Saturday, Jul 03, 2010 at 12:00
" It ain't wot ya got- it's wot ya do with it".
Very true - and Andy knew what he was doing. Tyre pressure was key - mostly 12 pound but he also knew how to ride the sand dunes and the rocky creeks.
14 years as an overland truck driver in Africa, Asia, South America and Europe teaches you a few things - and that was in the very old days when you were self sufficient for months with 20 people to look after and no communications like we have today.
Andy is also a motorbike trail and endurance rider and had just finished 2nd in his category at the FINK a few days before going down the Canning so he knows how to plot his route over difficult terrain.
Because we were in a two wheel drive we did not have force as a option to get us out of a situation. We had to float on top of the sand at all times and Andy did that very
well. All in all we did about 10 second runs at some dunes and once we had to take three runs at a dune. Sometimes it was because we got distracted with chatting and got caught in the wrong gear.
We used the sand mats three or four times only and had three big dig outs - where we bellied on the centre ridge, and one of those occasions it was not even on a dune but at
Well 24 when we took a short cut up the river bed. Not a good idea. My digging and pushing skills where used for half an hour!!!
But yeah, it was the combination of good car and skilled driver that made this adventure a success
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