Mount Moffat 23/1-27/1/09 "The Disco Trip"

**stevo68** · 28th January 2009, 01:04 PM

First off...a huge thanks to Richard as Trip Leader....well prepared and lead the group well. An all round huge thanks to the group of intrepid explorers, who headed off in squalling winds and belting down rain...to hopefully greener pastures, for their company, friendship and warmth shown to myself and my 3 children.

Particpants

Richard and Maggie...Disco2
Harry and Chris....harry
Stevo, True, Ashton and Connor...Stevo68
and for one night only...Kieran and son Tom...from AULRO.

Day 1

We all met up at Coomera at around 8.30ish....I say that as I had my first experience of putting gear on the roof rack and attempting to work out how a snatch strap works

......whilst it was raining.

Then had to go to Bunnings to get some bolts that would hopefully attach my battery to the battery box.

Josh was there...( thanks again mate) with wheel covers and an inverter in case I needed to charge up. I believe these pictures have already been posted up. The mood was bright and the group raring to go....albeit...I for one was hoping the rain would take a flying leap off somewhere else.

Off we went...Richard as TL....myself and crew in the middle....and Harry as TEC and off into the belting down rain...destination Roma. As many know I have just had new suspension, Bighorns and sliders done. I was pretty impressed with how the Bighorns behaved and was a bit of a review between myself and Harry on our new tyres. Meanwhile the boys were playing the DS games in the back...which pretty much kept them occupied till Roma.

Soon we hit the Toowoomba range.....%$#* me, TD5's weren't meant for steep hills

.....( side note...V8's great for on road.....diesel for off road...based on having both). After seeing the revs scream and slapping the side of the car to make it go faster...we got to the top. By then the weather had cleared and we made our way invariably through little towns...stopping on occasion. Kids were impressed finding a kangaroo's head and tail....but not body at one stop

After driving for 5 1/2 hrs we were not far from Roma....and yep....the heavens opened. Absolutley poured down and it was suggested that cabins maybe the way to go

. Good choice....camp ground was under a couple of centimetres of water......all my gear on the roof was wet....and with 3 children...it seemed a good choice....they seemed to think so too...

Some lairs I met in the park....oops I mean H,C, R and M

Yep Smokey...jjjusssstttt squeezes under....

We had a wonder around Roma...which at that stage had stopped raining and I took off to get some things for the kids, along with Maggie to get some supplies. Yep..I actually walked. On the way back...out the front was a white disco. Well bugger me...drive all this way and don't see another one...and there one is. Said to the kids...I wonder if it was someone from the forum.....and it was....Kieran....who I have forgotten his profile name...must have been the beers

. Fairly early night and up the next day to get last minute bits and pieces before going to the Romaville Winery where Richard had organised a tour.

Day 2

By 9.30, some bottle had been bought and we were on our way to Injune to top up tanks and jerries as it was around 160kms to camp site...approx 100 kms of that as dirt/mud/sand...ooohhh yeah

. After what seemed forever we finally hit the dirt......this is where the Maxxis came into their own....felt very confident in the dirt/mud and sand we were going through. Time to pull over and for the smokers to have a ciggie ( no not me) and to stretch the legs.

My attempt at flower pictures

See...Happy Campers

Handsome devil in the middle of nowhere

Random scenery shot

Then back onto the track to get to camp......then the dirt bit back

. I pulled up to see steam coming out of Richards engine...coolant on the floor....Richard was so upset....we thought he was trying to throw himself in the bowels of the engine

But seriously folks.....an effort Mcgiver would have been proud of, as Harry and Richard worked to fix the car. From a laymans perspective.....a nasty fan hit some pipe and caused all hell to break loose. No doubt a more technical response maybe forthcoming. So what does one do while Harry and Richard work their magic:

Onya Chrissy

Meanwhile:

After about 2 hrs of hard work and toil....Harry and Richard had it back together again and off we went. Was well impressed...seriously... with how they did it.....I did help.....with some zip ties

.

On the way in, we came across some bush cattle....

Who soon after had us tearing away as they chased us...hurry Dad...they are gaining ground

, till soon we had entered Carnarvon National Park and went to the information area for Mt Moffat:

Random Scenery Shot

Off to our campsite at Dargonally Rock Pools.... and again....theirs that white disco....I had forgotten that Kieran and young Tom were joining us...so off went the now 4 discos. When we pulled in and whilst thinking we would be alone....saw another tent. Appears we may have ruined some lovebirds idea of a time out in the bush to get their "wild" on

. All good....was a huge site:

My View setting up camp for 1 adult and 3 children

Finally I am done...sort of...

Random Campsite Pictures

Typical Sunset

Then after a long day...it was dinner time...something easy and a coldy of course:

And the kids favourite...Fire Warden Harry

It was great to finally be there, was a long day and the drinks went down well that night. Once the kids were bedded down for the night, we all sat and chatted the hrs away before hitting the sack.

Day 3

Up early...yep even me.....to have a day of exploring. Kieran had to leave early so he took us to some spots.

Random Disco's Shot

The Arch... a really cool bit of rock work....

Random Leopard Skin Shorts shot with kids

Then it was off to Lots Wife...which apparently was the level it used to be around....obviously a really, really long time ago

Lots Wife

Lightening Strike.....we think

Random Smokey Shot

From there, Kieran and Tom had to head off, great to meet you mate and thanks for showing us around. Now back to 3 disco's to continue exploring. We headed off down a track...to an area called Incineration Point...where apparently some bad men...well...got incinerated. Pfffft...who cares....there was mud....glorious mud.....pretty extreme mud actually...low range...centre diff in kind off stuff. The muddies just ate it up....loved it...so did Smokey

Smokey in the Mud Shot

I'm not sure how Maggie and Chris went....but for Harry, Richard and myself it was like boys playing with big tonka's

. From there we went to the top of the PLateau to another camping site. They had magnificent views from there...though wouldn't like to camp with youngins...umm...eerrrr...due to the cliffs.

Random shots of heaps of stuff

On the way back down, Smokey had her first hiccup, an SLS fault and had dropped to bump stops. I kinda thought we were bouncing around to much...especially when Connor kept hitting the roof

. Stopped...reset....no issue from then on in

.

Got back to camp....and for those that wanted....a swim in the rock pools. Water was obviously brown...bit slimey in spots...but very refreshing:

That night...time for another camp fire....with an excellent chimney:

Ashton showing off his muscles:

Chip off the old tooth..I reckon

The booze flowed a little more freely tonight

, Richard gave myself and Harry a 9% bottle of beer and after my 6...well lets just say nigh night nurse time

.

Day 4....Australia Day

Up early again to go find the Homestead...which we never ended up finding...so went searching for what we could find. We also donned our Australian flags.

A tombstone

An overgrown camping site

Smokey Action Shots

A Bore...no not Harry and Richard....a real bore

Australia Day D2's out in the great Aussie Outback

After driving around for sometime we headed back for lunch. After lunch, we had a boys trip as the ladies decided to chill back at camp. So off we went to the Kookaburra Caves to have a look. I was a little concerned at the 850metres...there....and 850 metres....back....for Connor of course.

At the Caves...were it is meant to be aboriginal paintings and carvings...

View from the Caves

Then we walked back to the Disco's...now here's a happy chappy...think "are we there yet"

Once we got back, I said to Harry and Richard that we would just dawdle our way back. Was last day there before heading off in the morn and wanted to see what wildlife we could see....oh and take some pics of Smokey

Smokey Shots

That done...off to see what animals we could find;

First up...Emu's

Kangaroo's

The Best Bit...A Dingo.....we were driving along and couldnt tell what was in the middle of the road. Got closer and thought was a fox as fur was very red....then realised it was a dingo. So stopped the car....and after a while it came to us.

Then he wondered off into the woods. The kids were very exited. When we got back...thought better help out with some wood dragging....

Was our last night.....I had saved my Guiness and Kilkennys till last. Harry decided to give us....in an Irish accent....how to open a can of Guiness and get the widget out

Our wonderful trip was drawing to a close, so being Australia Day...we had good old lamb chops:

.

Day 5

Up at the crackers, broke down camp, needed a little assistance with the bloody rachets again and we were on our way again....home

As luck would have it...Harry had a problem with the engine and fuel. Again some Mcgiver action, carpet being torn up, stuff being done and we were on our way home. Not much to report on that...as going home isn't the fun part....more importantly we all got home safely.

Thanks again to Richard and Maggie and Harry and Chris for the wonderful time, a fine group of people.....I get to be the young fella for a change

. Thanks for offers of help and assistance where needed for me

and the kids. They had an excellent time as you can tell:

Can't wait to go for the next one. I left these pics for the end....just random shots of the Oztent.....excellent set up. New tyres and suspension went brilliantly...cannot fault. Learning lesson......for me and other club members to do a course of basic mechanics and supplies to take on trips.

Random Oztent Pics

Please add to the report content and pictures.....I think Chris had better notes than the ones in my head. Also being a G site....I think we can leave the "crack" pic alone

...please...please...I beg you

,

Regards

Stevo

**Psimpson7** · 28th January 2009, 01:17 PM

Looks like an awesome trip mate

**Outlaw** · 28th January 2009, 01:23 PM

agreed... looks, reads and sounds like a brilliant trip and good to see you and the kids out having fun again

**djhampson** · 28th January 2009, 01:52 PM

Great write up Stevo. Looks like an awesome weekend.

**dungarover** · 28th January 2009, 05:41 PM

Looks like you had a ripper time out there, good trip report as usual and plenty of pics to boot.

Trav

**MickG** · 28th January 2009, 06:58 PM

Very jealous Stevo.....can't wait 'til me and the family are under some canvas and stars again soon

Awesome report and pics and still loving the look of Smokey

Aye, Mick

**Shepp** · 28th January 2009, 07:33 PM

Yes nicely done. Love the photos and a great little read.

**harry** · 28th January 2009, 07:56 PM

yes it was an excellent trip, thanks stevo for the report and the pictures,
i am still to find some of mine,
yep, richard had a minor problem which we managed to fix, most of the time fixing it was waiting for everything too cool, the car, the weather, richard and me!
unfortunatly the fan hit a small hose and cut it, dumping the fluid, the low coolant alarm went off, and richard turned it off and was stopped in a hundred yards.
we fixed the hose and off we went, with no damage.
i had the lod gremlin reappear on the way back and finally it stopped altogether.
thank you for that!
finally we now know what has been niggling my disco for ages -
the plug at the fuel pump had a dodgy connection and was arcing, causing intermittent power failures, particulatly noticable on bumps -when we hit corregations it caused power surges like thumping the throttle on and off, until it finally quit - lickily this time i was able to find the fault while it was still hot - like you would burn your fingers on the fuel pump plug, it was that hot - close to fire!
here are some after shots, compare these to the before shots at coomera.