Nostalgic Trips
 

SOUTH LAKES TRIP - The Renault`s View. OCT 1978

Hey! What`s that idiot owner of mine think he`s doing waking me at this time on Sunday morning. Doesn`t he know that I`ve had a late night with the little GS Citroen down the road.

Drat! He’s got me started. We`re off! I wonder where we`re going. Aha! We`re heading towards Darlington. He`s probably going to buy some oil for that smelly bike he insists on parking next to me.

Well here we are at the petrol station. What`s he doing around my rear end? You stay away from my exhaust pipe. Oh! He`s filling me with petrol. He must be taking me somewhere. We`re heading up Taps. Oh well! A good run will clean me out. Clarendon, Kangarilla, he must be going to Prospect Hill. Here comes that long straight. He will probably give me the big stick down here.

Jeepers! I`m doing over 160 kph. I hope my brakes are still good. Slowed down` no worry. He`s gone past the turn off. We`re heading for Meadows.

Stopped at last. Oh on! There`s that mob of dirty 4w drivers he hangs around with. He`s most likely been shooting off his mouth about how good Renaults are on the dirt. I`ve still got mud on my chassis from the last trip. Oh well! Here I go again. I wish that Tojo wouldn`t sit so close. That bull bar makes me nervous.

This track isn`t too bad. The 4wd`s must be getting soft. Good grief! Where`s he taking me. Fancy trying to climb a bank this steep. OUCH! That’s my bottom your scraping. Made it. Stopped. Now I can catch my breath and watch the 4wd`s in the mud hole below. Ha Ha look at the Diahatsu. Fancy getting bogged. Why anyone could drive through oops! I had better shut up or he`ll have me in there…. Off again.

Boy! Is this track rough. I had better dodge this mudhole. The Toyota behind has gotten bogged. Those 4wd`s seem to spend most of their time on the end of a rope. They`ve towed him out. We can get mobile again. This is starting to get sloppy. I`m glad I`ve got front wheel drive. At least I don`t slip and slide. Yepes! Look at the water. He`s not taking me through that. Brrrr! It`s cold. Made it through. Now that wasn`t too bad. I went through there quite well.

What`s this strange stuff I`m running on. Why it`s bitumen. How novel. I was beginning to think it didn`t exsist.

Good. We`re coming into a town. He must be going to feed his face. At least I`ll get some peace for a while. Don`t say he`s finished stuffing himself.

We`re off. Back on the dirt again. Now where is that clown taking me. Oh! I see. He`s playing farmer Brown. We`re travelling across a paddock. I hope I don`t pick up any thorns. Well I got through there. Back on the road, if you can call it that. More mud. This looks deep. Second gear should do. Good. I got through there. Now for the next bit. Oh Oh ! I`m starting to run out of clearance. That idiot`s gone and got me bogged. Now I have to ask a 4wd for a tow. Ah! Here comes a Ford and a Landrover. Well, they`ve towed me out.

That`s it. I`m off home. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Conventional Cars will here of this. Renault.

Footnote: Whilst the Renault was over it`s head in a couple of places, the majority of the day showed that, with a bit of commonsence, a conventional car can be taken through adverse conditions with a fair degree of success; and besides it`s fun.

TEE SAA

On the first weekend of December an interesting trip to Coonalpyn , Mt Rescue National Park , Tintinarra and surrounding area was organised . Where were you all? I thought it was about time that someone proved the Daihatsu`s worth [ other than in gymkhanas ]in an off-road expedition.

On the Friday night we met at the Coonalpyn Hotel, we being ; John and Chris [Landrover ] , Phil and Andrew [Nissan ], Bruce and Rodger [Toyota ] ,and myself and John [Daihatsu ]. After wetting our whistles and building up our supplies we set off towards Mt. Boothby National Park where we made our first campsite. After erecting our tents we gathered in a small group and I informed my companions of my interest in joining the club. This lead to intense interrogation as to my identity , occupation , interests , drinking habits and sex life .

Saturday morning, we rose with the birds, ready for some action, By about 9am we were off the road and heading up a rather rough fire-break on one of Mt.Rescue National Park’s boundaries. The vehicles handled the sandy, rocky, rooted surface with moderate ease. Sharp roots looked to be the things to look out for. Eventually, the fire track faded out, leaving only the fence alongside us to follow. This left the Tojo leading and getting the thrill of plotting the track. While travelling close to the fence our Aussie mates, roo and emu followed our tracks suspiciously and then leaping over, darting across our track and out of sight.

Eventually we hit the road and paid a visit to ` The Granites`, a huge outcrop of granite boulders in the mist of dense scrub and gums.’ John Gilberts’ adventurous spirit led him to the highest point before anyone else, and believe me, it was well worth the climb.

Following a quick stop at Tintinanarra, we drove a few kilometres out of town where we enjoyed a roadside lunch, not forgetting to let the flies get their piece of cake. Immediately after lunch we found ourselves a nice sandy track leading to a property

At the other side of the property we found another fire track. Situation, but this time it offered a bit more of a challenge. One funny incident occurred when Phil found himself air borne, not realizing that the track suddenly dropped at about an 80 degree angle below him. Just after this happened John Gilbert took over the lead to show us that it was’nt impossible to scratch our vehicles. With just ample amount of sunlight left we arrived at `Buck`s campsite`, the fitting end to a very successful day on everyone's part.,

That night we did the usual settling in and preparation of meals. A rather large clearing attracted John Gilbert to a spot of golf, just to add a bit of sophistication to the days activities. The only problem was that he lost balls as fast as he hit them. Chris`s domestic tendencies found her undertaking most of the cooking and cleaning, although Phil seemed quite self-sufficient doing his bit

Later after a few yarns around an imaginary camp-fire we striped the Daihatsu of its top and sides, rigged up a spot light and took to the bush in search of bunnies [ not Playboy type ]. Bruce proved himself qualified in the art of spotlighting while Rodger and Andrew carefully but not always successfully, tried to catch the targets. As the night was a bit fresh we managed to fit in a bush stop where we warmed up with a couple of swigs of the ` ol Green Ginger.

Sunday morning, we again rose with the birds [ the late ones ] and it was not until about midday that we started on what was probably the best part of the trip. From Bucks campsite to our destination we had to brave soft sand tracks with sudden rocky outcrops, trees with low hanging branches or trees that stretched branches out across our path.

After coming over the top of one hill we saw what was ahead of us, a vast expanse of scrubland that spread as far as we could see. About half way to our destination we noticed a Sandhill that we could not pass. I was worried because I thought that the other vehicles might get over and I wouldn't. So much for that. None of us made it, although I must say that Phil, in his Nissan made the most successful attempt, only missing out by a couple of feet. For the rest of the afternoon we travelled in a general direction , hoping to come cross a swampy clearing, thanks to Bruces` excellent sense of direction, we hit it bang on. We celebrated by relaxing to a late lunch or early tea. [3.15 pm].

About twenty minutes after lunch we saw the end of what had been a long and rather challenging trail.

We found ourselves on the typical fire-break, one of many that we had encountered along our course. There was a slight delay at the end of the fire track when we came to a fence with no obvious gateway. We found ourselves being led around in circles and driving through closely growing ten foot trees. Eventually, one of the smarter members of the party, not to mention any names, found the gateway in a quite obvious position.

Once through the gate it was clear sailing to the road only a couple of kilometres away. I think that all members of the group regretted the sight of the road due to the fact that we had such an exciting and memorable week-end. The daylight saving helped us to enjoy each day, just that little bit longer. There was no serious damage to vehicles, only a few scratches. Bruces` tyres managed to find a couple of sharp pieces of wood but luckily they did not do any great damage.

I would like to thank everyone for including me in their trip and giving me a real taste of what the club is all about. In fact, I enjoyed myself so much that I wasted no time in paying my dues while waiting for the ferry at Tailem Bend. Written by ANDREW HALL

****This trip report is reprinted as it appeared in the Traction back In 1974.****

Meeting place- Tailem Bend. We would have made it on time if it had not been for yours truly, who was having his first try at XU roving almost putting said vehicle into Old Man River, [ I missed the turn ], thus allowing Brian to take the front running, plus the under 3 litre class in the Clarendon 1. This being the Clarendon Landrover Owner’s version of the Hardie 1,000. To cut a long story short we couldn’t catch Brian, but still took second and the over 3 litre class. The convoy finally got it together and with four Tojo’s and three Landys headed for Lamaroo, via the dirt. A few hours later we made Lamaroo where we refuelled drivers and vehicles. Now the method of refuelling vehicles at Lamaroo has a new twist. This being that they bring the service station to you instead of you going to them.

Left Lamaroo and headed for the Pinnaroo Bordertown road. After a few dead ends [Stew’s navigating ] we found the right track ,and then it started – the great chase, with the heroes, Mick and I in the XU Rover and the villains, Peter and Dish, in the cattle truck, intent on doing us no good. By way of a little sideways motoring [we nearly swapped ends several times ] and a bit of scrub rolling, we managed to hold them off. We hit the main drag and Stew soon found a camping site.

After unloading, tea and the normal ORVC campfire ritual, we hit the sack. After a heavy night of sleep [you thought I was going to say sex didn’t you ] we crawled out of bed, had breakfast and were soon all ready to go. With yours truly now aboard the 185.

An hour or so later we came upon the border and started to follow the fence. It was a few kilometres later I had the speccy of the day and for all the people who are saying," I wish I could do that " I will explain how, but you will need the following props. One sandy track, with a hill, a group of 4wd owners. The bike and rider can be of your own choosing. Now come howling down the track, over the hill and see 4wd’s parked on the track, say suitable word, lay bike down and end up in a big heap under bike. It was one sorry rider. The sore was to come later.

While we are on bikes, we came across a number along the track, including one guy with a broken chain and no spare links, but we got him going again. Next stop, lunch. Hunger satisfied we set off. Shortly we left the fence and headed for Mt Rescue National Park. The track was quite neat with a number of steep sandy climbs which most vehicles managed without much trouble. About five o’clock we made camp.

Next morning the sore had caught up with me so the Suzy was loaded in the rover and I rode shotgun with Mick. We headed off in the general direction of Emu Springs. We reached the Emu Springs boundary fence and as usual the gates were locked, so we followed the fence line, which involved some fairly mean fourwheeling, as at times the track was not really wide enough for a bike never mind 4wd’s.

Unfortunately all this was to come to an end as we hit the road into Tinty, where we had lunch and departed homewards. A sore and sorry TeeSaa. AST - THE BORDER TREK 1977