Sometimes an inspiration late at night from a few coldies turns out to be a good thing. Thanks to the 3 members for joining what must be one of the shortest
a) descriptions for a trip, poorly spelt and short on detail
b) posted late that night for early start the next day
But what a fun day it was :-)
Newcomers to 4WDTrip Eli and Naomi, Eli as an ex-NSW bloke, which we won't hold against him, and Naomi only having joined the site less than 24 hours earlier took on the challenge with gusto and Jason kindly took up TEC duties for the day to make sure everone made all the turn calls correclty.
After listening to my auto deflators whisling like Kazoo's, yep getting lazy and not using the ARB deflator much these days, and Naomi mastering her new Kwiky deflator we slipped an slid out of Big River in failry greasy conditions and hit the tracks starting on Snowy Road. Carefull wheel placement was the order of the day for Eli as the new All Terrrians aren't getting fittled until later this week (and maybe that much discussed 2" lift ?.....). Down Shortcut and the river crossing at Frenchmans was prettly low, we wound our way up the hill and were rewarded with blue sky and sunshine at the top, yaaay. Passed a few Kamikaze motorbike and a group of keen 4x4's heading the other way at the wrecked Partol so after cheering on the other guys in the 80 series, as you do, or should do, we carried on.
So we get to a challenge section that Naomi wasn;t going to pass up, no taking the easy option here, but after a few determined tries the the trusty Prado was still scrabbling for grip in the greasy conditions, traction control notwithstanding..... After jumping in the shotgun seat and staring at all these dash and console mounted gizmos buttons lights and switches (foreign items to us poor 80 owners) I decided the best advice I could think of was to give it red-hot and don't back off ! Now this is not always the best solution but Naomi seemd to be having fun and was willing to give it a go, so with some extra RPMS and some wheel lifitng and bouncing, UP UP UP goes the Prado to appluase from the crowd and big smiles all round - over the top we go. Sure is smooth and quiet in there compared to my 80.... hmmmm...
Breaking out of the scrub and on top of the rocky hill we get a great view of the back of Mt Buller, still covered in snow while we are in gloriuos sunshine.... Reminds me why I like 4WDing so much it does..... So after another of my infamous 'only 10 minutes to lunch' calls, we're basking in the sun in deck chairs, fresh air and green grass near Frenchmans Gap. Niftly little spot if you want to camp away from the crowds for sure. With the munchies satisfied time is getting on so we head down old Coach and start to hear gunfire, hmmm..... It was only the shooting range and we had an eagle eyed view of the guys shooting clays as we cut through the scrub right above the gun club. Remember, shotting at white cars is prohibited; anything is fair game guys !
After a small cross-up going downhill in the ruts of old coach there was a bit of a ding in the rear bumper as the Prado got wedged sideways across the rut. Bummer as we are only 5-600 metres from the main drag and the end of the tracks for the day. After a quick scope of the situation and some reasurring directions, Naomi deftly twirls the steering wheel and gasses the loud pedal (not so loud in a Grande) and she drives right out of it and has the Prado pointing the right way downhill again, go team !!!!
I had an awesome day out in the sun, time just flew with the radios running hot all day with constant chatter about wheel placement and line taking and a group of people just enjoying the day out. You guys were great company and I hope to see you again on any trip, maybe the rumoured Woods Point weekend later this year with my secret Thompson Dam track eh........... Thanks for making it a great all round day.
I spent 1/2 an hour when I got home hosing off the mud as it was all jammed up under the bars and bumpers but would I do it again ? Looking out the window today, hell yeah !
Cheers,
Alex TEQ-80