Boys 4WD Trip Down South.

Blog 19th, 20th, 21st. August 2016

Secret Men's Business.

By Will

Jenny gives me a break for a few days, while Olivia our daughter keeps her company

To celebrate our nephew Nik becoming an adult, his Dad, John organised a 3 day weekend away, down to Western Australia's wonderful South West.

The 18 year olds, CJ, Brody & Nik. They love their Off Roading !

It was to be 3 days off roading, camp fires, beers, golf driving, marron fishing (on a private property with blessings from the owner as it's out of season), sleeping on the ground & lots of "male bonding" with heaps of laughs.

Saturday, We all rendezvous at Rob's place and depart at 9.30am.

I was fortunate to get an invite, all up there were 5 four wheel drives & 10 blokes ranging in age from 15 to 47 (uh that makes John & I the "elders", when did that happen ?).

3 and half hours later we arrive at the farm and move our gear into the shed.

The locals wonder what the heck is going on !?!?

Marron poaching is rife down south and Rob asked me not to give away the location of where we stayed. But it was somewhere on the edge of D'Entrecasteaux National Park about 3.5 hours from home.

We had a great few days, one of my mates Mark (who is Nik's Uncle from his Mum's side) rode shotgun with we for the weekend & the other vehicles were all 2 up as well. So there was heaps of room. Some of the off roading was quite hard core & there was a bit of snatch strap action in the swampy conditions. 

Soon after arriving we go in search of some 4WD adventure, it doesn't take long to find. Very wet around here with only 1 week of winter left.

It really is cold, but the boys decide to check the water depth.

Nik decides to tackle a creek crossing in the old Nissan Patrol, 2.8L, turbo.

And gets stuck, his Dad, John snatches him out in his work Ford Ranger.

On the first day after some swamp driving, the others decided on a bit of night time off road action, I wimped out and volunteered to head back to the farm & light the fires, Mark decided to come with me. By about 8pm we were a bit concerned about the blokes as they should've been back, but apart from having a general idea where they had headed there wasn't much we would be able to do until morning. 

While waiting at the farm, Mark thinks an extra comfy chair would be nice.

Happily they all turned up just after 8pm with huge grins on their faces, covered in mud & bits missing from their trucks. Good on them

John & Brad's trucks sustained some minimal damage, CJ in the old 70 series grey import shorty lost a rego plate. 

Nik & I came through the weekend unscathed, though as I look out my kitchen window this morning I notice my rear drivers side tyre isn't round on the bottom anymore...a flat tyre !

Getting ready to tackle the sand dunes in D'Entrecasteaux NP on our way to the Warren River mouth. Most of us have deflated our tyres down to 12psi.

John goes first in the Ford Ranger.

The Team wiljen non-turbo 4.2L Diesel 105 Series Landcruiser needs 3 attempts to conquer a big dune just before the beach. Only Brad in his powerful 4.5L petrol 80 Series Landcruiser made it over this dune on the first go....

This is as far as we can drive along the beach, the Warren River is flowing fast.

CJ's diesel 1988 70 Series struggles up the dune.

Selfie time.

Marron for supper.

But first let's have late night marron races !

The next morning (Sunday) my back tyre is nearly flat. I'm hoping it's just beach sand stuck in the valve, so clear that and pump it up with the farm compressor. (It was flat again at home on Monday morning).

A big thanks to John, Rob, Ivan, Brad, Mark, Brody, CJ, Scott and of course Nik for a great trip away !

We get ready to tackle the tracks around Windy Harbour.

Deflate our tyres to under 20psi.

A photo of the Crew (excluding Mark & I) at the Beacon Look Out above Windy Harbour. 

Great view along the rugged South Coast.

We check out the Gardener River, some great camping spots hidden in behind the dunes.

Looking up the Gardener River.

We go 4WDriving in what turns out to be the Gardener River delta, so soon give up and head back to Windy Harbour via the beach on an incoming tide with a storm front hitting us. It turned into a crazy exciting drive.