TRIP REPORT: GLENROY VALLEY
Date: 5th - 6th December 2009
Trip leader: Graeme Nicholls
Trip report: Andy Van Houtte
Photos: Graeme Nicholls
It started out at Graeme’s place in Wakefield at 8.30am and we picked up some nice untreated KD stress graded firewood for the camp fire (compliments to the saw mill). Graeme was kind enough to give me too an "engine bra" made from a piece of old blue stretcher in anticipation of the river levels. This is a device that pushes the water in front of the radiator during a river crossing rather than allowing it to flow easily into the engine bay and into air intakes and is for trucks without snorkels. We then went round to Malcolm Higgin’s place to hurry him up (Higgie turned out to be the joint trip leader but we could not give him that status as he is not a current member of the club). I followed Graeme and Kay out to Murchison where we met with the other six trucks on this trip. When Higgie showed up we had a brief discussion of the trip and set off up the Glenroy valley. We had to go onto the farmer’s property through a locked gate to get up to the route to the top of the valley.
The first river crossing went well and the engine bra seemed to be doing the trick. The track was quite well formed and driving was reasonably easy. We carried on for about an hour and a half and stopped at a nice area by the river for lunch. The valley offered spectacular views with very steep mountains in certain places on either side. The river flats offered the only real grassed areas for the cows and calves to graze as the sides of the valley were covered in natives. Conversation turned onto the trucks and being impressed with the engine bra that the Izusu was wearing, the Discovery V8 pulled out this genuine (ex boat cover) DD size Range Rover engine cover. We stood there and helped fit this engine bra over the front of the truck. We packed up lunch and all headed off to the next river crossing where we waited with anticipation for the Discovery to cross. All went according to plan and the V8 crossed with ease, the bra not only stayed on, but it collected the river water in what appeared to be two DD size cups under the front on the truck. I know now why they call it an engine bra (refer to the photos). We carried on up to the camp site that had a deer-stalking hut in fine condition with good facilities. We then passed the hut to see if there was a better site up the valley. A couple of Ks on and Leo and Sharron’s ute broke one of the U bolts that holds the leaf spring onto the rear axle. Luckily Paul had some chain and D shackles and after some minor joking (it was a red Hilux, only done 200,000k after all) we all helped Leo secure the axle and then they headed back to the camp site. The rest of us went to the head of the valley for a look then headed back to the hut to set up for the night.
At the camp, I discovered my quality Chinese rubber inflatable bed had a hole in it, but managed to patch it up with some surgical tape. I took a lot of flak over that bed for the rest of the evening, but for the doubters out there, it stayed inflated for most of the night. We got the tents up and the campfire going, cooked dinner and settled in around the fire. Higgie’s chair had a failure at about 8pm as he was sitting on an off chamber slope and had to use Graeme’s umbrella to stabilize it. Higgie was reluctant to part with his chair when we suggested he add it to the fire even when we offered to sacrifice the umbrella, which was of similar vintage. That night we learnt about the stress grading marks on firewood and that Graeme likes calves, has very tight PVC pants and unfortunately forgot his gumboots on this trip.
In the morning we awoke to find that someone had kicked over Graeme’s bottle and all the contents had drained (same thing happened to Paul’s bottle). There was a plague of mice in the valley and they had been nibbling on Chaz’s food and Higgie’s toes in the middle of the night. The sandflies were beginning to wake up by this point so we had brekky, packed the trucks and headed back home. I did not bother with the engine bra on the way out. We were back in Murchison around 1pm as the rain began to settle in. Good timing to come out.
It was a good trip out for someone new to the club to meet with everyone and to get some river crossings under my belt.
Cheers
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