The Others:
Charles – GU ute
Brett & Stevie – GQ wagon
Bresh & Scuba – GQ wagon
Luke & Matt – GQ swb
The evening started at 5:30pm with a gathering of everyone (except John John) and a nice meal at the Appin Pub.
Come 6:30pm we were heading off down Appin Rd to find the dirt and air down. Our first challenge was a set of three tracks providing different degrees of difficulty in negotiating rock steps. John John announces that the right one’s the easiest, the middle the hardest and the left hand side is medium.
Charles attempts the middle track but after numerous goes at different lines and some decent engine revs, he is not successful and follows John John up the left hand track to the top.
Luke decides on the right hand side track and with some decent air under his front left, a little bit of rock packing and some guidance from Scuba, he’s up. Bresh is next and nearly drives to the top unassisted but bellies out at the last second on the rock step. His second attempt involved a bit more right boot and with Scuba urging him on, that all too common noise of a CV breaking is heard.
A snatch by Charles up onto flat ground and out comes the tool box to remove the broken CV and axle so Bresh can at least drive his truck home. We decide to park (hide) his truck in the bush just off the main track and come back and get it after the evenings drive. So Bresh jumps in with me and Stevie, and Scuba jumps in with Charles.
Next rock step proves slightly more challenging. John John is up a after a few attempts and lines. Charles is also up after a few different angles. Bresh and Luke wisely take the chicken track around this one. Me next and with guidance from 4 different people I’ve soon got my front left way in the air and no idea where I’m supposed to be driving. After what felt like a very sketchy angle (it was!) my tyres grip and I’m up.
Down into a gully we now head combined with a few very large rock steps that we dropped off. We now came across a hill containing numerous rock steps and ruts both small and very large. John John as always is up with no issues. Charles is next and had one of the best drives I’ve seen as he literally crawled his way from the bottom to the top with out a single bit of wheel spin and loss of momentum. Great drive! Luke was next and with Matt bellowing out navi directions, Luke eventually made it up with some rock packing and back and fills.
Me next and, wanting to duplicate Charles’ drive I started off on what I thought was a good line. Only made it 5m before I diffed out on a large boulder – opps!
So with Stevie offer all sorts of guidance and some rock packing for good measure, I eventually made it up. Deciding that wasn’t good enough embarrassment for myself, I then attempted to drive a very large rounded boulder at the top of the track (like a bonus line). After bellying out on numerous attempts I became a little worried that I was going to damage my tailshaft again (had just recently replaced it after previous track damage). Should have kept my mouth shut, as all I heard for the rest of the night was Scuba and Charles telling me I had hit my tailshaft on every step I attempted – not happy!
Our next obstacle made for more damage. Driving up a washed our rutted section of track with rock on the left and a large tree root on the right saw John John remove about 2 inches off his rubber flare, Luke’s truck slip off line and dent his left door and left rear quarter and me nearly stake a sidewall on the tree root.
Moving on and driving through some really enjoyable wombat holes and rutted sandy sections that tested out everyone’s flex, we made it to the final challenge of the night – ‘The Smorgasbord’. As usual John John is up with out any dramas – nothing new there! Charles is next and has a few issues negotiating the final two steps which are catching both his front and rear tyres at the same time. With Scuba once again providing expert guidance and with some good numbers from the 4.2, the ute is up.
Luke is up next and Matt announces that he has found the best line for Luke to take as long as he follows his exact directions! After a few interesting angels and lines and nearly at the top, the front left CV which had been making some strange noises for most of the evening finally gave up and it was time to pull out the winch cable. After various attempts, headlights on, headlights off, engine revs up, engine revs down etc, etc, Luke finally clawed his truck to the top of the hill, parked it in a corner and began the same routine we did at the start of
the evening – removed axle and CV!
I’m next and had already chosen a different line to the other’s, however Charles and Scuba (once again) got the better of me and convinced me take the line everyone else had driven. Making up to the same ¾ mark on the track had me on a nice angle leaning onto my driver side and thanking Charles for getting my rock sliders made up as my whole truck was basically resting on them. With Scuba yelling at me ‘Just drive it!’ and Charles laughing as he tried to give out half decent instructions of where my wheels should be pointed, I hear a very bad cracking noise from the rear of my truck. I’d heard that noise before – taillight, nooooooo! Thinking I had smashed the lens up completely I was now in a right state and this was not helped by the antics of the two previous mentioned people. Jumping out to inspect the damage I realize they have been pulling my leg and I’ve only just put a hairline crack in the lens. Phew! Calming down a little bit and with a few more jokes at my expense about my tail shaft, I’m up the final set of steps.
With Luke and Matt having replaced their CV in the time it took me to drive the steps (how embarrassing for me!) all they need is a quick jump start and we head off back to collect Bresh’s truck from it’s hiding place in the bush. After airing up and me straightening my steering arm with a bottle jack, we start to head on out and home. Our final obstacle turns out to be in the form of a new gate that had been installed since John John’s last trip he, so with us all turning around and doubling back onto our tracks, a few right and left turns later with a few small rock steps had us back on the tar and heading home.
Thanks to John John and everyone else who attended for a very enjoyable night drive.