was my reboot time, and the first thing to be done was help Pete with his little tyres so he could enjoy the days wheeling to be had. Changing tyres is a horrible task, and I don't understand why we opt to do it to ourselves, so my theory was more hands, arms, legs and stuff like that make light work!

I'll try fill in some gaps and won't dwindle too much on what has already been said, so here is a quick list of highlights of the trip for me.

As Jess and I were not willing to show everyone up in Wendy, I rode shotgun with Trav for the day and Jess was rollin with CDL Dave.... music time!

They see me rollin
They laugin'
As we wheelin they tryin to catch me ridin CDL Less
Tryin to catch CDL Dave
Tryin to catch CDL Dave
Tryin to catch CDL Dave
Tryin to catch CDL Dave
My TDI so loud
I'm forgettin'
They hopin that they gon catch me ridin CDL Less
Tryin to catch CDL Dave
Tryin to catch CDL Dave
Tryin to catch CDL Dave
Tryin to catch CDL Dave

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/03/619.jpg

Got Him!!!

The wheeling for today was sticky, stinky, and slippery, a hanful of times vehicles were simply slip sliding away.... que the music!

Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer to the top, the more you slip sliding away!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/03/620.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/03/621.jpg

Me riding shotgun with Trav was like heaven, you know underneath that big pussom loving skin is a really genuine down to earth guy :p
No seriously the little 3.5 was music to my ears.... talkin of music, here is a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note.


We have
The chance to turn the 3.5 over
We can drive what we want to drive
We gotta make the top, before we get much colder

We're on someone's camera
We're on someone's ipod
How long can maintain traction
Down the slippery Levuka mud!

Chorus:
Bullets the voice, try and replicate it
Make a noise and make it clear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
We're not gonna wheel in silence
We're not gonna get stuck here
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/03/622.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/03/623.jpg

Ok band time is over!

By this time we had battled the mud and all it had to throw at us. Levuka is home to gangs of ninja leech, which slowly sucked the life from each of us. The girls confronted this gang with DEET, and I got physical with a few of the members (of leech that is)... They were tough buggers...
BUT WE WERE TOUGHER (except maybe Jacqui, who was a bit of a wuss)!

We pulled hard!
We played hard!
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...011/03/624.jpg

Direct highlights for me were taking part in the recovery team for John in the mighty S3, lowering it via 3 straps a total of 50m down the slippery exit track.
The creek run on sunday. Track modifying is always exciting for me.
The sound of the V8s
And some others... but the best part of my trip was also the scariest :D
You see as I have a habit of scaring Jess when I feel the need, I decided to sneak up on her while she sat in Busmans car awaiting the verdict of an upcomming section of track. A couple of wrigly fingers and a snarl through the passenger window saw Jess return the fright of her life, only to be followed closly by a lady like shreek from Busman... Sorry Dave but your reaction was so gold! It even gave me a fright. Glad you didn't suffer a heart attack. :)

All in all another excellent weekend, big thanks Trav, Dave, John & Guy for allowing Jess & I to stink out your cars.
Thanks again to Dave for the beers, and Ben also for a beer. It was much appreciated (now I sound like an alcoholic), I really did need it!
I would also like to say thanks to all the kids, as they are all so well mannered and make camping a true family event. Even if they lock keys in cars causing Stevo to take to his rear qtr glass with the blunt end of an axe :p.
Thanks to Camo & Zoe for the shade.
Thanks to Ben again and his father for the axe and the shovel.
Thanks to Rod and my wife for nothing :p
Thanks to Grant & Mel for bringing Duffy out and givin her the attention she deserves (even if she is a disco)
Thanks to Chris and co. for having a go and getting right amongst it all.
Thanks to Stevo and Guy for taking Group 2 around the park.
Thanks again to Trav for his role as TEC
And Lastly big thanks to Pete & Sam, for not only being a fantastic trip leading pair, but also for the time put in prior to all trips organising them and the calendar.

Duffy? who's Duffy?:angel: