Aust Day in

Gday Trevor,

We were down at Beachport/Robe as well, so I guess we probably passed you somewhere....

Re underprepared: we helped some guy with an Adventurer - just let the air out of his tyres and drove it out. He was pretty scared - didn't want to gte back in the car - thought he was about to lose it. Of course he didn't have an ounce of recovery gear, and his vehicle had absolutely zero recovery points at the front.

Another guy was about to snatch his son-in-laws Jackaroo, and we noticed he had the strap over each towball. So went for a little look. He also had 2 straps joined by an unrated D-shackle. So we sorted him out and they were grateful.

We also did the Beachport to Nora Criena run on the Saturday night - always a bit scary. Had to pull back a couple of our vehicles that slipped off the track in places, but it was good experience.

Considering how many vehicles were in the area, I thought pretty much everyone was kind, courteous and patient. There was no problem with people getting off tracks to let others pass. Our only hassle was a young jerk getting on our channel and screaming obscenities while we were doing the night run - idiots.

I'm not a fan of beach driving, but it was a good chance to catch up with a lot of people I hadn't seen for a while.

Cheers
phil

Wasn't the turbo Territory by any chance was it? Saw that having issues on Saturday. The Friday was pretty busy up towards Robe but Saturday down Beachport way wasn't too bad at all. Saw a few vehicles having problems due to too much tyre pressure but once they aired down appropriately they got going although there was one guy in a Prado who just didn't want to hear any advice about pressure but after a while finally accepted a snatch. He had a strap but no shackles and thought he could just tie the strap on. The bikes tended to do their own thing. We had a good a great trip and I'm looking forward to the next trip back.

So,
were any of you guys at the waterhole (pub) at Harndorf yesterday just after lunch????
Only reason I ask is cos I noticed a number of 4by's there, having lunch, on my way home from down South.

Toytruck

Trevor

Was certainly a very busy area over the weekend.

I was in a group of 15 vehicles (Victorian group and several of our club members) and did the Beachport to Robe run on Saturday.

I was pleasing from our clubs perspective to see minimal damage on that track however we still see people who have no idea that sand is softer than bitumen.

We had stopped at one point and a guy, on his own coming from Robe direction had a chat and said he had been bogged sevral times. When asked what pressure he had in the tyres, the response was 30psi! Duh?##!! Have a guess why you are getting bogged. He did not seem to want to listen to our members advice.

Closer to Beachport our group came across another group heading south and they indicated that they had a sick child in there group and could we clear the track to allow them to pass. We did however the fool who had the sick child on board thought he would take a short cut along one of the beaches, wrong move as it is one of those that the locals stay off, being too soft. The other group then proceeded to block the entire track whilst they observed the recovery. The bogged vehicle was right along the water line however they were duly dragged out before becoming another reef. As they passed us we found out this other group had members of another local 4wd club and the member who got stuck is a known "cowboy" type who would push his vehicle as hard as possible. By the way the child looked like he was car sick, probably from dads driving!

In talking to the local Parks ranger do not be suprised if over this twelve months that there will be a couple of more blitzes on unregistered and unlicensed bikes and vehicles as well as fining people off the recognised tracks.

The biggest damage to the fences is from wind damage covering or exposing he posts. We regularly go along the track and replace the posts. This past twelve months has seen an improvement in the lack of damage to posts and les inappropriate driving off the tracks as well as less damage to the vegetation.

The section that goes through the Sand Buggy Park is being considered for realignment closer to the coast as there has been conflicts with vehicle use through this section. The DEH is agreeable to our club exploring this issue in conjunction with the buggy club. If this goes ahead the maps that we have created will be modified.

Cheers

And come back at Easter, although it will be as busy ou in the dunes.