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Baby Troupe Online - www.baby-troupe.i8.com
Trip Report - Watagans-Club-Trip-September-2005
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Current Vehicle Specifications
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Trip The day began with showers in the Gosford area, and as Ken showed a little concern with the track conditions should it rain when we booked in, I decided it wise to give him a call. His wife answered & said all looked fine on the northern end of the coast, so it looked like a good day out. As a precaution, I decided to throw in the tarp, a couple of poles & my wet weather gear, as I think it is better to have it & not need it, rather than need it & not have it. Once I was packed, I was setting up the sat nav gear & then my brother & his fiancé arrived for their first trip as passengers in my vehicle. I promised to show them a fun day and as they had ever really been wheeling before, yet had recently purchased a 4 runner, I thought it a great opportunity to get them out & about. We left home about 08:30 for the organised meet-up time of 09:00 at Sparkes Rd. On the way up, Steve P gave me a call to say he would be a couple of minutes late & Steve T caught up with me on the freeway, which gave him the chance to check his newly installed GME UHF, which sounded pretty clear compared to his older unit. On arriving at Sparkes Rd, we met up with the rest of the convoy, aired down & had a brief drivers meeting before setting off for the trails, which were only a few short kilometres away. It was not long before we had the hubs in & selected low range & then Ken found a little log crossing with some mud on the other side. He managed to get the Pajero stuck & after a few tries decided to get it snatched out. This was a snatch with a difference, as he was the lead vehicle and it was difficult to get anything past him, so we used man power, with about ½ a dozen of us heaving on the strap to pull the stricken vehicle from the mud bog. Mick I (crusher) had a few hassles with the small log, but that was due to not being in 4WD. Once he selected 4WD, he was able to get through. Most of the rest of the crew went over the log and around the mud without incident, but I decided it was a good opportunity to test the lockers & went for the same line as Ken. I sort of got stuck, but with a little rocking, the vehicle climbed back out of the hole. Nothing like a little fun to start the day.
Steve P also managed to get stuck, but not in the same hole & required a little assistance to get out of a washout filled with mud. From there, the trails were relatively easy up to morning tea time, with most being short little off shoots from the main trail. We saw Eddy & the boys having a play on a hill beside the track, which looked like they were having a ball. At morning tea, we celebrated Raquel’s birthday, and while having a quick chat with a couple of the guys, I had one of the guys come up to me & ask me to let him know my name. He looked vaguely familiar, but I was not sure where from. Once I told him my name he introduced himself & it was a huge surprise to have caught up with Chris, who I had worked with about 10 years ago & never thought was into this sort of stuff. I also had the chance to catch up with Mick & Kim, who I hadn’t seen for some time as well. From there, we headed off on a few more trails, which again were pretty uneventful, but had their small challenges. I think it was about now, where Steve F’s new Hilux was nicknamed the “Powder Puff”, both due to it’s appearance & what looked to be a lack of ability compared to the vehicle it replaced. We joined Eddy and his convoy at the 5 hills, which is a fun little area with a series of steps for some of us to have a play. I initially tried to coax my passengers to stay on board for this little play, but as they were pretty new to this, fear took over & they decided to watch from outside the vehicle. About ½ the cars went up the hills all up & we all had fun.
From there we had a few more tracks before lunch, where I was able to chat more with Chris, Mick, Steve, Katya & Kim. At this point, Chris & Julie Ann had to leave, due to other commitments (football was on) After lunch we had a few more trails to do, with some of us going for a few of the harder lines. Eddy almost had me talked into Bowman’s road, but as I have another weekend trip coming up in 2 weeks, decided the potential damage was not worth the risk. I will have a go at that one at a later date ;) Just after this, Eddy & his group split back of & headed for Slippery Rock, while we stayed in the “C” grade tracks for the rest of the afternoon. The day finished up around 4pm, where we all stopped near Bushell’s Ridge to air up & say our good byes. I think all had a fun day, I know I certainly did & it was good to get out & test some more gear in readiness for a few more trips which are coming up. Many Thanks to Ken for putting on a top local trip.
Footnote They say when you join a 4-wheel drive club that you can make life long friends & meet up with many people with a similar interest to yourself. What I didn’t realise that you will also meet up with old friends who you may not have seen for many years, which was the case on this trip lead by Ken Bailey. I had not seen a couple of the members on this trip for some time & as well as that, an old mate I worked with a number of years ago had come along to have a look. When we saw each other, we hardly recognised each other, both as we had aged a tad & both had gained weight so we were barely resembling the skinny 20 odd year olds we were when we last saw each other. It was great to catch up in this way & we both discovered that we have more in common that we knew all those years back. Col (BT)
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