Big Desert & Border Track August 26th - 28th

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

Before this post gets to a few hundred pages long Lea and I want to thank everyone for the great company and continual laughs.

Special thanks to:
1. AJ and his support crew for organising a fantastic weekend.
2. Our stranger cousins from Vic who are yet to work out how to open a rear window (Mal and Frank), but have mastered stall tactics while their fellow Victorian's (TRoy & Amanda) try and pack up by the nominated deadline.
3. Nebel (Neville) for being the butt of most jokes.
4. Amanda for keeping an eye on the Charlie dude. Out of the group his was the only Prado I didn't see yet he was granted a never ending step by step commentary.
5. Adam for the new word "Rogeree". Adam, your Dad wants his shovel back to dig the taters outa the ground. The mother-in-law had a great party and thanks you for not attending and making the day so special.
6. Mike and Steve. What can we say, you two made a fantastic couple getting the cooking and washing done like a well oiled machine. Its ok guys, we know there is no Paula. Mike the picture you showed me was Paula Abdul, she is not your wife buddy, its all good
7. Brodie (I will be the last day alarm clock) for his stunt driving and modestly saying it was Daddy's (Troy's) skills.
8. Peter for the fashionably late entrance and his Kaymar rear end and advising of the recent price drop of the VMS in dash unit. Thanks mate, you saved me heaps on the Kaymar, but I stuffed up the cheap VMS message.....
Finally Trish, thanks for letting AJ come out on a supervised play date and sleepover. Hope we behaved well enough for him to come again. Just one question though.... are we there yet?

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Colleague just came back from the border track last weekend. Mentioned that they (I assume the National Parks people) filled up the large (4WD swallowing holes) with dirt as one car was lost recently. Driver probably didn't check the depth and went straight in only to have the roof racks visible.

Interestingly there was no sign whatsoever of any of the 4WD swallowing hole having been filled at all, in fact they were only deeper and rougher than the last trip.

Cheers Andrew

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Interestingly there was no sign whatsoever of any of the 4WD swallowing hole having been filled at all, in fact they were only deeper and rougher than the last trip.

Cheers Andrew

Well it was second hand information. What would i know ???

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

And the White d4d with the black(ish) bar and no dual batt, no front locker, no steel side steps, no camper and no other heavy stuff will chug on by you all....

(Yes thats jealousy Rob and Andrew)

Not exactly the way things worked out hey Michael, I seem to remember Me and Rob towing the trailers over a dune and then walking back to find you stuck on the very same dune

Cheers Andrew

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

For the casual reader it should be noted that a great time was had by all with new friendships formed and older ones strengthened. (AJ has the older ones because he is closer to retirement)

I am yet to experience a bad trip with people from PP and this trip has yet again added to those positive experiences of learning, good companionship, a relaxing time, constant banter and fun and all those other factors that are typical of the Aussie attitude

Does anyone know if Nebel got home ok? He doesn't usually have time to read posts and last I heard he was catching bears. Also haven't heard from Charlie..... always last that lazy bugger.

[Hibbo Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hibbo]

MLC you would be pleases to know that, although last, Charlie pulled into the drive way about 3 hours ago. I know a lot of you had to work today, but Amanda and myself got to wake up in the Grampians and explore that area today which i have never done. We had a great trip away and meeting some of those stranger folk from across the border made the whole trip worth while. AJ, glad to hear that everyone walked (and hopped) away from your little Mexican stand off all OK. that would of been a potential disastrous ending to a great trip.

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

Some pics:

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Good to see you made it home Brad. The Grampians are fantastic, we were there a number of years ago, we actually left the day the huge bushfires tore through the place, we were looking at the smoke in the mirrors as we drove away (and no we didn't start the fires). Best make sure that Amanda takes you down to get that new suspension fitted while the bumps are still fresh in her mind.

On the Friday evening we had a good time around the fire, checked out the mods on a few others rigs, and Michael ran a how to GPS / Ozi Explorer coursed in the front seat of my rig, I didn't learn a thing as I was busy talking crap to some of the others but Trish now has the basics so she can teach me later (maybe).

Saturday morning we headed through Big Desert toward the border Track, saw a couple of other great camping spots and found plenty of bumpy tracks that tested out Lea's ability to keep her coffee in the cup instead of her lap, apparantly she is a world champion at this skill.

Headed down the border track, stopped for a look at Hensley trig again and then stopped for lunch a couple of dunes before the 2 big ones. While we had lunch we saw another couple of trailers head over the dune in front of us using the easy track, we all took the harder track after lunch with all clearing it no problems.

Then the first big (huge) dune, this is the one that Iantz needed a number of (20 something was it) attempts at last time and with no trailer. Michael was first up as the designated recovery vehicle and hoping to use his newly installed rear recovery points, he wanted to loose his rear end virginity is what he told us!

I was next up with the trailer behind and managed to clear the top of the dune with no real dramas; MLC followed with similar success as well as all the other non towers. Mal did a pretty good job, for a Victorian, but couldn't live up to the standards set by the crow eaters and buried it not far from the top. 4 maxtrax and a couple of goes and he was up and over.



Thanks for standing in front of Mals number plate Rob, saved me scrubbing it out!

Cheers Andrew

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

and more:

[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

...and more
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[MidLifeCrisis Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close MidLifeCrisis]

and the last


and one for the younger folk of an old man trying to fit in:

[Gunnell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gunnell]

As the mid point trip crasher, I would like to thank everyone for the warm welcoming and acceptance of a unscheduled ring in.
It was fantastic to meet all of you and I will certainly be looking to this forum for info for the next event which I hope I will be welcome at.

Next time I will be a little more prepared and ready to get the rig dirty!

Glad everyone found their way home safe.

Cheers,

Peter

[ondaboat Coopers Pale Ale Find all posts View Profile Close ondaboat]

Would just like to say THANKS Trish for letting AJ organize a great weekend. Have just arrived home n unpacked, thought I better look to see how many lies n rumors MLC has started. If only Rob would let the better driver in that rig drive(Lea), he would be surprised how capable his Prado is. Yes Rob Dad is digging up the tatoes.
Had a fantastic time, learnt a lot of things, saw lots more mods to do and met some great people all having fun.
Thanks Brodie for your 4WD tips, very capable driver for 5 (Much better driver than MLC)
Hope to catch up with all again
Regards Adam

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Next time I will be a little more prepared and ready to get the rig dirty!

Cheers,

Peter

And I will make sure I have the right size spanners to unbolts you "awesome" light bars, and some bricks for those wheels

Good to meet you, brief as it was.

Cheers Andrew

[iantz Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close iantz]

Ok boys. So what was the story with the bog holes past red bluff? Who attempted them with camper in tow? Who got stuck? Pics of this section please