The first weekend in September saw cars and members from each of
the Range Rover and Land Rover Clubs get together at Sandy Creek,
near Kilcoy. Typical of trips that Richard leads, the heavens opened
and the rain bucketed down in the few days before we were due to
leave. We were concerned the tracks would be closed and access restricted.
Most
of us headed up on the Friday afternoon and we were only about
15 km from our
destination when we came across some lost Land Rovers.
They followed us to the property and, sure enough, water was flowing
over the access bridge – the first time we had seen that. Not
only that, but the tracks were closed so there was much muttering
and cursing.
By Saturday morning, our party consisted of two 90s, a Defender
110, three Discovery 2s and a Range Rover from the Land Rover Club
and a Defender Xtreme, Discovery 2, Discovery 3, Range Rover, and
Hi-Lux from the Range Rover Club as well as a Range Rover LSE belonging
to both clubs. Accommodation ranged from half a dozen tents to campers
and caravans spread out over the two levels of campground. We were
certainly a diverse group!
With
sunshine forecast for the next couple of days, owner Brian opened
the tracks
the next morning so all was sweetness and light
again. The first trip saw 8 vehicles in convoy on Track 10 but we
hadn’t gone far when Johann’s D2 suffered a hemorrhage
and became a 2WD. After some difficulty manouvering around, Robert
Kann managed to tow the red Discovery back with his red one.
Steve
celebrated his birthday with a cake and candles – one
of which managed to stay alight in the wind. Although it was windy
for most of the weekend, it was sunny so we were able to enjoy the
lovely camping area.
On the
next trip, Taavi’s D3’s exhaust parted company
and Harry’s 90 embedded itself in an extremely deep mud hole.
It resisted many attempts to be snatched out but Taavi’s winch
eventually did the trick. Using the excuse to get ice in Kilcoy,
Harry attempted to wash his vehicle on the access bridge but the
mud was too firmly entrenched so the evidence of his bogging remained
obvious.
At one
stage, there was a huge noise and Taavi bravely plunged into the
swiftly
flowing creek to investigate. Apparently a large tree
had become victim to the wind and crashed on to the access bridge,
soon after the Ellis’ had crossed.
There
were several trips on the criss-crossing tracks during the afternoon.
The last
saw Richard order passengers out of the 3 intrepid
vehicles: Steve, Harry and Ashley were the drivers. Back at camp,
we heard on the radio of a roll-over – of course, it was our
son, Ashley, in his ‘mongrel’ Hi-Lux.
Anxiously we waited ages for the vehicles to return; apparently it
had taken quite a while to pull the car back on to its wheels. Ashley
said it all happened in slow motion and he watched the windscreen
crack as the car leaned over and ended up with the right side of
the roof embedded in a rock. However he was able to climb out of
the passenger’s window – thank heavens there were no
passengers! The car was still drivable and is awaiting the Trip Leader’s
expertise to repair it!
It was
a pleasant gathering around the camp-fire, next to the bottomless
supply available
to all from Richard’s big beer fridge. The ‘youngsters’ kicked
on a while until they succumbed to the call of their tents.
It was
so sunny the next day that the Kann children decided to take a
dip in the
creek. It must have been cold but they had fun. (Unconsciously
emulating their Dad who had unexpectedly found the water in the dark
the previous night – fully clothed!) Richard accompanied Ashley
on his first excursion since the accident with a view to providing
more ‘driver training’ but there were no more untoward
incidents.
People
packed up at various stages and left, mostly to appease families
by getting
home early for Father’s Day. Our car needed a decent
wash before it could be put to bed until the next trip but it also
appeared to enjoy its excursion.
Deidre Windham
