http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/ Shoalhaven 4wd Club en-us Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:40:19 GMT 1440 CPG-Nuke Dragonfly Shoalhaven 4wd Club News http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/images/logo.gif http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/ http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=22 Tuff Truck Trip Report On Thursday afternoon John, Fiona, Jake, Harry, Brad K, Matt and Nick headed off to Tuff Trucks. Upon arrival at the site Nick picked the campsite. Which was on the bottom side of Rowdy Hill, which he was slapped several times over the weekned for. Never get Ncik to pick a campsite. Upon the next convoy leaving Nowra consisting of Manny, Big Brad(AKA Mud Guts) and myself. Manny received a message 'Several people forgot things several things. Last minute minute shopping and departure was underway. A quick stop in Albion Park to pick up Nicks food and Brad K Ticket from Kassie.Up the M5, M7, M2 and on to the F3 at a liesurely pace, cant hurry Manny in the Patrol. Turning off at Freemans Drive and heading for Cessnock. We were nearly there. Upon arrival at Milbrodale, Manny took off into the prepaid lane to use Brad K's ticket. Big Brad and myself waiteed in the line to recieve our tickets. On arrival at the campsite, the decision was made since i was last on camp. Oh well. We basically arrived on site and it was time from work, directing traffic to campsites. Reliving the members that had arrived the day before. Upon being relieved for dinner for a short time, it was back to work, when we funally got the stood down at near midnight and was time for a queit drink. From there it wasn't far and we were all tucked up in bed. Tahnks to John, Fiona and the kidsfor setting up the tents, Manny and myself took up. During the night there were several loud bangs. Waking just about everyone except Nick. Every body was up up and breakeast was was completered,It was off to work we went. Jaming more and more campers into limited space. THat wasa the end or off our work done for the weekend. Now it was time to relax, spectate and have some fun. Now we had the lunch duties over and done with. Everybody was feed and watered, it was off to watch some events. After losing track of time, it as time to start preparing dinner. After everybody had a big feed of what everyone had cooked up. Fiona had food from a big roast, she had cooked up. So the motherly nature come out and began to force feed some more food into us. Although it as lovely that Fiona was just looking after us. It felt like we ere at home with our parents, there for Fiona is now known as Mum. THanks Mum!!!!! Mow we all took off to have a look at the mud run. Great to have a look at, got bored though. So Nick and myself set off in the search of phone service.Then headed back to camp for a few drinks.I went walk about and ending up chatting to several people from the Shoalhaven area. Possible recruitment for the club. Oh well off to bed now for some sleep. Morning had arrived and it was time to see some more. During spectating there was some really skilled driving, seeing the big white fridge (80 series landcruiser) land on its roof. Oh well back to camp to pack up and head home. We headed home down the Putty Rd. What a fun drive. Brad, Nick and Matt departed from the convoy around Colo, leaving the Rodeo, Patrol and Challenger to head home. Upon approach to Albion Park a quick seating change took place. Jake jumped back in the Challenger from the Patrol. On departing Albion Park we made a comment about the weather. Not good, rain and hail all the way back to Nowra, in some spots back doing 40km/hr. Finally we arrived home, all safe and well. A good weekend was had by all. Cant wait for the next one. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:40:19 GMT http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=21 9.39am we all met up at Bewong servo. John & Fiona were the last to arrive, but Manny still had things to take care of at home so he met up at lunch time. Any way, we all head off and turned right into Wandean Rd through Yerriyong State Forest then left into Perch Hole Rd where we stopped to deflate our tyres. The track was a little overgrown but not bad enough to scratch the sides of our truck. There were 3 small creek crossings [only a foot or so deep]. Then we arrived at the bottom of a short hill climb strewn with small rocks & shallow ruts. Above that, a small level area then another steeper section with larger stones, boulders & deeper ruts. Further near the top, the section that 4wdrivers usually take was eroded by motor bike use, so we had to dig out & winch aside a large bolder. Brad led the way up & made it look so easy, then followed by Michael, then Norm. Ron in his truck took a few tries, but wasn Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:53:25 GMT http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=19 I’m new around here so I didn’t know about the rule that the last person to arrive gets the trip report. Anyway, on past experience, I didn’t expect to arrive dead on the meeting time of 9.00 am at Moruya and find I was the last arrival. People around here must really hate doing the report!!! Anyway, they say you learn by your mistakes. At this rate I’ll be perfect soon. After having a commemorative photo taken by Jeff, we set off and headed west along Arulen Road. Our route was to take us in a circle around Deua National Park. We headed north then west and finally south before arriving at Bendethra Camping grounds around five o’clock. In about 6½ hours of driving between 9.00 am and 5.00 pm (allowing for morning tea and lunch breaks) we covered 114 kilometres. The driving was fairly straight forward for the most part. There were some reasonably steep inclines and declines and a number of creek crossings that gave me a good excuse to shift into low range. The day was uneventful in terms of anyone needing to be snatched out of trouble. The closest we came was when Ron stalled his Rover half way across a creek crossing. He got going under his own steam however. Ian tried to liven things up a bit by spraying tent poles along the trail....... Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:02:26 GMT http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18 A Saturday trip was arranged for those new to the club and can’t necessarily make it to Sunday trips. This was the first trip that I had arranged so I did a reccy, well after heading down a road off MR 92 and down Wattle Tree track I came to an abrupt halt when Calymea Creek was running a wee bit full for my liking. A new route had to be found so I came by a local reference map but ran out of time to do much planning. Well it was with trepidation that Sue and I set off to meet any brave souls at our meeting point. New member Tim Coombes was already there in his Diahatsu Ferosa along with companion Kylie. No one else turned up after 20 minutes extra waiting so we headed off. I had decided to try the Old Burrier Fire Trail as I had heard of it as a short cut from Danjerra Dam at Yalwal to the Burrier pumping Station. I had not been to Burrier for a couple of years and was surprised that it is now bitumen all the way. After Burrier it turned into the narrow, rough, steep road I knew that went to Coolendel. Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:06:50 GMT http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=17 From Neal Noble accompanied by his cook, Jo, and Jack and Wendy Kooij. Neal wrote from The Alice after their trek up the Hay River, on their South to North crossing of the Simpson desert. Day late leaving home, thought about a hamburger for lunch at Nerriga, wrong, the shop’s shut for May. Destination first night was a motel at Yass housing the Ewe and Me restaurant, if you haven't eaten there you have missed something special.Next spent 2 days along the river between Darlinton Pt and hay, the weather was lousy so spoilt the cook with another cabin stay. Turned off west of Balranald and headed to Mungo and Pooncarie where we camped for two days at Top Hut Rd before heading to Coombah Road House and then to the S.A. border. Up to Yunta and then towards Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges, turned off and went thru Parachilna, Leigh Ck and stayed 3 nights at Copley. On to the dirt proper and after Maree up the Birdsville to Mungaranie and turned off towards Kulmarina Station where Neale had his first embarrassment, he got bogged. Everyone had advised not to leave the track but because of the wet, some roads were closed. Came across water over the road, seemed to have a good side track but WRONG. Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:00:45 GMT http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=16 On the 30th of March, we, (Brad, John and Jake, Bill and Sue), left Albion Park at approx 4pm to make our way up to Stockton. On the way we stopped at MacDonalds for a quick dinner break at Pennant Hills and then we continued on through to Newcastle in which we arrived about 10.00pm. So far all was going well. We stopped at a local servo and asked for directions. John then took the lead and gave Brad a rest as he had the directions, which at the servo seemed straight forward. Half an hour later we realized we were lost and going around in circles. A little back tracking revealed a slight mistake in the direction and then we eventually arrive at Lavis lane servo for a quick refuel and a drink. We then made our way to the beach in which we had to make a quick stop to deflate the tyres. John and Bill both having very similar trucks (Mitsubishi Challengers), deflated their tyres to approx 18psi and Brad with the hilux deflated his tyres to 16psi on the front and 14psi on the rear. We then proceeded on the white stuff to find a suitable camping site (much to brads surprise john had already looked previously on the satellite map to look for a suitable camp spot before we left home). Camp was set, and everyone was in bed about midnight. Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:04:40 GMT http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=15 The trip started on Thursday 26th of January in which Brad Kosij (hilux), John and Fiona (Mitsubishi Challenger), and Garry Whitwell (GQ Patrol) met up with Chris from totally wild 4x4 club (ST Patrol) and proceeded up through Sydney, past Newcastle and eventually Barrington Tops. Furndale caravan park is situated in a gully right on the edge of Barrington Tops National Park. The caravan park consisted of approx 4 permanent caravans, toilets showers and a beautiful river in which we all spent a lot of time swimming in due to the days being fairly warm. On the Friday we met up with Chris' brother and mate (driving a ST Patrol and a Holden Rodeo). After lunch we went for a drive into the National Park. After a short way up the track it went from dry dirt roads to muddy slippery hills and thick bog holes in which no one managed to get bogged. The forest as we went got thicker and changed from bush to rain forest. Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:04:27 GMT http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14 VIC HIGH COUNTRY TRIP Neil Noble( Trip Leader)/ Michael Drew – Landcruiser Sahara Ian Willis/ Brad Cowgill - Ford F250 Bill and Sue Tomkinson - Challenger On Neil’s instructions we were all to meet at Corryong at 10:00am on Sunday 5th November. Neil, Michael, Bill and Sue met the day earlier and camped up the Murray River. Immediately we knew that Michael, a friend of Neil’s who navigated because Neil’s cook (Jo) was recuperating at home, had no sense when he took a dip in freezing cold river. We met up with Ian and his co-driver Brad the next day as planned and took off for the high country along the road to Benambra. It wasn’t long before we turned off the main road and were climbing up a gravel timber road. It was only 5Km in when Ian pulled up with a flat. The tyre was almost bald but he expected it to last longer. We had morning tea by the road then continued our climb. We chased an emu with 3 chicks for about 1Km before it could get off the road. After about 20Km we turned off onto a track and commenced some 4WD. A few steep ascents and horrific descent we came out at Wheelers hut and decided it was to good a spot to not camp. We spent the rest of the day and evening getting to know each other. Thu, 07 Jun 2007 23:51:21 GMT http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13 Trip Leader: Nathan Toyota Greg and Jen Toyota Garry Nissan Hank and Marrion Nissan It stated a few weeks early with the planing between the committee and the Shoalhaven City Council. We meet and discussed a clean up site. After a quick reckie with the council ranger, we had a plan. The plan was to remove seven wrecked cars from the bush just behind the Shoalhaven riffle range. (well the club agreed to move as much as the club possible could.) During this key planning stage I convinced the council to lend the club 20 meters of 10mm chain. (This comes in very handy.) The day started out well with 6 club members and 4 trucks turning up for the days work. The first car took us the longest as it was a burnt out van. We positioned Garry’s truck to pull the van on to it’s roof. As we started to pull it up the hill with the two Toyota’s the bloody thing kept rolling on to its side. So we righted again with garry’s truck and brought it up on its wheels (or what was left of them after the burn out). .............. Sat, 25 Nov 2006 12:49:29 GMT http://www.shoalhaven4wdclub.org.au/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=12 Yalwal Trip report 22nd,23rd October 2005 The weekend involved 8 vehicles with 4 Toyotas, 2 Nissans, a Range Rover and a Suzuki Vitara. A good mixture of vehicles with varying degree’s of capabilities. Base camp was Wombats Flat. The ranger was present as some of the club members used the key to gain access to the gated area. There has been a track cut around the gate at the Deans Gap road junction. Unfortunately it looks well used. Over the weekend up to 20 motor bikes, registered and not including a quad were present inside the gated areas. They seemed to be traveling on all traces, not fussed by the prospect of being fined for being in this area. Saturday was our main driving day, with a variety of tracks being traveled upon. The tracks were challenging in sections but overall enjoyable. Some vehicles needed recovery to continue along the track which bought our safe recovery skills to the test. We had some vehicle “hick ups”, including broke wheel suds, broken rear diff, possible front diff damage and some electrical problems ( All on different vehicles). All vehicles were driveable and all made it home safely. Saturday night saw a time to relax and discuss the days events. The camp ovens were ablaze with a feast of baked veggies and a chicken and some lamb…mmm delicious. Sunday saw a few vehicles head out early and while being escorted out and helped with some tools on a rear diff a the gate, two other vehicles were turned away from driving around the gate and entering the restricted area. The rest of us slowly packed up and headed out after lunch. All in all a good weekend was had by all with talk of doing it all again….sounds like a good idea to me. Matt Sat, 04 Nov 2006 06:51:41 GMT