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Mitsubishi 4WD Owners Club of Qld (Inc) |
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New Members Weekend - Landcruiser Park - March '08Check out Lloyd's great photos here.We had 28 vehicles participating on this weekend. There were quite a few new members along. The weekend started early for most of the eager participants. By sleep time we were only short a small hand full of those who were joining us. Cathy, Rebecca and I set off early Friday to recee both of the easy trips which I had done preliminary planning from the park maps. The first trip was enough to blunt Cathy’s enthusiasm and I receed the second easy trip on my own. I had to shorten both of them due to the time required to complete them. Upon my return to camp, which was very early afternoon, I was surprised at the number of members there already. We dragged down a large tree and found the chainsaw which worked properly the day before was also having the weekend off. Lucky for us, Tom is a very good axeman and cut the tree up while we fiddled with the chainsaw. I will also mention that now it is home again the chainsaw is working fine. We enjoyed a few quiet drinks and some conversation and retired for the night. Saturday morning saw the last participants arrive and we headed out for the first easy trip. The group was larger than anticipated, but with only one trip plan, it was easier to take one large group. We did encounter some sections which ate up a bit of time. We had one water crossing which resulted in one member getting her carpets washed and me getting my joggers very muddy attaching the snatch strap. Saturday afternoon was a medium/hard trip. A lot of participants signed on at the last minute and the group was large. A keen bunch headed off up the rally circuit, where some expert driving was witnessed on some challenging tracks. There was lots of opportunity to watch others. There were a couple of incidents resulting in some minor damage. One vehicle was backed into a stationary tree and one vehicle blew up a rear diff and one blew a front diff. We had a great happy hour when Peter gave us all a run down on club gear and shop contents. Thanks for doing that with little notice Peter. We all gathered for a communal dinner and drinks until late. Rain put a bit of a damper on the festivities, but we still enjoyed it. Sunday morning we had an easy trip, led by Allan and Debbie who keenly volunteered when I asked for some assistance. It was well filled by those who didn’t want to do the harder trip. On the harder trip we got into some challenging driving. Some of the difficult sections were not easily bypassed. Several cars got up Hilux Hill, but mention must go to Greg Moller who was having all sorts of trouble, which is not like him. After spooling up the supercharged shorty and bouncing up the staircase-like hill, he realised his left CV was not playing any more. We have spent hours on previous trips dragging vehicles with driveline failures up this hill. Greg still completed all the tracks with this handicap. Excited by the first creek crossing we did on Saturday, a couple of us demonstrated the value of snorkels on this trip. After 2 Landcruisers went through successfully, Alan came through in his Pajero. What brave driving, I think this was definitely the maximum fording depth for a Pajero. Unfortunately Alan did take on some ballast during the crossing. Alan had water coming out of god knows where most of the afternoon. We returned to camp for lunch and to prepare for the extreme trip. It came as a shock to me the number of members pumping up tyres on return to camp and we had no takers for the last trip planned. Everyone had had their fill of four wheeling and wanted to get home. We waved them all good bye, except for one couple, and then headed out ourselves. Thanks to all for joining us on this weekend and hope you enjoyed yourselves. It was nice to meet so many new people. We hope you felt welcome and we see you on many trips in the future. Steve, Cathy and Rebecca Biles Back to Top
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