2013 Coffs Extreme Weekend

[CheekyD1]

Cheeky was excited to be going back to Coffs Harbor, she was up early and nagging to get going south. I told her that we had all day to drive three hours but she was keen to go “Camping” Seeing as we had so much time to travel, we decided to take the scenic route; via the Beach between South Ballina and Evans Heads


Next stop for Cheeky was a feed at Fredos Pies


Where I met a new friend


Marilyn wanted to come along and watch the action at Coffs but she had to stay to greet guests at Fredo’s pies
Cheryl and I went “Camping” at the Opal Cove Resort on the beach, we thought of the others camping at the Show grounds while we enjoyed the complementary champagne, watching the rain flog down.
On the was out to the Thai Restaurant Cheeky assured us that everybody would be fine “GCLRO loves camping she said”

Next morning Cheeky was a bit worried.

There seems to be an abundance and a depletion

Before we even got to the first hill Cheeky stopped; looking I saw some RRC conference looking under the hood

The RRC issue was soon closed and we were under way again.

Cheryl enjoys the show and the weather


The next conference was around Tim’s Fender


Grant soon found a clue


Tim finds more clues


Upon closer inspection the broken axle revealed itself


Tim headed home to locate another axle
This was the same hill that he did a mischief last year
Coffs 2012

Things we learned today, never take Tim to Bucca Fire Trail and make sure you send Grant to do his daily constitutional before leaving camp or you will hear about his bowel gyrations all day.

Up and over Mt Carnauba we decided that the cloud sitting on the big hills was making things misty so we headed down to have a go at commando

After another quick RRC conference

Notice that Grimace called in an RRC expert, why he was dead heading instead of driving remains a mystery

Any rate the problem was soon spotted


Grimace seems to have a loose stud that was allowing some Green Water to get out


Soon fixed and it was down to business


The conditions were perfect for Extreme Wheeling, the overnight rain had lifted the difficulty level of every track.

Everybody had given Commando a nudge and backed out, it was Grimace’s turn
After much smoke from his new Sticky Treps

up popped Fluffy.

Grimace was a bit happy


Onwards and down Dump trail


Grimace drove out of an impassable hole bigger than his Fluffy


Grimace was on a roll and things were going great

Never mind soon recovered

Another conference this time sponsored by ARB


So day one over and I had to go home to work, frankly I thought Cheeky was going to break down because she was so angry at having to leave the fun….

We got through lots of good tracks, we did some tough stuff and got GPS'ed several times but eventually found all the tracks we were looking for.

Day one honors defiantly goes to Fluffy doing everything and even found some extra credit in the play ground above widowmaker. I thought Grimace was going to have a heart attack after Fluffy scrambled up. Grimace was so pumped he even did it again to show us how it was done.

[Psimpson7]

Thanks for a great weekend everyone.

Sorry I don't have any pictures at all this time, but JohnR who passenger-ed with me has heaps!

I had a great weekend. Drove heaps of tracks, some of which especially on Saturday were incredibly slippery.

We had another big day today, driving tracks from about 830am until we got back to camp at about 1pm or so. It was a quite a lot drier today

Was also good today to see Tim and Rod again, this time in the county, and also Ant from Coffs Harbour 4wd, and his mate Phil who also joined us

When Tim broke his axle the day before it not only broke the axle, but split the stub axle and burst both the wheel bearing lock nuts, which I have never seen before.

Only real negative for me was the amount of sticks on the ground!

We had to remove about 30 from various parts of driveline over the 2 days. One severed my rear locker line and must have been close to taking out the rear brake. Thanks to everyone involved in repairing that, and sorry for the wasted 30mins. Without my beginner buttons working I would have had to go back to camp

No real damage for me beyond that.

Stopped for Pizza at Bangalow on the way home which is now turning into a bit of a tradition!

Thanks again everyone!

[Grimace]

If you can't already tell, I had a great time at coffs this year. Felt good to be wheeling on the treps again. Car was running the best it ever had.

Thank you to Cheeky for showing us around on the sat. Shame you guys had to leave.
Thanks also to Tim, Rod, Ant and Phil for the company on Sunday. We covered some ground over the two days that's for sure.

Unfortunately like Pete, I didn't get any photos but there were a few cameras/phones about so plenty were taken by others.

The terrain is very steep so climbing in and out and walking up and down really takes some degree of fitness. The legs and lower back are sore this morning.

Already keen for next year.

Final Thanks goes to every one else. Guy for jumping in as navi. Pete and Grant for all the work that had been done to our cars over the last couple of months.
John for cooking the maddest bacon in town and being resident photographer.
George senior for the late night Dr Phil, and George junior for looking after George senior.

[THE 109]

Looks like you lot had a great time down there, I won't be missing the next trip to Coffs that's for sure.
Need to get some more photo's up for those who couldn't make it.

Eric

[Grimace]

Hey Eric, I only have two photos on my phone...








I also have a grand total of 5 Photos on the camera all were taken back at camp prior to leaving for the Saturday lol
I'll upload them when I get home.

[GuyG]

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend, especially Grimace for loaning me a tent after my tent fail. I have to check to see whether its leaking through the fly or whether I just set it up in a divet - either way I won't be using it again. There was a slight mix up in campgrounds but in the end it probably worked out better as we were closer to the pub for meals and beer for most.

And no I don't want a beer!!

There are a few pics coming - no disco's and very few Rangies - lots of Defenders though

1. Grant at the bottom of a hill
2. Grimace and Pete reversing down the hill to help Grant who was stuck near the bottom
3. The view back to the top of the hill attempting to show how steep it was
4. Grant testing out the angles, and stuck, and waiting for help - refer pic 2. We were at the top discussing how to help if someone failed to make it up, wondering where the other 2 were when there was a call for assistance - Grimace was happy to reverse back down the hill.
5. Some of the vehicles

[GuyG]

1. The top of Impossibles looking down - we didn't attempt this
2. Sunday morning at the campsite with more locals coming for the drive
3. Trail along the ridge with recent fires - lots of regrowth though
4. Defender lineup waiting to cross the creek enroute to Jeep - Grimace was already on the other side.
5. Possibly on Jeep trail?? was after the creek crossing

I do have a sequence of pics of all the cars going through the creek crossing also - too many to resize and load here though.

[GuyG]

1. Part of the line up on Jeep
2. George
3. Grant
4. The creek run
5. Grimace getting some flex in the creek run

[manchild21000]

Likewise to others , we had a great time despite my depression being worst than I can remember in a long time . Learned a few things , John doesn't like to be called a certain name and don't mess with Pete . Also that somethings never change , Grimace will show you up every time no matter how cool you think your driving is . Looking forward to next year , this is 1 trip not to be missed. I also have a few pics, just need get it off the phone.
Thanks everyone for the great weekend.
cheers

[Presto]

I also took very few photo's safe in the mind that JohnR would have heaps and make mine look crap anyway!

The group parked up for a posh coffee!



An accidental snap as we head towards the first tracks on the Saturday morning: (clearly I'm struggling for pics to post!!)



A post of Rod's cool county!



...BUT WAIT!! ... on closer inspection, it seems we have a thief on our hands!! ...caught red handed trying to start the Isuzu!



The full story!....
Rod and Tim spotted this cool creature o the side of the road, looking very thin and sorry for itself. When approached it seemed very lethargic, so Rod decided to take it home to feed up nice and fat, and then when released will stand a better chance of survival.

Anyway.... when we got back from watching Grimace showing off his ridiculous skills in the creek run, this dood had got out of the bag! ...Tim's comment .... "Glad he didn't do that while we were driving!!"

Rod trying to distract him:



A better pic of him:



He just didn't seem to struggle when handled, so clearly not feeling 100%. Hope "Cedric" gets better soon!


So after my first Coffs trip, I really can't wait to go back! I was very impressed with the defender on it's first trip, and glad to report nothing other than a few small klunks and loose bolts, which were all fixed at camp each morning!

Thanks to all for joining in on the weekend!

Roll on Coff 2014!!