Date:                     10 - 11/02/2007
Trip Leader:         Andrew Satherley
Trip Report by:     Neil Scott

Yes folks it’s true, I can’t deny it any longer, I tried my best but Harald wouldn’t sell the negatives (He didn’t try hard enough - ed.).

So I’m sorry to say to all you fellow Toyota drivers: I got towed by a Jeep! (But he made me drive the hills). But then again who am I kidding, you’re all whimps anyway, call yourself tough. You lot want to drive a real Toyota, with no power-steering and 6 inches of suspension travel. Mate, I put my seatbelt on because my head hits the roof, I grab the steering wheel with both hands, otherwise I’d loose my fingers. Handbrake don’t exist, and if you go through water you are lucky if you have brakes at all. When I pull up behind you, that look on my face isn’t of joy, but sheer relief I managed to stop at all!

Anyway, enough of rambling about the real man’s vehicle: I’m not sure if it was the fact on Saturday I was the only one to take my female partner, or that the truck looked more rustier than the wrecks we passed in the paddock but ‘Sav’ – god bless him – picked me to write the trip report.

Day 1 started out well but soon became "follow me guys and bounce from one boulder to another". Hey, that gap between the trees is 4 ft – but my truck is 4 ft 2 inches as Lex found out. "She’ll be right, that bank is 5 ft but if I hit it hard enough we’ll bulldoze it off". "You want Me to drive down that drop?!!"

Someone said: where was the bulldozer driver when his wife phoned and told him to come home for tea. Did he walk, as I’m sure we made that track just then.

I was impressed how hard you can get Toyota Hi-Luxes to rev. Yes, Leo got his 2.8 Diesel sounding like a petrol motor. I never thought they would sound like that, but he never thought he’d have to back down that hill either.

‘Sav" in his kind way thought I should go through the bog second after him if I was going to stand a chance; little did he know: 2 ½ tons sink quite fast, and I got faster at getting my tow rope out.

And the boys with their Nissans: it’s amazing what a 3" exhaust and Twin Turbos can do – there was that much air blowing out that exhaust, I’m sure if they didn’t weigh 3 tons they’d fly. Who said Nissans couldn’t rev?

Harald, who was completely lead astray into thinking that path through the bog looked easy, everybody said go that way, so he did at nearly 80 ks, only to find the 12" gap sank to 3 ft and the 5 ft mud banked in front of his radiator was slightly more than he thought, we dug him out eventually. The only scary moment was when he decided to see how much of an angle he could drive his Jeep on; at that point I thought I’d get out – quick. (You wouldn’t have been fast enough mate – ed.)

At the end of the day a beer was enjoyed by all, including the sandflies.

Day 2: meet the lads at camp (I will admit I’ve spent a comfortable night on a warm bed in a motel. Somebody had to do it). We set off on a pleasant drive to come out across a Cockeys paddock and mend the 6 or more joints in his hose with another one and leave before it burst.

We started not too badly on this tough way to our destination (name withheld to protect the landowners privacy – ed.), but after hitting the end of a long bog at speed and winching 15-20 ft before any of me wheels touched the ground, the water pump decided that was enough. I then managed to limp out to the gravel road, where Lex discovered his sump bung missing, and one of the Nissans popped a tyre. So while everybody sorted themselves out we once again hitched a ride in Harald’s Jeep. Then a short walk to a tunnel and after that, along with a couple of hundred wasps: ‘Lunch’.

I have to admit it was a comfortable trip in Harald’s Jeep (God I can’t believe I said that). We were then delivered back to my truck, a quick fill up with water, then began the long trip home where the most important thing was 1) working out where to stop to get water 2) keep an eye on the temp gauge 3) don’t get run over while getting water 4) watch out for wasps nests. Man, they were thick around the Owen River at the pub.

All in all it was a great trip with good company. Many thanks go to Murray Brown and Lex Bloomfield for the tows and Harald for a comfortable ride in his Jeep.

Memo to self:

1) lift truck 1 meter

2) fit 40 inch tractor tyres

3) speak nicely to Jeep drivers (you never know when you’ll need a lift or a tow

4) watch out for revving Toyota Hi-Luxes, for they are like boomerangs and come flying back

5) step aside for Nissans with Twin Turbos, they go like hell

6) and when trip leaders say "just follow me, I’ll make this up as I go" look for a Jeep to get a lift in

7) smile and wave nicely when photo is taken of being towed by a Jeep – it is his fuel!