2012-01

January 2012

SUBARU 4WD NEWS

Meetings of

THE SUBARU 4WD CLUB of WESTERN AUSTRALIA INC.

are normally held at

7.30pm on the second Tuesday of each month at the

Rotary Hall, 55 Sandgate St., South Perth

Subaru 4WD Web Site: http://www.subaru4wdclubwa.asn.au

SUBARU 4WD CLUB of WESTERN AUSTRALIA INC

P.O. BOX 434, SOUTH PERTH, W.A. 6951

SUBARU 4WD CLUB NEWS

2012 COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT: Tony Richards 9386-7705 [email protected]

SECRETARY: Phillip Read 0438926274 [email protected]

TREASURER: Adrian Longwood 9279-8993

[email protected]

SOCIAL ORGANISER: Keith Wilcox 9344-6830

TRIPS CO-ORDINATOR: David Peck 0402177886

EDITOR: Tom Minto 9382-4678

[email protected]

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

John Cahill 9368-4513

Keith Low 9459-3358

Karen Taylor 0402418871

Ian Johnson 9448-5419

Travis Maskey

MERCHANDISE: Tony Richards 9386-7705

WEB MASTER: Karl Boeing/ 9341-5087

Rob Griffiths 0411249933

[email protected]

4WD ASSOC DELEGATE: David Peck/ 0402177886

Tony Richards 9386-7705

M’SHIP CO-ORDINATOR: Keith Low 9459-3358

[email protected]

PROPERTY OFFICER: Peter Andruszkiw/Simon Newton

Club member of the year 2011: David Peck

LIFE MEMBERS

Fred Offer, Keith Anderson, Jonel Householder, Ray Stewart,

Ian Johnson, Peter Andruszkiw and Ron Caunce.

SUBARU 4WD CLUB of W.A. INC

Fellow Members,

I hope you all had a safe and very merry Christmas and an even

better New Year. It was a quiet period for the Club, with no Club

trips planned. That left plenty of time to sit back, relax and ponder

what’s in store for 2012!

There are a couple of trips in January – the usual beach run on 8/1

and the 4 day Blackwood River trip on 26-29/1. I am looking

forward to them. And, coming up at the February general meeting,

we will have a speaker - Behram Irani, Manager of GMD Airtime

Solutions, who will talk to us about satellite phones, particularly the

IsatPhone Pro. It should be an interesting presentation.

Check out the Club calendar for other great trips and socials that

are planned for 2012. If you have any destinations at all that you

would like to visit in 2012, please let someone on the Committee

know about it and we will see what we can do to organise a trip.

I am looking forward to 2012. I am sure it will be a good year for

the Club. Join us for the ride!

Regards,

Tony Richards

PRESIDENT’S REPORT Jan 2012

.


THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS MAGAZINE ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE HELD BY

THE SUBARU 4WD CLUB OF W.A. INC.

Please send articles and photos to the Editor by the Thursday before the end of the month (earlier is better).

Email: [email protected] in Word format or plain text

Subaru 4WD Club WA Website:

http://www.subaru4wdclubwa.asn.au

TRIP CO-ORDINATORS REPORT Jan 2012

Well who can believe that 2011 has gone so quickly we had some good

trips and we plan to have many more this year.

We have finalised the day trip for February 19th as a Wilbinga beach pic-

nic/dinner and night drive home. We did this to try and avoid the heat of

the day whilst finding a destination near the water and do something a bit

different.

As we get a few long weekends at the beginning of the year look out for

our trips in the calendar to the Blackwood river, Hamelin Bay and the

Coolgardie Woodlines.

But we miss out on a long weekend for ANZAC day this year so Travis is

leading his first trip and taking us on a camp oven cookout to Wickepin

on the weekend of the 28th & 29th April.

I have had to close off the centre circle trip as there are now 10 cars in-

terested and it can prove a problem finding good campsites that will ac-

commodate such a large group.


TRIP PROMOTIONS / INFORMATION

BEACH RUN Our annual beach run is on again- second Sunday in Janu-ary. Again it will be in the area between Tim’s Thicket and Mya-lup. We will decide closer to the day as to whether we go North or South North. This is always an excellent day to experience a lot of beach driving. Suitable for everyone. If you have just joined the Club please come along. Weather permitting you will get a

chance to have a swim at the lunch break.

Contact Peter A – 9440 4075 (H) or log into the website to join this trip.

Meeting point will be as in past years at the service station complex

Baldavis Rd exit of the freeway at 8.30am


BLACKWOOD RIVER RAMBLE

26TH - 29TH JANUARY

We are going to take Friday off as well and make a 4 day long week-end out of it (till Sunday 29th).

We will be going to one of Ian’s se-cret campsites on the banks of the

Blackwood River (between Bridgetown and Nannup) and will be bush camping.

The Blackwood is the longest river in the south west There is the oppor-tunity to do a spot of fishing or canoeing and I will bring the Canadian canoe along for those who want to have a go. Otherwise there are a number of scenic walk trails along the river and there should be some good bird watching (there are special bird hides at Nannup) or you could just sit back under a shady tree and watch the world go by.

If you wish to be more indulgent there are a lot of attractions in the area to appeal to those who like a bit of food and drink and we will probably drop in on a few as we tour around the area.

For more information or to register your interest contact David on

0402 177 886 or email [email protected]

Meeting Details

When: 8:45 for a 9.00am start on Thursday 26th January 2012

Where: Cnr of Baldivis and Safety Bay Roads, Rockingham (at the

Caltex Petrol Station)

Bring: BYO everything as there will be no facilities. Gas cooking gear as we may not be able to have a wood fire.



ASCOT WATERS PICNIC

Come along to a summer picnic on an island on the Swan River.

Ascot Waters has been recom-mended as a good place to picnic. I had never been there before so checked it out, it

is on a 28 hectare island near Garratt Rd bridge. There were no BBQ’s I could find but a large area where you can put down a rug or bring your chairs near a picturesque side channel of the Swan River. The island has been rehabilitated from a closed landfill site and revegetated. There is a walkway around the island for the more adventurous.

Where: Via Grandstand Rd, Waterway Cr & right at Tidewater Way roundabout (UBD Map 270 A7) Ascot. There is a large car park at the end of the road on top of the hill. It is a good spot for canoes if you have one (drop them off at the small car park just over the bridge).

Date: Sunday 12 February

Time: from 12 noon.

Bring: everything for a picnic (BYO BBQ stove).

Contact: Keith W




Hamelin Ramelin

3 March-5 March Come join us as we ramble around Hamelin Bay, explor-ing the many little points, hide-aways and bays - some taking a little bit of effort to get to! plus take in some of delights of the area such as the berry farm, chocolate factory and

wineries. Places like Cosy corner, North Point and along the coast an old sea ea-gle nest on an island peak just off the coast - still to be re-discovered. In between the exploring we can enjoy the many delights of the region such as the Laurence winery, berry farm and others. The intent is to camp in the DEC Boronup Campground for the modest fees of $7/person/night. It is a smaller ground with plenty of shade, facili-ties and quiet. Please join the trip on line or call John on 0439 922 338 to secure your place. The Camp Ground cannot be reserved online or otherwise so to secure the sites we need the hope that some trippers can travel down on the Friday and take possession of the sites needed. For those travelling down on the Saturday the convoy will meet at the Caltex Servo Baldivis, just off the freeway, 8:15 AM for an 8:30AM de-parture.

Photo-Tourism WA



BREAKFAST & BOTANIC GOLF

Join us for a trip to the Wanneroo Botanical Gardens for breakfast

followed by Mini Golf.

Breakfast is at the Leap Frogs Café and ranges from Toast & Jam

for $8 up to a full cooked breakfast at $20.50. See their menu on

www.leapfrogscafe.com.au.

After that it is a leisurely putt around the 18 holes through the land-

scaped gardens. Mini Golf prices are $16 adult, $14 Concession &

$4 for non-playing adults.

Those wanting to breakfast I will need final numbers a week be-

fore. Those who want just to play golf that is fine.

Where: 25 Drovers Place (off Joondalup Drive) Wanneroo

Date: Sunday 11 March

Time: 8.30am for breakfast, 10.00am for golf.

Contact: Keith W


TRIP & SOCIAL REPORTS

Lancelin – Experienced Group – Sunday 27 No-

vember 11

[Safety message. Driving in the Lancelin dunes can be danger-ous and you must keep an eye out for others using the dunes for a bit of fun. Some of these other users, particularly younger trail and quad bike riders, may not be as aware as you are. Also, you should also never simply con-

tinue over the top of any dune, or a ridge, if you are not certain what’s on the other side. You need to get out of your car and have a look, before proceeding.]

After letting down our tyres at the base of the dunes, we split into

two groups. Peter Andruszkiw led the novice group and I led the

more experienced group. We set off at about 10.30.

After a warm up descent down a dune, I found a steeper dune to

descend. It had a right turn at the base. Unfortunately, this

caused our first incident of the day. We found that one of vehicles

in the group had rolled a tyre off their front passenger side rim.

Thankfully, all we

needed to do was put air

into it and we were good

to go.

From, there we then

went in search of even

steeper slopes that we


And we found some.

And while we all

succeeded in getting

down the slopes

(gravity does prevail

in the end!), there

were some in the

group who did not

succeed in climbing

them all, including

yours truly, who did

not attempt the steepest slope. Still, that did not deter others, par-

ticularly Adrian who attempted everything with glee in his turbo and

(so far as I recall) was not thwarted by any dune all day!

As is usual with a trip to the dunes, apart from rolling a tyre off the

rim, we also had a number of occasions where a car had to be

pushed backwards off the edge of a dune, having not succeeded in

climbing up over the top, and snatched both backwards and for-

wards from the top of a dune, having got stuck on the ridge. It was

however all good experience, as well as good fun!

At 12.30, we headed to our usual lunch spot. The other group ar-

rived a little later. With 18 (or was it 19?) vehicles in all, it was an-

other enjoyable day at the Lancelin dunes for Club members (and

visitors).

Tony Richards.


January 2012

S M T W T F S Tue 3rd: Committee Meeting

Sun 8th: Beach Run TL: Peter A. Pg 5

Tue 10th: General Meeting

Thurs 26th-Sun 29th Jan: Blackwood Rv TL: David P. Pg. 6

Tue 31st: magazine articles deadline

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

February 2012

S M T W T F S Tue 7th: Committee Meeting

Sun 12th: Ascot Waters Picnic Pg. 8


Sun 19th: Wilbinga

Tue 28th: magazine articles deadline

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29

March 2012

S M T W T F S Sat 3rd - Mon 5th: Hamelin Ramelin LWE Pg. 9

Tue 6th: Committee Meeting

Sun 11th: Breakfast & Botanic golf Pg. 10


Sun 18th: Moore River TBC

Thurs 28th: magazine articles deadline

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 28 30 31

CLUB CALENDAR


April 2012

S M T W T F S Tue 3rd-Committee Meeting

Fri 6th-Mon 9th: Coolgardie Woodlines

Tue 10th– General Meeting

Mon 23rd: Magazine articles deadline

Sat 28th-Sun 29th: Camp Oven Cookout/Gymkhana Wickepin

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30

May 2012

S M T W T F S Tues 1st Committee Meeting

Tue 8th General Meeting

Sat-12th Karaakin working bee

Sat 19th:-Fiddles and Nibbles TBC

1 22 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

SCHOOL AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

School Holidays: Dec15-Jan31, Apr 6-23, Jul 7-23, Sept 29-Oct 15

Public holidays: Dec 26 & 27, Jan 2, Jan 26, Mar 5, Apr 6-9 (Easter)

Potential members are most welcome to come along on any Club activities before joining. Please phone the Trip Leader for further information.

Register with the trip leader if you are wanting to join a trip or social. Also contact the trip leader if you have to cancel, as we don’t want to wait for someone who does not turn up!

Some trips are ideas only and may be subject to change. Some of the later trips need trip leaders – volunteers please.


Quaalup Homestead / Fitzgerald National Park Day 2 - Sat 24th Sept 2011

Written by: Karen Taylor & Gracie Bear ( she typed it for me )

I awoke at roughly 4am, in my tent, in the well appointed camping grounds, of the lovely ‘Quaalup Heritage Homestead and Wilderness Retreat’ to the symphony…or rather ‘cacophony’ of countless species of local avian fauna celebrating the rising sun, socialising and competing like crazy, as if they hadn’t seen the dawn for a full 24hrs or something! hehe ;)

( More info? go to:- http://www.whalesandwildflowers.com.au/quaaluphomestead.htm ),

The night was rather fresh, at 6 odd degrees celsius, so I rugged up well. Gracie, my bear, didn’t snore too much thank heavens, apologies to any fellow campers who did hear her snore that night. I slept rather well con-sidering, I’m pretty sure the 500 ‘k’ near non-stop drive yesterday contrib-uted to that sleep somehow. I was one the first up and about in the camp, as usual, as I wanted to enjoy the rising sun for myself, with my new Nikon D90 camera in hand. I scored some lovely shots too, includ-ing some attractive foliage, coated with last night’s dew, The dew looked like hundreds and hundreds of tiny diamonds sparkling away on the surface of the leaves. I managed a few lovely shots of the glowing sun peeking over the horizon, through the trees, simply stunning, well worth getting up early for! All this time I had ‘Edna’ for company, the ever friendly, semi-domesticated EMU, following me a few ‘EMU paces’ be-hind me, with her social ‘bumping’ calls, resonating out every few min-utes, sounding like a deep toned bass drum thrumming away gently here n there. Her deep ‘bumps’ could be heard easily thought the entire camp, much to the dismay of some light sleeping campers the night pre-vious.

It was a gorgeous, calm, rather promising, blue sky morning, ( thank you Mother Nature ). Today’s itinerary involved two options, one team of club members chose to take the Quaalup Tour Bus, which took a ‘privileged’, much shorter, direct route from the homestead to the heart of the Fitzger-ald National Park, including a stop at West Mt Barron and Point Ann, I say privileged, because general public aren’t allowed on that track through the park. I’ts my belief, that it is for dieback prevention reasons. The other clan of members took their own vehicles to the same destina-tion, via the long route, across the Great Southern Hwy to the North.

I decided to join the ‘Roadsters’ option, via car. Sadly, I delayed this poor

TRIP & SOCIAL REPORTS


group by about 5 mins, as I hadn’t quite finished my food when I heard Ian and Nina start their engine and give a friendly toot of their horn as a reminder for the planned 8:30am departure. It was all a combination of unfortunate factors, a dead mobile phone battery and the distraction of the many, as yet, unexplored features around me that demanded they be captured on film, so I’d lost track of time.

After stopping in the small town of Jerramungup 40 odd kms North East of the Homestead for a splash of more go-juice, well ‘semi-go juice’ as they were out of Premium, we turned right onto the Grt. Southern Hwy. After a 30 odd min cruise, with nearly no traffic at all, we found the North-ern Entrance of the Fitzgerald National Park and filed in, one by one, in standard convoy procedure. Ian & Nina were in the lead with Keith Low as ‘Tail End Charlie’. The slow drive in was gorgeous, we meandered our way south, ( me-an-de-rest-of-em ) on good quality gravel roads, heading directly towards the pronounced mountain ‘bumps’ off in the dis-tance. We could clearly make out the distinctive Porongurup’s and Stir-ling ranges to the west and yet more mountains to the east

We weren’t long into the park grounds when our cars started to mysteri-ously ‘play up’ a bit. Our cars were running slower and our brake pedals were almost applying themselves, every few km’s, especially near clumps of conspicuous Flora, Fauna or park landmarks__ curious ;)

One of the more striking encounters we had with some Fauna, was a rather nonchalant 2m long Dugite snake, laying lazily over the dirt road before us. He wasn’t in a hurry at all, we all had time to get out slowly and get a good look at him from a safe distance. He eventually and rather contemptuously if you ask me, slithered off slowly almost ‘hissing’ to himself ‘Dang tourists, just cant catch a decent nap in the sun any-where these days!’. Ian commented that it was about as big a Dugite can get, he also mentioned that Dugites are in the top ten of most ven-omous snakes in the world! We also noted at least 20 odd lizards during the day, sadly, in various states of ‘life’, due to the hazards of sleeping on the road. So pay heed to this, it doesn’t pay to be on the roads when you’re tired. ;) The majority of these lizards were Blue Tongues/’Bob Tails’ as well as a few other lizards which we couldn’t immediately iden-tify. But the whole area was teaming with life, I can’t recall seeing a land so rich in both fauna and flora as the Fitzy Park. If you haven’t seen it for yourself, make the effort, you will not be disappointed.

Eventually we came to our first land mark, West Mt Barron, a small mountain, well more of a large hill, rising 372 m (1220 ft) above sea level ( thanks Google ). The most adventurous of us decided to climb this steeply sided hill, though, if you were to ask me the next day, I’d say the smarter ones were the ones who stayed behind hehe. Nahhh I’m glad I climbed it, the view more than made up for the tender legs the following


day. ( Hint, if you climb a mountain, ensure you stretch before and after. I should have known better really. J ) The lovely untouched virgin bushland went off in all directions, only to the west could you see faint signs of ‘civilization’ – the patchwork quilt appearance of farmland. We had a cute lil skink lizard for company at the top too, actually he was rather huge, about 10” long. After we had our fill and got our breaths back, we descended the mountain gingerly, got back in our Subaru’s and headed off to Point Ann our next stop. A short drive away we were there, with the eternal expanse of turquoise and deep navy blue ocean below. We ate our lunch, with a slight sea breeze on our faces. It wasn’t long

after his lunch was gone that Ray Dob-son eagerly reappeared with a fishing rod in hand and was walking briskly to-wards the rocks to the right of the white sand beach. I heard he managed to pull up two Herrings, but did a ‘Rex Hunt’, kissed em them threw em back. Other members took in a stroll in vari-ous directions to take in the sights.

It wasn’t long before Joanne Dobson ran back towards us, waving her arms

and calling out, ‘Whales, look!’. Out near the point, a pair of marvellous, magnificent, majestic, marine mammals, ‘Humpback Whales’ were spot-ted, real close to the coastal cliffs too, a mother and her most curious and playful calf. Soon we all descended on the point, en mass to get a closer look. I managed to score a few nice pix, one where the calf stuck his head out of the water a few metres, where you could clearly make out his little eye and smiling curved ‘grin’ of his mouth. Also managed to get another pic of mum taking a look about with her barnacle encrusted cheeks and snout, those barnacles must get a real good free ride and good feed. These whales annually descend upon the bottom end of WA and other locations, to seek warmer waters, escaping the colder winter months of the Southern waters and to find safe places to raise their calves.

After a rather thorough day of driving, ex-ploring, sight seeing, fauna and flora appre-ciation, climbing and of course socialising, we wearily headed back to camp. We had our usual quiet social drinkies n nibblies near the crackling, warm, sometimes smokey campfire, ate our dinners, social-ized some more, then retired to our beds with a grin on our faces.


The next day, we all headed back home with our own agendas, some took in a quick flying visit to nearby Bremer Bay ( which is actually where the first and original owners of Quaalup Homestead resided, Quaalup was originally just an outpost that latter became a residential, read their history on the website above, an interesting read ). Others went directly home, via a lunch or tea stop at the ‘impressive’ diner at BroomeHill. My-self, I joined Ray and Joanne Dobson, to have a more thorough look at Bremer Bay. We had a lovely early lunch there at the BP Roadhouse. We walked the fishing jetty near the simply lovely shimmering turquoise water filled bay with sands as clean and white as flour. We then headed reluctantly home, especially reluctantly when Ray heard that Salmon were schooling in the Bremer Bay that very minute! The three of us vowed to return to Bremer soon, to take it in more thoroughly and to throw a line in the water, see what happens. ;)

This trip will for me at least certainly be one of the more memorable. So thank you Ian and Nina for organising this great trip, thank you Fitzy Park, thank you Karen and Carsten – owners & proprietors of Quaalup Homestead and thank you Sube Club for giving us the opportunity to share this passion. See you out there again soon…

Happy and safe motoring…

KIMBERLEY CAPERS TRIP REPORT – 16 TO 18 JUNE 2011

Sunday 19 June (at Mount Elizabeth Station) Today we drove from the Silent Grove camping ground (Bell Gorge) to Mount Elizabeth Station for a 2 night stay. On the way we stopped at Adcock Gorge, Phillips Range Lookout, Galvans Gorge and Mt Barnett Roadhouse, before arriving at Mount Elizabeth Station (after driving into the sunset through lots of hanging dust), arriving a little late in the piece, at about 5.30. We did not stop at Manning Gorge (a short distance from the Roadhouse), as we were running short of time. We also bypassed Barnett River Gorge for this reason.

Adcock Gorge has to go close to being one of the prettiest gorges I have seen. The set-ting was ideal with lots of trees and shade and the falls fell into a large pool that offered great swimming. We probably stayed there longer than we should have. At this gorge, Jim discovered that one of the main support brackets for his rear wheel carrier had sheared through, so he had to move his


spare wheel into the car.

On the way to Galvans Gorge, we passed a man leading a couple of camels – it all looked like a lot of hard work to me, although I am sure he saw it as a challenge. From Galvans Gorge car park, it was a bit of a walk into the gorge, and we weren’t on our own, as a couple of tourist buses had arrived before us! Still, it was a pleasant gorge with large falls and some of the group decided to go for a swim.

Monday 20 June (at Mount Elizabeth Station) It was a leisurely start to the day and some of the group took the opportu-nity to do some washing. At 10.30 we headed off to Wunnumurra Gorge, which is on the Station, following a mud map. It was a pretty slow and rocky road, which included a couple of jump ups. The track tested the Subarus almost to their limits, but they coped well. We arrived at a car park at about 11.20. It was probably the first of the car parks and we might have been able to go on further, but we decided to park the cars and walk.

It must have taken us about an hour to walk to the gorge, but it was great when we got there, well worth the walk. We climbed down a couple of ladders to get to the water's edge at the bottom of the falls and had lunch. After lunch, Keith, Jeanette and I walked a fur-ther 500 metres to have a look at some aboriginal rock art, which was very good. Plenty of pictures were taken. We then returned to the rest of the group and had a swim. By then it was about 2.00. Time had moved on quickly. We headed back to the cars and had some afternoon tea in the car park.

We arrived back at camp at about 4.00. We then sat around chatting, until it was time for dinner, which we had booked in the Station dining room for 6.15. Unfortunately, the roast beef was tough and chewy, cer-tainly not what you would expect on a working cattle station!

After dinner, we lit a fire and it really caught on very, very quickly, helped no doubt by the firelighters that Robert put in! We sat around the fire un-til it was time to retire. Tomorrow we head for El Questro.

Tuesday 21 June (at El Questro) We got away at 8.00, which was the nominated departure time. We said


our goodbyes to Keith and Chris who were not joining us for the rest of the trip, as Keith had to return home. However, before they went, they did hope to see some more Aboriginal rock art further up the Munja

Track.

The track out seemed a whole lot better than it did on the way in and we were at the Gibb River Road in no time at all - probably 30 minutes, against the 50 minutes it took us to get in. At that point, the road was fairly good in patches and rough in other patches, like the rest of the road before us. The terrain was gum trees, grass plains and mountain ranges.

As we went along, we were passed by one motorbike, then by another and then by a series of motorbikes. When we stopped at the Kalumburu turnoff for morning tea (a nice spot with a gazebo and trees for shade), which would have been about 9.40, about nine bikes pulled up, together with a support vehicle (a Cruiser ute). We had a bit of a chat with the riders. They were all from Geelong. They had freighted their bikes to Darwin for the beginning of their trip.

From the Kalumburu turnoff, we then headed off down the Gibb River Road and our next stop was at Ellen-brae, 5 kms in off the highway, for jam and scones. Well, it was origi-nally only going to be just for jam and scones, but in the end we de-cided to have an early lunch – ham, cheese and tomato toasties, which was followed by jam, scones and cream. It was a very pleasant spot (the grassed area was nice, with lots of trees and bushes) and we were there for about an hour, including time spent photographing double bar


finches feeding from a little feeder right by our table. In other circum-stances, we might have ended up staying there the night.

From Ellenbrae, we were going to have a look at Home Valley but, along the way, Robert punctured his driver’s side rear tyre. We put one plug-in, then a second and then a third, but it was still losing air. I don't know what it was that put the hole in the tyre, but it did a proper job! So Robert had to put a spare tyre on.

Not long before stopping to fix the puncture, we had passed a couple of cyclists. While we were stopped to fix the puncture, they caught us up, so we offered them a cold drink. “Would you like a cold drink?”. “Yes please!”. They weren't carrying a lot of gear. They had a uni cycle trailer on the back of their bikes. They were from Perth, had completed about 1,280 kms and were heading for Darwin! What a challenge, but it seems they were quite happy just peddling away all day up hill and down dale on the Gibb River Road. Their next destination was Home Valley.

We had thought we might stop at Home Valley, but time got away from us a little so, after a couple of photo stops, particularly at a lookout over the Cockburn range and the Pentecost River, we went past Home Valley and on to the Pentecost River. The river crossing was about 150 metres wide and it was definitely a lot deeper than the pictures we had seen in the Kimberley Guidebook. Jim bravely went off first – no problems at all, straight across. He even put it

in four-wheel-drive, which I thought was fairly good of him! And then I said no, that wasn’t good enough testing, so I asked Robert to go next. So, off he went and, while I thought I saw Wendy trying to struggle out the window at one stage, they also got across safely.

Then it was my turn. The first half was pretty good, but by the send half you began to think, well, gee, there's a fair bit of water around and it's still a fair distance to the shore. You also began to wonder whether you might be floating a bit or whether the wheels were grabbing carefully or not… but there were no mishaps and we also got across safely. It was a


bit of an adventure.

From there, it was another 30 kms or so on to El Questro and we arrived there at about 4.30.

Tony Richards.

FERAL CAMELS Have you ever felt socially disadvantaged by the limita-tions of your knowledge on this subject ? Ian Johnson advises the linked website below is the answer to your problems,

http://

www.feralcamels.com.au/

ANYONE FOR DEHY-DRATION ?

While researching camp meals for Dave Peck’s Central Circle trip in 2012 it oc-curred to me that having some dehydrated vegetable could be handy. I’ve never seen much in the way of commercially available dehydrated vegies (apart from peas). So I thought of making my own, using a domestic dehydrator.

Does any club member already have one they’d be willing to lend for a while in about June 2012. Al-ternatively, would any members like to sell one they no longer use or buy one jointly that we could share use of? They seem to range in price from about $100-$350 new.

If you’re interested please contact Jenni on 9382 4678 or [email protected]

Lots about dehydrators here: www.dehydratorbook.com/ and here www.canningpantry.com/dehydration-of-food.html

ENDS AND ODDS

2012-01

Documents

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