It was just after 9.am when 6 vehicles left the Coles Carpark at Healesville to make our way towards Toolangi State Forest.  Trip Leader Tom in his GU Patrol with Peter and Clare as his passengers/instructors, Discomatt & Liza in the Disco, Ricky and Tegan in the GQ Patrol, Johnny & his mate in his Jeep, Ryan in his FJ Cruiser with a mate and Cheryl and myself in the Paj. It was great to catch up with the 'terrible trio' of Ricky, Tegan and Johnny again as they are great company and are always willing to listen to any advice/suggestions etc. Think we are having some success with telling them 'mud = $$$'......

Again, there was a 'no show' as once again a person failed to 'check in' and did not turn up...... Ryan took his place, not sure whether he contacted Tom, took the place of the 'no show' or just turned up, but as I said 6 cars were ready to have a nice day out on the tracks. Ryan's FJ was covered in mud and he informed us that he 'loved mud' and it wasnt too long into the trip where he ventured into the 1st boghole we came across, with no success.

After the recovery, we made our way towards Cockpit Track. Tom had not seen/driven this track, (as were Ricky and Johnny)  so it was suggested we just go and have a look 1st before making the decision whether to have a go or not. Fortunately Cockpit was surprisingly dry (for Cockpit anyway), so we all headed up and everyone did a fantastic job to get through without any recoveries needed. It was then onto Blowhard that had been recently graded and like Cockpit, was reasonably dry. From there, we made our way onto Downies where Ryan was looking for some more bogholes. There was one that usually is quite deep, but not today, and Ryan got through without any issues and both Ricky and Johnny decided to have a go, both successful.....

The bog hole caused a problem for Ricky in that his radiator fan blades all snapped off and he was going to have to call it a day. We headed down Lukes Creek where we all had lunch then said our goodbyes to Ricky, Tegan and Johnny as the stricken GQ limped home.

As Tom was not all that familiar with Toolangi, we suggested a loop then make our way home. We drove Martins and Campsite Tracks which are both good fun, then Ryan had to make his way home. We decided to finish off the day by driving down Rocky Track, rather than our usual way of up. Discomatt had mentioned here sometime back that the so called bypass tracks are now as difficult, if not more, than some of the middle sections. Coming down the so called bypass sections was a challenge with some pretty serious side angles but we all made it down, even though the paj sustained a tiny bit of panel damage..., (should have stayed on the main track...grrrr)

A nice day with good company and well done to Thomas for setting up the trip.

Have some video footage that I will hopefully have up in the next day or so.

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Top report Allan looking forward to the video.

Was a fun day out and great to meet some more people from the forum, as All mentioned once again a no show, I think we need to introduce a 2 strikes and your out policy...

Thanks Tom and everyone there for the day

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Thank you for the trip report and photos,looked like a fun trip.

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Sounded like a good day out, always like reading the trip reports. Pity about the no show, having done a lot of trips though 4WD clubs I've been involved in it's very frustrating.

Finally got my Disco registerd (bloody work and no $$$ meant that it took longer than expected) so hoping to participate on a few trips in the not too distant future, see how I go.

Trav

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Enjoyed the report , sounds like a great day

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Another great report and photo's Alan thanks for sharing, shame about the no show their loss looks like you had a great day ... Are all members aware when they don't turn up the whole group is waiting for them? Annoying when you're pumped to get out on the tracks... Maybe they had a genuine reason for not showing up and not contacting the leader...

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Turds that don't show up for a trip need to be outed!

I have been f'd up by a no show, we waited for over an hour for Scottstonekillers member 340 to show up.

When I alerted him to his misgivings he was pissed off and put the blame on his kids and his busy life.

I gave that member a 1 star rating and said on the feedback that he didn't show up for the trip, he didn't like that, but that was the cold hard fact.

If you simply don't show up without making any attempt to contact the leader then you don't deserve to be on the site.

Every leader and trip member needs to have the balls to do this, I wasn't on this trip so not my place to call out the little shit, but others need to do so, unless he has a reasonable excuse.

BTW great trip.... but stay out of the bogs... there was plenty of track to the side.

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Wow keep calm Mark, not good for the blood pressuure mate. I didn't even realise there was a no show till Allan mentioned it in the trip report. We met at the allocated time, I was a little late because we went to the bakery for breaky first butno biggie, we all stood around and had a chat for 10 minutes then left.

As far as I'm concerned about no shows is that shit happens all the time and thats unavoidable, wait 10-15 minutes then leave as planned, big deal.

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Great trip report , don't know why people get so upset by no shows . Give them 15 mins and if you haven't heard from them by then continue on . I understand it's rude to not call if your not gunna make it but no shows will happen and I think it's best to just move on . 

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And if you don't make a big deal out of it, more will do it. 

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