It was just after 9.30am when 7 vehicles left the Glenburn servo to make our way along Two Hills Rd to air down and begin the day. We had a couple of the 'usual crew' join, Discomatt in his Disco and Outrage in his Patrol, along with Naomi in her Prado & Damien in his LC100 who had both been on a previous trip or two of mine. Two new members, Hash in his Patrol & Damo in his Jeep also joined; great to meet both of them. Damo was lucky to get a spot as one member who was going to come, failed to check in, so unfortunately I had to remove him from the trip. We also had another new member, Denise, join us as a passenger. She had recently purchased a Jeep and before she commited to modifying her rig, she wanted to come out to see if she would actually enjoy 4wding. Good way to go about it I reckon.
Anyway, we all aired down and turned onto the 1st track of the day. About 400 mtrs in, we arrived at our 1st 'obstacle' of the day. Last time I was there, it was fairly average with some vehicles requiring a snatch to get out, but this time it was far worse with a bypass track now in place, which a few of our group decided to utilise. The rest of us decided to give it a go with mixed success. The exit out was short but very steep, so approach had to be slow to get the nose of the vehicle up then it was a bit of 'right foot' to hopefully get out. Easier said than done as the bottom was muddy but after a few attempts some of us got up, one required a gentle snatch & one other decided to reverse back to the bypass track. We then made our way to Martins track to drive the nice loop that included Campsite Tk.
Both Martins and Campsite are great tracks in my opinion. Quite steep in places with a few ruts and ledges and very difficult if wet. Luckily for us, most tracks we drove on the day were bone dry. Anyway Naomi was as excited as a 'young girl in a doll shop' as this was the 1st time she was going to really test her recently installed rear E Locker. We all completed the tracks without issue, then made our way to the beginning of Red Tk West, (previously known as Lyndalls).
We stopped and walked up part of the track. Again, alot worse than last time I was there and discussion took place as to if we would give it a go. As we were deciding 'yes or no', two vehicles came down with a fair bit of 'bashing & crashing' but everyone decided to give it a try. This was going to be the hardest track Naomi had attempted, but she was keen to get her moneys worth out of her new E Locker. I headed up to a section where I parked to video all the vehicles coming up.;(will have that up by tomorrow hopefully). A great job by everyone to get to the top and we couldnt get the grin off Naomi's face.
We then made our to Aeroplane, turned off before heading down the badly rutted section and stopped for a short lunch break. We then got onto Downies with all the bog holes fairly low and able to be avoided. Even Hash, who used to be a 'mud lover', gave them a miss as he said he was now over bog holes etc as it always cost $$$. We then arrived at Blowhard where we would drive down to continue onto Cockpit to finish the day. Have never seen both tracks so dry, but they both still great fun. After arriving at the bottom of Cockpit, I suggested a few might want to drive part of the way back before heading back down to head home. Discomatt got himself in a 'interesting' position on one section, but all made it back down with no damage etc. We then headed back to the main road, aired up and headed home.
Another great day with a great bunch of people and I hope all enjoyed the day. Below is a short video of some of the pics I took and the video footage of Red Tk West will be up in the next day or so.