Who went:
Jason and Chris (visitor): GQ ute
Peter VE(Canvas Man )and kids: 80 wagon
Old Boy (Darren) and Michelle: GU ute
Danny and Lyn and Darrel: 80 Wagon
Damien and Zac: 80 ute
John:GU wagon
Chris and Cam (visitors): it’s a jeep thing
Peter (visitor): GQ wagon
Dean and Sue: GU ute
Troy and Meghan and Steve: GQ wagon
Sunday morning at around 8am, a few people were meeting a Jason’s place ready to go and meet everyone else at the main meeting place when Jason received a phone call from Damien (who was borrowing Scott’s car). The request was simple “Can you come and get me? I have run out of fuel but I can see the servo.” So after a few quick phone calls we arranged Troy and Darren to the rescue to tow Damien to the servo. This was not the first time during the day they were in the rescue role. With Damien all fueled up and the car running again, we were off! We headed through Pakenham and picked up Steve and met the others that had now been waiting for a little while longer than planned. With all the meet and greets over and done with we headed out to our first track.
After turning off the black stuff we headed for Britannia Creek track, stopping not long after to lock in the hubs, air down the tires and to stand around to chew the fat.
‘Off the road’ again, it was not long before we found the first fun bit of the track. Once you squeezed between the bank and the big rock, it was up the rutted red clay hill. Jason made it up half way only to be stopped by Michelle coming over the radio saying “I think Canvas Man needs a bit of help!” Looking in the rear vision mirror all Jason saw was the underside of the 80, which indicated that Michelle was right. After Canvas Man had slipped off the ruts, which he was trying to stay on top of, the car had gotten all crossed up and was on pretty wicked angle across the track. With Canvas Man using his winch for the first time out in the bush, the car was quickly back on all fours and away he went. Everyone else had no real dramas until John and Peter, who just couldn’t hold the right line up towards the top of the track. The rear of the car kept on sliding down into the ruts and ending up all crossed up. After reversing down and having a few more cracks at it, they got the right line and carried on without any problems. Working our way through a few little wet and boggy patches we ended back out on the main road.
Crossing over the main road we continue on the second half of Britannia Creek track. Straight away there was a little rutted out section which Danny had a few cracks at. The pedal went down and the 80, with a bit of kick and a buck, bounced its way to the top. Everyone else took a bit of a different line all were up and away.
Then came the first of about five decent bog holes. It was about headlight deep and around a slight corner with a little step at the end. As Jason was first through and not able to make it, a few helper logs went in the hole and all was good. With a bit of a squeeze between and around some trees, everyone made it through no worries, although some a little dirtier then others due to windows being left down. Chris and Cam painted the inside of the yellow jeep brown. A little way up the track, Damien had succeeded to pop the front tire off the bead and was not able to reseat it, so the spare was put on and away we went. A few more bog holes later, we made it to the big one; one large area with four different bog holes that you could choose to go through. After hearing that two cars from another group in front of us had just finished winching through two those four holes, we decided to make this our lunch stop. While others contemplated which way to go, Chris and Cam were busy taking the tire off the jeep and cleaning out their now leaking bead.
After our sustenance stop, Darren chose to do the honours and showed everyone where to drive through without needing a winch. So while Troy tried to follow, he still managed to balls it up completely. He went through a different hole and ended up winching out and showing everyone where not to go. With the go pedal all the way down, everyone else managed to drive through the way Darren went with no problems. Jason however decided to take option 3 (which turned out to be a bad choice). Jason got stuck in the hole, a car length from the end with the car filling up with muddy water. So the winch was attached and the car was pulled out with the doors open for drainage.
Crusin’ along a bit more and Jason hit some steering problems. Bush mechanic style, the steering belts were tightened and we got on our way again (well, we thought it was fixed… Approaching a track with the option to drive off the rock drop-off or drive through the trench, things got worse for Jason. He now had no steering, the bonnet was opened and it was all bad. Jason’s bush mechanic skills were no match for the problem he found. The key that holds the Harmonic Balancer to the crank of the engine had decided to go on holidays. Therefore, the engine could run but it had no power steering, no brakes, and no cooling. Having to drive some of the harder stuff of the day without all that stuff was ‘fun’ to say the least. With the visitor who was riding passenger holding on white knuckled, we eventually made it to the main road, while the rest made it down with no real dramas. At this stage Jason’s car was not going anywhere. While we hoped for a quick and easy fix it wasn’t going to happen and the end of the day was called at 3pm. With Troy leading the majority of the group out, it was back to Darren’s to pick up the A frame to go into rescue mode again. Michelle, a true trooper, stayed behind with Jason and they went into Bear Grills mode while waiting for the rescue crew to return. After about 3 ½ hours, darkness had arrived, Troy and Darren returned and the A frame was attached. 10 minutes down the road, one of the pins attached to the bulbar had come out meaning Jason’s was no longer towing straight. Before they knew what was happening, Jason’s car nearly hit the bank, nearly went over the cliff edge finally stopped about 5 inches from Troy’s Car. Pants were emptied and a new pin / bolt was put in place to allow for straight towing again. Finally the rescue crew arrived home about 9:30pm.
A good, fun and exciting day was had by all and it was great to see so many cars out on a day trip.
Thanks, Jason.