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
