Bribie Island  14 April 2002

After breakfast at McDonald's, Caboolture, I headed to the meeting place at Bribie Island, arriving spot on 9.00 am followed by trip leader Rik.  We waited a short time for the last vehicle, Andrew in his "L" series and headed off- 14 vehicles in all, including 9 Subarus.

We made our way to the usual track, by the cinema (after following Rik through a wrong turn at the roundabout) and found it had been locked!  Rik drove in for a closer look and slid sideways into a tree. He had to be towed sideways while he backed out. 

So we headed back around to the western side of the island in search of a track into the centre and after much discussion on the CB we found a way in.  We made our way across to the eastern beach via the inland tracks, stopping at the "no access to beach" sign for morning tea.  By this time it was raining and a group of us sheltered under a navigational platform and fought with mosquitoes. 

After deflating tyres, we headed out the narrow track and turned North, finding some water holes - not as long and deep as previous years due to half the average rainfall.

Andrew had some ignition trouble in his "L" series and various people got stuck in a water hole.  Gaven had to be towed out by a Subaru!  A few of us stopped to help Shane who had a fuel pump problem which was fixed with parts Dave just happened to have in the back of his ute. 

Lunch was at the northern end of the National Park near the lighthouse.  Thank goodness John Shera had a couple of cans of insect repellant with him because the mosquitoes were killers.

 After lunch we headed south down the eastern boundary track and found some more water. Although most of the water crossings were not too deep, judicious use of a blind meant I didn't have to spend the next day cleaning debris from radiator and engine bay.

 We went in search of the sand pit but I don't think we were successful.  We found a bit of sand to play in anyway. Dave had ignition problems for a while which separated the convoy and we lost contact with the leaders.  Maybe we need another radio tuning day.  Nevertheless, with proper convoy procedure and cars dotted across the island at consecutive turnoffs, we soon regrouped, found our way back to the main road and headed home.

 While not as wet as previous years and with some areas blocked off. It was still a good day's outing. Thanks Rik.

 Barry Beard  SC452.

Photos

Photo Album by Andrew G (with a couple from Peter B)
Click on a pic for a larger photo

A couple of shots by Peter Brown