The Springs 4WD Park

25th March

Attendees:
Brett Lynch Patrol (Trip Leader)
Glenn & Kaye Taylor Patrol
John Holden Landcruiser Ute
Ray & Pauline Wozniak Jackaroo
Gary & Betty Chapman Jackaroo
Greg & Steve Sims Jeep
Chris Lenehan & Family Patrol
Terry & Tanya Cupitt Prado
Ian Finn Landcruiser
Greg & Laura Thirkill Patrol
Michael Crompton Navara
John Lucas & Elaine Wilson Patrol
Pat Ryan & Michelle Kelly Hilux
Lee & Marina Huddleston F250
Michael & Dylan Warry Pajero
Michael Lewis Rodeo Ute

Well as you can see we had a quite a few people on this trip. Nine cars followed me up to the park on Sunday morning with other seven lucky car loads camping out for the weekend. Getting up early on a Sunday morning that early is always a challenge so I thank everyone for meeting at the first meeting point on time allowing us to get away on time. Quiet run out to Warrick where we met one more member and continued on to The Springs.

We arrived at about 9:20am which gave us time to pay our fees and head down to the camp grounds to meet up with the other and catch up on what had been happening at the park over the weekend. I think a few people who noticed the broken down brand new Rangee at the office were starting to panic a bit although they had nothing to worry about. Apparently the Rangee broke its diff or something trying to recover another car, unfortunately the car being recovered put it in reverse and went the wrong way while the Rangee was going forward, not a good look and no way to treat a car only a few weeks old.

At the camp site I was glad to see everyone was awake and ready to hit the tracks. Trip sheet all signed and tyre pressures adjusted and it was time to hit the tracks. Well almost when Betty advised me it was time for 2nd morning tea, I gave her 5 mins while I let my tyres down. First track for the day was straight out the campsite and onto Fig Tree Lane. A nice moderate track with an easy climb, although was caught by surprise by a small adjustment made at the top that wasn’t there last time with offset holes to trick the tyres up. Most cars made it to the top ok with a few having a few attempts to get past the top bit. This allowed for a bit of spectator sport and others to have 3rd morning tea. Oh and for those wondering at this stage we hadn’t had a drop of rain, yes I can drive on dry tracks as well as wet ones, was nice for a change. We then headed down Spring Hill into the gully and backup Falls Drive for a quick loop and a few 3 point turns for the F250. The campers had done these tracks the day before but I wanted to ease everyone in gently for the day.

I then advised everyone that we would head off to Rusty Tank track (the tank has been replaced so they should change the name to Very Shinny Tank track) and across to Jack Off Lane where we had waisted an hour or two last trip. I was not sure how we would go but since the track was dry was expecting everyone to do ok. One or two went around but all that attempted the hill made it up fine and felt very good about themselves. I had said that when we made it up that bit we would stop at Love Hill (a nice lookout) for lunch but wouldn’t you know it as soon as I made it up the Jack Off Lane it started to rain and looked like would only last a few minutes. I changed my mind then and decided to continue on down and drive through the Playpatch (nice easy dry creek) and up to the next lookout up Precipice Leap to Bald Nob. Precipice Leap is a moderate but deceptive track which is quite easy except for the last 20 meters where is decides to get steeper and the ground a lot looser. Of cause it was still raining and actually getting heavier, A few cars had a bit of fun driving up this hill with the rain but all made it up fine even if having to take a few goes to get there. Well since we were there and the rain all around didn’t look like letting up for the rest of the day we stopped for lunch, some eating in their cars and others trying to cram in under John Lucas’ and Garry Chapman’s awnings off their cars. As a joke a few days earlier when I was shopping in a cheap store I bought an emergency rain coat for $2. Well although I did get to use it I think I could have spent the $2 more wisely on anything else, it did keep the rain off and did keep the wind out but was so noisy could not talk to anyone while I had it on.

After lunch headed down past the mudhole on Mudhole Loop and just as I got to the bottom a call came on the radio from Mick Warry concerned about a low oil light on his dash, a quick check and there seemed to be no oil in his engine. I made a quick call to the office at the Springs and Ian confirmed he had a few litres of oil he could spare and Chris Lenehan sped off past us all back to the office to pick it up for Mick while I took the rest of the troupe on a detour to entertain them while waiting to see how things progressed. When down the Ticker creek and back through the Playpatch backup to the top of Love Hill where we could see Mick waiting for Chris to come back with some oil. Good timing for as we got to Love Hill, Chris was back with the oil and after checking under Mick’s car for any obvious signs of oil leaks topped up the engine and with the light out but still very low on oil Mick decided to call it a day and packup and go home. A few had started into afternoon tea while waiting to see if Mick was able to get going again and when Mick said he was going home a few others decided to call it a day as well. With most of the campers heading back to camp to finish packing up I was left with just a few cars keen to tackle some harder stuff or as one person said – so can we do some 4wding yet or what? (don’t worry about who this was just know that it’s a jeep thing).

My convoy now reduced to 7 cars I decided to play on some tracks I didn’t get a chance to drive on with a few difficult and very difficult tracks to drive on. This took up a bit of time and the last hill I finally got to get the snatch straps out. Three snatch straps in fact to pull Gary up out of a steep and dusty hill. Oh yeah, I forgot as soon as we finished lunch and headed off down the tracks again it stopped raining, very annoying but like here they need every drop they can get. With Gary safe to the top and Betty finishing off 3rd afternoon tea it was about 4:00 so decided that it was time to head back to the office and air up the tyres and head home. On the way out I decided to take the hard way out through a track called The Skids which is up another creek. Didn’t get a chance to do this track last time as it had a foot of water flowing over it and as had not seen what was under the water didn’t give it a go. The creek was dry this time and a few followed me up the first section marked as Very Difficult. Some very nice rock climbing through the creek which made us watch where we put our tyres so as not to scrape underneath or the doors too much. We all made it through fine with the help of Chris and Steve guiding a few through. Unfortunately the Jeep also made it through fine but you can’t always get what you want I guess. The rest joined us for the 2nd section of the track which was a nice drive to finish the day. Back at the office then where we all played duelling compressors to inflate our tyres, some to match their egos, and head on home.

Thanks to all who came on the trip and helped make it a great day. Thanks also for Glenn and Kaye for being tail end Charlie for the day and helping keep them all in line, a big ask when you have John Lucas to deal with. It was nice to run a trip that had a good mixture of cars in convoy as the last few trip I have lead have been packed with Patrols. Goes to show you don’t always need the big cars to have just as much fun. Thanks for the new members who came along, I hope you had a good time and didn’t scare you off too much, although I think we all agree now that if you come on one of my trips it is a necessity to pack the wet weather gear.

Thanks again everyone and hope to see you all on the tracks again soon.

Brett Lynch