Thread: Cruiser Park Trip Report

It all started about 630km ago………


As most are probably aware my rangie was in at Ricks 4WD getting the entire fuel system repaired after water damage from a Caltex Servo. Well after Mick G ran me around in the morning to get some essential camping supplies (Beer) we stopped into Ricks to see if my rangie would be ready in time to take to Landcruiser Mtn Park – and the answer that I got was a maybe???

I got the call at 3.45 to say that it was ready and Mick and I were on the road to a fantastic weekend in know time!!!!

When we arrived at Caboolture we gave Outlaw a call to see how far away he was, he estimated about 45min…….then 3min later he had joined us in the convoy (don’t you just love the power of a landy V8) 

We arrived at Landcruiser park at about 8.30 and met up with Maggot & Mrs Maggot who had bought along their new camper. Mick and I rolled out our swags and Outlaw set up his camper and cooked one of the best meals I have ever had camping. Several beers later we went to bed.

Sat:
After a coffee and some breaky Maggot, Mick and myself headed off to play while Outlaw slept in. We decided to tackle Telecom Hill then went on to Prado Pde follow by Timberjack Hill. It was all going well until I had some issues getting up a rocky section where I applied some of the good old right foot down technique… I thought that I work real well because I got up the hill until Maggot informed me that I had a flat left rear.

I got out of the car and saw that a rock had puncture the sidewall on my 3 month old cooper ST. A few choice words we exchanged with the tyre and then the realization that I only had a 235/55/16 XPC as my spare…Bugger

From the top of the hill I had mobile coverage so I called the park office to see if they had any 265/75R16’s and luckily they did, so off to the office we went. On the way Maggots Drivers rear spring came loose so while we were down at the workshop to take advantage of their $15 welding. Alvin the park owner pulled out the spare but my Rangie mag had a different idea and didn’t want to let the wheel off. So Mick G and I went off to Tyrepower at Kilcoy (45min away) to get a new tyre while Maggot had his spring retainer repaired. We arrived at tyrepower and my luck was getting better because he didn’t have any Cooper ST’s only STT’s. What was I to do – Mick helped in that department and after a really crap trade on my old Tyres I upgraded all four to STT’s

Mick droped me back at the park and then I drove back to Kilcoy to have to remaining STT’s fitted while Mick, Outlaw and Maggot went out to play some more.

By the time I got back to camp it was late afternoon and the guys were sill out playing, about half hour later they arrived back and told me all the fun that I had missed. That was fine because we could just go out and have a night run after dinner. We were treated to another glorious meal from the Jamie Oliver of camping – Outlaw and enjoyed a few cold beverages and then went off to tackle Claw Gorge and the Pig Pen. When we got to the Pig Pen Maggot and Outlaw were both having some overheating problems and Maggot decided to head back to camp. Mick couldn’t help himself and went through every puddle he could find. We then headed back to camp through every creek crossing that we could find and had to sometimes cross the same creek more than once just to make sure that it was passable.

We got back to camp about 11pm and sat around the campfire listening to some classic rock tunes from Outlaw’s Ipod in his car. Several beers later we went to bed.

Sun:
In the morning we pack up majority of the camp and Geoff and his wife came to join us for the morning. Maggot preformed so minor medical treatment on his rangie removing the thermostat to try and fix the over heating issue – it seemed to work. Then Mick, Maggot, Geoff and I decided to tackle Prado Pde for a chance for me to redeem myself and not break a tyre. That went fine so we proceeded to cruiser canyon – an Extreme track that traverses through a creek bed over several large damaging rocks. We had heaps of fun and my rock sliders got a fantastic work out. Maggot even managed to get his rangie stuck in some really nasty mud.

We headed back to camp and packed up the rest of the gear and then made our way to the office to sign out.

We were just about to leave when Outlaw started having overheating issues so we topped up coolant levels and waited for Maggot who we assumed was still at camp. After waiting a bit longer we decided to start making our way home. Just as we got to the gate Outlaws disco was having serious issues and had busted the radiator overflow tank. While topping up coolant levels we got a message that Maggots rangie was also having serious overheating issues as well. By the time we put the bonnet down on Outlaws disco and put Outlaws camper trailer on Mick’s Disco Maggot was just behind us. We soon parted ways as Maggot and Mrs Maggot headed back home the opposite direction. We made a quick pie stop at Kilcoy and then were back on the road home.

When we got to the Bruce Hwy the traffic was bad and Outlaws engine was still overheating so I lead the convoy thought the back roads and rejoined the Hwy at Kallanger where the congestion had passed.

We parted ways with Geoff at Slacks Creek and then made our way home to the beautiful Gold Coast.


Thanks everyone for a fantastic trip!

OK - not been to the 'other forum'

Are they the Well behaved decent folk over there?

(if so - I have landed in the right place )