Sandy Creek Camping

19th - 2th November

We rocked up on Friday night to setup in the dark, had some tea and spent a couple of chilly hours round the fire with the few that were already there.

Early Saturday morning (8:30) we headed for a small drive in the park and were hampered by S2 (Greg Sims) having a flat tyre (broke the bead). By the time we got back, pretty much everyone had arrived and was setting up and getting into some sort of caffeine.

Later Saturday we went for a few hours around most of the tracks in the park. There was some interesting action at the “very steep & rough” hill. First to get stuck was Paul Bishop who ended up reversing down into a deep steep rut. A team of guys put some logs under the suspended wheel to help him the rest of the way down. Then Gordon Bishop turned around halfway after a failed attempt. Steve Simsy (S1) made it in the Land Cruiser (without breaking a sweat - much to the disgust of the Nissan’s). S2 was towed the last leg up and Nissan made a comeback with Chris Lenehans Patrol (unaided by lockers – but with plenty of momentum to compensate) which got him up the top also pumping his fist with joy yelling “Oh what a Nissan feeling”. The trip down I can tell you was pretty hairy. The rest of the day was pretty straight forward after that. There were a few decent gullies, some slippery hills and practically no mud.

Back at camp the sheltered creek provided some cool relief from the heat of the sun. Happy hour was at an early beer-o’clock we wound down for a warmer night around a massive fire where we were corrupted by the older folk. We boys collected the fire wood as it got dark managing to break Gary’s axe after his McCullough chainsaw failed to dance.

On Sunday we had a shorter drive with exciting driving from some of the women. One particularly steep gully proved difficult to get back up out of because of a deep rut on the downside of the hill. We ended with a puncture from trip leader Gary Chapman which was also quickly changed. The cicadas were pretty deafening at times. Back at camp it was ascertained that the pitch of the general hum coming from them was a ‘B’. A real big thanks to Gary Chapman for a great weekend.

By The Young Fella’s (Greg Sims, Andrew & Alex)