BELLTHORPE STATE FOREST DAY TRIP  -  April 29  '07

Trip Leader: Huby Vink

Sunday 29^th started at 8am at BP Caboolture where 6 of the 10 vehicles met, I think those who decided not to attend certainly missed out on a fabulous day.

At Woodford we met up with 2 chaps from the Suzuki 4WD club, who were in a Landcruiser (it was the biggest Suzie we’ve ever seen), who decided to tag along and see what mischief the Mitsubishi’s could get up to.  After a leisurely drive to Bellthorpe we let down our tyres, but in our case we had to pump one up.  When we got home we found we had a nail in the back rear tyre.

In a matter of moments we were straight into it, up and down hills and in most cases having to put our recent D.A.P. skills to the test.  The views were spectacular; the tracks were very thick, damp and overgrown.  The boys in the Landcruiser were very much the gentlemen and broke branches which could scratch following vehicles,

At the end of one of the tracks we stopped for morning tea, Huby said we were going to continue until 1pm and possible catch up with the Land Rover Club who were suppose to be driving around the area, but every time we saw them, they had set up camp and looked very relaxed.

On the odd occasion Huby had to consult his map for destructions, oops I mean directions; we had been driving down a challenging track when suddenly the voice across the UHF in doubtful tone “I have to investigate a situation”.  I thought it was for a comfort stop, but it was worse than that, we had come to a dead end.  The map let us down.

Anytime we pulled up it was a good opportunity to either stretch the legs or take a photo or two.  This dead end certainly proved that we all had great reversing and communication skills.  While 6 of us carefully manoeuvred the vehicles up and down embankments to the extent where you could shake hands with the driver beside you, Graeme Clarke remained on the track, with not much room to spare, as we all slowly drove past Graeme, I am sure he was praying that we all stayed to our side of the road.

We had all been paying out on Huby the whole trip about his left and right or rather glove box & steering wheel side, but now it was “are you sure you know where you are going Huby” but with the assistance of Graeme’s GPS, Mathews whimsical remarks and Huby’s map reading skills we finally made it back to Sand Creek Day Site Camp for lunch at 2pm.

Once lunch was over, those who wanted to tackle the harder track proceeded with those who chose not to as passengers.  This was great because it gave an insight into the harder, more demanding side of four wheel driving to those inexperienced drivers.  Huby took us along track that you would never have expected to be there.

Unfortunately 5 pm came around far too quickly and it was time to pack up, pump up the tyres and head for home after an eventful day in the bush.  I would like to thank our trip leader Huby for his expertise, knowledge of the bush and great yarns along the way.  I highly recommend anyone to go on one of Huby’s trips.

Considering that I hadn’t had a drive in a month since my DAP course, I was a little apprehensive, however the adrenaline soon kicked in and it was a case of give me another hill to climb.  The company and conversation flowed freely and completed a wonderful day.

Thank you to all who attended and made this trip an enjoyable day.

Debbie Doherty

Last Modified Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Please email the webmaster with any queries or suggestions regarding this website.
All contents © 2002 Mitsubishi 4WD Owners Club of Qld (Inc.)               Site by:   JWS Web Design