Rover
Park near Tenterfield NSW
10 — 11 November
Participants
- Russell
Kennedy Nissan Trayback (Trip
Leader)
- Steve Biles
Toyota Land Cruiser
- Paul and
Debbie Hough Toyota Prado
- Matthew and
Perri Hunsche and Kids Mitsubishi Pajero
- Alan Hughston
Mitsubishi Pajero
- Rod and Mary
Metcalfe Mitsubishi Pajero
- Lisa Nehring
and son Damon Mitsubishi Challenger
- Bill and Jenny
Parker Mitsubishi Pajero
- Darren and
Tammy Pratt and Kids Mitsubishi Challenger
- Craig and
Kaarina Robson Holden Jackaroo
- Graham
Thatcher LandRover Discovery
- Huby Vink
Mitsubishi Triton
- Ken
Winders Toyota Land
Cruiser
Thirteen starters
made their way to Rover Park for Russell Kennedy’s last trip before heading over
to Perth. I’m not superstitious but 13 is an unlucky number for some.
Unlucky for Rod and
Mary Metcalfe. They carelessly left their two plastic buckets on the ground in
plain view.
Unlucky for Alan
Hughston who ran over BOTH of them (the buckets, not the Metcalfes). He didn’t
notice them because he was too busy being careful to miss their tent pegs. And
he got them both in one go.
Unlucky for Ken
Winders who broke a differential on the first hard section of the weekend. The
reputation of Toyota differentials just grows and grows. Graham Thatcher helped
Ken get his two-wheel drive fourby back to camp and eventually onto a tilt-tray.
Unlucky for Lisa
Nehring’s son Damon, who broke a collar bone in a fall from his pushbike. The
moral of this tale is that 4 wheels are better than two. This was Lisa’s very
first club trip. She didn’t hit the tracks, spent most of Saturday at
Tenterfield hospital, then had to pack up Sunday morning for the trip back to
Brisbane. Lisa and Damon made it to the Christmas party and I met up with them
on one of Errol Gordon’s hard trips, where they had hitched a lift. Looks like
Lisa and Damon might become hard-core members.
Unlucky for Huby
Vink. On the way to Rover Park, Huby stopped at a servo to fill his built in
water tank. He forgot to open the bleed valve, pressurised the tank and blew a
bloody great hole in it. From Huby’s description of the event, the sight of
people ducking for cover thinking the explosion was a diesel tank rupturing
almost made the cost worthwhile.
Unlucky for Russell
Kennedy. Russ turned up in his brand new Nissan Patrol trayback, but not being
set up for bush work, had to lead from the sidelines at each hard section. By
Sunday Russell had decided to lead from the passenger seat of Steve Biles tojo.
Unlucky for Graham
Thatcher. Graham was having a go at “Nissan Hill” a nasty, steep ascent with
lots of loose rock and deep ruts. Lots of trees at the side of the track will
stop you rolling too far down the hill. Graham kept getting stuck just half a
miliwhisker from the top, and eventually made a particularly ugly reverse
descent. So why is this unlucky? It happens to all of us (except Errol).
Well, the reason is that Huby’s Triton was next car in line, and went straight
over the top first go. To be fair, Huby has a front locker in his Triton, he
drives it like its stolen, and those size fourteen boots hold the accelerator
firmly to the floor.
Darren and Tammy
Pratt arrived late Friday night and proceeded to hammer two hundred (it sounded
like two hundred) sand pegs into Rover Park granite. This was unlucky for
anyone trying to sleep within a 32 kilometre radius, except for the Parkers who
slept on oblivious right next to them.
Unlucky for Craig
and Kaarina Robson who seriously damaged their camping credibility by shacking
up in the bunk-house.
Unlucky for Steve
Biles and Paul and Debbie Hough. They have sumptuously appointed nanna vans,
with large comfortable beds (so I am told), indoor plumbing, and a jacuzzi. But
the price of fuel keeps going UP. (I would rather be rich than jealous).
Enough of bad luck.
We went up hills, we went down hills, played in the bush, got back for half
past, did it all again on Sunday and had a safe trip home. We did it with our
mates.
By the way, why do
they call it “Rover” park, they don’t allow dogs.
Alan
Hughston
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