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Mitsubishi 4WD Owners Club of Qld (Inc) |
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The Springs - Nov '08 |
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The Springs - Nov '08Allan and I left Brisbane about 7am. We hadn’t done a trip with the club since Canarvon at Easter and were looking forward to some four-wheel driving and catching up with members of the club. I was also looking forward to a break and do some camping out in the great outdoors. I just love it!! We arrived at The Springs on Saturday morning about 9:30 am to the sounds of Graeme Clarke on the CB radio saying he had a flat tyre the first casualty of the weekend. The tyre got replaced and a new one was purchased in Stanthorpe. No worries these things happen. Most people that had arrived on Friday were already out on the 4-wheel drive tracks. Naomi and Tony, Richard, Fat kid, Graham Thatcher and ourselves arrived Saturday after setting up camp and lunch we joined the afternoon trip. We were divided into two groups lead by Graeme and Alan Hughston respectively.
Hope I didn’t miss anyone out if I did I apologise. We drove up dry creek beds, over rocks and climbed hills. It was lots of fun. There was a bit of rain which didn’t dampen the enthusiasm just the dust! The Springs 4WD and adventure park has a nice camping area with good clean amenities. Hot showers every girl’s wish! Glenn Cottrell damaged a CV joint after the afternoon run but it was quickly repaired by him in about 45 minutes with the spare CV joint he had. Nothing was going to deter Glenn. Iain the park owner showed us how to drive over a bed of tyres!! Happy hour was supplied by the owner’s Toni and Iain. Then we enjoyed a fabulous roast dinner also part of the deal. The pork and beef roast with vegetables was very tasty. Toni had prepared delicious desserts apple pie, tiramisu, pavlova, cheese cake and some chocolate delight that I didn’t have room for. (No cooking and washing up either.) I don’t think anyone went home hungry. We had a nice night up there on Toni’s and Iain’s verandah. After dinner the young ones Richard, Philip, Ben Fat Kid, Glen and the not so young Alan H and Iain (owner of the park) went on a night drive. Debbie went along as a passenger. I think they enjoyed themselves. Glen did manage to break another CV joint and had to be snatched out. On the night ride Allan H tells me they got up to an area called Love hill and then he decided he wanted to go back to camp (I wonder what was going on up there) and everyone followed him back. Something was going on with Alan H this weekend. He was talking about stripping, not feeling the love problems with toys. Could it be a midlife crisis thing or was he just missing Em. Meanwhile the rest of us headed back to camp after dinner. We went to sleep with the sounds of rain on our tent and the quiet chatter of people around us. While I was having my breakfast on the Sunday morning I watched all the guys huddled around Glenn’s damaged CV joint doing some male bonding, talking nuts and bolts and stuff. Despite the cloud’s looking like they were going to open up to a real downpour most of us headed of for a morning drive on Sunday morning. The rain did stay away. On the Sunday run Tony Ritchie punctured a tyre. This being the second puncture in Graeme’s group they were then named the “deflatables”. Also in Graeme’s group Richard Gilbert got snatched out of “Girlie Gully”. We drove up to Bald Nob in Alan H’s group after driving up Pete’s Ass - the owner named these tracks not me! We saw the other group over at Love Hill wondering if they could feel the love up there on Love Hill. We felt the cool wind blowing up on Bald Nob but enjoyed the fantastic views of the surround. We did go on some good tracks testing our 4-wheel driving skills and the grip on the oh sh… bar! Can I say that? Philip in our group got stuck on Ticker Creek. Alan H our fearless leader came to the rescue with his recovery equipment and snatched Philip out of his predicament. Just in time, before the creek flooded and the bushfire over took us. Jeff Loy does have a wild imagination! Debbie Doherty had some trouble on Ticker creek as well the day before, needing the assistance of the recovery equipment. Errol Gordon and a few others headed of to attempt an extreme graded hill on Sunday morning. Steve did a Diff in his Landcruiser. I think Richard Murphy may have had some trouble on that hill to. Errol managed to just drive up!! Meanwhile we got a call from Roslyn Loy back at camp wondering how long we would be. I thought Jeff Loy maybe in a little trouble with the better half for being out too long. We returned to camp to find Roslyn with Alan H’s camper van tied to her tow bar just about to move the van just to disorientate Alan H. We then had some lunch and packed up our tent and headed back to Brisbane. There were a few recoveries, broken CV joints, diff’s, flat tyres this weekend but nevertheless good 4-wheel driving with good food, wine, laughs and good company. Thank you to everyone and especially to Alan and Graeme for organizing a good weekend and also to Toni and Iain for being welcoming hosts. Allan and I won’t be at the Christmas party this year. I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a wonderful and safe festive season with your families. Also we would like to thank our Presidentei, every committee member, DAP instructor and group leader of trips for their hard work throughout the year. Thanks Lisa for a great job with the magazine. We look forward to 2009 and spending time with you all. Kind regards, Allan and Minna Back to Top
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