Trip report - Bunyip Forest, Vic 24/02/08

[Nickj]

This, the first "official" trip for the 4x4 Earth Forum was one to be remembered for many reasons. The day greeted us with very cool overcast weather with light rain on and off for most of the morning. With a bit of rain over the last few days, this was going to be an interesting trip in the lovely clay Bunyip Forest has to offer.
At the designated meeting place was:
James, Tina and kids in Jeep Patriot
Allan, Sam and part of their family in 60 Series Cruiser
Graeme and Janette in R50 Pathfinder
Justin, Stefan and ? (sorry) in shorty Pajero
Myself, Donna and Lynelle in R50 Pathfinder with JGCertified aboard
We headed off for Ti-Tree Trk after airing down on Forest Rd. We began our short ascent of Ti-Tree Tk to find a D2 Land Rover and Patrol having trouble so we turned around and headed back down and headed slightly west to Western Tk. The rain had brought muddy conditions as seen below.

James' very std Patriot was the worst to fair as his limited ride height, highway tyres and lack of low range gave James some good challenges.

Western Tk found most of the cars awkwardly positioned at some stage, even those with Mud tyres fitted. James was first to require recovery as he ended up bellied out half way down one of the slippery hills. I volunteered to reverse up the hill to recover James, whose car really only needed a small tow to reposition the car off its belly. The Patriot only had one tow point (not recovery point) so recovery conditions were not ideal, but I didn't need to use my accelerator at all as the weight of my car moved it the few metres required.

Some more slip sliding endured before we got to Gentle Annie Picnic spot, which had been turned into a mud pit!

Our plan, well my plan, was to head up Gentle Annie to traverse the rock garden at the top. After hearing a couple of well equipped cars go up, it was sure to be interesting. Afetr some discussion, Al and I decided to give it a go. I thought Al was behind me waiting for me to clear the track, but it seems I got much further than he did. Half way up, I met with a Courier with lift, winch and MT stuck on the track. I walked up to make sure they were ok, only to greeted by "you wont get any further up there." Then after looking at my Pathy, came back with "how did you get this far in that?" Anyway, they winched themselves into a down hill position, pointing right at me on slippery track. This only left me with 1 choice, reverse all the way out. Got down, to the amazement of some, including myself. After some more discussion, we decided not to head up Gentle Annie and ended up heading towards Lawson Falls for some sight seeing and a walk, which didn't eventuate as Justin decided to do Quartz Creek Tk.

Justin's brother Stefans neat mud tyre equipped Pajero.
This provided an alternative route which Al and I took on planning to meet with the others a little later on. We met with this, but headed on through without a hitch.

We ended up not meeting due to probably poor planning on my behalf. After looking a little, we decided to head back to the meeting place to air up.
Thanks to all and apologies for letting you spend a little while looking for us.

Nick, Donna and Lynelle.

 

[BUSHNUT]

Good report, good read , with a little bit of luck and notice, I will get to the next one - Bushnut

 

[Patriot]

Hey Nick,

Yeah it was a great trip. Thanks for organising it. We had a lot of fun and there was quite a bit of mud a bit of sideways action. I will post a couple of tracks in the next day or two. Western track was great fun and Quartz Creek Track was really nice after all of the rocks in the first 500 meters.,

I hope the Patriot didn't slow everyone up too much.
James

 

[centaur]

Allan, Helen and part of their family in 60 Series Cruiser

Nikj, thanks for organising a great day. It was nice to do a meet and greet, and to do some 4x4 as well. One thing is, mate, my wifes name is Sam....

It was definitely slippery, but this made for some great challenges, and some laughs at trying to watch drivers come down clay hills trying to keep their 4by's pointing the RIGHT way!!!!!! Made for some interesting driving styles, and some interesting "seat of the pants" decisions.

This is the line from my 60 series, the last vehicle. A good mix of vehicles, and experience, and great scenery to top it all off. (Pictures were resized, click on them to see them full size!!)


This is the first real obstacle that confronted us. 3 vehicles had made it to the top, and the Patriot made it nearly to the top, probably only due to pure tenacity from the driver. I was surprised, as was a few others.... The ruts were the patriots downfall, I couldn’t wait to try it...


It was that slippery, even some guys on bikes were finding it hard. Just goes to show how slippery it was. I am glad to say mine made it as well, albeit mostly sideways, damn ruts!!!!!


This is me waiting at the bottom of the hill waiting for the Patriot to be dug out!!!! Once out of the way, plain sailing, mostly.... And with the clay slopes, a lot of it was sailing...


This pic shows how hard the Patriot driver was trying, you have to be going hard to get mud covering the sunroof.... Just goes to show that brute and ignorance CAN overcome a lot of obstacles.... LOL.


All up, a very enjoyable day. Interesting conditions, great people and a nice place made for a day to remember. Thanks to all that came, and I look ofrward to seeing you all at the next one, hopefully around the Walhalla area, (hint, hint).

 

[Luxster]

Looks like you guys had a great day! Tracks look nice and slippery!

 

[steve80]

Wish I could've come hopefully (work permitting) next time. Looks like ya had a good day out Cheers Steve

 

[MYTANK]

Looks like you guys had some fun

Wish it was in NSW and could have brought the 60 to have a play

Dan

 

[dags]

Looks like you guys had a gr8 day. I will definatly have to come along for the next drive