Rover Park Tour de Midget

Well.....am feeling more refreshed and ready to post some pics. Again...was a great trip...met up with Harry and Louis at Tweed in the piddling down rain and headed off. Stopped off in Casino to wait till bottlo would open, so Harry could indulge in his passion for mixing drinks :D. After a relatively cruisy run...we arrived at Rover. Bunks were sorted and we awaited with a coldy in hand for the others to arrive.

After everyone had unloaded there beast of choice....it was off for an afternoons drive. One of the destinations was the old mines...were Mr Mason gave us a history lesson on the mine....in unison...."Thaankkk yooouuu Mr Maasssooonn" :)

Parked at the Mine

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People looking around

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River at base on Mine

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Then off we travelled. We came across our first little challenge...a rather deep rut....where potential damage was more in the form of roof damage. Here's Harry getting through....

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Philippe decided to ride the high end of the rut whilst attempting to take off the side panels...with millimetres to spare:

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A bit of track building came into play to get the other vehicles through safely....

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Next day we headed off in one group and had the group pic.....will post some variations as there are all ready a few:

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The group then split up and I thought I would tag along with the "extreme" group. Most of what I have is on video for that part...but involved screaming V8's, winches, nasty rock ledges.....and something I definately didnt partake in on No Mercy Hill. Though did tackle some difficult tracks and made it :cool:. So keep an eye out for the video footage.

That afternoon was play time in the place we did around 3 years ago...was good to see it still there. Here is an assortment of pics...plus I also have video footage as well.

Smokey :D

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Harry

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Gary

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Where Smokey sailed through......Grimace didn't :p

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Mark

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Louis

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Now you can't have a trip report without the fun around a campfire.....though needed some more drinkers so Trav and I have more company later in the night :p...theres only so much possum talk that I can take :o.

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Now make of it what you will over these cuppla pics :eek:

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Hmmmm....what was that movie again???

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On the last day most of the group packed up and Philippe, Gary, Trav, Grimace, Hendrik and myself ( and respective company) went and hit a few more tracks. Thanks to Philippe for his expert guidance through some of the parts that I have never tackled before....and to Trav and Hendrik in ensuring I didnt rip open the side of my car...where I could already see glass all over the place :o.

The end of one of the tracks that Smokey conquered:

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My confidence levels in my driving are much higher...thanks to the assistance and guidance given to me. On particular hill had me screaming like a banshee on the way up as Smokey bounced and rocked from side to side.....the kids had thought I had gone mad :twisted:

Alas....like most things.........they must come to an end.....here are the stragglers getting ready for our journies home....

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A parting shot of the beautiful scenery....

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Some very happy kids who said its the best trip they have done so far.....even if we didnt get to go on the flying fox....

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And a last hurrah before we hit the tar.....

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Am looking forward to another trip/4WDing and campfire with the great folk...old and new of GCLRO in the very near future.....take care till then,

Regards

Stevo

So jealous I couldn't make it. looks like you all had a great trip!

Well what another fantastic weekend away :D anyone that was not there definitely missed out :p

Harry, Louis and Stevo set off from Chinderah at 7am on Friday morning arriving into Casino for fuel and supplies just before 9am. Delayed slightly waiting for a particular drink outlet to open they arrived at the Park at about 10.30. The Brisbane crew of Scallops, Hendrik, WhiteD3 and Trav meeting at Warwick at 8.30 we ventured down through Tenterfield only delayed by a short stop in Stanthorpe for someone to send a work email :mad: :wasntme: and then 7 short stops for Trav to close his persistent tail gate :o getting us into the park just before 11.

After a long and tedious camp set up :cool: a quick refreshment and bit to eat we hit the tracks for an afternoon drive. Harry led the way with some 'interesting' track selections that set the mood nicely for the weekend ahead. Although some challenging sections concurred all extremely capable (from stock D3 and Defender to locked D1s and Rangies) vehicles were expertly navigated through unscathed. The normally fire wood scavenger hunt was put into action on the return drive resulting in plenty of fuel for the night ahead. Back to camp both the bunk house fire and fire pit was flung into action and everyone settled into a relaxing evening around the fire.

With Grimace arriving 11pm the evening before and Cheeky, Gary and Armadillo arriving Saturday morning we set off for another venture, and as Harry had done his normal crack of dawn recce he lead the way down towards the river. After seeing this beautiful spot I think we need to organise a summer trip to Rover and although no amenities this is the place to camp! :) Splitting into two groups a few of us ventured up The Slip and then on to Freelander Loop and No Mercy Hill. With Harry taking charge he tackled No Mercy on head to head :cool: Then after cracking the winch out when that failed the challenge to drag him up begun :D Soon after harry's winch decided that it was all too hard so as I was tail end I ran down and looked for an alternative to the top to assist with the recovery. Down the hill along the track and beauty, another track up.........um Landrover Hill.....now what did Heidi say about this one again :confused: oh yeah they changed the classification from Extreme to twin locked vehicles only :twisted: OK then if I have to ;) Well wasn't that fun :eek: and they say V8s don’t like to rev :cool: as usual, by the time I got to the top and around to Harry Cheeky had run his winch up through a snatch block and Harry was up. Cheeky gave it a nudge but not wanting to destroy another CV a quick winch was done after the first couple of attempts. Grimace bowed out gracefully as although proving to be capable in its first outing Fluffy was still unlocked after all. Time for the Dunga :cool: Oh so close ;) A combination of unforgiving manual and perfect front and rear steps at 100inch apart had Trav stall on the last lip. Next time you will nail that one Trav. We ventured back towards the river to make contact with the rest of the group, with a quick stop at Patyota Drive for a play. Pretty straight forward but a fair bit of pucker factor to this one. Probably 3-4m rock, a few little ripples and slightly off camber, just to keep you on your toes. Big thumbs up to Stevo who drove it without hesitation (well too much hesitation) and nailed it without drama. We headed to the GCLRO playground where we met the other group and all proceeded to get stuck, attempt to get stuck, and for some do some quick 'modifications' :twisted: After a good morning of driving it was time for some lunch.

After a quick bite we ventured down Platypus Drive and to the base of Suzzies Canyon, except I could not help myself and had to venture down the creek early to play in the area the Rock Crawling comp was held last time I was there :cool: A few brave headed into Suzzies canyon which was longer then last time I was there, now having another 30m of creek with a steep little clay hill to exit and the end, then down a claw hill back into the creek and a rutted little climb out the other side of that. Cheeky scrambled up without too much fuss which left Grimace to scratch, claw and stumble up, not before all his passengers bailed on him after the first couple of attempts :p As Grimace made it look so damned hard I thought OK, just a touch of momentum :eek: lets just say I made it in one go.....but not without incident :mad: I am sure more on this will come out later as I believe there may be footage :( Once again a quick collection of fire wood and back to camp to settle in. This is where the trip really got interesting. Grimace started in fine form making some rather disturbing deals with Stevo on what he would get if he drove No Mercy Hill on Sunday, he then proceeded to hit on most members of the fire circle (regardless of gender) :eek: how’s that ear Louis :confused: As the drinks went down and the fire went up the conversations took the inevitable turns towards obscurity, ala Tour de Midget. Now I could not do the story justice so for all those not there, you will just have to live in wonder. For all those that were there I am sure you will remember it forever ;) The last word for the night would have to be "Rude, those bloody Landrover Drivers are Rude" :eek: but someone else can tell the story that goes with that one :D

Sunday rose to the sound of the neighbours once again rejecting the liquid refreshments from the night before :( and Harry off on his morning drive again. The rest of us stumbled out of bed and did the whole coffee breakfast stand around the fire remains ritual. A few of the group decided to pack and venture off early so Stevo, Cheeky, Trav, Grimace and I set off for a play, with Hendrik and Tash jumping in with Trav and I for the ride. After a quick play on Defender Challenge (which was all tapped out from the last comp run) One of Grimace's "deals" from the night before centred around driving Landrover Hill (which if you remember from previously had been classified Twin Lockers only ;)) Well, we can now change that to Twin Locker Pootrols or unlocked Rangies running 37s :cool: lucky the disco running 33s cleared the way for you :p off to another couple of hill climbs and a quick gully run I decided to try to find a gully run I remembered from last trip. Well, I officially do not like Rover Maps and Tash gets car sick if she reads while driving :D After doing Merv's Hill we finally found No Paddle Creek, but it was not what I was after, but it was good fun all the same :) with Grimace running on fumes and concerned he would not make Casino for fuel we headed back to camp to pack up and go.

Enough waffle for everyone? :eek: And after all that I have no pics :p

I think Driver of the weekend goes to Stevo, who drove up down around and through several 'Rover Extreme' runs. Some new faces for me were Armadillo and Gary, thank you to you both for the weekend, and to the remaining regulars as always a pleasure.

Until next time.

The fuel was a concern through out the morning, but it was a waste of concern.
I actually got to casino and put in just 62 litres... still had plenty left in her.

Am keen to hit the tracks at rover again, but this time with the correct tyre pressure (maybe 8psi instead of the guestimated 15??) as the creepys just didn't bag out as per usual.

Also be interesting to go back and tackle that last upper creek section we looked at :twisted:. Just think I need to improve my brakes before I attempt that decent into it :angel:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grimace

The fuel was a concern through out the morning, but it was a waste of concern.
I actually got to casino and put in just 62 litres... still had plenty left in her.

Am keen to hit the tracks at rover again, but this time with the correct tyre pressure (maybe 8psi instead of the guestimated 15??) as the creepys just didn't bag out as per usual.

Also be interesting to go back and tackle that last upper creek section we looked at :twisted:. Just think I need to improve my brakes before I attempt that decent into it :angel:

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I did offer you the use of my ezy-deflator so we could get the right tyre pressures but in true Grimace fashion, she'll be right mate :D:D.

Great trip, great people and of course great four wheeling, that's the point of going to a place like Rover, to go and play hard or die trying although the dunga's durability is surprising everyone including me especially after Land Rover hill :twisted::twisted::twisted: Thanks to Philippe for leading the trip and Harry for his 'history' lesson and leading us astray- you never know what's coming around the corner next :cool:

The Dunga was faultless apart from the pesky tailgate (took til we left the park to work it out. HD duct tape, in true dunga fashion :p), but she still ratlle, coughed and farted it's way back to Jimboomba and you can't ask more of it. Hope the green 92 Vogue SE beast is much the same, we'll wait and see.

Have video, will try and get it sorted soon.

Trav

i also have almost no pics, save for a few in off moments when out in the morning by myself.
thank you all for coming along and being the great company you all are.
i do apologise for the track errors, and leading some of you into tracks we never should have been on, however my chook has departed and i am at a loss to find a map reader that can decipher rover park maps without having been there last week
thank you also for all the great photographs and vids,
i look forward to our next trip, see you then.

Good evening viewers,
as some of you might have seen from other threads, Cheeky had a bit of a rushed preparation for this event, never mind she was in one piece and looking forward to a fun weekend and as usual the great folks of GCLRO(PC) did not disappoint.
We were up early and driving at 6am, stopping for gas at Chinderah and Casino finally getting to Rover just after 9.
No sooner had we stopped when Grimace asked what was leaking from under the bonnet. Cheeky parked herself on a suitable rock and an inspection was commenced, pictures of my ass in the air have already been posted. Luckily it was discovered that the new radiator hoses had shrunk, leaving the clamps a bit loose so after a quick nip up she was good to go. :D

Much has already been posted about Saturday so I will just add a few more.

No Mercy Hill
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Cheeky's new winch came in handy. Maybe the guy at the pub was right. I did need a winch this weekend.

Playground

Hmmm
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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O83DqQI_9aM"]YouTube - Play Ground[/ame]

Up the Creek without a paddle
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I’m not scared said Cheeky, but I was.
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Grimace attacking the Creek exit
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9OJexO8uHc"]YouTube - Grimace[/ame]

Philippe vs Tree
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNvTePIB0ug"]YouTube - Stikman Vs Tree[/ame]

Trav almost does the same.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKF9iXZZ8Ko"]YouTube - Trav[/ame]

Ouch
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Sunday came and we were off exploring again
Stevo doing Land Rover Hill. (While the others were away)
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How good was that (Ok this picture may have been from another hill, well done anyway Stevo)

A Creek Too far, may be next time.
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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78yXw7rbxn0"]YouTube - Sunday[/ame]

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Well over the weekend we often heard the cry of the many native wildlife.
There were those of the Compainious Motocyclious next door both in the shower and when the lights “Failed” :angel:

Then there was the mating call of the Rangroverious Travasourious “Go the Dunga” but strangely at the playground another call was heard, when the Dunga hand break failed Trav was seen giving chase crying “STOP DUNGA STOP”

Cheeky left Rover Park quite chuffed with her self, she had survived the Weekend with her CV intact and no damage which won’t buff out.
But alas on the drive all was not well, a strange smell began to waft into the cabin, driving along some more did not make it go away, so Cheryl suggested we should stop and have a look, Popping the hood, sniff, sniff, nothing…..Around the front tyres nothing….. Looking underneath bit of a stick ????
Then Cheryl said there is something back here…. Around the rear wheel well there were little bits of rubber, looking under the tyre found the sidewall melting…. Hmmm
Getting back up it was found that the rear spring had come out at the top and was rubbing on the tyre.
That explains the snapping noise I heard at the start of Land Rover Hill. Grimace even came on the 2 way asking if it was a CV or axle. What it was, was the hose clap holding the top of the spring in place.
So we found a convenient bank, flexed Cheeky up and kicked the spring back into place. At least Land Rovers are easy to fix.
Peter expect another request for Spring Locater Cones from me soon..

Thanks Gary :D

See, i told you that tree just jumped out in front of me :eek: ouch :mad:

I still think inch for inch Grimace still bent more panel then me :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stikman

Thanks Gary :D

See, i told you that tree just jumped out in front of me :eek: ouch :mad:

I still think inch for inch Grimace still bent more panel then me :p

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Yeah I got the rear qtr aswell, in the creek on sunday :)

Man fluffy looks about as capable as a turd on broadway :mad:
I didn't reallise just how easy I was loosing traction. I frustrate my self watching them videos... yelling at the monitor 'JUST FUGGEN DRIVE IT GRIMACE' :angel::D

Someone left a torch behind - http://www.aulro.com/afvb/gclro-club...ml#post1021654