BELLTHORPE STATE FOREST

April 6, 2003

Our meeting spot was in the main street of Woodford. The line up included Camo Neilsen in his lifted 92 Liberty sedan, son Bryan in the MY82 Beige Bullet, Matthew and Vanessa Abbott in the MY83 wagon, Stephen Hislop in the L92 wagon, Dwayne Boyton in the MY91 Brumby, Shane Taylor in the MY89 Turbo Brumby, Shane’s father Dale with Gale in the big Pajero, Barry and Lyn Beard and girls in their recently purchased 98 Jeep Cherokee (they still own their L89 wagon), big John McKenna in the Rodeo and finally myself in the Brumby.

We were soon ready to set off for the hills with the Brumby leading and Dale’s Pajero as tailend Charlie. It was not long before we were off the bitumen. At the top of the first long steep climb the Brumby needed some attention. The electric thermo fans had stopped working and it was a little hot. We had not wired the earth wire up correctly when recently rewiring the fan circuit. After some quick rewiring from the experts, Barry and Camo, we were off again. Not long after this we stopped for morning tea at a good spot overlooking the Glass House Mountains. This was the first trip Barry had taken the Cherokee off road and so far he was happy with its ability.

We continued on going up and down some rocky hills with the odd shallow creek crossing. Camo’s Liberty was handling the steep climbs pretty well although he said he did not have much in reserve because the low range gearing is quite high. Time was getting on and we were still a fair way from our planned lunch spot, so we stopped at a spot in amongst the trees where we had to clear a path around a big fallen tree. It was not the ideal spot for lunch because the mozzies were a bit savage, but with some repellent we managed.

We finally reached the top of the loop from where we started, we then did a bit of back tracking. On a very steep downhill Stephen rolled a big loose rock under the rear of the L series, which unsettled the car. As Dale was coming down to help him, Big John was walking up the hill for a photo. As Stephen was getting his car under control (because by this stage the front right hand front tyre had run off the rim), Big John ended up head over turkey on a burnt out log. He was a bit sore and stiff, but with a bit of first aid he was up and about. We then helped Stephen change his tyre and Vanessa offered to drive Big John’s Rodeo for the rest of the trip. A lesson from all this is how careful we must be in situations like this. As it was getting late in the afternoon we all decided to head out to the bitumen and then on to home. A big thank you to everybody who helped out on the trip.

David Martin SC180