Dec
4
Written by:
Southern Trails
4/12/2010 9:50 AM
2010-056 River Crossing and Sand Driving
Well here’s the thing, I had no intention of doing a trip report, but by some dodge of the past or freak of nature I am.
Actually it may have been, that at the outset of our two day course, in front of the “A Team”, I asked Peter Reynolds for an autograph on my personal copy of last month’s Southern Trails magazine, with his smiling face, an OAM and the Governor General right there on the front !
You may know more than one person with an OAM, I only know one - Peter !
In any case here goes –
Weather prediction - rain and storms! No worries there, it’s a Sand and Water course, what’s the problem if we add a little mud in here and there?
The “A Team” met at Bungendore, 8 am start, where a few if not all enjoyed the morning wakeup call of the Pie shop and a coffee! The “B Team” was meeting in Queanbeyan, 9am start. A quick rundown on the day’s proceedings was given by Peter and the request for a signed autographed copy of Southern Trails was rejected.
The group then saddled up to head on to Braidwood for the first leg of our day’s adventures.
Braidwood – A quick stop here for a toilet break and for some a fuel top up – this could be argued either way, but in any case the stop was made and the group was ready for the drive ahead ! (At this point I was now attempting to keep out of sight - so as not to attract attention and thus have to do the trip report, it worked well huh?)
We were now headed toward Araluen. Now if you haven’t been this way lately, it’s worth the trip, recent rains have really set the countryside apart, it’s so green it reminded me of a trip to Scotland.
Our destination was down past Araluen Lower through the Junction, past Pigeon Gully, along the Araluen Road over Henry’s Creek and just South of Jimmy’s Hill to a nice little camping ground, where we had some morning tea. Confused yet ? We weren’t, as the Hema 5 kept a great track record and we can follow that track again anytime.
At this point we received some interesting stories of the Crocodiles of the NT and how interesting water crossings can be ! If you want in on these stories, you will have to do the course and get in on the low down.
Just a little down the road from Jimmy’s Hill is a Ford, not the car mind you, a river crossing, sorry, THE River Crossing, that we all had to get through. Well not exactly “Get Through”, rather experience.
Now I say that because, the whole idea of these courses is to “Experience”in a safe and controlled way a little of what we might see on our own exploits during our 4x4 life and adventures, with instructors that have already been there and done that and are happy to impart the knowledge gained over time and many trips.
So after the stories of the great NT crossings and some others we had to “Bra Up” and set tyre pressures etc …
Yep, get out whatever it was we were using to keep the H2O out of our engine bays and fans. Some had tarps and home built jobs, others pulled out store bought Bras, the MSA one seemed to be the popular choice. From what I saw though, all of them proved to do the job.
The “Duck” led the way over the crossing, to become the “Exit Point” and the instructors … well they instructed ... they instructed us to get out the tent poles or whatever we were using to mark out a route down, across and out of the river.
Some instructors were amused to see us marking the shallow course and commented on how we couldn’t establish a “Bow Wave” there. So it was determined that after the first pass along this shallow route, the instructors would themselves become the moving route markers. The route did indeed get deeper and deeper, until a satisfactory “Bow Wave” was obtained.
All the vehicles passed along this route in both directions without incident and the drivers were happy, except maybe Jim and his Rodeo, or rather, his Indoor Mobile Swimming Pool.
This was parked on an incline for lunch, to drain, as we weren’t sure on the legalities of removing local river water for Jims new venture into Indoor Mobile Pools!
The car itself was undamaged and continued with the weekend.
B Team arrived and the A Team went up to the campsite for lunch. After lunch we all hitched up and set off back out to Braidwood, those needing “supplies” picked them up and some had ice cream. At this point I got to play “Charlie” in the convoy for the first time and we set off for our overnight camp near Oallen on the Shoalhaven River.
Firewood was obtained and a campsite setup – with the B Team getting in a little late due to a “Navigational Error”. I’m not dobbing anyone in.
Peter and crew set up the main “Camp Fire” under the threat of impending rain, whilst others were setting up their own campsites etc.
Night was upon us and food could be smelt all over the site. The fire side drew one and all in, various supplies were consumed and we talked about the day and had a general chat about all things social. (After all that’s what were are really all about eh?) The kids got to roast some marshmallow’s, after all at any other time, putting a stick in the fire could be considered a “no no” and playing with fire, so they were pretty happy to set those marshmallow’s aflame.
The threated “Rain and Storms” finally hit and down came the rain and the thunder ! BEDTIME !
Next morning we all awoke to some light rain and a decision to get into the Sand part of the Sand and Water Course.
All the vehicles were lined up down near the crossing and two or three were chosen to get “Bogged” so that we could experience, first hand, the principles of, “How to get out of trouble in sand with the least amount of work.” I must say seeing my Patrol up to the axles in sand for the first time was …. FUN!
Peter asked for it to be bogged and so it was, He then went on to explain and show everyone the different paths we could take to extricate ourselves from this sort of predicament.
Lesson one – Bog the Vehicle, no worries there.
Lesson two – Tyre Pressure is KING ! If you did not believe before, that tyre pressure, or the lack of it, could get you out of this sort of trouble, you did afterwards.
Rocking the vehicle backward / forward, then easing forwards without spinning the tyres was next and closely followed by the use of Max Tracks, a handy device for those in need of a firm surface to drive on when bogged in sand. All agreed it was far better to adjust tyre pressure first.
Soon after these demonstration’s one of our instructors decided to give yours truly an additional side course on winching techniques, by sinking his 4x4 up to its axles in the silt bottom of a knee deep section of the Shoalhaven River.
With some onlookers and a “Few” memorabilia photos taken, the “River Shark” was out and it was onto the sand course “A Team Vs B Team” competition.
At this point I would have to say a Patrol does not really have the turning circle of a Prado, a Rodeo, or for that matter a Kia ! Yeah a Kia, I know, who would have thought it.
I was told, reliably, that a Prado driver would almost always win this competition … but the day belonged to the Kia and he almost did it backwards as well !!!
What was the competition you say?
Do the course have some fun, relax and enjoy our great outdoors with a great bunch of people and find out, see if you have what it takes to beat a Kia !
After this some drove over the crossing and back to “Wash” their cars whilst others had lunch and packed up ready to head home.
It has been said, but again, a huge thanks to all those who donated their time and effort into making the 2010 Sand and Water Course a great success, from all the “Students” for want of a better word, it was well worth it and thanks again.