JimnysRule

D’Entrecasteaux National Park

2007-03-15T04:57:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I have been late to my own trip! It took me over an hour and a half to go from the Churchlands to the Jarrahdale turnoff on the South-west highway. At least everybody else was there waiting and ready to go. Including myself, the convoy consisted of Eugene in his Grand Vitara who arrived five minutes before me and had his daughter Chelsea with her friend Melissa on board, Mark with his Sierra that had a new carburettor, fuel tank and extractors and Geoff with his son Jordan, our old new member in his well appointed Sierra.

The late start and slow traffic put us behind schedule only just making a refuelling stop at Donnybrook by 8:00pm closing time. With full tanks and extra fuel, we pushed on only stopping at Manjimup for a food top up and so arrived at our destination just before 11:00pm. A few showers on the way down concerned us a bit but the rain had gone before we had even put the tents up.

When we arrived, Paul and Sandra where there in their “tractor” Sierra and so was Dohn, our visitor from Busselton, in his Jimny. After putting up our tents and chatting, Russell and Liz arrived in the Vitara followed by Angelo in his Sierra. Next morning, Doug and Irene arrived in the Grand Vitara.

After a casual breakfast we left the camp site at about 10:30am and headed off down the Mandalay road to the turn off to the western end of the park. We turned off at the 4x4 track to Banksia camp and Brooke Inlet with Red Rock being our first stop. Everybody was impressed with the vista especially that of Chatham Island and Needle Point (see photo).

The Next stop was Cliffy Head lookout. From there, we had a magnificent panorama west along the coast and back out to the land side of Chatham Island. Those not already impressed by the scenery were by now brought around. From there we proceeded out to the outlet of Brooke Inlet. Again the scenery was magnificent as we drove over ancient country and around the edge of the lake. The final “pièce de résistance” was going over the pure white sand dunes to break out onto the beach next to the outlet to Brooke. Everybody agreed the scenery was just magnificent.

Magnificent is not what I can say about the fishing. Try as we might, the only fish caught were two small whiting by Angelo. Not enough for dinner. During the return to the camp, we stopped at an old hut to try our luck in the lake to no avail. No fish dinner for me that night! After signing the visitor book, we returned to camp, dinner and a great campfire. (It was during the campfire period that Sandra mistook me in the half light for a tree trunk. You might like to asked her about the circumstances that led to this mistaken identity and the consequences if she had not realised I was actually a person standing very still and enjoying the tranquillity of nature.)

Next morning we had a lazy start in the opposite direction and elected Hush Hush Beach the best place to start. The track was a bit sandy and challenging where the long wooden planks had splintered up and pointed precariously at our tyres. Hush Hush was a great place with a steep, slippery track to the bottom of a 200+m descent. However, the fishing was fantastic with enough fish being caught (8 Tarwine and 7 Bull Herring) to feed everybody who wanted one. The climb out was easier than anticipated as Irene found the proper track up the ridge much to the relief of some of us older members.

Lunch was now paramount on everybody’s mind and, after a brief stop at the Long Point car park, we found the Little Long Point car park to be a Peppermint grove with lots of shade and a great place for lunch and relaxation. Not only that, the beach was not that far away and so quite a few of us went for a swim, body surf, bogey board and general site seeing. But that is not all. There were multiple fresh water streams running into the bay which provided me with the opportunity to (privately) strip off and have a bath after my swim in the ocean.

Next stop was to be Lost Beach but there was no parking space as another club arrived before us and took all of the parking. Thus we returned to camp. The fish was wrapped in foil with onions, olive oil, salt, pepper and white wine and then cooked on the hotplate over the camp fire. What a great entrée. Again we had a great campfire thanks to the pyromania of Angelo, but I was tired from the day’s events and had to go to my tent early.

Dawn saw Angelo, Mark and me out at Mandaly Beach for one last effort to catch fish but the gods were against us: I had one bite in the hour and a half we were there. However, the sunrise and scenery was magnificent so we left there in high spirit.

The remainder of the day was taken up in travelling back to Perth via the ice cream and toffee factory and Goundary’s winery. The rest of the trip was uneventful except for the odd crazy driver and bad service at Kojunup.

Those who came appeared to have a great time and I definitely did. Thanks to everybody who made the trip worth while and I look forward to the next one.

Muchea Meandering

2006-10-10T00:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday 3rd September

Considering it was Fathers day, I was surprised to find nine cars making up the convoy heading north along the Great Northern Highway. Murray took on the extra responsibility of being sweep under the careful watch of Paul and Rob.

Just as we were pulling into Muchea, we could here someone calling on the radio. After trying to make contact, we concluded that there was somebody trying to catch up to us, so I went back the Brand Highway turn-off to try to find him. However, Shane and his brother Frank were already in Muchea and found the convoy so I hastily returned to take up the lead. Now there were ten cars. We travelled west through Muchea to the place where tyres were to be let down.

The track was quite sandy so low pressures were recommended. We followed the fence-line around to the main power-line track and headed west. Jan was the first and only victim to be caught by the first steep, sandy hill. A better choice of gears soon saw him up to the top followed a couple of others but the rest of the convoy stayed put. Grant’s clutch was sticking so the RAC was called and Paul attended. Repairs were hastily made and Grant was mobile but not happy – the clutch was either going to be engaged or not working. Grant did not want to stop again.

The next challenge was the hill that took me four attempts on the reckie the week before. I made it up first go and so did the rest of the convoy! The recent rains must have hardened the sand. (That is my story and I am sticking to it!)

Once moving again, Grant did not want to stop. We turned off the main road and went along Big Hill road heading north to the lunch spot. Once there, I left Rob in charge and took Grant out to the power station and the bitumen road from where he was happy to find his own way home.

Returning to the convoy, I found everybody enjoying a pleasant shady location under some Tuart trees. After eating and chatting, we headed further north to find the lake I was looking for on the reckie. This meant that we had to go beyond the point where Rob and I had been the week before. This ultimately put us into a position where we had gone too far north and so the convoy had to turn around in some very thick country.

We did find the lake but did not get to see it. It was getting late and a few of us were on home time deadlines. We quickly moved south back towards the power station and the last challenge for the day. Murray left us at the base of the four tracks the go up a sizable hill next the main road.

We played on the hill for a while with everybody trying most tracks. I made it up all four eventually although the BBOP holes challenged me for a while on one of the tracks. Shane tried a bit too hard and popped a tyre which eventually had to be changed. Mark had to come to the rescue with his extended wheel stud remover as the nuts were REALLY tight.

With tyres inflated and wheels changed, we said our good-byes and headed west to the power-station and bitumen road. Thanks to everybody for coming, thanks to Rob for helping with the reckie and thanks to Murray for being sweep and not loosing anybody.

Mike

Collie - second look

2005-05-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

We returned to Collie to have a second look at the tracks in the same area as the first reckie we did a few moths ago. This was done in preparation for the trip Rob is running next month.
I thought the recent rains would have made some of the spots very boggy but I was wrong. The evidence of the rain was there - wash aways, soggy areas at the side of the tracks, big holes where the water had been flowing over the road etc, but the tracks were generally quite dry and very passable.
We did find a new track which at first glance came to a dead end. Upon inspection, we found that we could easly continue just by driving into the bush a couple of meters, over a few humps and back onto the main road. This looked challanging but was "piece of cake" for the Jimny and the two Sierras having such a short wheel base. Bad luck for the Grand Vitaras - they will have to just watch!
The 215-75 MT (Mud Terains) tyres make this type of driving quite a lot better - higher clearance and better grip but does appear to impact on the fuel economy. The Jimny took 30 litres to travel 320K+5% (bigger diameter) making 8.3l/100k including the 4x4 section. The fuel used was 98 octane. I am really quite impressed!!
We had a great day and all is ready now for the trip next month.

Day at Dwellingup

2005-05-23T05:54:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was the rerun of our night out at Dwellingup we did a while ago. However, the daylight and lack of rain made a big difference to the level of difficulty experienced this time.
We did have a good time. But two relativly easy climbs and a moderate river crossing made me wonder why I put the mud terrain tyres on. Anyway, the Jimny looks great with them on, and I did not get stuck. And we had a good time exploring a new part of the forest that we had not been to before.
My gearbox is now working OK. My mechanic found two of the gear shift levers inside the gearbox had broken the keeper pins. He managed to take the back of the box off without removing it from the car, drill the old pins out and press new ones in. Smart eh?

Powerlines in the dark

2005-04-27T05:33:00.000-07:00

The Jimny in the image is John's (see previous posts) and the Sieria belongs to Rob. No pic of my Jimny this time. Both of these cars have more fruit than mine; John now sporting both front and back lockers and Rob well renowned for the rear LSD and front locker combination.
This trip was just a normal run up the powerline track out of Munadring into the Sayer's Valley district. Although most of the fourteen participating cars found the going pretty easy with some reasonable challenges, the XL7 and standard Grand Vitaras gave up half way along. I didn't bother putting on the mud terain tyres and consequantly found the first challenge of two bolders set one on each side of the track and half a Jimny apart just to much without risking the sills. So I went around after a couple of half hearted attempts.
The climb out of the big hole was not even attempted as I did not have lockers - John showed how to do it with both front and back lockers active and followed by a strong burnt clutch smell.
My major thrill for the night was when I went to pass Rob on the way home only to find I no longer could engage fifth gear. Earlier as I was going along the track, I noticed some difficulty in engaging first gear to the point where Eugene had to take preventative action from running into me. After struggling with the gear stick, I eventually got it into gear and dared not to stop until closer to civilization. The first set of traffic lights back in the city proved my nightmare true - no first gear any more. I managed to limp the cripled beast back to home where investigations indicated something loose inside the gearbox preventing the selection of first, third and fifth gear without a lot of frustration and jiggling.
I have take the Jimny to the mechanic - it is quite difficult driving in traffic with only second and fourth gear, and a tendancy to jam into gear as well. I now have to wait for the diagnosis .....

Return to Collie

2005-02-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

In my earlier post, I told you of our reckie to Collie. So this time, we returned to traverse the track we take in winter in the reverse direction.
The length of this track is only about two kilometers long but has some very steep and seriously badly rutted section.
As it turns out, only four cars turned up at the meeting place. There are Rob, our leader, with his modified Sierra - rock hopper kit, front air locker, rear limited slip, serious suspension lift and 235/75 mud terains. Next there was Mat in his Sierra - front and back air locker, serious suspension lift and big all-terrain tyres. Then there was Peter. His coil sprung Sierra has a lift and some monster mud-terain tyres. My Jimny has a modest 50mm suspension lift and 215-75 mud-terain tyres.
The start of the track has a badly washed out drop down into the track which worried us a bit. In the past, we have driven or been snatched up this so it was a bit strange going down nose first. However, with great guidence from each other, we all managed to inch down the rocky, dusty and rutted slope. Rob took a path to the right over some very big rocks and scaped his sill protector. The rest of us chose the left and it was only the Jimny that scraped the suspension hanger as we climbed over Jeff Pit's big rock from the previous trip.
The remainder of the drop down to the creek was a lot easier than we normally would find going up in the opposite direction. However, the climb back out was going to be another matter. Upon inspection, there was evidence of a recent roll-over which made us a bit more worried.
Rob decided to straddle the very deep ruts on the right in the same manner as we do when ascending. OK with lockers and after one failed attempt where he was only seeing blue sky and ended up in the hole, he sucessfully managed the climb without futher incident. Matt tried his luck on the left hand side where the camber of the first part of the track is a bit frightening followed by a very deep rut to straddle to get to the top. He made it up the first part but fell into the hole on the second. The lockers enabled him to keep going and, after a few tries, scraped his way to the top. Peter tried the same trick but, without the lockers, stopped in the hole. The track had a crossover to the right at this point so we manouvered him over to the other side and, with a bit of pushing, managed to get him going again and up to the top. My turn so I decided to take the track to the left and then crossover to the right. As it turned out, the Jimny just drove straight up with a few bumps as it crossed over and was up to the top in no time.
The next section down to Cowbone was very easy except that Rob tried to drive in some deep ruts and had to be extricated when all four wheels just turned and got nowhere, and I tried going over a mound at the bottom and unexpectantly slid sideways.
The last climb, although long and hiding some traps for the uninitiated, looked pretty easy. Rob tried a straddle that did not work the first time, but had no real difficulty getting up. Mat and Peter also did not appear to have any real issues either; however I took the first section a bit to far to the left (did not want to fall in the big hole) and found some very soft and loose soil so lost traction and stopped almost at the top of that section. A change in direction back up onto the ridge got me going again only to get two thirds up the next section and to keep falling off the ridge into the rut. I tried Rob's path but without lockers, I went nowhere. After a few more attempts, I figured that I was turning to soon near the top as the track went to the right and so managed to stay on the high side and get over that section.
The remaining section was just a bit tricky and all of us managed it without any real issues, unlike the Nissan we pulled out of there on the previous trip.

Australia Day Beach trip

2005-01-23T15:28:00.000-08:00

This proved to be a pretty uneventful day (as expected). Just a run up through the dune area of Wilbinga, north of Perth.
Paul brought his sister along in her Sierra. She was unexperiences as was easy to tell as she was having problems as soon as there was a little challenge - we all have to learn some time and I am sure she has a much better idea on how to get up a sand dune now!
Of course there were lots of other learners out there to as we found out just after we set up the umbrellas on the beach. An intitial volly of "big machines" roared through the middle of us as the first of the them made their way off the beach and up into the dunes. The second needed a push (from us) to keep going and the remainder (Nissan Patrol, Toyota Prado and Ford Teritory) just sat at the edge of the beach looking stupid! After a few frustating and fruitless attempts, I recommended that they let their tyres down to 10psi and have another go. Again, approaching the incline off beach like snails, they still sat there. This time, I told them to get back a bit along the beach and get some speed up. At last we saw them dissappear into the dunes.
On the return journey, I came across a "lost" 4x4er. I think his girlfriend must have been chewing his ear as he was very keen to follow me to where ever I was going so long as it was back on the black hard stuff.

Mylup to Mandurah

2005-01-16T03:35:00.000-08:00

This trip is a real easy one in that for quite a bit of it, I could have not even used four wheel drive. However, getting started while up high on the beach near the dunes required low range and for the sake of my transmission (and the environment) four whell drive is a good way to go.
The tide was really low and, unlike other years, we had plenty of beach to drive on and the sand near the water's edge was quite firm.
I took my mate Jim with me. He just veged out and enjoyed the passing sand and water vistas and we had some "in depth" conversations on the meaning of life - I am still confused!! :)
Graham thought he would try to catch a fish on plastic. Although I am no expert, I think I should show him how to do it. Next weekend's trip to Wilbinga might be a good time. After all, I have caught at least six (6) herring on plastic so far. Maybe I need to start a blog on "fishing with plastic"?
Anyway, we made it all along the beach from Mylup to Tim's Thicket this time - we usually can't get past the rocks at the Mandurah end but the very low tide solved that problem for us.
I can't say it was a really exciting, problem ridden 4x4 adventure but is was a nice day out.

I am really looking forward to the reverse Collie run!

Reckie to Collie

2005-01-14T13:34:00.000-08:00

Rob called to organise the reconnoitre to Collie in preparation for the return reverse trip in February.
An early start on Saturday saw us back in the Brunswick Junction area heading for the exit point of our normal winter Collie excursion looking for an alternate route to the main road rather than scratching our way along the very overgrown exit track.
Fortunately, I had taken the time to look at the DOLA Land On Line site the day before and made up some mud maps using the arial photographs of the area we were interested in. In no time at all and after following fence lines and inspecting firebreaks, we were at the exit point with some new challenges in store for those zookers who are brave enough to return with us next month. Rob gave me 14/10 for navigation!
Futher investigation also provided us with a second, alternate exit route and an escape route halfway along the "track of no return" just in case we need it in the future.
The entrance point for next month trip (old exit point) is not looking good, with deeper ruts after the winter rain and a very rocky, rutted drop off!
Should be a fun trip! I will let you know.

Photographic Award

2004-11-28T04:40:00.000-08:00

Hey!!

My mum put a few of my photos into the Wanneroo show and one of them, John Fraser's Jimny blasting out of a sand bowl at Wilbinga won first prize.

How stoked am I??

2004-11-27T01:38:00.000-08:00

Friends in the Desert

Sand on Sunday

2004-11-26T01:43:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, the famous Mark Weber and I had a great time at Lancelin in the sand dunes and beyond to Wedge Island and then the sand dunes there. Thanks Russel for guiding us.

Mark was sure I thought the Jimny was a mountain goat as I "was looking for the most vertical dunes and then tried to climb them". The one that I got up the top of and halted the likes of Rob Hines saw me stuck on the lip due to an interesting formation at the top. Paul easily snatched me the rest of the way. Thanks Paul.

I have included a picture of the "BigFoot Bus" just for comparison.

We also did a bit of community service with Rob pulling a Navara? ute out of a seriously bad section of the beach near Lancelin - we needed four snatch straps to get Rob into a position where he could actually pull the ute. Bloody poms - no idea, no recovery equipment, neally no vehicle as the water was lapping the wheels when we arrived. They did say thanks!
Happy Zooking!
Mike